Easy to bake, this scrumptious seasonal cake is full of sweet apple chunks, zesty lemon and ginger, topped off with crunchy demerara crumble. Enjoy a generous slice with a cup of tea, or warmed up for dessert with a dollop of crème fraiche.
 

 

Apple cake recipe

 
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Servings: 12 slices
 
Equipment:
Deep 23cm (9″) cake baking tin (ideally springform)
2 mixing bowls
 
Storage:
This moist cake will keep for a couple of days wrapped in foil.
It will freeze well for up to 3 months if wrapped tightly. Defrost thoroughly and warm in a low oven before serving.

Ingredients

For the cake

115g chilled unsalted butter, diced. Plus extra for greasing the cake tin
225g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger
115g demerara sugar
2 large eggs
6 tbsp semi-skimmed milk
700g eating apples (e.g. Granny Smith, Pink Lady, or Braeburn) – peeled, cored & diced. This is roughly 6 medium apples (you’ll want to end up with about 500g apple chunks)
1/2 lemon
75g stem ginger (about 4 balls), diced, plus 1 tbsp of the ginger syrup
 

Crumble topping (optional)

50g plain flour
1/4 tsp ground ginger
25g chilled unsalted butter, diced
25g demerara sugar
 
1 tbsp icing sugar for dusting
 
 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/Fan 170°C/Gas 5.
2. Line the cake tin with baking parchment. Butter the base and sides.
3. Mix the flour, baking powder and ground ginger together in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub into the flour using your fingertips, until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then add the sugar.
4. Whisk the eggs then pour into the dry ingredients. Gradually add about 6 tbsp of milk, mixing well until you have a smooth, thick batter.
5. Prepare your apple chunks in a separate bowl. Toss with the finely grated zest of half a lemon and 1 tbsp lemon juice. Mix in the diced ginger and syrup.
6. Add the lemony apples to the cake batter, stirring lightly until combined, then spread evenly into the prepared tin.
7. To make the topping, mix the crumble ingredients together in a bowl, using your fingertips, until it resembles breadcrumbs. Sprinkle it over the top of the cake mix.
8. Bake for 45 mins-1 hour in the oven until it is risen and golden. Test whether it is cooked by inserting a skewer into the middle – it should slide easily through the apples and come out clean.
9. Leave to cool for 15 minutes before removing the cake from the tin and peeling off the baking parchment.
10. Dust with icing sugar. Best served warm with a dollop of crème fraiche or scoop of vanilla ice cream.

 

A delicious alternative to try:

Swap the ginger for traditional apple accompaniments of cinnamon and sultanas.
Leave out the lemon. Substitute the ground ginger for ground cinnamon, and the stem ginger for 100g sultanas.
 

More easy autumn apple desserts:

Apple & blackberry crumble

Ultimate apple pie – BBC Good Food
(You can make this recipe even more simple with shop-bought sweet pastry!)