Caramel Apple Cake.

Uh oh...here come the apples. It's all over. I love apples, I do, but what I don't love is how they signal that it's all down hill from here....no more strawbs, no more watermelon, raspberries are just a figment of the imagination....until it's time for rhubarb kicks in in spring....and I don't even like rhubarb.

Yes, of course, there's pears too, which are yummers, and all the sticky dried fruits of the festive season, but I proper LOVE fruit, and having no choice for half the year is not my fav.

The cheer up answer? Caaaake...OBVS. I'll just have to spend the dark months concocting all sorts of non-boring apple delights to keep the fruit excitement....seems like a plan. And here seems like a good place to start...and it's not just cake, ohnono...here we have appley sponge, plus buttery apples, plus creamy yoghurt PLUSPLUPLUS the most velvety caramel there ever was. Perhaps we'll make it through the apple season after all. With Love and Cake.

Caramel Apple Cake.

Adapted from a delicious. magazine recipe

A few notes:

• This recipe is for a THREE LAYERED CAKE. I stole away one of the layers to take to a friend and kept the too other layers to show all you lovely peeps (thought she wouldn't appreciate a slice already hacked out of the cake I was to hand over), but I will keep the recipe written as for 3 layers because that's how I made it and you don't want to be faffing around dividing eggs and such malarky. 
• Here's how the cake is layered (I sometimes find it easier to comprehend a recipe when you know basically what your making....)

caramel

sponge

caramel

apples

yoghurt

sponge

caramel

apples

yoghurt

sponge

You will need

3 x 20cm loose based cake tins, greased and bottoms lined

For the sponges

4 eating apples (I used cox), peeled, cored and chopped roughly

390g caster sugar

375g butter, at room temp

5 eggs

385g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

For the filling

4 eating apples (again, I used cox), peeled, cored and sliced

50g caster sugar

70g butter

350ml thick yoghurt

For the caramel

75g butter 

50g soft light brown sugar 

50g caster sugar

50g golden syrup

20g icing sugar

220ml double cream

big pinch salt

• First we'll make the sponges, and to start off we make a purée out of the apples. Pop the chopped apples in a small saucepan with 50g of the caster sugar and 100ml of water.
• Heat over a high heat until they've broken down to a fairly smooth purée, hopefully this'll take about 15 minutes.
• Remove the apples from the pan and leave to cool completely.
• Preheat the oven to 170˚c.
• In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric hand whisk until pale and creamy.
• Beat in the eggs one at a time followed by the cooked apple.
• Sift over the flour, baking powder and salt then fold in gently.
• Divide the mixture evenly between your cake tins and bake for 30 minutes or until they are bronzed and firm in the centre.
• Leave to cool in the tins until cool enough to handle, then turn them out and leave to cool completely...and I mean completely.
• Now we make the filling. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat and throw in the apples, sugar and butter.
• Cook, stirring regularly, for around 15 minutes, or until the apples are soft and shiny and just starting to properly caramelise around the edges.
• When they're done, remove the apples from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool.
• Now we make the caramel. Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and heat gently to melt the butter and dissolve the sugar. 
• Bring to a simmer and let lightly bubble away for 7-8 minutes so it turn a proper toffee colour.
• Pour the caramel into a bowl to allow to cool.
• When everything is at room temperature, it's assembly time. Place one sponge layer on your serving dish and top with half of the yoghurt, then half of the apples, then drizzle over a tablespoon or so of caramel.
• Set the next sponge layer on top and top that with the rest of the yoghurt, apples and another drizzle of caramel.
• Finally add the last sponge layer and pour over the rest of the caramel, allowing to to dribble down the sides. 
• Oh My....