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Dorset Apple Cake with a Crunchy Sugar Topping

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Dorset Apple Cake with a Crunchy Sugar Topping

This moist Dorset apple cake, based on a traditional recipe, has a wonderful topping of sliced apples dredged with sugar. Great for a teatime treat.

Preparation time:
15 minutes
Cooking time:
30 minutes to 40 minutes
Total time:
45 minutes to 55 minutes 55 minutes
Serves:
 8

Ingredients

  • 1 large Bramley apple, about 225g
  • 225g self raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp mixed spice
  • 125g cold butter, diced
  • 125g caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp for dredging
  • Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 medium eggs, beaten

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 190°C, gas mark 5 and lightly grease a 20cm springform cake tin. Peel the apple, cut into quarters and remove the core. Reserve one of the apple quarters and dice the rest.
  2. Sift the flour, baking powder and mixed spice into a large bowl. Rub in the diced butter to form fine breadcrumbs.
  3. Stir in the sugar, diced apple and lemon zest, then gradually stir in the beaten eggs to form a stiff mixture. Spoon into the prepared tin and level the surface with the back of a spoon. Thinly slice the reserved apple quarter and arrange on top of the cake.
  4. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until springy to the touch. Dredge with the remaining sugar, then leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely, then slice and serve with clotted cream.

Cook's tips

Serve the cake warm with vanilla ice cream for a delicious dessert.

Comments and images

Average user rating 4 stars out of 5

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lattelou

lattelou 02 November 2011 18:09

I have been known to have baking disasters, but this cake is perfect every time I make it. The only adjustment I have to make, is to the cooking time. It takes 45-50mins in my fan oven at 180c It's lovely and moist, easy to make and delicious to eat.

Pagey71

Pagey71 04 October 2011 13:47

My cakes are usually perfect but I was disappointed with this recipe - looks Impressive when baked but the texture was really dry (even though i used large eggs) and it had far too little apple - all in all a bit bland.

Shan

Shan 15 September 2011 11:27

Made cake today and mixture far too dry so added lemon juice and some milk to make a dropping consistency. Used 2 smallish eating apples as didn't have cookers.Baked in a ring mould for good 40 mins. Delicious will add more apples next time.

ccmw77

ccmw77 17 July 2011 16:57

Very easy to make, and tastes lovely with a coffee/tea. I would definitely recommend using 3 eggs rather than 2, and 1 1/2 large cooking apples rather than just 1. And also, if you're using a fan oven, set to 175 for maximum 35 minutes (at 30 minutes I thought it wasn't cooked but an extra 10 minutes made it too dry).

Plant_Girl

Plant_Girl 28 September 2010 07:28

I have made this one many times for cake sales - it always looks good, (mind you the apple on top does look like crazy-paving), a real favourite and it always sells well - many people are looking for something not too sweet or too experimental ... It is easy to make - but the suggested preparation time is highly optomistic - it takes me about 30 minutes - what with all the peeling, grating of the zest and rubbing .... my twist on this recipe .... 1. I never grease the tins ... always use baking parchment ... 2. Add a little extra apple and don't dice it too finely - a little chunky is good... 3. Add an extra egg (I try and use large eggs).

billy_howard_1997

billy_howard_1997 29 May 2010 02:02

Ive cooked this cake 4 times, never realy held together well but what i did get on the plate tasted great, i think i might try it again but without the spice or the lemmon zest or apples and just add chocolate :)

Windy_Miller

Windy_Miller 06 March 2010 17:29

I made this earlier, and if I had not forgotten it was in the oven and overbaked it I reckon it would have been gorgeous. It is OK though, and holds together well, it is just a tad dry. Next time I will set an alarm or something...grrrr

in_the_pink

in_the_pink 11 October 2009 13:42

This was very dry, crumbly and just fell apart - has one of the wet ingredients been omitted since 2008?

Helen RP

Helen RP 22 October 2008 23:07

This was delicious warm but still went down a treat once cool - my mum in law had 3 slices! Make sure the apple slices on top are really thin, my cake was still a little gooey in the middle underneath the apple. Think I will try arranging them round the edge of the cake next time!

TUBBS

TUBBS 17 October 2008 12:24

This is most proberly the easiest and best cake i have ever made...sooooooo Yummy!

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4 stars out of 5

Average user rating Based on 281 ratings

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Nutritional Info

Typical values per serving:
Energy 342.0kcal
Sugars 23.2g
Fat 15.7g
Saturated Fat 9.1g
Salt 0.7g

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This recipe was first published on Waitrose.com in April 2008