How to make
Oven 350°F (175 degrees);
Three round cake tins with a diameter of 20 cm are lightly greased and covered with baking paper, but so that there is a small boarder of about 0.5 cm so that the pastry does not stick to the walls, because it is mainly made with caramel.
1. Crunch
Put 2.5 oz (70 g butter) and 3.5 oz (100 g) light brown sugar in a saucepan and add 2 2/3 tbsp (40 ml) of cream. Place the mixture on a medium heat, while stirring constantly, to obtain a saturated caramel sauce. Remove it from the heat and distribute it into two of the cake tins onto baking paper. Slightly shake to distribute them evenly. Sprinkle 1.75 oz (50 g) of walnuts (oarsely crushed) on top. The third cake tin will not be used for the moment. Leave them aside.
Peel the apples and cut them into slices, then into small cubes. They are set aside.
In a bowl, break the eggs with 5.3 oz (150 g) of light brown sugar, 2.45 oz (70 g) of white crystal sugar and beat the mixture with a mixer on high speed until the mixture becomes thick, heavy and white - about 8-10 minutes. Reduce the speed and add a trickle oil and vanilla.
In a bowl pour all of the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and mix everything with a wire whisk. Add in 4 portions to the egg mixture, while working with a mixer on low speed.
Add 1 tsp. of flour to the apple cubes and stir.
Add them to the egg mixture and mix with a spatula. A medium and thick dough is obtained.
The finished mixture is weighed on a scale for convenience and distributed in all three forms on the walnuts with caramel and the empty cake tin evenly. (For me, the mixture was a total of 2.5 lb (1150 g) and individually 13.5 oz (384 g) in each cake tin). They need to be leveled out.
Bake at 350°F (175 degrees) for about 25-30 minutes (for me the baking was exactly 25 minutes). The finished cake layers are taken out and set aside.
Butter cream with Dulce de Leche
Put the soft butter in a bowl and beat with a mixer for about 8 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat again. The Dulce de Leche is added in portions of about 1 and a half spatulas, while beating the mixer at a low speed - until a creamy mixture is obtained.
Assembling the cake
An apple base with walnuts is placed on a turning cake stand (for convenience), by turning it over and removing the paper. Spread it with a part of the cream, (about 1 and a half spatulas) smooth it out, put a second cake layer with walnuts, by turning and removing the paper, spread it again with cream, which is followed by the last cake layer, (it is without walnuts) which is also turned and the paper is removed. Spread with cream and spread it on the walls of the cake. For convenience, I used a broken metal spatula, but it can also be smeared with a knife. Smooth it out well and set it aside.
Caramel decoration
Sprinkle 1.7 oz (50 g) of coarsely crushed walnuts on a sheet of baking paper and lightly spread them out so that they are not in a pile.
Pour the sugar and water into the saucepan. Heat it up until a golden caramel is obtained on medium heat. Quickly pour it over the walnuts and spread it out lightly with a knife, so that they do not stick together completely. Leave it to cool completely. Then cut it into various pieces with a knife. The pieces, which are small, are collected and they will serve as additional decoration later on. They are set aside.
Caramel sauce
Pour the sugar and 2 tbsp (30 ml) of water into the saucepan. Wait for it to turn into a golden caramel sauce. Remove from the heat and pour the cream, place it back onto the heat for 1 minute with constant stirring. Take it off and add the piece of butter, vanilla and stir until it has melted. Pour the mixture into a bowl to cool down to room temperature.
With a small teaspoon, scoop out the chilled caramel and pour it right over the edge of the whole cake, making sure that it drips down the sides in drops. The remaining caramel is poured in the middle of the walnut cake and is leveled out with a spatula.
Several decorative caramel pieces are stuck to one side of the cake and the other small pieces are stuck to the outer bottom.
The finished cake is left at room temperature for several hours and then it is cut into cake pieces.
