The festive season is barely behind us and the wedding season is about to begin here – not that it makes much of a difference to me – I’m always on the lookout for any excuse to indulge in goodies!
Just before leaving for my Diwali vacances, some very thoughtful people sent us baskets of fruits – how cute, I thought, a fair bit disappointed with the lack of sugar. Nonetheless with baskets of fruits laying on the table, and less than 24 hours to leave town I did what any sensible person does – bake cakes out of them.
I used every round juicy apple, grated them up, whisked them into spiced cake batter with orange juice and zest (the house smelled divine!) and baked into a loaf tin, with remaining batter into cupcake holders. I distributed some of the cakes and of course, packed most of it with me on my trip.
(In hindsight, perhaps the more sensible thing would have been to make an apple chutney, but… cake is much more appealing n’est ce pas?)
The Recipe
Serves 8
Ingredients
- 2 cups grated apple
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 cup oil
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/3 cup orange juice
- 2 tsp orange zest
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp allspice
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 200C and grease and flour the loaf tin (11” length).
- Whisk the oil and sugar for 5 minutes.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk for another 5 minutes.
- Add orange zest, orange juice, cinnamon, allspice, baking powder, baking soda and salt and combine.
- With a spatula, fold in the flour, followed by the apple until just combined and no dry lumps.
- Pour into the tin and bake for 25 minutes.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before turning over on serving dish. Dust some icing sugar on top.
