Rye apple cake

[Dan Lepard]

Rye apple cake

This is a simple cake both to make and in the soft flavours that surround the chunks of sharp cinnamon-coated apple. If you want exceptional apples, The Brogdale Apple Week, 14th - 21st October www.brogdale.org will be the place to get them.

1 medium apple, about 125g - 150g
1 tsp ground cinnamon
75g flaked almonds
150g rye flour
2 tsp baking powder
75g unsalted butter
50g golden syrup
100g dark muscovado sugar
75ml milk
1 egg
Demerara or soft brown sugar to finish

Line a 2lb loaf tin with non-stick baking parchment, and heat the oven to 170C (same for fan assisted) / 335F /gas mark 3-4. Peel and core the apple, cut into 1cm dice and toss the cinnamon through the apple. Grind 50g almonds (save the remainder in a cup) and combine evenly with the rye flour and baking powder in a bowl. In a small saucepan gently heat the butter with the golden syrup and muscovado sugar until smooth and the sugar is dissolved - don't let it simmer. Remove from the heat and beat in the milk and the egg, stir in the dry ingredients and fold through the cinnamon coated apple piece, Scrape the mixture into the tin, bang the tin a few times to dislodge any air bubbles then sprinkle the top with the remaining almond pieces and a light dusting of Demerara or light brown sugar. Bake in the centre of the oven for 35 - 40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Cut when cold.

[pab]

Dear Dan

This is a truly great recipe - moist and very moreish (and also as easy to make as could be).

Out of interest, I was out of golden syrup so used accacia honey instead which obviously worked!

Thanks and best wishes

Pab

[jlangt]

Dan

There are some wonderful apples in the farm shops round here right now.Can't wait to try this.
I was in Stockholm for a couple of days last week and bought what looks like a similar cake from a bakers in a covered market. It had cardomom seeds in it and I really liked the subtle flavour they added. I wondered how much you would use. I don't want to overhelm the taste. Any thoughts?

James

[Dan Lepard]

James, I would just take the seeds of one cardamom pod and grid that to a powder with a mortar and pestle.

Pab, the honey sounds good!

regards

Dan

[Dan Lepard]

by email:

Wonderful recipes, but timings seem hopeless for me. Fortunately I've been baking cakes for over 40 years, so I know an uncooked cake when I see one and have managed to leave the cakes in the oven until cooked!

I made the rye apple cake today with rye flour purchased from a water mill whilst on holiday in Northumbria, so happy memories came with the cake. However, after 35 mins in was still very "battery" inside and needed about double the cooking time (70 mins). After that time it was lovely and moist - and delicious. I checked the oven temperature with an oven thermometer just in case, and, if anything, it was a little over 170oC. (More like 180oC)

I had the same problem with the even more delicious dark aniseed cake (the one with fennel & orange icing). Has anyone else reported these problems? I'm using a fan-assisted electric oven.

Yes, occasionally I get letters saying "the cake was under baked after XX minutes" but then I do get emails about the same or similar recipes saying "the cake was burnt after XX minutes" and sometimes the disparate responses refer to the same recipe. So I try to give an "XX-XX minutes, or until...", though the number of words the newspaper allow me to use in the column (about 235) makes it very difficult to elaborate.

I make every recipe twice, and often 3 times, and the method and timings refer to the results I get in my oven here at home. I use a Falcon range with a fan-assisted oven that is checked often by maintenance people to make sure the thermostat is calibrated correctly. The recipe is then made again by a home economist for the photographer (without my involvement) and any comments they have are passed back to the editor, and then to me.

But the cooking time needed (or preferred) by each cook at home will be affected by other variables:

1. The temperature of the ingredients before mixing, especially on cakes as the methods are usually short and quick, which means that there is little time for the heat to rise due to the action of the beating. If the batter is cold before baking this could add 10 - 15 minutes on the recipe.

2. The movement of the heat around the oven. Even though the manufacturers claim that fan assisted ovens produce a "more even heat" that a regular one, that does not mean that the heat produced is even and will differ between models and makes. A general temperature check of your oven and mine might produce an overall reading of, say, 170C but in places our ovens might also read hotter and colder. So if I place the tin in a hot part of my oven it might bake at effectively a higher temperature.

3. The density of the ingredients, including how runny or thick the mixture is (which can be affected by temperature as well). Simply, if the batter is a little runnier or thicker than the method I used (and that will be affected by changes manufacturers make to ingredients in order to maintain profit margins throughout the year, e.g. the make-up of golden syrup will alternate between sugar and corn -fructose syrup according to the monthly prices of each, and this is kept secret from the customer) then this will affect how long it takes to set the crumb.

4. The thickness and conductivity of the bake-ware

5. Cakes, like all food, continue to cook for 10 minutes after they are removed for the oven. Though it doesn't sound like this is the case for you as you describe the moistness of the crumb, it can be true of other readers who bake the cake too long - as the skewer will still come out clean 10 minutes passed the cooked stage.

So the combination of a few or even all of these variables, even if slight individually, can through a recipe out either at my end or at the readers.

I will keep an eye of the temperatures though, and today especially as I'll be baking a bit, and see if there is anything amiss.

regards

Dan

[Theo]

Just want to second everyone else on this thread. Made it this evening. It is delicious. (Did need an extra fifteen mins in my oven).

[cookie]

Rye flour is a revelation. I had never used it before I started using your recipes. Cake is excellent.

[Theo]

I discovered this recipe is also very good with a handful of redcurrants thrown in.

[Juleswest]

I want to make this cake for an elderly relative who's recovering from an operation on her foot - I'm sure it'll cheer her up!

It looks delicious - can't imagine how I missed it. But so far I haven't managed to get hold of Rye flour - I haven't given up on it, as the Wholefoods store may well have it I reckon, but if no joy - what's a good substitute?

Any suggestions welcome..

[bethesdabakers]

Tesco stocks Doves Farm rye flour and it's pretty hard not to be near a Tesco (if you are in the UK)

Mick