Shambles
Seasonal Rustic Italian Apple Cake
What is it that makes this cake Italian I hear you ask? An Italian meal can be lacking tomato, garlic or rosemary and still be Italian, I promise! Does it contain ricotta or mascarpone?
No, it’s just that it comes from my nonna (Italian grandmother), which was then passed down to my father, and now to me.
I love this time of year when we start to get those ‘Best of British’ fruits coming into season – Apples, Blackberries, Damsons and Plums to name a few, so deliciously sweet and right on our doorstep. And it’s great when we see these fruits left at the end of someone’s driveway for us to take away. It just shows the great community and neighbourly spirit of Teddington.
Anyway, back to the cake, it’s deliciously soft and moist, and best to eat on the day but will also keep pretty well for a couple of days if wrapped in foil.
Leave the cake to cool for 20 minutes before removing from the tin. Dust with sifted icing sugar and serve warm or cold with crème fraiche or ice-cream.
Buon appetito!
Massimo
- 750g x Any seasonal cooking apples – minimum 500g prepared net weight
- 1 x Fresh lemon juice
- 1 x Zest of a lemon
- 250g x Self-raising flour – sieved
- 1 tsp x Baking powder
- 1 tsp x Ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp x Grated nutmeg
- 2 x Large eggs
- 100g X Demerara sugar – plus 3 tbsp
- 200ml x Milk
- 100ml x Rapeseed oil
- ½ tsp x Sifted icing sugar – for dusting
- Butter for lining
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Butter a 23cm spring clip cake tin or a square baking tin.
Peel the apples and cut them into quarters. Remove the cores and slice them into ½ cm pieces. Put them in a bowl, toss with lemon juice and the zest.
In a separate bowl mix and sieve the following dry ingredients – flour, baking powder and spices.
In another bowl whisk the eggs with 100g of sugar, then combine the milk and rapeseed oil.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring lightly until combined – using a spatula to break up any stubborn lumps. Toss the apples into the cake batter and pour the mixture into a prepared baking tin.
Sprinkle evenly 3 tablespoons of sugar over the top and bake the cake in the centre of the oven for 40 minutes until it is well risen and golden on top. Test the cake by inserting a skewer into the centre – it should slide easily through the apples (in the middle) and come out clean.
Leave the cake to cool for 20 minutes before removing from the tin. Dust with sifted icing sugar and serve warm or cold with crème fraiche or ice-cream.
Buon appetito!
Massimo
