05/09/2020

Apple & Cinnamon Cake

Name: Apple & Cinnamon Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 70 min
Total time: 90 min
Ingredients: 225 g plain flour (white and/or wholemeal combined) (half white and half wholemeal is recommended); 200 g soft brown sugar; 2 level tsp baking powder; 2 tsp ground cinnamon or cassia ((cassia is sometimes labelled 'sweet cinnamon')); 0.5 tsp salt; 150 g butter, melted; 2 large eggs, beaten; 1 tbsp milk (optional); 3 medium eating apples, skin on (cored and roughly chopped); 1 small eating apple, skin on (cored, quartered, then sliced thinly); 1 tbsp demerara sugar (for sprinkling)

Apple & Cinnamon Cake makes the most of apple season in this simple but beautifully flavoured bake.

Rustic and homely, the cake is a comforting treat with a cup of tea or coffee.

To make it extra special, try Apple & Cinnamon Cake warm as a dessert with custard, cream or ice-cream.

Jump to Recipe

Although you might associate apple cakes with the turning of Summer into Autumn and the start of the apple harvest, I first made this cake on the weekend of the Summer Solstice.

It was an incredibly dull and drizzly day that felt more like Autumn to me.

So I decided that a spicily warm, comforting Apple & Cinnamon Cake was in order, pictured below.

Mind you, the idea for the cake had been brewing in my mind since October of the previous year.

I’d gone to Apple Fest at the Foxlowe Arts Centre in Leek which celebrates the apple harvest and especially traditional British varieties.

While there, I’d eaten a hunk of tremendous apple cake. Not too sweet, but full of rich apple flavour and with a hint of wholemeal goodness.

I’ve no idea who made that cake, but it was the inspiration for my own Apple & Cinnamon Cake.

So, now Autumn’s definitely here and the first English apples are appearing, I think it’s about time the recipe went on the blog.

Apple & Cinnamon Cake

Although I love a bit of cake, I don’t go in for fancy-schmancy when it comes to homemade.

And one of the things I love about this Apple & Cinnamon Cake is that it’s so homely.

The ingredients are exactly what you’d expect: flour, sugar, butter, eggs, cinnamon and apples.

I like to use half and half white and wholemeal flour, but feel free to play around with ratios. The white flour keeps the cake on the light side, while the wholemeal adds flavour, texture and a feeling of comfy wholesomeness.

If you have it, I think soft brown sugar is preferable to white or golden sugar. I like the way it gives a hint of toffee-apple as it caramelizes.

By the way, if you can find a spice sometimes labelled ‘sweet cinnamon’ rather than just ‘cinnamon’ then it works great in this cake. It’s actually cassia bark, not true cinnamon, but I think it has a much better, more complex flavour. My other half isn’t mad keen on cinnamon but loves this cake with the sweet ground cassia.

As well as simple ingredients, the cake is so easy to make too.

I use melted butter which avoids having to cream it with the sugar.

All you do is stir together the dry ingredients then beat in the melted butter and eggs.

Electric beaters will help to combine the batter ingredients easily before chopped apples are folded in.

Apples

You can use any seasonal apples you like, although eating apples will hold their shape better than cooking apples like Bramleys.

For the cake you see in this post, I used organic Herefordshire apples from my Moorland Veg Box.

These were exactly right as they were not too sweet, the slightly tart chunks of apple being a nice contrast to the rich and spicy cake.

I like to leave the skins on to keep that rustic feel. Apples with shades of red also look pretty when you cut into the finished cake.

Don’t be stingy with the apples either. I put 3 decent sized ones, chopped, into the batter.

Another apple, this time sliced into semicircles, is put on top of the cake. This not only looks attractive and leaves you in no doubt about what’s in the cake, but adds a different texture.

Before popping in the oven to bake for 60-70 minutes, I sprinkle Demerara sugar over the top.

This gives a pleasant crunch and helps those sliced apples to go wonderfully chewy and caramelized.

Serving Apple & Cinnamon Cake

The cake is going to smell so good when you take it out of the oven, that it’s tempting to dig right in. But have just a little patience.

Put it on a cooling rack until it’s only just warm, then you can remove it from the tin and place directly on the rack.

But take the cake out too soon and it may crumble.

Eaten warm or cold with a relaxing cuppa, Apple & Cinnamon Cake is a comforting treat.

The generous amount of cinnamon comes through and there’s plenty of soft, slightly tart apple inside plus those wonderful sweet and chewy slices on top.

I think this cake is great as a pudding too. Try it with custard, cream or ice-cream.

Once cold, the cake can be stored in an airtight container where it’ll be fine for three or four days.

If you want to eat it warm again then just ping in the microwave for a few seconds.

I think this cake is great even for inexperienced bakers. It’s really just a case of mixing everything together and baking quite slowly.

For such little effort, you’ll get an amazing sweet treat that makes the most of apple season.

Have you made Apple & Cinnamon Cake?