Blackberry, apple and pear crumble cake with sticky toffee sauce
Pretty and seasonal, packed with pears, apples and blackberries, topped with a thick layer of oat crumble and filled with lashings of cream cheese buttercream. Drizzle with salted caramel and a sprinkle of blackberries and this autumnal cake will make the perfect pudding for a harvest supper. I made my two sponges in 8-inch cake tins, but this would also be lovely made in a traybake tin and then cut into squares, says Miranda Gore Browne
Ingredients
- For the cake:
- 225g unsalted butter, softened
- 225g caster sugar, softened
- 4 eggs
- Zest & juice of half a lemon
- 225g self-raising flour
- 2 tsp of baking powder
- 2 pears, cored and thinly sliced
- 2 small apples, cored, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 handfuls of blackberries, keep a few to one side to decorate the top
- For the crumble topping:
- 50g unsalted butter
- 50g plain flour
- 50g sugar (soft brown)
- 50g oats
- 50g walnuts, crushed
- For the buttercream:
- 500g icing sugar
- 100g unsalted butter, softened
- 150g full fat cream cheese
- For the drizzle:
- 4 tbsp of caramel sauce, I used tinned caramel (add a pinch of sea salt and stir well to combine).
Method
- For the cake: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Cream together the butter and sugar.
- Add the eggs a little at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Mix in the lemon zest and juice, flour and baking powder.
- Line the tins with non-stick baking paper at the bottom and lightly grease the sides.
- Spoon half of the mixture into each tin and smooth the tops gently with a palette knife or butter knife.
- Spread half of the apple, pears and blackberries on top of each cake.
- Put the cakes into the oven and set a timer for 10 minutes while you make the crumble topping. It is best to put the cakes onto a low sided tin to catch any crumble bits.
- For the crumble topping: Put all the above ingredients into a bowl and mix well, use your fingers to rub together.
- After the cakes have baked for about ten minutes, carefully spoon half of the crumble mixture over each cake and put them straight back into the oven to bake for about another 15 minutes or until golden and not wobbly.
- Leave to cool in the tins before carefully lifting onto a cooling rack
- For the buttercream: Cream together the icing sugar, butter and cream cheese.
- To assemble the cakes: Use a dollop of the buttercream to stick one cake to a cake stand or cake plate. The cake should be crumbled side up.
- Spread over about half the buttercream and add a drizzle of caramel sauce.
- Gently lift the next cake on top, put another layer of buttercream on top and decorate with the remaining blackberries and drizzle with the caramel sauce.
