Apple Pecan Toffee Cake recipe

These lovely little cakes are a great way to impress. They're delicious and light and taste great same day or even several days after they're made. You can vary this recipe to suit you but I have some tips which I recommend reading at the bottom.

Ingredients:

• 200g butter
• 1 peeled chopped Breaburn apple
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract - optional
• 2 medium eggs
• 10 tablespoons toffee sauce (approx.)
• 225g self raising flour
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 50g pecans
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 cup apple sauce

How to:

1. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy
2. Add eggs, flour, salt and baking powder and mix
3. Add vanilla extract (optional), apple sauce, chopped apple and pecans and mix
4. Spoon into cases
5. Bake in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes for loaves, 20 minutes approx. for muffins/cupcakes
6. Remove from the oven and add toffee sauce (around 1 tablespoon per loaf)
7. Allow to cool on a rack -- store in air tight container at room temp

Tips

• +Use a real butter (stick or spreadable butter -- i.e -- butter with oil in it). Avoid margarine if possible in this recipe.
• +Have your ingredients at room temperature.
• +Use an apple that will hold its shape once cooked. Breaburns are great because they hold their shape and don't release too much liquid when cooking. Other possible varieties to use include Gala, Ida Red and Jonathan.
• +Chop the apple just before you are about to start making the cakes.
• +I have used small loaf liners -- the mixture makes about 9 in this sized loaf case. You could use muffin/cupcake cases to make about 14 cakes.
• +Pecans are quite pricey, you could use walnuts, almonds or another nut as an alternative.
• +To roast the pecans, I put them in a cold oven, then turned it on to preheat for the cake. I took them out after around 15 minutes. +Alternatively, put them in a low pre-heated oven for up to 10 minutes.
• +Use a good quality apple sauce. Many of the economy brands taste very sweet but not too much of apple. It is worth spending the money for an apple sauce that really tastes of apple.
• +If you are using plain (all purpose) flour that does not have any raising agent in, add 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon bi carb.
• +As an alternative to adding the toffee sauce whilst warm to the cake, you can add a thick toffee/caramel/dulce de leche to the top of your cakes and finish with a whole pecan for a more up market presentation.