Spiced Apple Cake with Brown Sugar – A delectable tea time or “pudding” style cake that is packed with apples, warm aromatic spices and is finished with a lovely crunchy brown sugar topping. Try to use seasonal local apples. In the UK, I love using Coxes Orange Pippins in this cake for their colour, tartness and taste.
Perfect for a Winter Tea Time Table
As Storm Ciara continues to batter us here in the UK, and especially in North Wales where I live, I am sharing a decadent cake recipe today for Spiced Apple Cake with Brown Sugar. Apple cake is one of my favourite cakes and one that often finds its way onto my tea time table. It’s also the type of cake that makes a great “pudding cake” when heated and served with cream, hot custard, or even a scoop of ice cream.
I make all manner of apple cakes, from apple tray bakes to apple sponge puddings, but today’s recipe for Spiced Apple Cake with Brown Sugar is probably the one we all love the best – with its spiced, moist toffee crumb, chunks of juicy apples, and an enticing brown sugar crunchy topping, it’s simply delicious and is the perfect cake for a cold wintry day.
It’s also a very easy cake to make, being an “all-in-one” cake mix, which is always a winner for busy bakers. You can use any eating apples that are in season, or any that you have to hand, but my favourites are Cox’s Orange Pippins and Braeburn apples for texture and flavour. And, I also love to support British Apples when choosing apples for my cakes, bakes and cooking too. I’ve used Coxes Orange Pippins in today’s’ recipe for Spiced Apple Cake with Brown Sugar, but there’s so many more British apple varieties you can choose from, as the list shared later on this post shows.
Serve this Spiced Apple Cake with Brown Sugar for Sunday afternoon tea along with freshly cut sandwiches and a pot of tea, and maybe a jug of thick cream too, it’s bound to please all the family. This cake also freezes beautifully – you just freeze slices wrapped in grease proof paper and cling-film. Also perfect for lunch box snacks and picnics. This IS the ultimate apple cake, in my opinion, but please let me know what you think if you try it! Karen
Some Popular Varieties of British Apples
(Information: Great British Apples)
BRAEBURN
Description:
Developed in New Zealand and grown to perfection in England. Visually exciting, juicy and delivering a great balance of zing and sweetness.
Season:
December to May
Growing Location:
East Midlands, West Midlands, South East, South West South, East Anglia
ROYAL GALA
Description:
Britain’s favourite apple with stripy red skin, a crisp bite and delivering a wonderfully sweet flavour.
Season:
September to May
Growing Location:
South East, South, South West, East Midlands, West Midlands, East Anglia
EGREMONT RUSSET
Description:
You know it when you see it, a very distinctive apple with light brown, russet skin and small cream freckles. Has a sweet and nutty taste.
Season:
September to February
Growing Location:
North West (southern part of), North East, East Midlands, West Midlands, South East, South West, South, East Anglia
COX
Description:
England’s most famous apple and rightly so, with a great balance of sugars and bite, as well as a delicious honeyed aroma.
Season:
September to April
Growing Location:
North West (southern part of), North East, East Midlands, West Midlands, South East, South West, South, East Anglia
BRAMLEY
Description:
A large, tart apple, ideal for cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Mostly green but sometimes with specks of red, the white juicy flesh makes the ideal texture for crumbles, pies and sauces alike.
Season:
All Year round
Growing Location:
Kent
Spiced Apple Cake with Brown Sugar
A delectable tea time or "pudding" style cake that is packed with apples, warm aromatic spices and is finished with a lovely crunchy brown sugar topping.
Ingredients
- 200g softened butter
- 200g soft brown sugar
- 200g self-raising flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground mixed spice
- 4 large free-range eggs, beaten
- 4 small eating apples, such as Cox’s Orange Pippins, cored and diced (skin on)
- 1 large eating apple, cored and cut into wedges
- Demerara sugar for sprinkling over the top
Instructions
1. Pre-heat oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4 and liberally butter and line a 7" (18cms) round cake tin. Mix the ground mixed spice with the flour.
2. Place all of the ingredients, except the apple, into a large bowl or food mixer, and beat together for 2 to 3 minutes until well mixed and amalgamated. Add the 4 diced apples and stir in to mix.
3. Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared tin and arrange the sliced apples over the top before sprinkling some Demerara sugar over the top of the cake and apples.
4. Bake in pre-heated oven for 55 to 60 minutes, or when a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
5. Allow cake to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out on to a wire rack; allow to cool completely before slicing and serving.
Notes
This cake makes a great pudding style cake too, just heat in the microwave for a minute and serve with cream, custard or ice cream. Try to use seasonal local apples. In the UK, I love using Coxes Orange Pippins in this cake for their colour, tartness and taste.
Nutrition Information
Yield 12 slices Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 308Total Fat 15gSaturated Fat 9gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 5gCholesterol 98mgSodium 335mgCarbohydrates 40gFiber 2gSugar 25gProtein 4g
Nutrition information is an approximate calculation based on the ingredients listed and it can vary according to portion sizes and when different ingredients are used.
More APPLE Recipes:
APPLE RECIPES
mohan kumar says
This sounds gorgeous! I’m actually considering making this!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Let me know if you make this, Karen