30 October 2010

Ode to the Apple: Dorset-style Apple Cake

Rather than apple pie, I have taken some more of the amazing windfall apples I gathered in Tongham Community Wood and made an apple cake. Based on a traditional Dorset apple cake, this cake is made in the Thermomix and has a bit of an extra twist to it: a layer of crumble in the middle as well as on top!

Tongham Wood Apple Cake
This Thermomix recipe makes one 8-inch round cake

Flour, sugar and eggs — Start with flour, sugar and eggs

For the filling and topping:
100 g plain flour
50 g butter or margarine, in pieces
50 g sugar
½ t cinnamon

For the cake:
225 g apples, peeled, cored and cut into quarters
100 g butter
100 g sugar
60 g milk
225 g plain flour
1 egg
1 ½ t baking powder
Pinch of salt
optional: apple slices to decorate, from one more apple

Make the topping and filling:

Weigh flour and butter into TM bowl. Turbo pulse into crumbs.
Add sugar and cinnamon. Turbo pulse a few more times to mix. Tip into a bowl and reserve.

Make the cake:

Weigh apples into the TM bowl and turbo pulse once or twice very gently to chop. Tip out and reserve.
Weigh in butter, sugar, milk and flour. Add egg, baking powder, and salt. Mix 30 seconds/Speed 5 until smooth.
Scrape down the sides of the TM bowl with the spatula. The batter should be thick but you can add a touch more milk if required. Mix again 20 seconds/Speed 5.
Stir in the chopped apples with the spatula.
Butter and line a deep 8-inch round cake tin (a springform tin works best) and pour in the half the batter.
Sprinkle half the topping and filling mixture over the batter in the tin. Cover with the remaining cake batter.
Sprinkle the remaining topping mixture evenly over the batter. If desired, decorate the top with slices of peeled apple.
Bake in a preheated 180° C oven for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean, and the top is golden brown. Place on a rack to cool.