Autumn apple cake

I don’t know about you, but I like autumn. Of course it’s more like winter these days, but at least we don’t die from the heat. The trees are slowly going to sleep, their dead leafs falling to the ground, golden and red and dark...

Fall and winter are a time of comfort food. Food that warms the heart when it’s raining or snowing outside. There’s nothing better than cooking up something tasty and then eating it with your loved ones, listening to the relaxing sound of the rain.

So this post will be about an apple cake that’s full of flavour and sweetness and happiness.

Autumn apple cake

(adapted from Gordon Ramsay)

Ingredients for the sponge:

125 g of plain flour

1 tsp of baking powder

2 tbsp of sugar

50 g butter (but you can use margarine, too, just like me)

1 large egg

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1 orange, only zest

some milk

Ingredients for the filling:

4 apples (Granny Smith preferably)

50 g unsalted butter (see above)

2-3 tbsp of honey

1 tsp of ground cinnamon

a handful of raisins, coconut shreds and almond flakes

The Recipe:

Step 1. Mix together the flour, the baking powder, the sugar and the salt. Put the butter in as well, and rub the mixture together with your fingers, until it becomes breadcrumb-like. You can do this part in a food processor, of course, but why bother with the washing up?

Step 2. Take a measuring jug and mix together the egg and the vanilla extract. Then pour in the milk up to the 110 ml mark.

Step 3. Mix together the dry and wet ingredients, and then add some orange zest.

Step 4. Peel, core and cut up the apples. You don’t have to slice them too thin; they’ll look better that way.

Step 5. Put some butter into a hot frying pan, and after it melted, add the apples, too. Toss them through, and then add the honey, cinnamon and raisins. (Taste the apples first – if they’re sweeter, add less honey, etc.) You can add some orange zest, too. Or anything you like, really. Let them cook for a few minutes. They will release their delicious juices and your kitchen will smell like ... well, honey, cinnamon and apples. Preheat your oven to 180°C.

Step 6. Transfer your cooked apples into a pie dish with all of their juices. Spread the sponge on top of them, and sprinkle it with some coconut shreds and almond flakes. Bake the cake for about 18-20 minutes.

Step 7. Take it out, let it cool, but eat it while it’s still warm.

Now, there are some things you should know about this dish.

The sponge mixture won’t be enough for 4 Granny Smith apples. They’re too big, so you have to double the ingredients. Make one portion first, and if it looks like it’s not enough, don’t panic, just make another. It can be done in a matter of minutes.

You will also need a somewhat bigger pie dish for all those apples. (I used a 30 cm wide one from IKEA, and it was just enough.) Also, don’t worry if some of your apples aren’t under the sponge at the edges – they will be, because the baking powder makes sure of that.

A tip: put under your dish some tinfoil in the oven, because the apples can and probably will produce some juices along the way, and you don’t want to smell burnt apple juice, do you?

So... that’s it. Autumn apple cake – done.