Sunday 13 June 2010

Caramel apple loaf cake




I don’t make that many loaf cakes which is a shame as they have to be the easiest cakes to portion (I think I’ve mentioned my cake-cutting phobia in the past)!
They also have a rustic look to them that I find inviting.


This week’s cake muse was the CCD who chose the ingredient of “apples”.
I love a good apple cake and picked this recipe as I was intrigued by the caramel topping . Here’s a close up of the topping oozing over the top of the cake:


Having said above that, in theory, loaf cakes are easier to cut, this one was a terror. It was crumbly and soft but I forgive it as it made it divine to eat!


I am very disappointed by the sweet eating habits of society these days. Where I live there are two large supermarkets, a well stocked newsagent and an off licence - not one of them sold toffees, which are needed to make the topping for this cake. What’s wrong with people? Why have they fallen out of love with the humble toffee? Are people too lazy to chew? Luckily, Mr CC found a bag for me further afield - cake crisis averted!



We all loved this cake; it delivers a lot flavourwise. The almost-bitter walnuts cut through the sweetness of the caramel topping and the juicy pockets of apple work nicely with the crumbly light sponge. The sponge contains yoghurt and is therefore extremely soft and light. Here are the cakes when baked (i.e. pre topping):


Add some sinful topping:


The recipe set out below makes one loaf cake; I doubled it to make two.

Ingredients

For the cake:

175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
225g self raising flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 rounded tablespoons Greek yoghurt
2 eating apples, peeled, cored and diced – I chose Cox’s, as they are small I used 2 ½
50g walnuts – roughly chopped

For the topping:

50g soft toffees (I used Werther’s chewy toffees)
2 tablespoons double cream
handful of walnuts – chopped

Method

Preheat oven to 160˚C/fan oven 140˚C/320˚F/Gas mark 3.

Line a 900g loaf tin (2lb in old money!) with baking paper.

Beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla until it is pale and smooth.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Stir in the flour, cinnamon and yoghurt.

Add the chopped apples and stir just enough to combine.

Spoon into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Scatter the walnuts over the top – I kept them centralised, like a walnut Mohican.

Bake for approximately 1 hour 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the loaf comes out clean.

Place the loaf, still in the tin, on a wire cooling rack.

Now make the topping: place the toffees and cream in a saucepan and gently heat until they melt and combine – stir the whole time (this is very important as the mixture will burn quickly if left unattended)

Leave to cool a little, about 3 minutes or so.

Turn the cake out of the tin and gently pour the topping over the top.

Scatter the extra walnuts on top – they will stick to the toffee.

This cake will keep in an airtight container for 3 days.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

27 comments:

I heart cupcakes said...

This sounds and looks right up my street - I love toffees and apples together. I may have to give this a try!
Also I fully agree with you - what is wrong with people and not eating toffees? Marks and Spencers have a good selection though - I'm always having to resist while in the queue.

Victoria said...

yum yum yum! i love me a good loaf cake! i might just have to try this one! :)

Caroline said...

They look very similar to a recipe I made ages ago (can't remember if I blogged it or not!) and it was SO good! They look deliciously light and I love the apple and caramel combo.

Ella said...

Oh this sounds, and looks, delicious! I'm a sucker for caramel!

Nat said...

I was trying to make toffee cupcakes a few months ago but had to give up as I just couldn't find anything suitable. The Great British public disappoints me.

Helen (Fuss Free Flavours) said...

That looks lovely.

Do you think that the demise of the toffee is linked to the scarcity of an NHS dentist? Maybe people simply cannot afford to risk chewing!

Unknown said...

My mouth is watering!

Katie said...

Yum! Love the idea of the walnuts for a bit of added crunch. Such a wonderfully soft texture

Beth (jamandcream) said...

Oh sounds lovely - especially the topping

Lacey said...

This sounds and looks so good! I love melted toffee on apples so I know I would love this!

Lacey said...

This sounds and looks so good! I love melted toffee on apples so I know I would love this!

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

Wow! That looks amazing. Yet another of your recipes I have to try. I may as well get my begging over and done with, since it is a foregone conclusion I will make this sometime. May I post your cake in cup measures sometime in the future? Pretty please.

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

That looks like just my kind of cake! All good things in it (well, good for the soul, anyway), and I can almost taste it from here...

The Caked Crusader said...

Hi Jacqueline

Feel free to post it in cups any time!

Baking Addict said...

Caramel and apple sounds delicious. Can't believe you had such trouble finding toffee!

Maggie said...

I love the topping CC, you have captured it perfectly. The cake recipe sounds wonderful too.

Made With Pink said...

This sounds amazing!!! I love anything caramel apple!

Anamika:The Sugarcrafter said...

Hi
Coming after a long gap..and this a wonderful piece of cake...caramel apple loaf cak must be very tasty and suited for all ages and bites...great for sharing.

Cakelaw said...

OMG - this cake looks amazing! I adore caramel - and toffees - I only have a bag of hard Werthers in my cupboard, worse luck - but I am keen to make this cake. Recipe printed - hope to make it soon.

JudeCreations said...

Sounds delicious.......will try & thanks for sharing

Anonymous said...

I made this yesterday and couldn't find soft toffees either - so I used rolos instead!

Katie said...

I made this cake yesterday and couldn't find soft toffees either - so I used rolos!

Maria♥ said...

Wow this looks seriously good. I'm definitely trying out this recipe!

Maria
x

morri said...

I adore all your apple cake recipes, but I chose to begin with this one, because apple + cake + toffee = automatic win in my book.

The first thing I'd say about the results is: hoo boy, either we have insanely big apples over here, on the continent, or you, islanders, have teeny-tiny ones. I chopped up two medium-biggish Boscops and I ended up adding only a little over one and a half, because the cake started overflowing my mixing bowl! I filled a 1 kg loaf tin... and I still had half as much of the cake mix left, so I used it to fill a sandwich tin. The cake came out deliciously moist, which is no surprise - it had more apple than cake in it - but I spent the 1 h 20 minutes freaking out that the cake will be slack-baked. And, as I suspected the baked apple-toffee topping combination does not disappoint. The cake is definitely worth trying out, just, please, go easy on the apples, people.

The Caked Crusader said...

Hi Morri

I think apples do vary a lot - I used cox's which are very small indeed.

Did you use a big enough loaf tin - it's a big tin, 900g (or 2lb)?

Glad you solved your problems and enjoyed the cake!

Happy baking

morri said...

Yup, I used a 2lb loaf tin. The cake was sinfully delicious, so I'll definitely attempt to bake it again, I'll just try to be less apple-happy this time. Next on my list is the coble cake - this one should be safer :)

plasterer bristol said...

This sounds lovely. And quite easy to make, thanks for posting this recipe.

Simon