Spiced Apple Cake

Ingredients

• 4 apples of your choice (I used royal gala)

• 215g plain flour

• 1 tbsp baking powder

• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

• 3/4 tsp ground cardamon

• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 150g butter, at room temperature

• 150g caster sugar

• 2 eggs

• Juice and zest of 1 lemon

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• Icing sugar, to serve

Method

Step 1: Preheat oven to 180° and grease or line a 20cm cake tin. Chop apples into bite-size pieces; set aside. Place the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamon, nutmeg and salt in a bowl and mix to combine.

Step 2: Place 100g of butter and 100g of caster sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until smooth and creamy. Next, add the eggs and beat again, followed by the lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla extract.

Step 3: Add the flour mixture to the cake better, one spoonful at a time. Continue to mix over low-medium speed until just combined. The batter will be quite thick.

Step 4: Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and top with the chopped apples. Next, melt the remaining 50g of butter and 50g of caster sugar and combine, then pour over the apples. Transfer to the oven and bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Once baked, stand for 10-15 minutes, then remove from the tin and dust with icing sugar to serve.