"APPLE PIE" CAKE

I love apple pie but I don't always want to make apple pie. As much as I love making pasty

sometimes I just want to make a bake that I can just whack together with a minimal amount of fuss and effort. With that in mind, this apple pie cake was born. Taking the flavors of apple pie and mashing it up into a cake will satisfy those pie cravings without you having to worry about making a pastry, ideal if you don't have enough ingredients for a pastry or aren't confident enough with pastry making. Even if you are a pastry whiz, you should still give this a go! It's too darn delicious not too!

For me, when I think of apple pie I think of apples (duh!), raisins, cinnamon and lots of sweet and sticky brown sugar to add that touch of caramel flavor to the filling. These are all elements I've added to this cake recipe. When it comes to my raisins, I soak them in some amaretto prior to adding them to the batter just because I think that amaretto makes everything better! You can skip this part if you don't drink alcohol or want to make this cake for children. If you can, soak the raisins in the Amaretto overnight so that the maximum amount of that amazing boozy flavor infuses into them.

As for your apples, this should be 400g worth prior to peeling and coring. The apple type you use should be something that bakes well. I'm not an expert on this but I used pink ladies and they seemed to work just fine. If you have a different favorite then use those instead. I ain't no apple police! Apple and cinnamon is up there as one of my top flavor combinations hence combining them together in this cake. The apples need the cinnamon to take them up a notch so if your not planning on using cinnamon I would strongly advise you replace it with a similar spice such as all spice or a smidge of grated nutmeg otherwise your apple filling will be slightly bland.

Nuts aren't a staple of my apple pies but I find that by adding them to the batter and sprinkling them on top adds that firm and crunchy textures that you would normally get from the shortcrust pastry of an apple pie. If you are allergic or just don't like nuts you can leave them out if you wish or you can also replace them with another kind of complimentary nut. I think chopped pecans or brazils would also work a treat.

Let get baking! You will need a 22cm cake tin (ideally spring form) for this recipe. It is a low and slow bake so give yourself plenty of time to whip up this marvelous baking mash-up;

"Apple Pie" Cake

100g Sultanas

1 Tbsp Amaretto

400g Apples, Peeled and Cored

1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

225g Softened Butter

3 Large Eggs

225g Light Muscavado Sugar 

(+ A Handfull Extra For The Topping)

100g Chopped Walnuts

(+ A Handfull Extra For The Topping)

225g Self Raising Flour

2 Tsp Baking Powder

1. Begin by turning your oven on to 180 degrees (160 fan) and line your cake tin with grease proof paper.
2. Tip the sultanas and amaretto into a bowl, give them a little mix and leave to one side. Take the peel and cored apple, cut into roughly 2cm chunks and throw into a separate bowl with the cinnamon and mix together so all the apple is coated in the cinnamon. Leave this to one side too.
3. Take a large mixing bowl and add in the butter, eggs, 225g light muscavado sugar, 100g chopped walnuts, self raising flour and baking powder and give everything a good old mix together until a smooth well combined batter is formed. Tip in the booze soaked raisins and fold them through the batter.
4. Pour half of the batter into your cake tin and level out the batter. Sprinkle over the cinnamon coated apple chunks evenly over the batter and then pour in the rest of the batter and level it out so that all the apple chunks are covered.
5. Take the remaining handfull of sugar and walnuts and sprinkle them evenly over the top of the cake batter and then place the tin in the oven for around 1 hour, 15 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out nice and clean. 

Check the cake after around 45 minutes and if the top of the cake and the nuts are looking as if they're browning too much, verging on burning, cover the top of the cake with foil and continue to bake the cake until ready. Once the cake is baked, remove it from the oven and leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin and serve immediately. The apple pie cake is best served warm so heat up slices in the oven or microwave if you make the cake beforehand. I served mine with a big dollop of apple flavored sorbet but I bet a good lashing of custard would be phenomenal with this. If you can't have an apple pie, then this cake is an amazing substitute.