Spiced Apple and Oaty Crumble Cake

Nuggets of apple in a spiced batter get topped with a fabulous crunchy oaty crumble and to gild the lily, we’ve added a rich caramel sauce.

OATY CRUMBLE TOP 80 grams butter, softened

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup rolled oats

½ cup self-raising flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

CAKE 170 grams butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup caster sugar

finely grated orange zest

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1 cup sour cream

juice 1 orange

2½ cups self-raising flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon each ground ginger and mixed spice

3 apples, peeled, cored and diced (we used Braeburn)

1 cup golden sultanas, optional

TO SERVE

Salted Caramel Sauce, see recipe page 100

EQUIPMENT: Grease and fully line a 26cm loose-based cake tin.

Preheat the oven to 160°C regular bake.

Use your fingers to mix all the crumble ingredients together. Set aside. For the cake, beat the butter, sugars, orange zest and vanilla together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one by one, then beat in the sour cream and orange juice. Sift the flour, baking soda and all the spices together.

Put the apple and sultanas in a large bowl and toss together with ½ cup of the flour mixture, making sure each piece is coated. Add the remaining flour and the apples along with any flour left in the bowl to the butter mixture. Gently but thoroughly stir together, making sure there are no pockets of flour in the batter. Spoon into the tin and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.

Squish the crumble topping into crumbly lumps and scatter over the top of the cake. Bake for about 75 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Cover the top loosely with foil after 50 minutes to prevent over-browning. Leave to cool in the tin. Serve with the Salted Caramel Sauce. SERVES 8-10