Peanut Butter Apple Caramel Loaf

My fruits basket overwhelmed with fruits all because of my greediness and of course there is no meals without fruits in our household. Despite having fruits for all our three meals and snacking in between I still have few more apples to go.  There's where my elder Dandelion suggested to bake with them. Walla! I love the idea and here you go my caramel peanut butter apple loaf. We made a fresh batch of caramel sauce to drizzle over the loaf but this time opted for Himalayan pink salt instead of sea salt. It's a rice, dark sauce with a mild saltiness which,  goes well perfectly for drizzling on any desserts.

I used Royal Gala apple for the recipient,  you may use any sweet apple of your choice. If you prefer a bit of tanginess even Granny Smith is a good choice for the loaf.  It's a dense cake due to the delicious peanut butter in the recepi. The chunky peanut butter adds texture to the loaf and the crispiness of the baked apples enhance the flavor. The dark and gooey caramel sauce drizzled over the baked apple is simply irresistible.We enjoyed it with a cup of black tea as our tea time treat. 

Ingredients 

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour 

1/2 cup unsalted butter,softened

2/3 cup chunky peanut butter

2 large eggs, room temperature 

1 red apple,sliced 

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder 

1/4 cup buttermilk 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

For The Caramel Sauce 

1/2 cup granulated white sugar 

1/4 cup whipping cream 

3 tbsp unsalted butter 

Generous pinch of Himalayan pink salt 

Methods

For The Loaf

Preheat oven at 175'c or 350'F. Line a 9"inch loaf tin with parchment paper. Keep aside. 

Wash, cored and slice the apples. Soak the sliced apples into a bowl of salt water to prevent from browning.

In a large bowl,  combine flour, baking powder and salt. Keep aside. 

Using a stand or hand mixer, cream the peanut butter,butter and brown sugar for 3 minutes till fluffy. 

Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla extract and beat for few seconds. Scrap the sides of the bowl. 

Using a spatula add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and gently fold in to combine.

Add butter milk and fold in till all the ingredients well cooperated.

Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and smooth the surface with the spatula.

Arrange with the apple slices and bake for 55-60 minutes or till a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

For The Caramel Sauce

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, heat sugar on medium-low heat. Do not stir. After few minutes the sugar will completely dissolved and turns to light amber color. Add butter and using a wooden spoon stir the mixture. Be cautious as the moment butter added,  the mixture will splatter.

Stir till the butter completely melted. Carefully add the whipping cream taking note splattering will happen during the process. Stir and boil for approximately 1 minute. Remove from heat and add the Himalayan pink salt. Stir and let it cool completely.

Remove the cake from oven and cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for an hour. 

Drizzle with the caramel sauce, slice and enjoy.