Monday, July 27, 2015

Apple and Olive Oil Cake, Scented with Lady Grey Tea


I have six different varieties of apples in the garden, but most years the birds beat me to most of them. The Rainbow Lorikeets come between Christmas and New Year when the apples are small and green. I netted three trees this year and the Lady Williams apple still bears a few fruit. Generally they are a tart apple a possible cross between a Granny Smith and Johnathan. This year as they have had a chance to ripen for a long period on the tree they are much sweeter. I still have 3 buckets of different variety apples to use up so I decided to try this cake. 

Apple and Olive Oil Cake, Scented with Lady Grey Tea    

180g of dried muscatel grapes
freshly brewed Lady Grey tea
5 small Lady Williams apples around 500 grams
150ml olive oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 and 3/4 cups self raising flour
2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

Method
Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Grease and line a 20cm (8 in) springform cake tin.   

Place the muscatels in a bowl and cover with the hot tea. Cover with a plate and set aside for 20 minutes. Peel and core the apples and cut into small dice. Beat the oil and sugar together until well amalgamated. Break the eggs into a small bowl and beat them, add the eggs in small amounts at a time to the mixture, beating all the time. Sift the flour and cinnamon and add the salt.  Add the flour to the mixture to form a stiff batter. Drain the muscatels and reserve the liquid, fold the muscatels  through the mixture with the diced apple. Don't be alarmed if the apples are not completely covered by the cake batter.
Place the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for around one and a half hours, or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean. Check the cake halfway through and cover with foil if it is browning too quickly. 
Add 1 tablespoon of sugar to the reserved liquid and reduce until it forms a thick syrup. Brush the cake while it is still hot with the syrup.

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