This Apple Crumble Loaf Cake has a caramel apple loaf cake, topped with delicious homemade crumble and a drizzle of caramel sauce.

Apple Crumble is one of my favourite desserts and I have been dying to make a cake version for such a long time.

I don’t know about you, but it is a dessert I always have around Christmas/wintertime. There is just something about the baked apples with a hint of cinnamon that make the kitchen smell super festive.

To level up this apple crumble cake I did add a drizzle of homemade salted caramel sauce. This is completely optional but if you can I 100% recommend it.

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Crumble

I made the crumble first, just so it had plenty of time to cool before I used it to decorate the top of my loaf cake. But I do need to warn you, this stuff is tasty! I am surprised there was enough left to decorate the cake, I kept eating it as I was baking.

There are only three ingredients used to make the crumble, plain flour, butter and demerara sugar.
Start by rubbing together the butter and flour until it forms breadcrumbs. This can be a little time-consuming, but it is worth it! Mix in the sugar and sprinkle it over a baking tray.

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As you mix the sugar in you should notice parts of the crumble clumping together. This is completely fine, you can even use your fingers to combine little pieces of the crumble if you prefer it to be thicker.

You will know the crumble is baked when it is golden brown in colour. Remove it from the oven and leave it to cool completely. It needs to be completely cool before you decorate your cake.

Salted Caramel Sauce

If you are wanting to make the salted caramel sauce to drizzle over the top of the cake, make this before you make the cake. Again, this gives it a chance to cool and set slightly before drizzling it over the cake.

Brown Sugar Loaf Cake

Peel and core the apples and cut them into rough chunks. I wasn’t too worried about these all being the same size or even, as they will be added to your cake batter. I prefer to do uneven-sized chunks because when you bite into a slice of the cake it is nice to have bigger and smaller chunks of apple.

Once you have cut the apples add them to a large bowl and mix them with brown sugar and cinnamon until the apples are completely coated. Leave to one side.

For this loaf cake, I used light brown sugar. It just gives the cake a lovely hint of caramel flavour. You can of course use caster sugar instead if you prefer.

Cream together the butter and sugar until it is pale in colour and fluffy in texture. Add in the remaining ingredients and mix them together.

I always start by creaming together the butter and sugar when making any cake or cupcakes as I find it ensures there is lots of air incorporated into the bake. But you could also do the all-in-one method, adding all the ingredients to a large bowl and mixing them together.

The great thing about making a cake is that you don’t need to mix the ingredients for too long. Once the mixture has come together and is fully incorporated you can stop mixing. Overmixing the mixture can cause the cake to become heavy and dense. It can cause it to sink in the centre when you remove it from the oven.

You will know the cake is ready when it is golden brown in colour. You can use a cake tester to test the centre of the cake, but just be wary. If you hit a chunk of apple the tester won’t come out clean, so you are best to test a few different places in the centre of the cake.

Caramel Buttercream

I decided to add some salted caramel to the buttercream, again this is completely optional. If you prefer you can just leave it out altogether to get a delicious vanilla buttercream.

I beat the butter for 5-10 minutes in my mixer until it is lovely and soft and supple, before adding in the icing sugar.

Once mixed, the butter and icing sugar should be completely combined and smooth. Add the salted caramel and mix again. It might be slightly thick, if this happens, just add a tablespoon of whole milk and mix again, repeat until the buttercream is the desired consistency.

Putting it All Together

Pipe the buttercream onto the top of your cake and drizzle over the salted caramel (completely optional) before sprinkling over some crumble topping.

Alternatives

You could use any fruit you fancied in this cake, just use the same weight as the apples.

Equipment

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