A light fruity sponge made with wholemeal flour, ground hazelnuts and apples which is drizzled with a delightful smoky salted toffee sauce. Perfect Bonfire Night fare.
175ggolden wholemeal flour(or half wholemeal flour and half white flour)
1 ½tspbaking powder
¼tspbicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
100ghazelnuts75g freshly ground and 25g roasted and roughly chopped
2cooking applespeeled, cored and diced to roughly 1 cm sq
100gkefir, 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).
1Cox’s Orange Pippinor other tart dessert apple – peeled, cored but not peeled, then finely sliced
Instructions
Smoky Salted Toffee Sauce
Pour the sugar into a medium to large saucepan and place over a medium heat.
Add the golden syrup and leave for a few minutes until the sugar has melted and turned a light brown colour.
Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Be careful as it might spit.
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.
Cake
Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one by one, adding a little of the flour in between each one if the mixture curdles.
Sieve in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Add the ground hazelnuts and stir until just mixed.
Stir in the apple pieces followed by the buttermilk until everything is just mixed.
Spoon into a 23cm round silicon cake mould or lined baking tin.
Arrange the apple slices over the top, then drizzle with 4 tbsp of the toffee sauce.
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
Can also be served 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.