Warm apple cake with brandy butterscotch sauce

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Cookbook Challenge 2011: Fortnight 13, Dessert
Recipe: Warm apple cake with brandy butterscotch sauce
Cookbook: AWW Bake

How on earth did it become August already? June and July passed by in a blur, and I didn’t spend much (any) time cooking or baking anything blog worthy. Unfortunately, August will be the same – my parents are visiting for a month, and next week we’re ON A BOAT (minus the excessive swearing and auto-tune…).

It’s not good for the blog, but it’s good for me. Because we all know what happens when my mum and dad visit – I get a holiday due to them taking over all the housework and kitchen duties. 😀 And mum really does take over the kitchen – we picked them up on Sunday, and within three hours of them being in the country, she had already planned dinner for the coming three nights.

It’s not all roses though, before their arrival I kill myself cleaning – always a fun way to spend a Saturday! The boys and I scrubbed the house from top to bottom – even fitting in a trip to the tip – but it took me the whole day, to the point where I was still wiping down all the kitchen cupboards at 10pm at night…

But in between vacuuming, mopping, wiping, laundry, and dusting, I found a brief moment to bake a cake. This is because another task to be done before the parents step into the house is clear out any old food. I had a couple of apples and a pear slowly disintegrating, so rather than throw them out I baked them into a warm apple cake with brandy butterscotch sauce.

I used the pear by chopping it up and adding it to the cake batter. The original recipe only had sliced apples on top but I liked the addition of the fruit in the actual cake, so I’ve added it into the recipe below. When the batter is all mixed together, it doesn’t look like there’s much quantity wise, but when the apples are on top and it has risen in the oven it’s just the right size – not too big, not too small. It definitely needs to be eaten warm, and the sauce is good with it – not to sweet or strong. I quite liked the hint of brandy in it too, but if you don’t have any or don’t like it, the brandy could be omitted.

Baking is so much more rewarding than throwing fruit away so I’m glad I took time out from cleaning. Even if it meant that I was still cleaning late into the evening – who cares when there’s cake involved? 😀

Read past Cookbook Challenge posts or see what everyone else made at the Cookbook Challenge forum.

Warm apple cake with brandy butterscotch sauce

Adapted from: Australian Women’s Weekly Bake

125g butter, softened
110g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g self-raising flour
50g plain flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon milk
3 medium granny smith apples (approx 450g)
1/2 cup / 160g apricot jam, warmed

Brandy butterscotch sauce

50g firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cream
50g butter, chopped
1 tablespoon brandy

Preheat the oven to 160°C and grease and line a 24cm springform cake tin.

Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time and beat well between additions. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Stir in the sifted flours, cinnamon and milk.

Peel, core and halve the apples. With one apple, cut into cubes, and with the other two apples, slice thinly. Stir the cubed apple into the cake mixture and then pour into the cake tin.

Push the thin slices of apple gently into the surface of the cake mixture and brush the apple with strained jam.

Place into the oven and bake for about 40 minutes, or until cooked. Turn out on to a wire rack to cool.

Make the brandy butterscotch sauce by placing all the ingredients into a small saucepan over heat. Bring to the boil and stir until the sugar dissolves. Then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered without stirring for about 3 minutes or until the mixture thickens slightly.