apple, almond, cardamom cake
for visiting, eating, warming your home
Welcome to mama eats, a twice-weekly newsletter (Tues. & Sat.) inspired by a simple + seasonal home life. This week’s post, a recipe for an apple almond cake, is free to all readers. I try to provide as much free content as possible, however, this newsletter is a labor of love and I am a busy mother of three. If you have the means and find value in what I share, please consider becoming a paid subscriber, which also gives you the benefit of access to the growing archive (posts over a month old).
Today is a blustery and cold day where we are. One of those days whose brightness belies the sharp edge to the air. As I was out for my sunrise walk this morning, I thought, as I often do this season, of baking something to warm up the house, something for the kids to have as an after-school snack. Isn’t there something wonderful about the smell of a cake baking in the oven? About having one, freshly baked, sitting and cooling on the counter? I think so.
Winter especially lends itself to baking. When, earlier this week, I asked you what winter pleasures you partake in to stave off the gloom, one of the most common responses was baking. Baking with children, baking for a friend, baking and mailing sturdy cookies to loved ones far away, baking cardamom brioche, baking bread, leaving the oven propped open after the baking is finished to fully enjoy its radiating heat.
This is a cake I shared a couple of autumns ago on Instagram, and received a few emails and queries about this year, which made me think to document it here. It has all good winter things- warm spices, citrus, almonds, and a snow of powdered sugar covering the craggly mountains and valleys of thinly sliced storage apples which lie atop. I think it is perfect for eating with tea, taking to a friend’s house for an afternoon visit—and, although it’s quite humble, it dresses up beautifully with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a dinner party. It mixes up very quickly and is pretty no-fuss. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have.
apple, almond, cardamom cake
notes: If you don’t have a fresh orange on hand, feel free to use extra milk in place of orange juice. If you do have an orange, the zest is also a welcome addition here. I use extra virgin olive oil here, as I do in almost all my baking, but you can use another oil, or melted butter, if you wish. I primarily use plain almond or soy milk when baking this cake, but other milks work, too, and I’ve also used thinned yogurt.
dry:
1 ½ cup // 200g flour
½ cup // 50g almond flour
½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp cardamom
¼ tsp cinnamon
wet:
¾ cup almond milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
⅓ cup orange juice
½ cup olive oil
¾ cup // 100g sugar, plus 2 tsp extra for on top of the apples
topping:
a large apple, very thinly sliced
a handful of sliced almonds
powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 350F // 180C. Line your baking tin with parchment or grease well- I use a springform tin.
Mix all dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, pour in the milk and vinegar and let it sit for about 5 minutes to allow it to clabber. Whisk in the remaining wet ingredients until smooth. Add the dry into the wet and whisk quickly, just enough to combine- if you overmix, it won’t rise as well.
Gently layer over the thinly sliced apple and over that, the handful of sliced almonds. Sprinkle over the 2 tsp extra sugar over the top. Transfer to the oven and bake for around 45-55 minutes until the middle is completely cooked through, and the edges are slightly pulling away from the side of the tin- I poke with a strand of spaghetti to test if it comes clean.
For paid subscribers, find a cook-along video for this cake below. Thank you for supporting this newsletter, it means so much. xx A