Toffee apple cake with vanilla custard

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2 and line a square 30x30cm/12in cake tin with parchment paper.

2. For the apple cake, place the apples in a pan with 300ml/½ pint water and boil for 1-2 minutes.

3. Remove from the heat, add the bicarbonate of soda to the apples and blend with a hand-blender. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat to combine.

5. Pour half of the apple mixture into the bowl with the butter and eggs (set aside the remaining apple purée to serve).

6. Fold in the flour and baking powder until completely combined.

7. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 45 minutes-1hour, or until the cake is golden-brown and a wooden skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

8. For the custard, whisk together the cream, milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla seeds in a heatproof bowl. Suspend the bowl over a pan of simmering water and heat through to thicken, whisking constantly.

9. For the toffee sauce, add the sugar and butter to a large pan and gently heat until melted. Add the double cream and warm through, then remove from the heat and set aside until ready to serve.

10. For the crumble topping, increase the oven temperature to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

11. Using your hands, rub together all of the ingredients to make a rough breadcrumb texture. Sprinkle the topping onto a baking tray and bake until golden-brown.

12. For the Chantilly cream, whip the cream in a large bowl with the icing sugar and vanilla seeds until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed from the bowl.

13. To serve, spoon some apple purée onto each of four serving plates and drag using the back of a spoon to create a smear effect. Top with a slice of apple cake. Drizzle with the toffee sauce and spoon the custard on top.

14. Place a neat spoonful of the Chantilly cream alongside each slice of cake, sprinkle with the crumble and dust with icing sugar.