Toffee Apple Loaf Cake is the perfect autumn bake. It’s sweet, fruity, and has just a hint of cinnamon, which smells fantastic. It’s a wonderful afternoon treat for those darker days.
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I don’t like autumn. I know people do. It’s a popular time of the year.
I’m a summer girl.
But I do like baking yummy cakes and cooking big comforting casseroles. I love that my house always smells of the most wonderful foods, and of course, I love that Christmas is coming.
For me, when it comes to autumnal baking, this Sticky Toffee Apple Loaf Cake is perfect.
It’s tasty, moist, and sweet. It also smells fantastic.
Why I Love This Easy Toffee Apple Loaf Cake
I love baking this cake because:
- Grating the apples means they don’t sink to the bottom and are evenly spaced through the sponge. This makes this toffee apple loaf cake super moist and delicious.
- It’s gorgeous served with vanilla ice cream.
- Adding toffee gives it a nice, sweet twist.
- Apple and toffee are essential autumn flavours.
- Like all my cake recipes, it’s easy!
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Ingredients For Toffee Apple Loaf Cake
For the Toffee Apple Loaf Cake:
Unsalted Butter – or Margarine, but I don’t recommend margarine for your icing.
Caster Sugar
Light Brown Soft Sugar – You can use all of one or all of the other, but I love the flavour of both.
Eggs
Large Apples – Bramley Apples are ideal because they are tart and have lots of flavour. But it’s not essential. You can use any apples.
Toffee Sauce – You can make your own toffee sauce, but I just use a bottle of store-bought sauce.
Self-Raising Flour – If you only have plain flour, add a teaspoon of baking powder.
Ground Cinnamon
For the Toffee Buttercream Frosting:
Butter – at room temperature.
Icing Sugar
Toffee Sauce
You’ll Also Need
You need a large mixing bowl.
If you have one, an electric whisk is ideal, but you can mix your ingredients with a hand whisk if not.
I use a 2lb loaf tin lined with reusable baking paper to bake my easy apple loaf cake.
A wire rack, and a piping bag and nozzles are also handy.
How to Make Toffee Apple Loaf Cake – Step-by-Step Instructions
Step One
Full, easy-to-follow instructions and quantities are available in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (fan-assisted) and grease or line a 2lb loaf tin.
Step Two
Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. I use an electric whisk, and this takes about 2 minutes. It won’t take too much longer with a hand whisk.
Step Three
Whisk in the eggs, one at a time
Step Four
Stir through the grated apple and the toffee sauce. If you want to avoid brown apples, peel and grate them straight into the cake mix now instead of leaving them to stand.
Step Five
Sift in the flour and cinnamon and whisk until the flour is evenly incorporated and the mixture is smooth.
Step Six
Pour into a tin and spread evenly.
Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes, until a skewer comes out of the middle clean. This is quite a dense cake, so don’t worry if it takes a little longer. Just cover loosely with foil to stop the top from burning.
Step Seven
Cool completely in the tin before carefully removing onto a wire rack or plate.
Step Eight – Making Toffee Icing
Beat the butter until soft. You can use a whisk or do this by hand.
Step Nine
Add the toffee sauce and mix in evenly.
Step Ten
Add the icing sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is smooth and pipable. If it’s too stiff, add a tablespoon of milk.
Step Eleven – Decorating Toffee Apple Loaf Cake
Either spread or pipe onto the top of the cooled cake. I pipe on with a star nozzle.
Step Twelve
Finish with a drizzle of toffee sauce if desired.
Top Tips
My top tips for baking toffee and apple loaf cake are:
- I use margarine for the easy apple cake because it’s cheap and mixed well, but I don’t recommend it for buttercream. It’s sloppy!
- A Bramley apple loaf cake has lots of flavour. Other tart apples are great, too, but if you use a sweeter apple, the flavour won’t be as strong.
- Using white and brown sugar gives you a nice, rich flavour.
- Grating apples means they spread out well and flavour the whole cake instead of just giving you chunks of apple.
- Apples add moisture, so it may take longer than stated to fully bake your cake. If this is the case, lightly cover with foil before returning to the oven to avoid a burnt top.
- Cool your toffee apple cake fully in the tin if possible.
Serving Suggestions
Toffee apple loaf cake with toffee buttercream is perfect as it is.
But if you wanted to add a dollop of vanilla ice cream, that couldn’t hurt!
Variations
I love this cake exactly as it is, but you could do things a little differently.
Skip the Buttercream
The apple cake is great on its own. Toffee buttercream for an iced apple cake is lovely, but it isn’t essential.
Toffee drizzle on top is also optional.
Chunks of Apple
If you prefer chunks of apple, so that you get big juicy chunks in your bites of cake, peel, core and chop your apples into 1cm chunks, and toss them lightly in flour before folding them into your cake mix.
A cake with chunks of apple might cook a little faster, so check 5-10 minutes earlier.
Skip the Cinnamon
The cinnamon is a fairly mild flavour, which adds a nice warmth. But you can skip it entirely if you prefer.
Storage
Apple cakes don’t last as long as other cakes because they are very moist and contain fresh fruit.
Keep your moist apple loaf cake in a sealed tub or lidded cake stand for 2-3 days.
If your kitchen is very warm, I recommend keeping it in the fridge, but this isn’t usually necessary.
FAQ
Bramley apples are best for apple cake because they have a strong flavour. You can use any apples, though.
Yes, apple peel would be tough in a cake.
I prefer to grate the apples in my cake mix (and my burgers!), but if you prefer chunks, that’s fine.
Apples will start to brown as soon as you peel them. To avoid this as much as possible, I don’t peel my apples until I need them and grate them straight into the mixture.
Grated apple is lighter, so it’s less likely to skin. If you use chunks, make sure they are no bigger than 1cm and toss them lightly in flour before adding to the mixture. They’ll always sink a little, but this will minimise it.
Other Recipes
If you like this toffee apple loaf cake recipe, you might also want to try:
- Apple and Cinnamon Loaf Cake
- Apple Traybake
- Plum and Apple Crumble
- Apple Flapjacks
- Raspberry and Apple Crumble
- Apple and Pear Crumble
- Apple and Mincemeat Crumble
- Blackberry and Apple Cake
Recipe Card
Toffee Apple Loaf Cake
Ingredients
For the Toffee Apple Loaf Cake:
- 170 g Butter or Margarine
- 70 g Caster Sugar
- 70 g Soft Light Brown Sugar
- 3 Medium Eggs
- 2 Large Apples
- 5 Tablespoons Toffee Sauce
- 200 g Self Raising Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
For the Toffee Buttercream:
- 150 g Butter – (at room temperature)
- 300 g Icing Sugar
- 80 g Toffee Sauce
Instructions
To Make the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (fan-assisted) and grease or line a 2lb loaf tin.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. I use an electric whisk, and this takes about 2 minutes.
- Whisk in the eggs, one at a time.
- Peel the apples and grate them into the mixture.
- Add the toffee sauce and stir well.
- Sift in the flour and cinnamon and whisk until the flour is evenly incorporated and the mixture is smooth.
- Pour into the prepared tin and spread evenly.
- Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes, until a skewer comes out of the middle clean. This is quite a dense cake, so don’t worry if it takes a little longer. Just cover with foil to stop the top from burning.
- Cool completely in the tin before removing onto a wire rack or plate.
To Make the Buttercream:
- Beat the butter until soft.
- Add the toffee sauce and mix in evenly.
- Add the icing sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is smooth.
- Either spread or pipe onto the top of the cooled cake.
- Finish with a drizzle of toffee sauce if desired.
Notes
- I use a squeezy bottle of toffee sauce. The kind you’d buy for ice cream toppings. If you prefer a strong toffee flavour, you might prefer to use Dulce De Leche or even to melt down a few soft toffee sweets.
- Butter is better for buttercream than margarine. If you do use margarine, it will be a lot softer, and you’ll need more icing sugar and perhaps a little cornflour to stiffen it.
- I use a 2lb loaf tin like this one with some reusable baking paper (affiliate links)
Any nutritional information is given as a general guide only and may not be accurate. The information is provided using an online calculator and is specific to my ingredients. Please make your own calculations if you want precise information.
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