Here's a delightful cake for afternoon tea Cinnamon Apple Teacake! Apples take centerstage here you'll find them inside AND on top, mingling with buttery cinnamon flavours.
The one thing I do very deliberately is to only use cinnamon to coat the apple. I feel like you get more bang for your buck to get good cinnamon flavour in the cake you need a fair amount to make the crumb itself really taste of cinnamon.
Ingredients
Cinnamon Apples:600g/ 1.2 lb Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored (or any other - red, green, golden) (4 large, 5 small/medium)
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
50g/ 3 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
2 tbsp white sugar
Dry:1 1/2 cups flour , plain/all purpose
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Wet:4 tbsp/ 60g unsalted butter , melted
1/2 cup oil (canola, vegetable)
2 large eggs , at room temperature (~55g/1.95 oz each)
3/4 cup white sugar , caster / superfine best (but not essential)
2 tsp vanilla extract
Glaze (optional):
1 1/2 tbsp apricot jam (or other flavour)
1 tbsp water
Method- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (all oven types).
- Grease a 20cm / 8 springform pan with butter, then line with baking paper (parchment paper).
Apples:- Chop half the apples into 1.25 cm / 1/2 pieces.
- Slice the other half into 3mm / 1/8 thick slices.
- Place into separate bowls. Sprinkle/drizzle each bowl with half the butter, sugar and cinnamon. Toss to coat, set aside.
Batter:- Whisk Dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Pour Wet ingredients in a separate bowl in the order listed. Whisk well to combine.
- Pour Wet into the Dry ingredients bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until flour is incorporated.
- Add chopped apple. Gently mix through until JUST dispersed (to keep cinnamon on apple, not dispersed through batter).
- Scrape into cake pan, smooth surface.
- Top with sliced apples - fan them out in a circle, overlapping each other by 1/4.
- Bake 50 minutes, or until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cover loosely with foil if you have to bake beyond 50 min (to stop apples burning).
- Place on cooling rack, release sides of springform pan.
Glaze & Serve:- Heat Glaze: Place jam and water in a small bowl, microwave 20 seconds to warm, then mix.
- Glaze: Brush apples on surface with glaze.
- Cool: Allow to cool at least 30 minutes before cutting with sharp knife. It is sheer perfection when it's still slightly warm in the middle.