Millions of years ago when the Southern husband and I were young and crazy, we tended to go out a lot more than we do now. As in, we left the house in the evening to go to things that actually went on past, oh, 9:30 at night. (Somewhere out there the Southern daughter is shaking her head in disbelief, but honey? Daddy and I were wild and crazy back in the day. We WERE!) Anyway, I hate going to parties empty-handed, and so I tended to make a lot of this rich, moist, sweet and spicy apple cake. It mixes up in one bowl, it is very portable, and if you show up with this cake and some caramel sauce you are pretty much going to be the life of the party.