Wicked toffee-apple cake with caramel peanut-brittle buttercream and snow-white apples

Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line three 20cm sandwich cake tins.

For the cake, cream the 210g butter and the demerara sugar together until very light and fluffy, 8 – 10 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices and stir into the cake batter, alternating with the milk. Stir in the squeezed apple and almonds. Divide the batter among the 3 tins and bake in the oven until a skewer inserted into the centre of each cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes.

For the buttercream, place the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer, without stirring, until the mixture begins to caramelise. Once the syrup reaches a dark toffee colour (137°C on a sugar thermometer), remove from the heat and carefully pour in the cream (the mixture will bubble up furiously). Swirl to combine. Allow to cool completely before halving the toffee sauce.

Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool completely before taking out of the tins.

Returning to the buttercream, cream the 250g butter until very white and fluffy, 8 – 10 minutes, then add one half of the toffee sauce and whip to combine. The buttercream should be very light and fluffy.

To assemble, sandwich the cake layers together with the buttercream, sprinkling a little peanut brittle in between each layer. Cover the top and sides with the remaining buttercream. Decorate one half of the cake with the remaining peanut brittle.

For the apples, insert the sticks into the apples then set aside.

Melt the white chocolate gently over a double boiler then dip each apple into the chocolate. Allow to drip thoroughly before placing on a lined baking sheet to set completely.

Place the apples on top of the cake then drizzle with the remaining half of the toffee sauce to serve.