Method

• 1.
  Preheat oven to 160°C/140°C fan-forced. Grease a 23cm round cake pan and line base and side with 3 layers of baking paper, greasing between layers so they stick together (this stops the side of the cake colouring too much).

• 2.
  Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water (don’t let base of bowl touch the water) and stir until smooth. Cool for 10 minutes (the mixture might split, but will come back together with the other ingredients).
• 3.
  Place dried apple in a food processor and whiz until finely chopped. Add the sugar and whiz for 20 seconds to combine.
• 4.
  Beat cream cheese in a bowl until smooth, then beat in the sour cream until smooth and combined. Whisk in the eggs, then fold in the flours and apple sugar. Add cooled chocolate mixture and, using a large whisk or spatula, mix until smooth. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour, or until edges are set (centre will still be wobbly). Loosely cover with foil and bake for a further 1 hour 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean with a few moist crumbs. Stand in pan for 30 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• 5.
  For the icing, whisk ingredients together in a bowl until smooth. Refrigerate until needed.
• 6.
  For the caramel, place sugar and apple juice in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10-12 minutes, until thickened and reduced. Cool completely.
• 7.
  Spread icing over the cake and cut into slices. Drizzle slices with apple caramel to serve.