Apple Cake

We decided when we harvested the apples to set some aside to cook with, so now we have a lot of apples to eat, there’s only so many apple crumbles and pies you can eat, so for a change I decided to make a cake. This cake is really versatile, it can be a pudding or a sweet, and it’s incredibly easy to make so it’s something children can get involved in too.

This is a recipe which was given to me many years ago by a dear friend, in fact it’s so old I’ve had to convert it from Imperial to Metric. The original recipe was in a square tin, but I’ve also given you the size for a round cake too. 

A few tips on lining your tin. First of all, please excuse my tins, they’re very old, I think I bought them when we got married so I’ve had them for nearly 40 years, so they’ve seen a lot of cakes over the years! I find the best way to line a square tin is to cut a piece of greaseproof paper so it’s big enough to be lifted up the sides. Cut this out, then snip the paper to the corners of the tin, take the tin off the paper and fold to the cuts and then fold the paper until you get a square the size of the bottom of the tin, it can then be lifted into the greased tin and the tin and unfolded. If necessary use some extra butter/spread to stick it to the sides of the tin covered with the rest of the paper, (this will make sense when you put the paper in the tin!). 

Lining a Square Tin

To line a round tin, first, cut out a circle of greaseproof paper that will fit your tin. Next, take some strips of greaseproof paper that will line the walls of the tin, fold the bottom 2 cm over, fold it back and snip the paper to the fold. Grease the tin, put the side pieces in with the snipped edge on the bottom, and finally put the round disk of paper in the bottom.

Of course, you can always buy ready-made greaseproof tin liners, they are widely available, for example, from Lakeland. They certainly save time, but your cake ends up with crinkled edges.

A Few Notes on the Recipe

I find cubing the butter helps with rubbing it in, it takes less time and less effort, also the mixture doesn’t end up over-rubbed, and this helps the cake to maintain a nice crumbly texture, although to be honest in this cake it’s fairly forgiving. If you don’t like rubbing in with your hands, and I know a lot of people don’t, you can always blitz it in a food processor, or use a pastry blender, they’re really effective.

If you’re getting children involved in making the cake, you probably want to do the chopping of the apple. The original recipe says to remove the peal, but to be honest I quite like it left on unless the skin looks bruised and sad. It also means that there’s a bit of fibre in there, I realise that on the whole a cake can’t be considered a particularly healthy choice, but an occasional treat now and then as part of a balanced diet, I believe, is okay.

To remove the core I find the best thing is to cut the apple quarter to the centre, turn it and then cut from the other way, that minimises the danger of cutting your fingers.

What I really like about this recipe is it is quick, so the cake-eating gratification happens with minimal faff, it’s also a very good way to use up any cooking apples that look as thought they’re about to pass their best, and you could mix it up by using tart eating apples, such as Cox, or a mixture of cooking and eating apples. You could even use mixed fruit instead of sultanas. The variations are endless. This cake also freezes really well.

Ingredients

  • 350g self-raising flour
  • 150g butter, cut into small cubes
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 140ml milk
  • 150g soft brown sugar
  • 225g cooking apples, washed, cored and chopped, (I used Bramley’s) – no need to peel them
  • 225g sultanas
  • 2 tsp mixed spice, (or cinnamon)
  • 25g demerara sugar

Method

Start the day before you are going to cook the marmalade. 

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 170C/fan 150C
  2. Grease and line a 20 cm square/23 cm round tin
  3. Begin by mixing the apples, sultanas, milk, and sugar in a bowl and set aside.
  1. In another bowl mix together the spice and flour, scatter in the cubed butter and rub in the mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs, as you would for pastry.
  1. Add the fruit mixture to the flour together with the egg and mix well to combine.
  1. Tip the mixture into the prepared cake tin, even the surface and scatter over the demerara sugar.
  2. Bake in the centre of the oven for 1 ½ – 1 ¾ hours, or until it is risen, golden brown, and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake.
  3. Optional: you can take a small eating apple, cut it into slithers and arrange it on the top before scattering with the demerara sugar. If you don’t have butter any spread that’s suitable for baking will be fine and easier to rub in, although butter gives a richer flavour. I have also made a gluten free version of this cake and that works really well. Regarding the spices, I bought some Speculoos spice from Fox’s Spices, which also works very well in this cake. In fact, feel free to adapt the recipe and make it your own.

This cake is delicious cold as a treat with a cup of tea or coffee, or warm with custard or cream as a pudding. Enjoy!