Irish Apple Cake With Toffee Sauce Recipe

Directions:

1. For the Roasted Apples, preheat oven to 375 and butter a large casserole dish. Cut the apple quarters into 2 - 3 wedges each and place them in the dish. Sprinkle with the lemon juice and sugar and dot with butter. Bake, turning frequently 15 - 20 minutes or until apples are tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven, drain juices off and cool. Keep oven on to maintain temperature.
2. For the Cake, butter a springform pan (9 - 10 ) and sprinkle the bottom with almonds.
3. In a separate bowl, sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
4. In another bowl, cream butter & sugar until light & fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat until smooth.
5. With a wooden spoon, fold in dry ingredients, vanilla, sour cream (or creme fraiche - see below) and cider.
6. To arrange the Cake, starting in the centre, decoratively arrange half the apples in prepared pan. Roughly chop remaning apples and stir into cake batter. Pour batter into pan and bake 70 - 80 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove cake and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Release sides of pan, invert to a cake plate and remove the base.
7. Toffee Sauce; In a medium saucepan bring water and sugar to a boil. stir in lemon juice. Cook 10 - 15 minutes or until it starts turning a light caramel colour. Remove from heat and slowly whisk in the cream.
8. To Serve, cut cake into slices and drizzle with the toffee sauce.
9. NOTE: To make Creme Fraiche in advance of this recipe, combine 1 cup heavy whipping cream with 1 Tbsp buttermilk in a glass jar. Stir to blend, cover and let stand at room temperature for 12 - 24 hours or until thickened.