It’s the start of the apple season. This is a great recipe for using up those heritage apples you have growing in your back yard, or use Pink Lady or Granny Smith. This is our version of this delicious loaf cake, doing the rounds on Facebook and Instagram at the moment.

8-10 crisp slightly tart apples such as Pink Lady or Granny Smith

1 lemon, zest and juice of

 

Batter

2 eggs

80g sugar

30g butter, melted

125ml milk

1t vanilla

1/2t cinnamon, ground

1/4t ground nutmeg

75g cake flour

 

To finish

Apricot jam for glazing

Icing sugar for dusting

Clotted cream

 

1. Line a medium sized loaf tin with wax proof paper. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. Peel, core and thinly slice the apples (a mandolin works best here, but take not to cut yourself).
3. Sprinkle with lemon juice and zest and toss.

Batter

4. Cream together the eggs, castor sugar and melted butter.
5. Add the milk, vanilla and spices and stir well to combine.
6. Fold in the flour.
7. Pour the batter over the apple and gently toss, trying not to break the apple slices.
8. Choose approximately 10-12 slices of apple to garnish the top of the cake and set aside.
9. Arrange the remaining apple slices evenly in the loaf tin, finishing with the slices set aside.
10. Pour any remaining batter over the top and gently push down to expel any air bubbles and level.
11. Place in the oven and bake for ±60 minutes or until the apples feel soft and a skewer comes out clean.
12. Remove from the oven and glaze with the apricot jam.
13. Place in a fridge overnight to set.

To serve

14. Gently remove from the pan. Slice and serve with dusting of icing sugar and a dollop of clotted cream.

 

±10 slices