If you like apples and salted caramel, I’m sure you will fall in love with this Apple & Salted Caramel Cake! It’s one of my favourite desserts and I’m super excited to be sharing this recipe with you as it’s my very own creation 🙂 It does take a while to make as it has several elements, but I promise it’s worth the effort!
Apple & Salted Caramel Cake
🍴 Servings: 12
🕒 Hands-on: Over 30 minutes
🎛 Cooking time: 30 – 40 minutes
⏲ + Cooling the cake, minimum 1.5 hours
INGREDIENTS
For the apples
- 2 – 4 Bramley apples (500-600g)
- 1 tbsp water
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
Sponge
- 170g white sugar
- 120g butter, softened
- 2 eggs
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 190g flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 100ml milk
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ - 3 tbsp demerara sugar
- 1.5 tsp cinnamon
Salted caramel icing
- 35g (3 tbsp) caster sugar
- 35g (3 tbsp) dark soft brown sugar
- 1 tsp water
- 100ml double cream
- ¼ tsp sea salt
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ - 60g butter, softened
- 100g icing sugar
Plus
- 25g walnuts, roughly chopped
- ½ tsp sea salt flakes
- butter, for greasing
STEPS
1 Start by prepping the apples: peel and core them, then chop into large, about 2cm, chunks. Put into a medium saucepan and add the water, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cook on a low heat for about 10 minutes to soften, occasionally stirring. Set aside.
2 Meanwhile, mix the demerara sugar and cinnamon together in a ramekin/small bowl. Set aside. Next, prepare the cake tin: line the base with baking paper, then grease the sides and bottom.
3 For the sponge: beat the white sugar and butter together in a mixing bowl using a hand mixer. Whisk until smooth and pale, about 1-2 minutes. Beat in the eggs, vanilla extract and cardamom.
Turn the oven on now, preheat it to 180℃!
4 Combine flour and baking powder and mix into the batter, still using the hand mixer. Once all flour is incorporated, stir in the milk.
5 Pour half of the batter into the prepared cake tin, then add half of the apples. Lightly pat the apples into the batter spreading them evenly, then sprinkle half of the demerara sugar-cinnamon mixture on top. Repeat the whole process to make second layer.
6 Bake the sponge in 180℃ (fan) for 30-40 minutes. The cake is ready when a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely!
7 For the salted caramel: heat the two sugars and a splash of water in a saucepan over a gentle heat. Once the sugar has dissolved, increase the heat to medium and add the cream. Cook the caramel for 2-3 minutes until golden dark and slightly thickened. Stir in the sea salt and set aside to cool completely.
8 For the icing: put the softened butter and icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Beat together using a hand mixer until pale yellow, for about 2-3 minutes.
9 Beat in the salted caramel to finish the buttercream icing.
10 Take the cooled cake gently out from the tin (loosen the sides first before opening the clip to avoid it from tearing). Spread the icing evenly on top.
11 Sprinkle the sea salt flakes on top and finish with chopped walnuts!
Notes:
- Apples — If you live in the UK, I’d recommend using Bramley apples. But if substituting, make sure to use apples that are suitable for cooking as they really make the difference in this cake (cooking apples keep their shape when baking and don’t turn into mush). I’ve made the cake with Braeburns and Granny Smiths before so those definitely are good alternatives
- Sugar — You may have noticed that I’m using different types of sugars in this recipe (some specified, some not). Where the recipe says ‘white sugar’, you can use either caster or granulated sugar. Same with ‘brown sugar’, feel free to use any brown sugar with the apples. However, otherwise I’d recommend using the specified sugars as I find they work the best for this recipe!
- Demerara — Demerara is a type of cane sugar that has a relatively large grain, and it creates a crunchy topping for cakes. Interestingly, I’ve noticed that demerara’s texture can change depending on the brand and some brands’ sugar is coarser. If possible, I’d recommend using Billington’s demerara as it’s slightly softer and gives the cake a nicer texture. But this is just a very fine detail so don’t worry too much about it
- Batter quantity — Before the cake goes in the oven, the amount may look very little (especially before adding the apples). Do not worry, it will rise in the oven!
- Cooling — If you need to cool down the cake quicker, you can remove it from the cake tin as soon as the tin is cool enough to touch. Gently loosen the sides of the cake with a plastic dough scraper (or any tool that doesn’t scratch the tin) before opening the clip
- Salted caramel — You can prepare the salted caramel ahead as it anyway needs to be cold before added to the buttercream. However, don’t prepare the buttercream until the sponge is cold as it can get too soft in the room temperature, but on the other hand get too hard in the fridge
- Buttercream — Make sure to properly beat the icing sugar with the softened butter. To avoid lumps, you can sift in the icing sugar if you wish
- Storing — The finished apple & salted caramel cake stores the best in the fridge. But it’s best served room temperature so take it out of the fridge at least half an hour before serving 🙂
ALLERGY & DIET INFO:
🔷 Walnuts add a lovely crunch and they work really well with the other ingredients. But since they are not in the batter, they can be left out!
If you prefer measuring by volume, check my UNIT CONVERTER!
Main equipment:
Medium saucepan → apples
Mixing bowl (2L) → batter
Small saucepan → salted caramel
Mixing bowl (2L) → icing
Ramekin/small bowl
Measuring spoons
Kitchen scales
Electric hand mixer
Baking paper
Spring form cake tin (ideally 23cm diameter, min 20cm)
Other recipes you might like…! ⤵︎
A very yummy cake and a great recipe, easy to follow instructions.