Cafe Lula

I have a soft spot for loaf cakes. They’re not flashy. They don’t need to dress up all pretty. They’re happy just the way they are, simple and tasty. And everyone else is happy with them the way they are too, because they totally rule your face. I wish I were a loaf cake. Or something.

Apples and caramel are a lovely, comforting combination and putting them together in a loaf cake results in a beautiful bake you could easily eat all to yourself. Curled up under a blanket on the sofa. Would it be wrong to call in sick tomorrow to do that all day instead? I mean, I definitely feel a cough coming on. Maybe. *cough*

This recipe is from Good Food magazine. On the website it says to use self-raising flour, but in the issue of the magazine I first saw it printed in, it used plain flour with no raising agent. I was a little nervous to make it this way so I added 1 tsp baking powder and it was just lovely, so I’m sticking to making it this way.

Caramel apple loaf cake

Adapted from Good Food, sauce adapted from Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

175g (6oz) butter, at room temperature (as always, I used Lurpak lightly salted) plus extra for greasing

175g (6oz) golden caster (superfine) sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

225g (8 oz) plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 tbsp Greek yoghurt (I used low fat)

2 eating apples (I used Braeburn)

For the sauce:

10g (3/8 oz) butter

55g (2 oz) golden caster (superfine) sugar

62.5ml (4 tbsp + 1/2 tsp) double (heavy) cream

mini vanilla fudge pieces, to decorate (optional)

Heat the oven to 140C (285F) fan oven/160C (320F). Grease a 2lb loaf tin and line with a long strip of baking paper so that it hangs over the edge at both ends.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Sift in the flour and add the yoghurt. Peel, core and chop the apples and add the mixture, then stir and fold until the flour, yoghurt and apple have all be incorporated.

Scrape and pour the mixture into the tin and smooth the top. Bake on the middle shelf for 1hr 20-30 minutes (mine took 1hr 20 in a 140C fan oven). A skewer inserted into the centre of the cake should come out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin.

When the cake has cooled, make the sauce. Put the butter and sugar in a small pan and cook over a medium heat for up to 10 minutes until the sugar has melted. Stir very occasionally to stop the sugar at the bottom burning, but do not stir too often. If you’re worried it might be burning but you don’t want to overstir it, pick the pan up and tip it from side to side to get the sugar moving a bit. Once the sugar has melted and turned a lovely light caramel colour, add the cream a drop at a time at first and then in a steady stream, stirring as you do so. Be careful here as the mixture will be very hot and may spit. You may find that the mixture goes a bit solid, but keep stirring and adding the cream and it will turn into a yummy sauce. The book says to simmer for a minute, but I skipped this stage as I didn’t read ths instructions properly, and it turned out fine! Allow to cool slightly.

Remove the cake from the tin and pour the caramel sauce over the top. Sprinkle with fudge pieces, if you like.