Toffee Apple Traybake Recipe

I haven’t been able to join in with Jenny and Helen’s Great Bloggers Bake Off for a couple of weeks due to lack of hours in the day, but when I saw that one of this week’s themes was the tray bake, I knew that I had to join in as I am the tray bake queen.  I buy the foil trays from Lakeland and each week I will throw at least one tray bake together for the week; whether it be a sponge, a flapjack or brownies, I love the idea of cooking sweet thing en masse to be portioned out for later in the week.  They are great for lunchboxes, after school treats and even for those late night blogging munchies that I always seem to get.

The traybake recipe that I have chosen is sadly not one of my own recipes, but from a lovely book called Everyday Easy Cakes and Cupcakes published by Covent Garden Books.  My mum bought this book for me last year and I use it a lot and I definitely recommend it as there are some classic recipes in there and some really unusual ones too.

The recipe is a Toffee Apple Traybake and it is lovely this time of year with apples being plentiful and the weather turning chillier.  I have made it a few times and it never looks perfect, but it tastes delicious and is equally nice as a piece of cake with a cup of tea or warmed up as a pudding with some cream or custard.

Ingredients

350g apples
squeeze of lemon juice
350g self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
350g light soft brown sugar
4 large eggs, beaten
225g unsalted butter, melted

For the toffee sauce

100g unsalted butter
100g light soft brown sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
a pinch of salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 c.  If you are using a tin, line the tin with baking parchment.  If you are using a foil tray grease it well with a little of the melted butter.

Peel, core and thinly slice the apples ( I prefer to leave the skins on).  Put them in the bowl with a good squeeze of lemon juice and mix to evenly coat the apple pieces.

Sift the flour into a large bowl and add baking powder, sugar and mix well.  Mix in the beaten egg and the melted butter until it is well combined.

Pour the mixture into the tin and arrange the apple slices in three or four rows on the top of the cake mixture. If you are using cooking apples, it is a good idea to sprinkle some caster sugar over the top.

Bake for 45 minutes or until the cake is firm and a skewer comes out clean.  It is worth checking with a skewer as sometimes the cake beneath the apples takes a bit longer to cook.

When the cake is nearly ready to come out, start making your sauce.  Melt the sugar, butter and lemon juice in a pan and add a pinch of salt.  As it melts whisk the sauce gently with a balloon whisk until the mixture is melted, thicker and smooth.  Leave to cool while you get the cake out of the oven.

Pour the sauce all over the top and smooth out with a spoon.

Serve hot or cold and enjoy.