9 cakes to deliver you an apple a day

When fruit meets cake batter all sorts of delicious things can happen.

Sweet and simple. Source: Tim Thatcher

1. Harlinger apple cake

The kind of apple cake you can take home to your parents. Source: Alan Benson

This fancy-pants Dutch apple cake has a pastry, sponge, custard and cooked apple layer set in a cream topping. The final sprinkling of almonds crisp up in the oven and make for a crunchy textural finish.

2. 20-hour apple cake with spiced crème anglaise

10 hours of cooking and 10 hours of cooling.

This 10-hour slow-baked apple cake is formed only using thinly sliced apples, butter and sugar. It lazes around in the fridge for another 10 hours to set into a slab of smooth, caramel-y apple cake dreams.

3. Sadie's birthday apple cake

Matthew Evans' recipe contains a bucketload of apples. Source: Tim Thatcher

This Gourmet Farmer recipe uses three apples per cake and has a nice helping of cinnamon too. It's a real treat to make as you pretty much just dump everything into a bowl, mix, then bake.

4. Mary McDevitt's apple cake

Goes well with a dollop of double cream.

If you're just after a recipe for one and can't be bothered with the halving (hot tip, two cakes won't go to waste with some cream cheese icing sandwiching them together) then try out this apple cake recipe by Mary McDevitt.

5. Vintage apple cake (fugassa de pomi)

Don't worry, it's the recipe that's vintage, not the cake. Source: Guardian Faber

This delightful Italian apple cake is best eaten for breakfast or as an afternoon snack, according to recipe author, Valeria Necchio. It's fluffy, rich and wholesome all at once.

6. Polish apple cake

Cake, apples and fluffy coconut meringue. Source: The Lion and Buffalo

This extra-luxurious Polish apple cake is crowned with a layer of meringue and toasted coconut. It's not overly sweet so can be enjoyed without concern for moderation.

7. Chopped apple cake

Like the apple's answer to banana bread. Source: Ashley Rodriguez

This apple cake is the pome fruit's answer to banana bread. The loaf-style cake is studded with little nuggets of chopped up apple which soften and sweeten as they cook.

8. Apple charlotte with thyme custard

This one kind of treads the line between bread pie and cake. Source: Great British Food Revival

A charlotte is an English dessert filled with stewed apples, or other fruit, wrapped in buttered bread (aka the fanciest toast you've ever had). The bread gets all crunchy and butter-filled which holds up well with the sweet fruit filling.

9. Danish apple cake (Æblekage)

No need to mess with the classics.

This sweet and simple Danish number layers sliced apples in a rich butter cake. It tops Matthew Evans' recipe with 5 whole apples in one cake. This cake goes great with a dollop of thick cream, but really which one wouldn't.

 

Matthew Evans explores all things farm to table in season 5 of Gourmet Farmer, 8pm Thursday nights from August 1 to October 3 on SBS and SBS On Demand. Visit the Gourmet Farmer website for recipes, the episode guide and more.