Apple Cake

Recipe origin: Ireland

Ingredients

• 1 pound of apples (about 3 or 4 medium)
• Juice and grated rind of 1 lemon
• ¾ cup butter (1½ sticks)
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups self-rising flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ground
• 5 Tablespoons raisins
• 2 Tablespoons hazelnuts, chopped
• 4 Tablespoons powdered sugar

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9-inch round cake pan.
2. Peel, core, and slice the cooking apples and place them in a bowl.
3. Sprinkle apples with the lemon juice and set aside.
4. In another bowl, beat together the butter, lemon rind, and all but 1 Tablespoon of the sugar until light and fluffy.
5. Gradually beat in the eggs.
6. Add the flour and baking powder to the butter mixture and mix well.
7. Spoon half of the mixture into the prepared cake tin. Arrange the apple slices on top.
8. Mix the remaining Tablespoon of sugar and the cinnamon together in small bowl. Sprinkle evenly over the apples.
9. Scatter the raisins and hazelnuts on top.
10. Smooth the remaining cake mixture over the raisins and hazelnuts.
11. Bake for 1 hour.
12. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes. Remove, transfer to a serving platter, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Serves 12.

Apple cake is a popular dessert produced with the main ingredient of apples. Such a cake is made through the process of slicing this sweet fruit to add fragrance to a plain cake base. Traditional apple cakes go a step further by including various spices such as nutmeg or cinnamon, which give off a unique flavour. Upon the addition of spices the batter can also be accompanied by crushed nuts, the most popular being walnuts and almonds.

Dorset apple cake and Somerset apple cake are traditional forms of this cake, respectively from Dorset and Somerset, England. They may include ciders local to these counties as part of their recipes, but are not necessary.

Apples are also used in other cakes, including chocolate cake, where their water-retention can help a normally-dry cake to stay moist. In this case they may be either dried or fresh.

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