Apple and Cinnamon Cake

It would appear that your beloved FrugalFeeding has entered yet another period of furious cake baking. This is a good thing not only because the vast majority of food bloggers find cake irresistible, but also because dealing with my entire Mexican series at once may have hospitalised any number of my faithful readers. However, the act of obscene fabrication aside, it must be said that apple and cinnamon make a truly exquisite combination. When experienced in tandem, they succeed in transporting me directly back to my mother’s apple crumble and my grandmother’s apple pie. So, to be able to take a jolly sizeable bite out of a cake that tastes exactly of those formerly mentioned is, to say the least, most novel. Though, I’m sure that my grandmother would have much preferred the good ol’ fashioned way of experiencing such delicious flavours.

Of course, as is the effect of any fruit on the constitution of cake, the apples found within succeed in altering far more than simply the flavour. You see, the relatively vast quantity of water found in apples is released during the cooking process. This has the joint effect of producing a moister, denser cake and allows the flavour to permeate its entirety. As such, if you find yourself, for whatever reason, a little prone to the experience of a dry sponge, look no further. Unless you are either and abysmal human being or a downright appalling cook, there is absolutely and categorically no way of making a desert out of this delight.

One of the most enjoyable things about making this cake was that I came up with the recipe entirely by myself. Usually, I would garner  tips and a rough idea of quantity from elsewhere when attempting such a thing, but I do feel myself becoming far more confident in such things. I’m not saying this in order to blow my own trumpet, or to have my own trumpet blown by others; such words come by way of encouragement. If a feckless, young upstart like myself can bake such cakes without a recipe, then so can you – I expect to see all manner of interesting cakes spring up all over the internet. If only my influence was that great.

Apple and Cinnamon Cake

Makes one 9” cake

Ingredients:

• 200g self-raising flour

• 100g dark brown muscovado sugar

• 50g granulated or caster sugar

• 200g butter

• 3 eggs

• 2 tsp cinnamon

• 3 apples

• A pinch of salt

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180C. Cream together the butter and sugars, add 1 ½ tsp of cinnamon half way through this process. Beat in the eggs one at a time until combined. Grate two of the apples, do not remove skin, pips or core. Tip the grated apple into the batter, mix and then fold in the flour and a pinch of salt.

2. Pour this batter into a greased 9” springform pan. Level it off and use the remaining apple to decorate it as depicted. Mix together the remaining cinnamon with roughly 1 tbsp of sugar and sprinkle generously over the top of the cake. Bake for an hour and a half, or until golden brown and set. A knife, when inserted into the centre of the cake should come out clean.

3. Leave the cake to cool a little before turning it out. It is more easily sliced when cooled completely, though waiting that long may not prove possible.

Cost: The basic ingredients of mot cake tend to be relatively cheap and it is only really the apples that increase its price a little. Still, the entire cake should cost you roughly £2.70, which ain’t half bad.