This sticky, sweet and delicious cake is the perfect Autumnal treat and ideal for using up all those end of season apples!

Ingredients

For the cake:

115g salted butter, diced

225g self-raising flour

2 tsp ground cinnamon

115g golden caster sugar

1 large egg, beaten

6 tbsp milk

2 Bramley apples peeled, cored and diced

1 eating apple, cored and cut into thin slices for the top

For the sauce:

300ml double cream

85g unsalted butter, diced

100g light brown sugar

Pinch of salt

Method

Heat the oven to 180C or 160C (fan). Grease and line a 20cm cake tin.

Mix the flour and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub into the flour until it looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar. Beat in the egg, then gradually add the milk until the mixture is thick and smooth.

Add in the diced Bramley apples and mix to combine. Pour the batter into the cake tin and level the mixture out with a baking spatula. Bake for 30-40 mins or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

In the meantime, make the toffee sauce. Add the cream, butter and sugar to a saucepan and melt together on a medium heat until the sauce is lightly bubbling, thick and saucy. Be careful not to let it get too hot, so as not to burn the sauce. Leave to cool slightly.

Remove the cake from the oven when it is ready, and leave to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to come to room temperature.

Lightly cook the eating apple slices in a saucepan with a dash of water and a pinch of sugar until they are bendy. Once slightly cooled, decorate the top of the cake with a circular fan of the slices. Pour over as much of the toffee sauce as you desire. Garnish with a sprig of lavender. Enjoy with a cup of hot pumpkin chai tea!