Apple butter booze cake

More baking! I bought a large bag of Granny Smith apples, before remembering that I don't actually like fruit. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about the fresh food, but I'm more of a vegetable lover than a fruit fan. 


This cake is incredibly moist, mainly because it has lots of butter in it, and a little booze - hence the title. I also made a rather tasty glaze rather than icing, which looks much prettier, and tastes a little like marzipan. In terms of booze, use whatever is in the house - I used Benedictine but brandy, apple schnapps or rum would all be good additions!

Cake

2 apples

2 tablespoons of your chosen alcoholic beverage

140g butter

1 tablespoon honey

160g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons ground almonds

3 eggs 

100g caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 200C, and grease a cake tin. 

Peel the apples, and chop into pieces around the size of a dice. Sprinkle over the booze, stir, and leave to sit for half an hour. 

Melt the butter and honey in the microwave on low for 1-2 minutes, then leave to cool. 

Sift together the flour and baking powder, then stir in the ground almonds. 

Whisk together the eggs and sugar until thick and slightly foamy, then fold in the flour in 2 lots, using a spatula. 

Drizzle in a little of the honey and butter at a time, folding in to combine. Finally, fold in the apple and booze. 

Pour into your cake tin, and cook for 40 minutes until golden brown on top. 

Glaze

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup caster sugar

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoon pumpkin seeds

2 tablespoons almonds, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon poppy seed

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 teaspoon almond essence

Pop the sugar and water into a saucepan, and bring to boil over a medium-high heat. Simmer for around 6 minutes, swirling the pan every now and then to make sure it doesn't burn - it will start to turn a golden brown colour though. 


Add the butter and honey, and stir. Cook for another 4 minutes until golden. Add the nuts and seeds, remove from the heat, and leave to cool for 15 minutes or so. I made the glaze while the cake had its last 10 minutes in the oven, then left both to cool. The cake needs to be cooled lightly before you can add this topping, or it will all dribble over the sides. 


Once everything has reached room temperature, pour the glaze over the top of the cake, and leave to set.