Let me just start by saying that this cake is not the slimmers option, so if you have type two diabetes look away now. I don’t usually bake cakes but tomorrow is my dear old dads birthday. Sadly he is no longer around to eat cakes but when he was he seemed to like this one. Happy 62nd birthday Dad.
Vanilla apple cake
Serves 8 / Hands on time 25 mins / Total time 1 hr 30mins + cooling / V ❄
You’ll need: 20cm cake tin, foil, electric hand whisk or standing mixer
350-400g Brambly apples, peeled, cored and sliced
½ lemon, juiced
250g unsalted butter + extra for greasing
250g caster sugar
3 large eggs
250g self-raising flour
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs demerara sugar
1 tbs icing sugar for decoration
Method
1. Preheat an oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4 and grease your cake tin with butter.
2. Peel, roughly slice and core the apples. Put them in a large bowl, squeeze over the juice of half a lemon and give the apples a good toss – this prevents the apples oxidising and turning brown. Put to one side.
3. In a large bowl or standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until using an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat the eggs in one at a time, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides. If the mixture starts to curdle, simply add a tbs of the self-raising flour and continue to whisk until combined.
4. Sift in the remaining self-raising flour along with the salt and baking powder. Use a wooden spoon to fold in the mixture. The batter should be pale and thick.
5. Fold in the apples and spoon into your prepared tin, using the back of a spoon to push the mixture evenly to the edges (it may seem like there isn’t enough batter to cover the apples but don’t worry, the apples sink to the bottom of the cake during baking). Smooth over the top with a wooden spoon and sprinkle over 1 tbs of Demerara sugar.
6. Bake in the oven for 40 mins. At this stage the cake will be very brown but don’t worry, it’s not burning. Remove the cake from the oven and swiftly cover the top loosely with foil before returning to the oven. Continue to bake for a further 20-30 minutes or until a skewer that is inserted comes out clean, making sure you don’t mistake raw cake batter or baked apples.
7. Remove from the oven and leave the cake to rest in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Leave to cool fully before dusting with icing sugar and serving with clotted cream and a cup of tea.
If you’ve had a go at making any of my recipes, I’d love to hear from you. Follow me now @corrieheale and tag your recipe pictures using #corriesrabbitfood.
V – Vegetarian
❄ – This cake is suitable for home freezing once cooled. Wrap well in cling film and freeze fore up to 3 months. Defrost fully before serving.
corriesrabbitfood.com 