Recebecca’s Recipe of the Week: Apple Cake

October 4, 2017 by General Administrator

Moist and satisfying. You don’t need to use the glaze if it all seems a bit much.  (This recipe uses US cup measures; a US cup is equivalent to 8 fluid ounces.)

Don Farmer’s Fresh Apple Cake


2 cups sugar
1.5  cups oil (use a neutral oil such as sunflower)
3 eggs
2 cups plain flour
1 cup wholewheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2  teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-4 cups chopped apples
1 cup chopped walnuts

Caramel glaze
4 tablespoons double cream
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons white sugar
4 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat oven to 165C.

Butter the inside of a bundt or tube pan, and sprinkle it with flour to stop the cake from sticking. Set aside while you prepare the batter.

Whip the sugar and oil together in a large bowl for several minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract. The mixture should be light and fluffy.

Mix together the flour, baking soda, spices and salt. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the egg-oil mixture.

Fold in the apples and walnuts.

Turn the batter into the cake pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out dry.

Remove the cake from the oven and let cool.  Once it is cool, remove it from the pan, and place on a plate.  Then prepare the glaze:

To make the Glaze: melt all the glaze ingredients together in a saucepan over gentle heat.  Bring to the boil and boil for one minute. Pour this over the cake and let cool.

(Recipe adapted from James Beard, The New James Beard, 1981.)

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