Spiced Apple & Walnut Cake
A deliciously warming autumnal cake, this apple and walnut traybake has a pastry base and is topped with a rich and moist spiced sponge. We serve this cake in our cafe and make it with our home grown apples, if you have any apples growing in your garden this is a fantastic way to use them!
Ingredients
Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus cooling
Cooking time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Serves: 16
Ingredients:
175g unsalted butter, cubed and chilled, plus extra for greasing
300g light brown soft sugar
300g self-raising flour
250ml whole milk
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg, plus extra to top
1 tsp ground cinnamon
60g walnuts, roughly chopped
1 Bramley (or homegrown) apple, peeled and cored (200-250g prepared), ¾ chopped into 1cm pieces, ¼ finely sliced
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C, gas mark 4. Grease a 20cm square cake tin and line with baking parchment. Put the butter, sugar and flour into a food processor and pulse until they start to resemble fine breadcrumbs. Tip ½ the mixture into the tin, spread out and press down into an even layer using the back of a spoon.
2. Put the milk, bicarbonate of soda, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon and a pinch of salt into a bowl and use a balloon whisk to beat them together until combined. Add the remaining crumble mixture, the walnuts and the chopped apple and whisk to incorporate (it will look a bit lumpy). Pour the mixture over the base, then quickly arrange the apple slices over the top of the batter. Grate over a little extra nutmeg.
3. Bake for 1 hour-1 hour 10 minutes, covering with baking parchment after 45 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin for at least 45 minutes. Remove from the tin and serve warm with cream, if liked, or at room temperature with a cup of tea.
