Bonfire Night Cake...

I made this Spiced Toffee Apple Cake for Bonfire night...and it was the perfect combination...fireworks and a lovely spicy, toffee covered cake. The recipe is below, the original was in the BBC Goodfood magazine last month. I followed the recipe with no problems but it seemed to cook a little quicker than anticipated and the apples started to catch on top so I covered it in foil for the last 10 minutes. I also added rather more toffee sauce than suggested...you can never have too much!! A slice of this would be perfect with a cup of tea of an afternoon.

200g dates, chopped

200ml milk

250g butter, softened

280g self-raising flour

200g light soft brown sugar

½ tsp baking powder

4 large eggs

1 tbsp mixed spice

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 small red apples

Lemon juice

Toffees

Icing sugar

Line a 20x30cm tin with greaseproof paper and heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.

Put the dates and milk in a saucepan and bring to a simmer and then set aside for 15 minutes to cool. Once cool put the mixture in a food processor and whizz until smooth. Then put the mixture in a bowl and add the butter, flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs, mixed spice and vanilla extract.

Then thinly slice the apples and toss in apple juice.  Beat the cake mixture together with an electric whisk and then pour into the prepared tin, before arranging the apples in three rows. The cake should then be cooked for 45-50 minutes. Once cooked, put to one side and cool in the tray. Finally, melt the toffees in a small saucepan with a splash of milk until they melt down to a smooth sauce. Then to finish off, dust the cake with the icing sugar and then drizzle over the toffee sauce. Then enjoy!