Gran’s Dorset Apple Cake Recipe

26 Oct

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A moment of magic occurs once we get past the Autumn equinox and head on through October… as in I get the urge to get back in the kitchen to cook and bake again. A Dorset Apple Cake feels like the perfect way to honour the gentle passing of summer into the full-on cosiness of fall. And I can’t think of a better scent to permeate the house with on a rainy Monday afternoon than one comprised of cinnamon, butter and baking apples.

Over the years we’ve amassed an enormous collection of recipe tear sheets extracted from books, magazines and newspapers. When Patrick and I first moved in together the internet was a shiny new thing that we didn’t really take much notice of and so recipe clippings became a way to inspire the weekly meal-planning task. There are also a few hand-written recipes in there including his Grandad’s Christmas Cake and his Gran’s Dorset Apple Cake. His amazing Grandparents are ninety and ninety-two and it’s only recently that they’ve stopped baking mince pies and a Christmas cake for every household in the family! Seeing as it’s a little too early to start the festive season food chat and attempt to take on the fruit cake challenge, here’s the apple cake inspired by the recipe from Gran. The only addition from me being cinnamon as I can’t have anything autumnal without it…

dorset apple cake

Ingredients

225g Bramley apples cored, peeled & diced (plus a quarter slice for decoration)

100g Sultanas

225g Self-raising flour

115g Light brown sugar

2tsp Ground cinnamon

1 Large egg beaten

115g butter straight from the fridge cut into small cubes

A few tbsps of milk (I used 6)

1tbsp Demerara sugar for sprinkling

Method

Butter a 20cm cake tin and line with greaseproof paper. Pre-heat oven to 160 C fan oven.

In a large bowl mix the flour and cinnamon and then rub in the butter cubes until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Stir in the light brown sugar and then beat in the egg followed by the milk until it looks like the consistency of cake batter. Add in sultanas and apple and combine.

Turn into the lined tin, level out, sprinkle over the Demerara sugar and decorate with the apple slices.

Bake for about 50 mins but checking it at around 40 mins depending on your oven.

Once done, let it cool for 15 mins in the tin and then cool on a wire rack. Enjoy with copious cups of tea!