Apple and Walnut Cake

I first came across this kind of apple cake in Italy - I spotted it in a bakery, sitting proudly and invitingly on a wooden board under the glass counter, plump with the promise of fragrant, moist apple. Not being able to resist, I bought a generous slice and devoured it as soon as I reached home. It did not disappoint, the apple ensured that it was not dry like many other types of cake in Italy and the addition of cinnamon gave a spicy contrast to the sweetness.
I have since made it many times at home, varying it slightly as the mood takes me. For some reason I like to include walnuts if I make it as one, large round cake but I prefer to leave them out when making individual cupcakes (see here for that recipe).
Although the poor summer has had an adverse effect on a lot of fruit and vegetables this year, my apple harvest is fantastic, the trees groaning with fruit. I used one cooking apple and two red apples for this but you can use whatever you happen to have to hand.

I'm sending this to Katie Bryson from the lovely blog Feeding boys and a firefighter, who is this month's host of the Simple and In Season challenge, the brainchild of Ren at Fabulicious Food.

I'm also sending it to Javelin Warrior's wonderful weekly challenge, Made with Love Mondays.

RECIPE

150g butter

180g caster sugar

180g self raising flour

1-2 teaspoons cinnamon (depending on taste)

3 eggs

3 apples

40g walnuts

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C

Grease and base line a round cake tin, 22cm diameter

Peel and core the apples. Chop into small dice. Roughly chop the walnuts.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Sieve the flour and cinnamon and fold in, then add the apples and walnuts, stirring well to combine.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, smoothing the top.

If you want a slightly crunchy top, you can sprinkle over a spoon of demerara sugar just before it goes into the oven.

Put in the oven and bake for about 30-35 mins or until the cake is cooked and golden brown on top. It takes slightly longer to cook than a normal sponge cake because of the addition of moist apple.

Remove from the oven. Take the cake out of the tin as soon as possible (without burning yourself of course) and leave to cool on a wire rack.

It is absolutely heavenly eaten still slightly warm from the oven but it also keeps very well because the apple helps the cake stay deliciously moist.