Fall is a time to celebrate a new season, watch nature’s colours change, and enjoy the year’s new crop of apples. A most versatile fruit, apples can be baked, simmered, and eaten raw. The spicey aroma of apples cooked with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg is the ultimate in comfort food.
This apple cake recipe uses the crisp Granny Smith apple which has a superb, not-too-sweet taste that holds its shape well when baked.
Apple Harvest Cake
Makes a 20-cm (8-inch) cake
454 g (1 lb) Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
25 ml (2 tbsp) sugar
15 ml (1 tbsp) cinnamon
375 ml (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
300 ml (1 1/4 cups) sugar
125 ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
2 eggs
50 ml (1/4 cup) fresh orange juice
10 ml (1/2 tbsp) baking powder
7 ml (1 1/2 tsp) vanilla
1 ml (1/4 tsp) salt
Preheat oven to 180º C (350º F). Grease and flour a 20-cm (8-inch) square cake pan. In a small bowl combine apples, 25 ml (2 tbsp) sugar and cinnamon.
In a large mixing bowl beat together the remaining ingredients until well incorporated. The batter will be thick. Spoon half of the batter into pan and spread half the apple mixture over. Spoon the rest of the batter on top and layer the rest of the apples on top of the batter.
Bake for 1 hour until brown. Insert a wooden skewer into the centre of the cake to check if done. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm with whipped cream.