Caramel & apple loaf

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 30 minutes plus 1hr 20 baking

Serves: 8

I love baking in the autumn because of all the delicious ‘fall’ flavours. Apple and cinnamon together are one of my favourite flavour combinations, especially if you add in some caramel, so this caramel apple loaf was a real winner for me.

I also love it whenever you can bake something that you’ve picked yourself. It’s great when children can see where something grows, pick it and turn it into something delicious. We don’t have our own apple tree but got a big delivery of apples from some friends so have are going to be trying a few apple recipes over the next week or so.

We found it a really easy recipe to follow so it is a great baking recipe for beginners or anyone with young children/toddlers. The loaf was deliciously moist and ‘appley so doesn’t need the caramel sauce but if you choose to make it, it won’t disappoint.

Ingredients

175g (3/4 cup) butter
175g (3/4 cup) golden caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
225g (1 1/2 cups) self raising flour
½ tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp (heaped) greek yoghurt
2 or 3 apples

For the Caramel
50g (1/4 cup) light muscovado sugar
100g ( 1/3 cup) golden syrup
35g (1/6 cup) unsalted butter (softened)
80ml single cream

Method

Heat your oven to 160C/140C Fan / 320F and grease and line a 2 lb loaf tin with baking paper.

Make the cake batter

Get your child to measure the butter (175g), sugar (175G), and vanilla out and add them to a large bowl or freestanding mixer.

Beat it all together for a minute or two until it is light and fluffy.

Crack the eggs into a small bowl before adding them to your bowl one at a time and mixing them in.

Measure the flour (225g) and cinnamon (1/2 tsp) and add to your bowl. Then get your little one to spoon the yoghurt in (4 tbsp).

Add the apple

Get your child to help you peel, core 2 or 3 apples and chop them into small chunks. Add them to your batter and stir it all in with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Pour the batter into your prepared tin and smooth it down.

Bake the apple loaf

Bake the apple loaf in the oven for 1 hr 20-30 minutes. It’s ready when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove it from the oven and after a few minutes take it out the tin and leave it to cool on a wire rack.

Make the caramel

While the cake is cooling, make the caramel sauce. Measure the sugar (50g), syrup (100g) and butter (35g) and add to a pan. Heat is gently until the butter has melted then allow it to bubble for around three minutes. Remove from the heat and add the cream (80g). 

Give it a stir then put it aside and allow it to cool to room temperature. Once it’s cooled a touch, pour it over your apple loaf.