Luscious caramel apple loaf

We're still trying to get through the last of our apple pickings. After the cold snap, the blackbirds decided to have a hearty feast of the remaining apples in the tree so there aren't any more apples to be picked but still a very large pile of apples in a large bowl in the kitchen.

Last weekend we decided to make a caramel apple loaf and it was so delicious we made it again yesterday - and it's going fast! We found the recipe on BBC Good Food but decided to increase the number of apples seeing as the recipe didn't call for very many and we had very many indeed! This is the perfect gooey sticky cake to curl up with on the sofa with a hot chocolate or a big cup of tea on a cold dark winter's afternoon.

Ingredients


175g soft butter
Margarine (for greasing)
175g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
225g self-raising flour
2 tsp cinnamon (though I think we added more!)
4 heaped tbsp Greek yoghurt
3 apples
50g walnuts (plus some extra for topping)
50g soft toffees
2tbsp double cream

Method


1. Heat the oven to 160 degrees C

2. Grease a 2lb loaf tin with the margarine and line the base and ends with some baking paper

3. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until pale. (Melting the butter for a few seconds in the microwave makes this whole beating process a whole lot easier!)

4. Add the eggs in one by one to the butter mixture and beat together.

5. Add the flour, cinnamon and yoghurt.

6. Peel, core and chop the apples into small chunks and add to the bowl. Mix all together with a wooden spoon.

7. Scrape the mixture into the loaf tin, smooth the top and scatter the walnuts down the middle.

8. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 1 hour 20- 30 minutes until a knife poked into the centre comes out clean. Cool the tin.

9. Now for the yummy gooey bit. Put the toffees in a small saucepan with the double cream. Gently heat, stirring the whole time until the toffees have melted.

10. Drizzle the toffee sauce over the top of the cake. Scatter with a few extra walnuts. Leave for ten minutes before serving and then enjoy!