I my usual method for grating the apple, which was to cut the apple it half vertically, remove the core with a melon baller or teaspoon and grate using the peel to hold it. You end up with grated apple and holding a piece of apple skin that can be discarded - with your own skin intact!
It was a very elegant looking cake with a nice moist crumb and lovely flavour of both apple and caramel. I made this one for a very sophisticated young lady’s thirteenth birthday. Her mum decorated it simply with two candles which said “13”.
Ingredients
For the cake
225g each of baking spread
caster sugar
self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 large eggs
two eating apples, peeled, cored and grated
For the filling and topping
100g unsalted butter, softened
200g icing sugar
2 tblsp Bon Maman confiture de lait or other caramel spread
a splash of milk if needed
3-4 tblsp Bon Maman caramelised apple spread
suitable decorations for example mini fudge chunks
Method
Grease and line the bases of two 20cm sponge tins. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk4.
Put all the cake ingredients except for the apple into a large bowl and beat until smooth. (An electric hand whisk makes this easier.)
Fold in the grated apple evenly and divide between the two prepared tins.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and done. Cool in the tins.
To make the buttercream, beat together the butter, icing sugar and caramel spread. Add the milk if needed to make it spreadable (the weather was quite hot when I made this cake so very little milk was needed).
Remove the sponges from the tins. Making sure the sponges are completely cold, place one on a cake plate or cake stand and spread the top with enough apple spread to make a generous layer (about half a jar). Then top this with half of the buttercream.
Place the second sponge on top and spread the remaining half of the buttercream on the top. Decorate with mini fudge chunks if liked or serve plain.
Cuts into 8-10 slices.
