Easy Apple Cake – perfect for early autumn!
This Easy Apple Cake combines sharp cooking apples with toasted hazelnuts and brandy-soaked sultanas. It is a versatile cake which can be eaten with morning coffee or afternoon tea but also makes a great pudding, particularly if served warm with cream or ice-cream!
I have a Bramley apple tree in my garden which means that in late August and early September I get a huge over-supply of cooking apples. This is the season for all things apple – Apple Crumble, Apple Pie, Apple Sauce! I also get to work freezing the apples – I peel, core and chop them first – so that they can be used later on in the year. Although this is a bit laborious but I get the benefit later in the year when I have ready-to-use cooking apple chunks in the freezer to make a quick crumble or pie.
Until recently, despite the early autumn apple frenzy, the one thing I didn’t make was Apple Cake. This year, I decided to give it a go and, continuing on the autumnal theme, decided to add hazelnuts and sultanas.
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And, if not apples…
I always have renewed enthusiasm for cake baking (and eating) in autumn. There is something about the colder days and the abundance of delicious fruit, that get me back in the baking zone. If you are looking for other great autumn cake recipes, you might like Ginger and Pear Cake, Rum Banana Bread, Earl Grey Cake with Orange or even my Blackberry Muffins.
Easy Apple Cake recipe
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Easy Apple Cake
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 60
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 1 large cake 1x
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: English
Description
This is a fantastic cake to make during early autumn which brings together sharp cooking apples, toasted hazelnuts and brandy-soaked sultanas.
Ingredients
- 100 g sultanas
- 1 tablespoon of brandy or apple brandy (or apple juice)
- 225 g butter
- 350 g self-raising flour
- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
- 500 g cooking apples (eg Bramley)
- 100 g of toasted hazelnuts (finely chopped)
- 175 g caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- a little white or brown granulated sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 180 C, 400 F or Gas Mark 4.
- Put the sultanas in a ceramic bowl and add the brandy or apple brandy. Put in the microwave to heat for a few seconds and then set aside. The sultanas will plump up as they absorb the alcohol. If you do not want to use alcohol, you can use apple juice as a substitute.
- Grease a 20 cm loose-bottomed cake tin. If your tin is not non-stick, line the base with a circle of grease-proof paper or baking parchment.
- Cut the butter into small cubes and put it into a large bowl. Sift in the flour and cinnamon.
- Rub the butter into the flour, either by hand or using a food processor, until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Peel the cooking apples with a vegetable peeler, remove their cores and roughly chop.
- Add the chopped apple, plumped-up sultanas, chopped hazelnuts and sugar to the mixture. Then stir in the eggs.
- Spoon the mixture into the cake tin. Place it in the oven for one hour until it is golden and firm to the touch.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin on a cooling rack. You can sprinkle granulated sugar (white or brown) on the top of the warm cake to give it a crunchy topping.
Keywords: apple cake, apples,
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I will keep this recipe for when I inherit some cooking apples. A lovely recipe.
Love apple cake!
★★★★★