Dorset Apple Cake Recipe
Apple Day traditionally falls on the 21st October but is celebrated throughout the month with many local events. Started in 1990 by Common Ground, Apple Day is a focus for celebrating the hundreds of apple varieties which are ignored in favour of a handful of supermarket friendly strains. It has become a well established annual event.
This delicious Dorset Apple Cake recipe is taken from our book, ‘Honeybuns Gluten free Baking‘.
Dorset Apple Cake
We are lucky to have a few traditional apple trees here at Naish Farm. Many Dorset orchards have disappeared, but there is keen interest in reinstating them. There are some fabulously named local apple varieties such as Slack ma Girdle and Buttery Door. This recipe comes into its own as the mellow mists of September descend. We mop up any spare dessert apples – it doesn’t matter which variety – and add them to the mix. With the Somerset Cider Brandy Company on our doorstep, we felt it would be churlish not to add a splash or two of their award-winning cider brandy.
makes 1 x 23 cm/9 in round cake
health gluten-free
cook 60-70 minutes
store 5 days in fridge. Freezes well
compost apple cores, eggshells, lemon skins
Ingredients
275 g/9¾ oz butter, melted, plus extra for brushing
tapioca flour, for dusting
200 g/7 oz raisins
2 tbsp Somerset Cider Brandy, Calvados or brandy
250 g/9¾ oz dessert apples
juice of 1 lemon
3 eggs
300 g/10½ oz vanilla granulated sugar
250 g/9 oz ground almonds
70 g/2½ oz millet flour
60 g/2¼ oz glutinous rice flour
2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
1 tsp guar gum
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Topping
2 dessert apples, thinly slices
1 tbsp cinnamon sugar
Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas 3. Line a 23 cm/9 in round cake tin with a disc of baking parchment, then brush with melted butter and dust with tapioca flour. Put the raisins in a small saucepan, add the cider brandy and heat gently for 2 minutes. Set aside.
Core and peel the apples. Cut them into 2-3 cm/1 in cubes, place in a bowl and toss in the lemon juice. Set aside.
Crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl, then add all of the dry ingredients, together with the raisins and brandy. Pour in the melted butter. Beat with an electric mixer until you have a smooth, pale batter. Then, using a rubber spatula, stir in the apples. Make sure the cinnamon is evenly mixed.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and spread evenly. Bang the tin firmly on a work surface to get rid of air pockets. Decorate the top of the cake with thin slices of apple, pushing them into the mixture in a spiral pattern so that just the skin is showing. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.
Bake for 20 minutes, then cover with baking parchment to prevent the topping from burning. Bake for a further 40-50 minutes, or until the surface springs back when pressed gently with your fingertips. A flat cake skewer will come out moist but clean when the cake is ready. (The cooking time will vary quite a lot depending on the moisture content of your apples; after an hour, check every 10 minutes.) Leave to cool in the tin; turn out when cold, then peel off the parchment.
Great for kids
To make a non-alcoholic version, replace the brandy with apple juice.
This recipe is taken from Honeybuns Gluten-Free Baking by Emma Goss-Custard, published by Pavilion. Recipe photography Cristian Barnett. For further information about this and other recipes from our book, do take a look at our Book FAQ’s.
If you like this recipe from our book, why not try baking these gluten free Chocolate & Orange brownies?
