Almond apple cake

Taken from "VEG: simple, stylish and seasonal vegetarian cooking" by Catherine Mason (Pauntley Press, 2001, ISBN: 0-9534879-2-8, price £12.99)
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The combination of almonds and apples is lovely, and this cake is quite versatile in that it can be served hot, warm or cold, with cream, crème fraîche, Greek yogurt or custard.

  • 110 g (4 oz) butter, at room temperature, plus a little extra for the tin
  • 110 g (4 oz) caster sugar
  • 90 g (3 oz) self-raising flour
  • 110 g (4 oz) ground almonds
  • 1 level teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons natural almond essence
  • 2 large or 3 small dessert apples
  1. Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F gas 4, adjust for fan ovens).
  2. Butter a round 20 cm (8 inch) cake tin and line the base with baking parchment or grease-proof paper.
  3. If you have a food processor, put everything except the apples into the bowl and whiz until well-mixed. Remove the blade and proceed with the apples as described below.
  4. To make the cake by hand, cream the butter and sugar together, until it is pale and quite light in texture. Sift the flour, almonds and baking powder together in a separate bowl. Beat the eggs and almond essence together, then add them bit by bit to the butter mixture, beating well between additions. If the mixture starts to curdle, beat in a spoonful of the flour mixture. Gently fold in the rest of the flour mixture, using a metal spoon.
  5. Quickly peel, core and coarsely chop the apples and stir into the cake mixture. Spread the mixture in the prepared cake tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 40–65 minutes.
  6. The cake is done when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Turn out onto a wire cooling tray, after first loosening around the edge of the tin with a knife. Remove the paper from the bottom of the cake while it is still hot and leave to cool.
SERVES 6–8

Recipe copyright © 2001 Catherine Mason | other sample recipes