Toffee Apple Hazelnut Cake: For Bonfire Night And Beyond

A light fruity sponge made with wholemeal flour, ground hazelnuts and apples which is topped with roasted hazelnuts and drizzled with a delightful smoky salted toffee sauce. This toffee apple hazelnut cake is just perfect bonfire night fare. Or any other autumnal occasion come to that.

The leaves are turning, the mornings are misty and the season of mellow fruitfulness has definitely arrived. There are apples aplenty here in the New Forest and apple cake is an autumnal essential bake. For Bonfire Night last year, I reckon I created my best ever recipe. It’s a toffee apple hazelnut cake and is just perfect for this time of year.

Why Make Toffee Apple Hazelnut Cake?

Everyone loves a treat and this toffee apple hazelnut cake is just perfect for cold and damp autumn days and nights. There’s a little more to making it than a simple sponge, but the extra effort more than makes up for the finished bake.

• Layered Toffee Flavour – The caramel sauce poured over the top of the cake, both before and after baking, creates a wonderful depth of flavour. It seeps into the apple and hazelnut sponge whilst baking which gives a rich, moist texture. And the post-bake addition gives an extra layer of indulgence.
• Homemade Comfort – Bake this toffee apple cake to bring hygge or a sense of home and warmth to a chilly autumn afternoon or evening. Ideal for cozy gatherings and sharing with loved ones by the fire.
• Perfect for Bonfire Night – It’s not just a cake; it’s a Bonfire Night essential. With smoky, salted caramel drizzled over the top, it reflects the smoky atmosphere and intensity of the night. And you can’t have Bonfire Night without some form of toffee apple.
• Seasonal Appeal – This toffee apple hazelnut cake embodies the flavours of autumn. Made with both apples and hazelnuts, it’s a comforting, indulgent treat that celebrates seasonal ingredients.
• Unique and Memorable – Whilst toffee apple cakes are no longer unusual, the addition of hazelnuts gives this cake a unique twist. The nuttiness adds a delightful texture and balances the sweetness of sugar and caramel perfectly.

My Toffee Apple Hazelnut Cake

I’ve made many an apple cake in my time and they are all good. My almond apple cider cake, apple and thyme cake and my Dorset apple cake with chocolate caramel were exceptionally good (she says modestly), but I reckon this toffee apple hazelnut cake tops them all.

It’s a light fruity sponge made with wholemeal flour and seasonal hazelnuts and apples. As if this wasn’t good enough, the key ingredient is a homemade smoky salted caramel sauce.

The tart apple combines with the sweet salty caramel to create a taste sensation. The smoky salted toffee sauce is divine. It’s very hard to resist greedily eating it with a spoon just as it is. It’s just what you want drizzled over ice cream too. The cake is also excellent served warm as a dessert with a jug of the caramel sauce on the side.

With its toffee apple flavour and smoky notes, my toffee apple hazelnut cake is perfect for Bonfire Night. Or, for that matter, any other autumnal occasion where you need cake or a satisfying dessert.

The Food Journal: Seasonal Treats

My toffee apple bonfire cake featured in the Seasonal Treats edition of The Food Journal last year. It contains a whole host of recipes from fellow food bloggers all pertaining to a specific season.

So if you fancy such delights as Valentines cookies, Easter morning carrot cake bars, green goblin soup or cinnamon spiced snowmen, follow The Food Journal link where you’ll be able to download a PDF of the entire publication.

October 2018 Update

The link is no longer valid, but you can still download the PDF if you do an internet search for the title – The Food Journal: Seasonal Treats.

Other Bonfire Night Recipes You Might Like

• Carlin pea stew
• Gingerbread hot chocolate
• Gingered pear almond honey cakes
• Mulled cider or apple juice
• Squash, chilli & chard feta pasties
• Spiced toffee apple bonfire cakes
• Sticky ginger apple cakes

Keep in Touch

Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this toffee apple hazelnut cake, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.

For more delicious and nutritious recipes follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard or Pinterest. And don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to my weekly newsletter. Or why not join the conversation in our Healthy Vegetarian Whole Food Recipes Facebook Group?

If you’d like more Tin and Thyme large cake recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious, of course.

Choclette x

Toffee Apple Hazelnut Cake. PIN IT.

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5 from 2 votes

Toffee Apple Hazelnut Cake

A light fruity sponge made with wholemeal flour, ground hazelnuts and apples which is topped with roasted hazelnuts and drizzled with a delightful smoky salted toffee sauce. Perfect Bonfire Night fare.

Cook ModeToggle to keep screen awake

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time50 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course: Afternoon Tea, Dessert

Cuisine: British

Keyword: apples, autumn, Bonfire Night, cake, hazelnuts, salted caramel, toffee sauce, toffees

Servings: 12 people

Calories: 415kcal

Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

Ingredients

Smoky Salted Toffee Sauce

• 100 g golden caster sugar
• 1 tbsp golden syrup
• 75 unsalted butter
• 1 tsp smoked sea salt (or just use sea salt)
• 125 ml double cream (heavy cream)

Cake

• 180 g unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 100 g light muscovado sugar
• 100 g golden caster sugar
• 3 large eggs (duck eggs are particularly good)
• 175 g golden wholemeal flour (or half wholemeal flour and half white flour)
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 100 g hazelnuts 75g freshly ground and 25g roasted and roughly chopped
• 2 cooking apples weighing roughly 400g (14oz) – peeled, cored and diced to roughly 1 cm (½ inch) square
• 100 g kefir, buttermilk, sour milk or watered down yoghurt (you can make your own sour milk by adding 1 tsp vinegar to milk and leaving for a few minutes).
• 1 Cox’s Orange Pippin or other tart dessert apple – cored but not peeled, then finely sliced

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

Smoky Salted Toffee Sauce

• Pour the sugar into a medium to large saucepan and place over a medium heat.
  
  100 g golden caster sugar
• Add the golden syrup and leave for a few minutes until the sugar has melted and turned a light brown colour.
  1 tbsp golden syrup
• Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Be careful as it might spit.
  75 unsalted butter
• Return the mixture to the heat and simmer for a minute.
• Add the cream and salt, stir and allow to cook for a further minute. Take off the heat and allow to cool.
  1 tsp smoked sea salt, 125 ml double cream (heavy cream)

Cake

• Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.
  180 g unsalted butter, 100 g light muscovado sugar, 100 g golden caster sugar
• Beat in the eggs one by one, adding a little of the flour in between each one if the mixture curdles.
  3 large eggs
• Sieve in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Add the ground hazelnuts and stir until just mixed.
  175 g golden wholemeal flour, 1 ½ tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• Stir in the apple pieces followed by the buttermilk until everything is just mixed.
  2 cooking apples, 100 g kefir, buttermilk, sour milk or watered down yoghurt
• Spoon into a 23cm round silicon cake mould or lined baking tin.
• Arrange the unpeeled apple slices over the top, then drizzle with 4 tbsp of the toffee sauce.
  1 Cox’s Orange Pippin
• Bake at 180℃ (350℉, Gas 4) for 40 minutes or until the cake is well risen and firm to the touch and an inserted skewer comes out more or less clean.
• Leave to cool in the mould or tin, then transfer onto a serving plate.
• Drizzle with 3-4 tbsp of the toffee sauce, then scatter the roasted hazelnuts over the top.

Notes

Serve warm for dessert with the rest of the toffee sauce, if desired.

Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on exact ingredients used.

Nutrition Estimate

Calories: 415kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 94mg | Sodium: 62mg | Potassium: 245mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 702IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 66mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below letting us know how you got on and do share a photo on Instagram. Tag @choclette8 or use hashtag #tinandthyme.

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I’m sharing my toffee apple bonfire cake with Only Crumbs Remain for #BakingCrumbs and Mummy Mishaps for #BakeoftheWeek.