Recipe: Apple, Honey and Walnut Cake

Tea time.

We’re of the firm belief that Sundays are best spent baking, followed by a bite to eat in the sun.

Apple cake has long been a staple of the afternoon tea, a classic which can be reinvented time and time again. Which is just what Skye McAlpine has done with this recipe.

Ingredients

• 4-5 dessert apples (about 600g)
• 3 large eggs
• 120g honey
• 125g plain yogurt
• 50ml olive oil
• 210g self-raising flour
• 50g walnut pieces
• 25g salted butter, diced
• 35g demerara sugar

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180ºC. Grease a 23cm springform cake tin using butter or oil and line the base and sides with baking paper.

2. Core the apples and slice them lengthways into half-moon crescents. Roughly chop half the apple slices, saving the rest for decoration.

3. Put the eggs and honey in a bowl and whisk vigorously for 2-3 minutes with a handheld electric mixer (or a little longer by hand), until pale and fluffy. Stir in the yogurt with a wooden spoon. Drizzle in the olive oil and stir until well combined.

4. Sift the flour into the bowl and mix until there are no lumps. Finally, toss in the chopped apple and the walnuts and give everything a good stir.

5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and use the back of the spoon to smooth it out evenly. Arrange the apple slices on top. Dab the pieces of butter over the cake and sprinkle with the sugar.

6. Bake for 45 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and springs back when you press down gently on the top. A knife or skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out on to a wire rack. Eat warm or at room temperature.

‘A Table in Venice’ is out now via Bloomsbury.

This article was originally published in Fashion Journal 183. You can read it here.