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Gina @ The Passionate Pantry

Tuscan Apple Cake

[cap id="attachment_1969" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Cut and ready to eat[/cap]

I first saw a version of this cake early last year ( see here ) and have adapted it to suit my tastes ... it is a lovely dense cake, but with all the apple in it, it is deliciously moist. In my view you can definitely serve this as a dessert if you wish, simply add a scoop of vanilla bean ice-cream and a drizzle of maple syrup, or vanilla bean custard (either warm or cold) for a richer option.

I am addicted to cinnamon so I couldn't help but add in a generous amount (apple and cinnamon ... a wonderful marriage of flavours), but if cinnamon is not your thing then you can safely leave it out.

Green apples are my preference when baking as they are less sweet, but you can use red apples if you like.

I have also used plain spelt flour combined with baking powder, but if you prefer you can use the same weight of self raising flour and omit the baking powder. And if you wish to make it dairy free you can use whatever milk alternative you prefer.

However you approach making this cake, you will love it!
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 12 to 14 slices
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CAKE

  • 3 green apples peeled, cored, and sliced (peeled weight approximately 430g)
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon

  • 3 x 60g eggs
  • 250 g golden caster sugar
  • 250 g full cream milk / or milk alternative of choice for dairy free option
  • 200 g light olive oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
  • zest of 1 lemon finely grated

  • 300 g spelt flour or plain flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder

INGREDIENTS FOR THE TOPPING

  • 1 green apple peeled, cored and sliced
  • 1 tbls rapadura sugar coconut sugar, or light muscovado sugar
  • Cinnamon sugar for dusting cake once baked

Method
 

  1. Using a 22cm round spring form cake tin (base measurement), lay a large piece of baking paper onto base before clipping on the sides so that the paper extends beyond the base of the tin (this will help you lift the cake off the base and onto a cake rack to cool)
  2. Then line the sides of the tin with paper
  3. Preheat oven to 170 degrees fan forced
  4. Place apples into a large bowl (large enough to fit cake mix in later) and stir through the cinnamon until all the apple is coated … put aside
  5. Place eggs, sugar, milk, oil, vanilla, and zest into TM bowl and mix 6 seconds / speed 6
  6. Add flour and baking powder and mix 6 seconds / speed 6
  7. Pour batter over apple pieces and mix through gently
  8. Place batter into cake tin … it will be a lumpy with the apple pieces jutting out but all is good
  9. Dot top with remaining apple slices, pressing them gently into the batter
  10. Scatter top with extra sugar of choice
  11. Bake for 60 minutes, turn cake tin around and bake for a further 10 minutes or until skewer comes out clean (testing every 5 minutes thereafter: it took 1 hour and 15 minutes in my oven)
  12. Leave in tin for 15 minutes, unclip the sides of the tin, and lift the baking paper with the cake on it and transfer the cake to a cooling rack to cool completely before cutting
  13. Dust with cinnamon sugar whilst still warm