Banbury Living Oct - Nov 2022

CHAI SPICED
APPLE CAKE
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Serves: 10
INGREDIENTS
175g unsalted butter, softened,
plus extra for greasing
7 cardamom pods, cracked open
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 ½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp fine salt
2 Waitrose Jazz Apples, peeled
and cored
150g light brown soft sugar
3 Medium British Blacktail Free
Range Eggs
150g self-raising flour
100g ground almonds
¼ tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tsp whole milk
2½ tbsp icing sugar, sifted
Cooks’ Ingredients Pretty Rose
Petals, to decorate
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 160°C, gas
mark 3; grease a 900g loaf tin and
line with baking parchment. Shake
the seeds out of the cardamom
pods into a pestle and mortar.
Grind to a powder, then mix with
the cinnamon, ginger and salt; set
aside. Finely slice 1⁄2 an apple,
then dice the rest into 1cm cubes;
set aside.
Using electric beaters, cream
together the butter and sugar in a
large mixing bowl for 2-3 minutes
until light and fluffy. One at a time,
beat in the eggs, making sure each
one is fully incorporated before
adding the next. Use a spatula to
stir in the flour, almonds and spice
mix until evenly combined.
Stir the diced apple into the
mixture, then spoon into the tin.
Smooth the top with the back of
a spoon, then scatter over the
sliced apple. Bake for 1 hour 10
minutes-1 hour 15 minutes until
risen and a skewer inserted into
the centre of the cake comes out
clean. Leave to cool in the tin for
10 minutes, then transfer to a wire
rack to cool completely.
For the drizzle, mix the vanilla bean
paste and milk into the icing sugar
to make a thick, smooth paste.
Drizzle over the cake and scatter
with rose petals before serving.
COOK’S TIP
You can vary the spice mix in this
cake. Try swapping the ginger
for ground allspice or crushing a
couple of cloves instead of grinding
the cardamom seeds.
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