Friday 20 January 2017

Bilgi Bakes | Irish Apple Cake

I've long been an admirer of Ireland, the stunning natural scenery which it has, the mystical Celtic tales which originate from the Emerald Isle and of course the natural charisma and charm of the Irish which is irresistible. Ireland is one of those places which is realistically close by and somewhere I have always wanted to visit - I can tell that there is an almost magnetic vibe and a buzz of fun and good times associated with Ireland, and who wouldn't want to be in the midst of that? So on this January day, I am quite literally offering you a slice of Ireland in the form of a quintessentially famous Irish Apple Cake recipe which is homely, comforting and delicious. 


This recipe was adapted from The Kitchen McCabe blog and is well worth a go - this traditional cake is different to a regular sponge, namely it's denser and really nice and crisp on top thanks to the spice and sugar mix. Served with vanilla ice cream or custard, it's a guaranteed winner.
 
Ingredients
6oz / 170g butter
3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon mixed spice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 free range / Organic eggs
3/4 cup of milk
3/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Bramley apples, cut into chunks
for the topping
3 teaspoons of sugar
a few shakes of mixed spice
 
How To
1. Start off by combining the flour and butter. It should resemble fine breadcrumbs by the time you've worked in the butter.

2. Add the sugar, baking powder, spices and mix, before adding in the apple chunks, three eggs, one at a time and vanilla extract.

3. Add the milk and mix until combined, then sprinkle with the spice and sugar topping for a sweet and caramelised crunch.

4. To a lined cake tin, add the mixture and place in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees centigrade. This cake, due to it's heavy texture, takes a while to bake and depending upon what kind of oven you've got, that could well be anywhere from 45 minutes - 1 hour 20 minutes. It's a good idea to keep checking it as it bakes to make sure the centre is baked through.

5. Once out of the oven, dredge with a liberal sprinkling of icing sugar and that's it! A totally traditional Irish apple cake is waiting to be devoured! Yum!





 
Fancy another apple recipe? Check out my spiced toffee apple cake.


 
I had a slice with some vanilla ice cream and it was SO good! It also would work splendidly well with custard on a cold winter's day - no doubt there'll be some of those pretty soon!
 
Have you got any traditional recipes that you love and make often? I like finding new ones, be it in old books I find in my house or on the internet and learning about the origins behind it and why different ingredients are used. Potential food historian in the making I wonder? As always, if you give this recipe a go, tag me in you baking creations so I can see them, over on my Instagram or twitter. Happy baking, Bilgi x
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