Apple and Date Cake

I’m lucky enough to have a few fruit trees in my garden.  We have a pear tree and a few plums – dark, maroon fat ones and some little, delicate golden globes.  But sadly, we don’t have an apple tree.  I grew up only quarter of a mile away from an apple farm; in fact, it was at the end of our lane, the only thing between us and it being a wobbly cycle along a bumpy track.  Without knowing how lucky we were, we could go to that farm on nearly any day of the year and fill up our empty bottles with freshly pressed, hummingly sweet apple juice.  It truly was nectar and we were lucky if we got home without drinking half of our spoils, a fact that seemed to be well tolerated by our mum.  Ever since, I’ve had a long held passion for apples and anything containing apples therein.  Perhaps it’s that they are so wonderfully, reliably English, the last bastions in my memory of a country idyll.  It’s more likely that they taste delicious, the varieties – if you buy locally and seasonally – varying from a sharp, crisp crunch to melodious sweet bite, running with juice.  I do so love an apple and given the opportunity will cook with them from sweet to savoury: apple crumble, apple turnovers, pork boulangere, beef and apple curry; all get my vote.

This cake is a simple and delicious way of making an afternoon cup of tea go further, although it would also make a rather lovely pudding, served warm with a little almond ice cream.  It’s a slim, light number that uses apple puree to both flavour and bind.  Using apple puree in place of eggs is a much favoured trick of mine, you can use it easily in baking to pull your batter together and it is especially good in fruity puddings, the distinctive apple tang just adding another dimension to the dish.  You can buy natural, unsweetened apple puree from most health food shops but if in doubt, check the baby foods aisle in your local supermarket; they usually have a simple pureed apple that works a treat.  Alternatively, you could make your own by simple cooking down a few eating or cooking apples with a drop of water and then blitzing with a hand held blender until a smooth puree. 

APPLE AND DATE CAKE

Serves 8

You will need a 7 inch cake tin with removable base for this recipe

120g dairy-free margarine – Pure Sunflower Spread

130g light muscovado sugar

100g apple puree

180g Doves Farm gluten free self-raising flour

1 tsp cinnamon

80g dates, stoned

Preheat the oven to 150c and lightly grease and line the cake tin.  Finely chop the dates and then place the margarine and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream together until light and fluffy before stirring in the apple puree.

Sift in the flour and cinnamon and fold in with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Gently stir in the chopped dates and then spoon the mixture into the cake tin and level the top with the back of a spoon.  Bake in the oven for 50 minutes or until golden and firm on top – the cake won’t rise so just look for a slight crispness to the surface.  Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack.  Once cooled, dust over a little icing sugar and serve.

Apple and Cinnamon Cake

Today is the 21^st October 2009 and it is officially British Apple Day, hurray!  So, bearing that in mind, and as today is rainy and autumnal outside (well, it is here), I thought it was about time for a bit of allergy friendly baking, and what better way to start than by making my APPLE AND CINNAMON CAKE.  It’s rich and sweet, with dates and nuts.  The base is almost biscuity, followed by a rich apple sauce filling; perfect for cold afternoons and cups of tea or feeding to little people with large allergies.

Apparently, we have been celebrating apple day for the last 18 years and quite rightly so in my mind.  There are such an amazing variety of apples out there, some crisp and sharp, others sweet and juicy and we are so often not given the opportunity to see, let alone taste, the choices that can be found. 

Apple day is not only about celebrating one of our amazing native fruits but also about reminding us where so much of our food really comes from.  I have nothing against (most) supermarkets; they do us a good service.  But there is nothing quite like the flavour and choice that you will find in a farmers market or greengrocers, full to the brim with locally sourced produce.   I am definitely not here to preach but we cannot underestimate the importance in valuing the links between food and the land, between natural resource use and the impact we have on nature.

There, I’ve said my piece now and it wasn’t so bad was it?  Now on to the really important stuff:  I love cooking with apples, you can’t beat a classic apple crumble with (oat) cream, baked apples stuffed with ground almonds and brown sugar, a spiced apple chutney to accompany cold meats or, dare I say it, a selection of cheeses (just count yourselves lucky you tolerant people!)  I even love a good old fashioned glass of apple juice – the real stuff of course, none of that amber coloured viscous liquid that looks like it’s something to do with a chemistry set.  I have my favourite varieties, the crisp braeburn, the intense discovery, the sweet crunchy pink lady.  But when it comes to cooking, the bramley apple is really the only way to go.

 

APPLE AND DATE CAKE

225g dairy free spread (Pure Sunflower Spread)

225g soft light brown sugar plus 1tbsp to finish

3 eggs – 3 heaped tsps Orgran No Egg Replacer mixed with 6tbsp of water

3½tbsp rice milk

90g walnuts plus 10g to finish

100g medjool dates

225g Doves Farm Gluten Free Self-Raising Flour

1tsp xantham gum

2 heaped tsp Gluten Free baking powder

400g bramley apples (weight when peeled and grated)

1tsp ground cinnamon

Icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180c (160c Fan) and grease a 8inch round cake tin, then line the base with baking parchment.  Begin by peeling and coring the apples and then, using a food processor, grate them. Finely chop the medjool dates and break up the walnuts into little pieces. Whisk together the egg replacer and water until fully combined and slightly fluffy.  Then combine the dairy free butter, sugar, egg replacement, rice milk, dates, walnuts, flour, xantham gum and baking powder in to a large mixing bowl.  Beat together until thoroughly blended together and glossy.  

Spoon half of the mixture in to the lined tin and level, cover with the grated apple and sprinkle evenly with the ground cinnamon.  Spoon over the remaining mixture and level the surface of the cake.  Sprinkle the cake with the remaining sugar and walnuts.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour or until the cake is risen and golden brown on top (you can test be piercing the centre with a slim knife or skewer, if it comes out clean then the cake is cooked through).  Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes and then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  When ready to serve, sprinkle with a dusting of icing sugar.