4 April 2020

SPICY NUTMEG AND APPLE CAKE WITH MACADAMIA TOPPING

The flavours in this cake are subtle and delicious. The macadamia topping provides some nice crunch to what is a very seasonal cake as apples are at the best right now. If you haven’t got macadamias, other sweet nuts like almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, or walnuts will be equally good. Instead of the buttermilk you can use half a cup each of milk and thick plain yogurt.

• 375g plain flour
• 200g brown sugar
• 175g sugar
• 1 tbsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tsp salt
• 150g butter, melted and cooled
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 granny smith apple, peeled cored and chopped into small pieces.
• 1 cup dry roasted macadamias, chopped
• 1 tablespoon sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Set the oven to 180°C. Grease a 24cm springform cake tin. Place the sifted flour, sugars, nutmeg, and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk to mix well. Make a well in the centre, pour in the butter and stir until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Set aside 3 tablespoons of the mixture to reserve for the top.

Add the baking powder, buttermilk and eggs and beat with an electric beater for a minute until smooth. Fold the chopped apple through.

Scrape this cake batter into the prepared tin, scatter the reserved crumb mixture over the top, add the nuts and the extra cinnamon/sugar mixture. Bake in the oven for 50 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched lightly and the sides shrink from the sides of the tin.

Remove to a wire rack and cool. Serve in wedges with yogurt or crème fraiche.