So autumn has finally arrived in my kitchen and much as I'm sad to say goodbye to summer days, I just love snuggling up in front of warm, cozy fires and autumnal walks to school with leaves billowing around our feet on clear, crisp days. My hubby is finally back from the other side of the world and we're about to embark on an exciting building project. It's going to be a busy few months! This Apple & Caramel Cake is a beautiful, sweet everyday cake, filled and covered with dulce de leche buttercream and then topped with Apple Cider Caramel and sweet roasted Pink Lady Apple Crisps.
What I love about this cake is its rustic charm. You absolutely can't go wrong with dulce de leche in anything and added to buttercream, it's seriously delicious. You can pile on as much buttercream as you can in-between each layer and you don't have to be a professional cake decorator to cover the outside! The recipe for the Apple Cider Caramel comes from Tessa Huff's Layered. It's a really unusual flavour which works perfectly with the buttercream and it's a very sweet caramel but if you'd prefer to use something without alcohol or perhaps a little less sweet, try this Caramel Sauce instead. Tessa's recipe uses a small amount of glucose and there is a balancing act in trying to get the caramel cool enough to spread without melting the buttercream but also using it before it sets! But it's totally worth it to get the effect of the beautiful caramel drizzled over the top.
The apple crisps are just the prettiest decoration. Very simple to make, they are sliced wafer thin (I use a mandolin to get them this thin but you could use exceptional knife skills instead!) and then coated with honey and lemon juice before being roasted for an hour in the oven. When you get them out, they're still a little soft but they crisp up very quickly and are delicious to eat and stunning on top of the cake. If you do leave them on the cake for a long period (like overnight), they will go soft and start to bend over so you should finish this cake with the caramel and apple crisps very close to serving it.
I hope you think this cake is a pretty as I do and love the flavour combinations - with apple and caramel, you can't really go wrong as they pair so well. And in our house we have an unhealthy obsession with all things sweet, sticky and covered in caramel!
apple & caramel cake with apple cider caramel & pink lady crisps
makes a 6 inch cake
Apple Cake Ingredients
- 225G UNSALTED BUTTER, SOFTENED
- 485G BRAMLEY COOKING APPLES (this is the weight after peeling, coring and chopping and I used 2 large cooking apples)
- 100G CASTER SUGAR
- 125G SOFT BROWN SUGAR
- 3 LARGE EGGS
- 225G SELF-RAISING FLOUR
- 2 TSP BAKING POWDER
- 1 TSP PUMPKIN SPICE (if you don't have this, then use allspice or cinnamon)
Dulce De Leche Buttercream Ingredients
- 180G UNSALTED BUTTER, SOFTENED
- 360G ICING SUGAR
- 4 TBSP DULCE DE LECHE CARAMEL (I use Nestlé Carnation Caramel)
- 1 TBSP MILK
Apple Cider Caramel Sauce Ingredients from Tessa Huff's Layered
- 240ML APPLE CIDER
- 100G SOFT BROWN SUGAR
- 1 TSP LIQUID GLUCOSE (I use Dr Oetker)
- 2 TBSP BUTTER
Apple Crisp Ingredients
- 1 PINK LADY APPLE
- 1/2 TBSP CLEAR HONEY
- 1/2 TBSP LEMON JUICE
You will also need 3 x 6 inch sandwich tins or you could use 2 x larger 8 inch tins and just bake 2 layers instead
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160 degrees (fan)
- Grease and line 3 x 6 inch cake tins
- First we make the cake
- Peel, core and chop the apple into small pieces
- Place the butter and sugars into a freestanding mixer and beat for around 5 mins until pale and creamy
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating for around 2 minutes between each addition
- Fold in the flour, baking powder and pumpkin spice into the batter gently
- Add the apples and stir through to spread them evenly
- Divide the batter between the 3 cake tins
- Bake in the oven for around 35 - 40 minutes - check your cakes after 30 mins and they will be ready when a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean
- Leave the cakes to cool in the tin for 10 mins, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and leave to cool
- Turn the oven down to 120 degrees (fan)
- Next make your apple crisps
- Take your Pink Lady Apple and cut it horizontally through the middle (so you have the top half with the stalk coming out of the top)
- Using a mandolin (or fine knife skills) slice the apple as thinly as possible - you want around 8 for decoration but use all the apple and you can eat the other crisps!
- Mix the clear honey and lemon juice together and then brush this onto both sides of each apple slice
- Place them on a lined baking tray and bake for around 50-60 mins
- When they're ready, gently remove them from the baking tray and place them on a cooling rack to cool and crisp up
- Next make the buttercream by placing all the buttercream ingredients into a freestanding mixer and mixing for around 5 mins until light and fluffy
- When the cakes are cool, place one layer on either a plate or 6 inch cake card
- I use ice-cream scoops to measure the amount of buttercream to put onto each layer so I have the same amount - I put 2 1/2 small ice cream scoops onto the first layer and spread it out evenly
- Then cover this with another layer and add the same amount of buttercream
- Finally top with the final layer of cake
- Using palette knife, spread some buttercream on the top of the cake and all around the sides - you can decide how thick you want the buttercream but I like the effect of some cake showing through
- I use a side scraper to smooth down my sides but if you don't have this, you could use a palette knife or even a ruler
- Place the cake in the fridge for around 30 mins until the icing sets
- When you're ready to serve your cake, make the caramel sauce
- Place the apple cider in a saucepan and bring it to the boil
- Then reduce the heat and simmer until you have 60ml (1/4 cup) left - this takes around 10-15 mins but keep an eye on it
- Add the brown sugar and glucose and without stirring it (I just swish the pan around a little to mix the ingredients), heat the mixture until it reaches 116 degrees celcius on a candy thermometer
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir through the butter
- Then you need to leave the caramel to cool for between 5-10 minutes but keep an eye on it as you don't want it to set too much
- Pour the caramel onto the top of the cake in the middle and allow it to spread out and drip down the sides
- Top with the apple crisps which you may have to hold in place for a few minutes until the caramel sets
- And enjoy!