SWEET HEAT

Liven up desserts with a kick of heat! Traditional spices used in this recipe offers a familiar taste with a twist and a bit of South-of-the-Border flavor.

Chipotle Apple Pecan Cake

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground chipotle pepper

3/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. ground white pepper

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1 1/2 cups cooking oil

1 3/4 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tbs. vanilla

3 cups diced sweet-tart apples (peeled)

1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1 recipe Spicy Caramel Glaze

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly coat a 10 inch bundt cake pan with cooking spray and dust with flour. Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, chipotle, ginger, white pepper, salt, and cloves. Set aside. In mixing bowl, beat oil and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beat well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and as much flour mixture as you can. Stir in remaining flour mixture, apples, and pecans. Spoon batter into pan. Bake 1 1/4 hours until tester inserted near center comes out clean. Meanwhile , prepare Spicy Caramel Glaze. Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes, invert on rack. Place rack on baking sheet. Drizzle warm cake with glaze, respooning glaze that drips on baking sheet. Cool and serve.

Spicy Caramel Sauce

In saucepan combine 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup whipping cream, and 1/2 tsp. ground chipotle pepper. Bring to boiling, stirring occasionally. Boil gently 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1 tsp. vanilla. Let stand 1 1/4 hours until slightly thickened. Drizzle over warm cake.

Since this is the first time I have used the Chipotle pepper, I only used about 1/4 tsp. and I also didn't put it in the glaze. I liked the smaller amount in the cake and next time will leave it out of the glaze too as I am not a huge fan of "hot" and was not sure about putting it in a cake so decided to be safe..which worked for me! Enjoy!