Apple Almond Spice Cake and Some Bundt Cake Tips and Tricks

The apple season is coming to an end at Old Farm New Farm with only some of the late season varieties still on the trees, namely red delicious and granny smith. I'd been ignoring the red delicious as they tend to be quite thick skinned and floury, and definitely my least favorite on the farm. However, on tasting a couple I was a bit surprised at how nice they actually were this season. They had quite an enjoyable mellow flavour and a notable almondy character. 

Though red delicious aren't traditionally a cooking apple I used them in this recipe as I was looking for an apple that was going to break down easily through the cooking process. And having already baked to many apple cakes this season I wanted a cake that wasn't immediately recognisable as apple and thought the lack of acidity in the red delicious would help hide the apple in this apple cake. 

Inspired by classic tea cakes I used cinnamon for spice and almond liquor to enhance the almond notes of the red delicious. The almond meal and grated apple added texture and moisture. The apple all but disappeared resulting in a cake with a very moist and delicate crumb. The most notable quote from the testers was 'Delicious!'.

Recipe: Apple Almond Spice Cake 

Oven Temp: 180°

Equipment: I used a Nordic Ware 6 cup Bundt tin

Ingredients

150g Cake Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

60g Almond Meal

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

200g Sugar

125g Butter

1 Egg

170g Apple - Peeled, cored and grated

1/2 tsp Lemon Zest

1 tbsp Amaretto (almond liquor)

125ml (1/2c) Milk

Process

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and almond meal. set aside. 
2. In a separate bowl cream butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes. Add egg and continue creaming until homogenized and fluffy. Stir in Amaretto, apple and lemon rind.
3. Add flour mixture and milk. Stir briefly to combine.
4. Pour into a prepared bundt tin* and smooth out the surface. Bake for around 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
5. Invert cake*, cool and serve withing a dusting of icing sugar.

*See Tips below

Bundt Tin Tips and Tricks

1. To ensure your cake doesn't stick to the tin carefully grease or spray your tin getting into all the nooks and crannies. Then lightly dust with flour, tapping out any excess.
2. After taking the cake out of the oven releasing the cake is make or break. To increase your odds of a good release, wait about 5 minutes before trying to invert the cake. This window allows the cake to 'set' so it doesn't break apart but don't wait to long as as it cools the sugars harden and will stick to the pan. 
3. Another tip to help release your cake is to gently push the cake away from the sides of the tin with a small plastic spatula before inverting. 
4. When cleaning your bundt tin don't use anything abrasive, warm soapy water should do the trick.

Winter Kitchen - Orange and Walnut Bundt Cake

Picking up a kilo of blood oranges at the market the other day I began what's fast becoming my annual marmalade madness. For me, spending three days carefully tending to orange quarters really pays off. I just can't get enough of marmalade!

I followed up the jam making with an orange cake. I remembered Coconut and Quinoa's method of incorporating whole, pureed oranges and reserved some of the cooked orange quarters for the cake. 

Incorporating the pureed orange resulted in a really moist melt in your mouth cake with intense orange flavour. The walnuts added nuttiness and texture. And the bundt tin, was just because I like bundts.

I'd love to hear your feedback if your trying the recipe. Let me know how it goes in a regular cake tin. I'm thinking the high moisture content might make for a slightly soggy center but see how you go.


Orange and Walnut Bundt Cake

125g Butter, room temperature
200g Sugar
1 Egg
150g Pureed Orange, method below
½ tsp Grated Lemon Rind
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
150g Plain Flour
2½ tsp Baking Powder
60g Walnuts, ground
½ cup Milk

Heat oven to 180°. Butter a 6 cup bundt tin and dust with flour.

Method

In a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high for 3 minutes. Add the egg and continue to beat for 6-7 minutes until well and truly creamed. Add the vanilla, pureed orange and lemon rind and beat to incorporate.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour baking powder and walnuts. Stir the flour mixture into the batter in three batches alternating with 1/4c milk after the first and second additions. Be careful not to over mix. The batter should be fairly stiff but still light and fluffy.

Transfer the batter into the bundt tin, spreading evenly and smoothing the surface. Bake for approx. 35min until a knife comes out cleanly but the cake still appears steamy and moist.


Method for pureed orange

'Method' is probably a bit misleading as I didn't really have one. The oranges were left over from the marmalade making process. In brief, I used blood orange quarters that had been steeped over night and simmered for 2 hours. By this stage the skins had become extremely soft with little flesh left at all. I blended about 150g with a stick blender until smooth.

If you wanted to make your oranges from scratch I would suggest simmering 2 quartered oranges for at least an hour. Once completely cool, carefully press oranges to remove some of the juice and blend.