Recipe and image by Vicki Ravlich-Horan
This recipe is one we use to make in the cafe years ago and published in the Autumn 2013 edition of Nourish Magazine. It just continues to be a popular cake, especially in Autumn and Winter when apples are at their best and in abundance. My preference is a sharp Granny Smith but any apple will work.
1/3 cup walnuts
120g melted butter
½ kg or 4-6 tart apples
1 lemon
1 heaped cup flour
1&1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1&1/3 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup + 1 Tbs milk
¼ cup raisins
2 tbsp pine nuts
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Carefully toast the walnuts in a moderate oven for around 10 minutes.
Line and grease a 23cm cake tin with baking paper. Drizzle the bottom with a little of the melted butter and scatter over the walnuts.
Peel, core and slice the apples, then toss with the zest and juice of the lemon.
Whisk the eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla together then add the remaining melted butter. In a separate bowl mix the flour and baking powder together before whisking in the wet ingredients. Stir until you have a smooth batter.
Pour a third of the batter over the walnut prepared cake tin. Arrange a third of the apple slices over the batter, then sprinkle with half the raisins. Add another third of the batter, apples and remaining raisins before repeating again with the remaining batter and apples.
Lastly, sprinkle the top with pine nuts, brown sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 170C for 1 -1&1/2 hours.
The cake is in essence half apple half cake, so one you can enjoy with a generous dollop of cream!
