I must confess that I am more of a savoury person. I would rather eat a sandwich after a meal than dessert – when will this become acceptable? But life is just too sad without a little sweet indulgence so here is a cake that is delicately sweetened by honey, livened up by some zesty lime, full of fresh, tangy apples and crowned with a creamy natural yoghurt.
Yield: One large
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 55 minutes
Ingredients
Cake Apples:
- 70g butter
- 40g honey
- 5ml cinnamon
- 600g eating apples, peeled, cored and diced into 2cm pieces
Cake:
- 130g ground almonds150g cake flour150g polenta1 tsp baking powder2.5ml salt
- Finely grated zest of 1 lime
- 200ml honey
- 180g double cream yoghurt
- 4 XL eggs
- 180ml olive oil
Topping:
- 1-2 cups double cream yoghurt
- Honey to drizzle (to taste)
- Toasted coconut flakes
- Dried apple rounds
- Lime zest
- Lime blossoms
Method
- Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees
- Grease a 26cm loose bottomed cake tin. Or double the mixture and grease four 15cm tins.
- For the nut topping; In a bowl combine the almonds, melted butter, sugar, thyme, cinnamon and pinch of salt.
- Pop the nut mixture onto a baking tray and into the oven and allow to roast & caramelise until crunchy, sticky, golden brown and crunchy. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
- While the nuts are roasting make the caramelised apples. Melt the butter, sugar & cinnamon in a pan, bring to the boil and allow it to bubble until the mixture starts to lightly brown.
- Lower the heat slightly, add in the cubed apples and cook until all the apple pieces are coated in the caramel mixture and nicely golden.
- Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
- In a separate bowl, mix all the wet ingredients.
- Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture and fold in until no trace of flour remains.
- Add the caramelised apples into the mixture.
- Scrape the mixture into the prepared cake tin and level the top with the back of your spatula.
- Bake in the oven for around 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking make your yoghurt topping. Combine all the ingredients, adding as much or little sugar as you prefer.
- Once the cake is done, allow to cool slightly before removing from the cake tin and leave to cool completely on a cooling rack.
- Once completely cooled, top with the yoghurt topping (stack if you have made four, with yoghurt between each layer) and sprinkle with the caramelised nuts, fresh thyme & lemon blossoms.
Food Love,
Tanya