Tipsy Toffee Spice Apple Cake

by Lerato Umah-Shaylor

I love mixing the cocktail of cultures in my family to create wonderful food and memories. Apple kuchen (Apfelkuchen) is a favourite of ours, especially my German mother-in-Law, Ingrid and I have been inspired to create a version with wondrous spices and a decadent tipsy toffee sauce with a South African cream liqueur made from marula fruit that is famed for making elephants tipsy. See chef’s tips for a non-tipsy version of this wonderful cake (which serves 8).

Method

Based on 8 servings, adjust as needed.

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan.

Step 2

Place the sliced apples in a bowl and pour over the lemon juice. Give it a good mix and set aside for later.

Step 3

Pour the milk in a saucepan and add the pitted dates. Gently bring to a slow simmer and after 2 minutes, take the pan off the heat. Leave the dates for a few minutes to soften then pour into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Step 4

Pour the blended milk and dates into a large bowl and whisk in the oil, eggs, and vanilla paste. Now 150g brown sugar and whisk until smooth. Add the flour, semolina, baking powder, all of the allspice, 1/4 tsp clove, 1 tsp ground ginger and 1 tsp ground cinnamon and a large pinch of salt and use a wooden spoon to mix well until smooth.

Step 5

Grease a 20cm cake tin thoroughly with a little butter and line with baking paper. Pour in the cake batter and spread out in an even layer. Place the apple slices one at a time on top of the cake batter, covering the entire surface but leaving about 1 cm border from the cake tin. Then gently press the cake slices into the batter. Use a spoon to smooth the surface, covering the apple slices with cake batter.

Step 6

Brush the remaining apple slices with a little melted butter and arrange them on top of the cake, in a circular direction or decorate it as you wish. Place in the middle of the oven to bake for 50-55 minutes. Check the cake after 45-50 minutes and if the top is browning too quickly, you can cover the top with baking paper.

Step 7

Once perfectly baked, a skewer will come out clean or with little crumbs and the cake will be golden on top. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing. Use a table knife to run around the edge of the cake and turn out onto a rack.

Step 8

Meanwhile, make your tipsy toffee sauce by adding the remaining 50g brown sugar, cubed butter, double cream, Irish Cream liqueur, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon and 1/2 tsp ground ginger into a saucepan. Heat gently until the butter and sugar melt and once the sauce starts to turn a deep golden brown, stir a few times and after about 2 minutes remove the pan from the heat. Your toffee sauce should be dark, glossy, and slightly thickened. It will thicken further as it cools.

Step 9

Brush some of the tipsy toffee sauce all over the cake and dust with icing sugar if you wish. Serve your beautiful, spiced apple cake with the tipsy toffee sauce drizzled on top for a wonderful and decadent treat.

  • Ingredients
  • Based on 8 servings
  • 100g Dates, stone removed if necessary 1x Sainsbury's Ready To Eat Dates 200g
  • 1 Lemon, Juice of one lemon 1x Sainsbury's Lemons
  • 0.5 tsp Ground Clove 1x Sainsbury's Ground Cloves 37g
  • 150g Self Raising Flour 1x Sainsbury's Self Raising Flour 500g
  • 0.25 tsp Allspice 1x Sainsbury's Ground Allspice 40g
  • 200g Light Brown Sugar 1x Sainsbury's Fairtrade Light Soft Brown Sugar 500g
  • 1.5 tsp Ground Cinnamon 1x Sainsbury's Ground Cinnamon 38g
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Paste 1x Taylor & Colledge Organic Vanilla Bean Paste 65g
  • 100ml Irish Cream Liqueur, Amarula or double cream for no alcohol which can be dairy free 1x Sainsbury's Irish Cream Liqueur, Taste the Difference 70cl
  • 1.5 tsp Ground Ginger 1x Sainsbury's Ground Ginger 38g
  • 3 Apples, cored and sliced into slim 1cm wedges, reserve some for topping the cake 3x Sainsbury's Royal Gala Apple Single
  • 3 Large Free Range Eggs 1x Sainsbury's British Free Range Eggs Large x6
  • 250ml Milk 1x Sainsbury's British Whole Milk 568ml (1 pint)
  • 100g Semolina 1x Sainsbury's Semolina 500g
  • 100ml Olive Oil, or rape seed oil 1x Sainsbury's Olive Oil 500ml
  • 1tsp Baking Powder 1x Sainsbury's Baking Powder 160g
  • 50g Unsalted Butter, cubed and at room temperature, plus more for greasing the tin and brushing the apples 1x Sainsbury's British Butter, Unsalted 250g
  • 100ml Double Cream 1x Sainsbury's British Double Cream 150ml
  • 1 tbsp Icing Sugar, for dusting 1x Sainsbury's Icing Sugar 500g
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