"That was a lot of time and effort for caramel that would make a dentist rich, foamy cake that even after one hour and forty minutes still wasn't cooked in the middle and pretty good baked apples. I consider myself a pretty good cook.

Let me say that I followed the recipe exactly. My caramel stuck to the bottom of the pan, even after softening it as instructed. I was able to easily pull off the apples from the caramel stuck on the bottom of the pan and put them back in their proper place on the cake. I then heated up the caramel that was set aside and drizzled it over the cake. Guess what - it hardened so much that I could actually lift it off.