Apple, hazelnut and olive oil cake

Diana Henry
·3-min read
Apple, hazelnut and olive oil cake
This intensely appley bake works just as well for pudding as it does afternoon tea - Haarala Hamilton & Valerie Berry

I love decorated cakes probably more than I like plain ones – it’s the memory of fairy cakes and butterfly buns at home – but I tried different toppings for this (buttercream, cream cheese, a drizzly thin icing) and they all took away from the flavour. The cake is so intensely appley and so moist – because of the olive oil – that it needs to be offered in all its naked glory. It’s better, as both a pudding and an afternoon cake, served with a flavoured whipped cream (Marsala is good, or apple brandy) or nothing at all.

Overview

Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

1 hr

Serves

8

Ingredients

  • 3 Bramley apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1cm cubes

  • juice and finely grated zest of 1 lemon

  • butter, for greasing

  • 100g blanched hazelnuts

  • 200g plain flour

  • ¼ tsp cinnamon

  • generous grating of nutmeg

  • 1 tsp baking powder

  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

  • 250ml olive oil (one you like the flavour of)

  • 175g soft light brown sugar

  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten

  • ½ tsp vanilla extract

  • icing sugar, for dusting

  • 200ml double cream, whipped, sweetened with 1 tsp icing sugar and flavoured to taste with Marsala or apple brandy, to serve

Method

Step 1

Heat the oven to 180C/ 170C fan/gas mark 4. Put 3 chopped apples in a bowl and toss through the juice and zest of 1 lemon. Leave to one side.

Step 2

Butter a 23cm springform cake tin and line the base with baking parchment, then butter that too.

Step 3

Toast 100g blanched hazelnuts in a dry pan over a high heat for 1-2 minutes, ensuring they don’t burn. Take off the heat.

Step 4

Once they have cooled, add them to a food processor and grind them, using the pulse button. If you grind them too fast they become oily, so keep an eye on them. (You can use ground almonds instead or, if you are making this for someone with a nut allergy, replace the nuts with more plain flour.)

Step 5

In a large bowl, mix together 200g plain flour, ground nuts, ¼ tsp cinnamon, a generous grating of nutmeg, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda and a large pinch of salt.

Step 6

Put 250ml olive oil and 175g soft light brown sugar in a separate large bowl and beat until combined. Add 2 large eggs, one at a time, then ½ tsp vanilla extract. Beat until the mixture increases in volume and becomes paler in colour, about 5 minutes. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ones using a large metal spoon.

Step 7

Add the apples (along with the lemon they’ve been soaking in). It will seem as though the mixture is too thick – it’s not easy to incorporate the apples – but it will be fine. Spoon the batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 55 minutes, or until a skewer stuck into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Step 8

Leave to cool completely before turning out the cake – it’s too soft when it’s warm. Dust with icing sugar then serve with the whipped cream.

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