Apple and almond cake
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 1 to 2 hours
- Serve
- Serves 6–8
- Dietary
- Vegetarian
A moist dessert cake crammed with apples and with a hint of almond, too. This is ideal served warm with custard for pudding.
For this recipe you will need a 20cm/8in deep, loose-bottomed or spring form cake tin.
Ingredients
- 225g/8oz self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 225g/8oz caster sugar
- 2 large free-range eggs
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 150g/5oz unsalted butter, melted
- 350g/12oz cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced (225g/8oz prepared weight)
- 25g/1oz flaked almonds
Method
Preheat the oven to 160C/140C Fan/Gas 3. Grease and line the base of a 20cm/8in deep, loose-bottomed or spring form cake tin with non-stick baking paper.
Measure the flour, baking powder and sugar into a bowl. Stir in the eggs, almond extract and butter. Beat well using an electric hand whisk until smooth.
Spoon half the mixture into the base of the prepared tin. Arrange the apple slices on top in a neat pattern – not touching the sides of the tin. Overlap the slices and pile them up slightly in the centre. Spoon over the remaining cake mixture, then level the surface.
Sprinkle the top of the cake with the flaked almonds and bake in the preheated oven for about 1½ hours, until pale golden brown and shrinking away from the sides of the tin. The centre of the cake may have a slight dip, depending on the variety of apples used. Remove from the oven and release from the sides of the tin. Leave to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes.
Turn out the cake onto a serving plate and serve while it is still warm with cream or crème fraîche.
Recipe tips
You could use eating apples in this recipe too, but they won't soften as well as cooking apples. It's best to use sharper varieties.
