Apple Cake with Cinnamon
Why do I need another recipe for apple cake? I’ll tell you… Our year started with a cold snap. Here, in the middle of the country, we’ve had a sprinkling of snow and a few grey and grumpy days when it didn’t really get light at all. And we’ve had days like today, when it’s sunny, freezing cold, and every twig, leaf, and edge is covered in hoarfrost. I looove the way that looks - but it also signals how jolly cold it is outside. Which - predictably - turns my mind to tea and apple cake with cinnamon, because it’s the perfect sweet and spicy treat for chilly weather.
Frosty Rosemary Bush in our Garden © essentially-england.comI don’t have the sweetest of sweet teeth, so I tend to pick spiced apple cake over the more common apple cake with sugar streusel, or apple cake and custard. Besides, apple and cinnamon are a match made in heaven, and spices like cinnamon, ground ginger, and allspice are beautifully warming on a nippy day. And put all together, they’ll make your home smell absolutely delicious!
So, what
goes into this apple cake with cinnamon?
All the usual suspects: butter, flour, sugar, apples, egg - plus your selection of spices. I’ve been using ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground mixed spice. I’ve also chosen to use a blend of sugar, half-light muscovado and half granulated. I think it gives the cake a slightly richer, caramelly flavour and a slightly darker colour.
Apple Cake with Cinnamon Cooling in the Cake Tin © essentially-england.comA note about
spices:
In this recipe, I’ve used ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground mixed spice in a ratio of 2:1:1 - which is quite a lot of spice compared to other recipes. It worked out well, though, producing a cinnamon-flavoured cake with a tiny, pleasant background bite from the ginger.
If you’re not a fan of ginger, or like a sweeter, gentler taste to your apple cake, you can omit the ground ginger.
What apples
should you use in your apple cake with cinnamon?
Both cooking apples and dessert apples make great apple cakes. Dessert apples tend to hold their shape, so if you like to bite into chunks of apple, or like to layer apple slices over the top, then opt for dessert apples.
Cooking apples, in the UK this means Bramleys, tend to be a little more acidic than our dessert apples. They also collapse a bit more while cooking. When using Bramleys, you may need a little more sugar and a little less liquid.
For this apple cake with cinnamon, I’ve used Braeburn eating apples that had lost some of their crunch while sitting in the fruit bowl. I cored and chopped my apples, leaving the skin on.
Apple Cake with Cinnamon Ingredients © essentially-england.com
Ingredients
for one 8in / 20cm round cake:
- 115g cold, unsalted butter
- 225g self-raising flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 60g light muscovado sugar
- 60g golden granulated sugar or demerara sugar
- 1 large egg
- 6-8 tablespoons of milk
- 225g apples, chopped (see note above)
- Demerara sugar for sprinkling
What to do
next:
- Start by heating your oven to 180°C / 160°C Fan / Gas 4 / 350°F.
- Next, grease and line an 8inch / 20cm diameter cake tin, then core and chop your apples. You can peel them if you want to.
- Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. You can do it by hand or use a food processor. Then add the sugar, spices, and egg and mix into a stiff batter, making sure there’s no loose flour. Fold in the chopped apples.
- Then, one tablespoon at the time, add the milk and mix. You may not need all. Stop adding milk before your cake mix becomes loose and sloppy.
- Pour cake mix into the tin and level the top.
Apple Cake with Cinnamon before Baking © essentially-england.com- Bake for about 30 minutes. The cake will rise only a little.
- Sprinkle demerara or golden granulated sugar over the top and bake for another 10 minutes. Test with a skewer in the centre to see if it’s done.
Apple Cake with Cinnamon © essentially-england.comAnd that, as they say, is that. Ideally, you’ll cool the cake tin on a rack for 10-15 minutes before removing the cake from the tin to cool completely.
In reality, that rarely happens. You’re much more likely to cut the cake while it’s still slightly warm and bask in the fragrance of cinnamon, ginger, and mixed spice. And you know what? There’s nothing wrong with that. This apple cake with cinnamon tastes great, whether you serve it fully cooled or still slightly warm.
That’s the fabulous thing about apple cakes!
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