caramelised apple and cinnamon cake

How on earth are we in September already?! Crazy. Anyway, here's a cake I made for my sister-in-law's birthday back in April. It has an autumnal feel so I guess it's appropriate that I'm sharing it later in the year. Sis-in-law is a fan of cream cheese icing so I generally plan my cake choices for her around that. After a flick through my recipe books I felt most tempted by the apple pie cake in Edd Kimber's first baking book, "The Boy Who Bakes."

I've actually baked that cake before for my brother's birthday years ago, but it is a *huuuuge* cake and the sponges involve some time consuming elements. To make things quicker and easier for myself I baked a standard victoria sponge cake but added some warming spice.

For the cinnamon cream cheese icing and caramelised apple topping and filling I followed the original recipe but scaled down the quantities. The overall flavour was tasty although from what I remember I thought I was a little heavy handed with the cinnamon in the sponges. I also slightly overbaked them which was annoying, especially since I was baking for someone else, but sometimes these things happen. Luckily the incredibly tasty cinnamon cream cheese icing and juicy, spiced apples provided enough moisture to stop it feeling like a sad, dry cake.

On the subject of cake, is anyone else watching the new Great British Bake Off series since it moved to Channel 4? Although the programme hasn't particularly changed, the absence of Mary Berry makes me sad. I also find Sandy Toksvig intensely annoying. Thoughts?

Sticky apple and cinnamon cake
Recipe adapted from Apple Pie Cake in "The Boy Who Bakes" by Edd Kimber
(I think this is what I did...)

cinnamon sponges:
I used the classic method of weighing out my softened butter/margarine, caster sugar and self-raising flour to the same weight as my eggs (each, not their combined total weight, if that makes sense.) I used 3 large eggs for this recipe which weighed around 6oz (about 170g?)
1tsp ground cinnamon (perhaps use less though, I'd go for 1/2 tsp)

cinnamon cream cheese icing:
75g softened butter
175g icing sugar
125g cream cheese (full fat)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 

caramelised apples:
3 apples (I used Braeburn or Cox)
55g butter
55g light brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180C/ Fan 160C. Grease two 18cm/7 inch round cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment. In a large bowl beat together the margarine and sugar for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs to the mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add a tablespoon of the flour with the last egg to prevent the mixture from splitting. Add the cinnamon and flour and mix everything together until fully combined.

Divide the mixture between the cake tins and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for approx. 30 minutes until well risen, golden and spring back when touched. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

For the icing, beat the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy, for about 5 minutes, then beat in the cream cheese, vanilla extract and cinnamon.

For the caramelised apples core, quarter and slice into wedges. Add to a pan with the butter, sugar and ginger. Put the pan on the hob over a medium heat and cook until the apples have softened and are coated in caramel. Drain the apples and leave to cool but keep the caramel juice. Pour the juice back into the pan and cook again over a medium heat until it has reduced and thickened slightly.

To serve, spread half of the icing on top of one sponge along with a layer of apples and half of the caramel juice. Pop the other sponge on top and repeat. Enjoy!