In the spirit of a non-existent autumn (definitely not along the Equator, where I'm found), I wanted to bake something with one of my favourite fruits, that being apples! Even though I don't experience the four seasons here, there certainly has been an abundance of apples in the supermarkets recently. I definitely didn't want to miss this opportune time to make something apple-related, so I bought a few bags of apples home.
For this cake, I used half rye flour and half all-purpose flour. I love the subtle warmth and earthiness that rye imparts. Using half rye and half all-purpose flour instead of using rye flour completely ensures that the resulting cake is still fluffy.
In addition, Pink Lady apples and Granny Smith apples were used in this cake. This is actually my first time using Pink Lady apples and I just love the colour (it is a pretty pinkish red)! Both the Pink Lady and Granny Smith are firm and crisp apples, which make them perfect for baking because they will hold their shape and not turn into mush. Also, I find that the Pink Lady's fragrant sweetness and slight citrus notes complement the tartness of the Granny Smith very nicely. You could also use other types of apples that you prefer, such as Honeycrisp or Gala apples. Just be sure to use firm and crisp varieties of apples, because they hold their shape better as the cake bakes.
Well, that's it! This cake is perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea. Do give it a try and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
Rye Apple Cake
Makes one 9 inch round cake
Ingredients
Apples for the top of the cake:
3 medium apples (I used a mixture of Pink Lady and Granny Smith), cored and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices*
Juice of 1/2 lemon
25 g to 50 g (2 to 4 Tbs) brown sugar (depending on the sweetness of the apple itself and how sweet you want it to be)
1 tsp cinnamon
For the cake:
226 g unsalted butter, room temperature
150 g (3/4 cup) brown sugar
100 g (1/2 cup) white granulated sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 large eggs
138 g (1/2 cup) full-fat greek yogurt, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
160 g (1 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour
132 g (1 1/4 cup) rye flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 medium apple (I used Pink Lady), peeled and diced into small cubes*
To serve:
A light dusting of icing sugar
Method
Preheat the oven to 175°C. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform cake pan, and line the pan with parchment paper.
In a medium sized bowl, toss apple slices with lemon juice, brown sugar and cinnamon. Set it aside for later.
Make the cake. In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugars and salt for at least 5 minutes until it is pale fluffy.
Add in the eggs one at a time, whisking after each egg is added. Ensure that each egg is well incorporated into the butter-sugar mixture before adding the next egg. Remember to scrape down the bowl using a spatula to ensure that everything is well mixed together.
Whisk in full-fat greek yogurt and vanilla until smooth.
Sift all-purpose flour, rye flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices over the wet ingredients. Using a spatula, gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until everything is just combined.
Toss in the diced apple and fold it into the cake batter until most of the apple cubes are distributed throughout the batter. Do not over-mix.
Bake the cake for 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Once it is baked, remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes before removing it from the springform pan. Set it on a wire rack to cool completely before decorating it with icing sugar and slicing into it.
Cut a generous slice and enjoy!
*Note
I didn't peel the apples that went on top of the cake because I don't mind the skins. However you can peel them if you want.
Don't discard the apple core and skins! You could use them to make an apple sauce/jam. What I did was I threw all the apple scraps into a small pot, added a bit of water and cooked the mixture over medium heat until the apples turn mushy. Then, I discard the cores and pureed the mixture to get a jam-like thing. It was delicious.
