12. Apple and Hazelnut Cake

She's versatile AF but she did make me cry...

Nov 05, 2023

I’ve made this cake multiple times over the past few months. Particularly when I’ve wanted to make something that has no fuss or frills, is easy to throw together and delicious.

Ok, ok, I have to admit, it hasn’t always been that simple. I cried over this cake (lol). I threw it in the bin and had a bit of a ‘moment’ over it. As my friend said, I was being a bit dramatic. And look, she ain’t wrong! Thankfully though, I can laugh about it now and share with you my trials and tribulations so that you don’t have to. The evolution of this cake shows you how it can be adapted to be whatever you want it to be. More on this later…

Version 1

At its birth, this cake was thrown together for a pizza party Seán (my boyfriend) and I had in our back garden in the late Summer. It was during a period where I was totally obsessed with greengages as well as with making ice cream.

Plum and pecan cake with a greengage sherbert.

Here, I made the cake with pecans, diced greengages and yoghurt. I was very happy with this version. It was crumbly and fluffy like a muffin but with a crunchy pecan and demerara top. In fact, I kept saying “mmm…I’m going to make this again, it’s so good!” As with all great ideas, I forgot to write this recipe down. Doh!

Version 2

In the toddler stage, the cake was pretty similar to the first. The only major difference was that it was very dense and all the fruit had sunk to the bottom. I believe this happened because I had played around with my ratios of fat without thinking about the consequences, as well as used a very thick Greek yoghurt (Fage brand.) These two things combined meant that the amount of fat in the cake was inhibiting the flour and egg matrix from expanding properly, making for a less airy crumb. Despite this, it was still delicious, just not quite what I was after.

Version 3

We jump to the teenage version of the cake, where by this time I’d got so frustrated by the recipe not being the same as the first that I decided to take a slight rebellion. Here, I halved Angelino plums and placed them on the bottom of the cake tin.

This worked well as it was reminiscent of a traditional upside down cake. Here the fruit is essentially steamed during the bake which creates a lovely jammy top. Sadly, I didn’t bake this cake for long enough and the centre was raw! The tantrum followed…

Version 4

Now here we are. The final product. A fluffy, nutty, happy bake kind of cake!

Adaptations

Before you get stuck into the recipe, here are some suggestions on how you can adapt this cake to make it your own.

Butter: If you want, you can brown the butter for an extra nutty flavour. A ‘how to’ on this is available in my Brown Butter & Spelt Cherry Pie recipe.

Flour: In all my trials I used a variety of different blends of flours, including spelt, emmer and einkorn. If you too want to experiment with using stoneground ancient grains or wholegrain flours but don’t feel super confident I suggest starting by blending 50g plain flour with 100g of your chosen flour. Using these flours over a plain white flour will give the cake a more interesting depth of flavour as well as nutritional quality.

Remember that flour has flavour and should be used in the same way as other ingredients. Ask yourself, how does the flavour of XXXX flour compliment the apple and hazelnuts in this cake? Is it going to make it more nutty, earthy, sweet etc?

Nuts: In my trials, I used pecans, hazelnuts, walnuts and almonds. You can do the same! Remember to think about how that nut pairs well with the flavour of the fruit, e.g. walnuts and pears, almond and apricot, etc. I also like to toast the nuts before blitzing for an added depth of flavour.

Hazelnut skins can sometimes be quite bitter but for the recipe below I didn’t bother peeling them. This is a lazy cake!

Sour Cream: You can use sour cream, yoghurt or ricotta in this recipe. They are all as delicious as the other. The only factor to consider is the amount of acid found in sour cream and yoghurt. This acid will help kickstart the baking powder, which will enable a quick rise but potentially cause the fruit to sink. I personally don’t think it’s a deal breaker.

Fruit: Use what’s in season.

Place in the bottom of the cake tin, fold through the batter or don’t use it at all.

Apple and Hazelnut Cake

Ingredients

100g unsalted butter, melted
200g soft brown sugar
100g eggs (around 2 medium eggs)
150g plain flour
70g hazelnuts, finely ground
30g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
10g baking powder
2g fine sea salt
200g sour cream
1 Bramley apple or variety of your choice, diced into 1cm ish cubes, skin on (around 225-50g)
Icing sugar, for dusting (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180c fan.
Grease and line a 9” springform cake tin. Set aside.
In a saucepan melt the butter over a medium heat.
Whilst the butter is melting, scale the sugar into a large bowl.
In another bowl, combine the flour, ground hazelnuts, baking powder and fine sea salt.
When the butter has melted, pour it over the brown sugar and whisk to combine. Allow this to cool for 1-2 minutes before incorporating the eggs. If you add the eggs in whilst the butter is very hot they will start to cook.
Whisk in the eggs.
Fold the dry mix into the wet until fully combined.
Add in the sour cream.
Stir through the chopped apple before pouring the mix into your prepared cake tin.
Smooth out the surface and sprinkle over the chopped hazelnuts.
Bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Leave to cool.
Dust with icing sugar before slicing and serving.
Keeps for 3 days.

Whilst you’re making your cake please give this great podcast by Farmerama a listen. It’s all about good bread, farming techniques, delicious flour and why it’s ok not to be perfect.