Plate to Plate: Apple Cake

This month’s Plate to Plate showcases another sweet recipe: Apple Cake. Jillian picked this month’s challenge and decided on an apple cake from the Gourmet Traveller. I was excited as apples are now in season and my husband loves a good apple cake.

I was worried when I rolled out the dough that I hadn’t followed the recipe correctly. It was very soft and in the end I had to press it into the pan since it kept sticking to the rolling pin. But in the end it turned out beautifully. That was the only issue I had with the recipe.

Jillian’s photos are on the left, mine on the right.

Jillian mentioned that she found the filling could have benefited from a bit more sugar, I thought it had the right sweetness. Maybe due to the apples I used? I did play around with the spices, adding some cloves, ginger and cardamom to the cinnamon, since I like a nicely spiced cake and omitted the zests.

I made two cakes using a 24 cm and a 18 cm pan, which resulted in flatter cakes. I like how high Jillian’s is!

This recipe is a keeper!
Check out Jillian’s post about the cake!

Here is the original recipe from Gourmet Traveller.

Apple Cake

  • 8 large Granny Smith or Cox’s orange pippin apples
  •  Finely grated rind and juice of 2 lemons
  • Finely grated rind of ½ orange
  • 75 gm caster sugar 
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 125 gm pure icing sugar, sieved  
  • 450 gm cold butter, cut into small cubes
  • 250 gm (1 1/3 cups) plain flour
  • 250 gm (1 1/3 cups) self-raising flour
  •  80 gm caster sugar
  •  2 eggs, whisked
Peel, core and finely slice the apples, then place in a bowl with citrus rinds, lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon, toss to combine and set aside to macerate (1 hour).
Meanwhile, for pastry, process butter, flours, sugar and a pinch of salt in a food processor until fine crumbs form. Add egg and process until mixture just comes together. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate to chill (1 hour).
Preheat oven to 165C. Roll two-thirds of pastry to just under 1cm-thick on a lightly floured surface and line the base and sides of a greased 28cm springform tin. Drain apples well (reserve liquid) and fill pastry case. Roll out remaining pastry, roll over the rolling pin and lift pastry over the apple. Press and crimp edges with your fingers to seal, then bake until deep golden brown (1 hour). Set aside in tin to cool for 10 minutes, then release sides of springform tin and set aside to cool completely.

Meanwhile, place 1½ tbsp of reserved apple liquid in a bowl and gradually stir in icing sugar until a glaze consistency forms. Drizzle over cake and serve.

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