An apple and olive oil cake with a wedge cut out and a slice on a plate, yellow roses beside it, from above

Cakes & Cupcakes

Apple and Olive Oil Cake

A moist apple sponge sandwiched with a moreish maple cream cheese frosting.

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A two-layer apple and olive oil cake topped with sliced apples, yellow roses in a jug behind A slice of apple and olive oil cake with a fork in front of the cut cake

I love this apple and olive oil cake, not only for the delicious morsels of apples but for the utterly moreish maple cream cheese frosting.

The frosting is not overly sweet, and interestingly, instead of using icing sugar like most frostings, this one uses brown sugar, which gives wonderful caramel notes.

The olive oil in the cake keeps the sponge super light and moist, but also adds to the fruitiness of the cake.

This recipe is closely adapted from Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh.

An apple and olive oil cake with a gold cake server and yellow flowers, from slightly above A whole apple and olive oil cake with a gold cake server and yellow roses, from above

The recipe

Apple and Olive Oil Cake

adventureswithsugar.com/apple-and-olive-oil-cake/

Method

Method: apple and olive oil cake

  1. Prepare the apples: Peel and core the apples. Dice them into 2cm cubes and set aside.
  2. Preheat the oven and prepare the tins: Preheat the oven to 180˚ Celsius. Grease and line the base and sides of two 20cm cake tins with baking paper.
  3. Plump the sultanas: Place the sultanas and 200ml of the water in a saucepan on low heat and let it simmer until all the water has been absorbed into the sultanas, then set it aside.
  4. Sift the dry ingredients: Sift the flour, cinnamon, mixed spice, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.
  5. Beat the eggs, oil and sugar: Place the whole eggs, olive oil, sugar, vanilla essence and lemon zest in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 7 minutes. The mixture should be light in colour, doubled in size and thickened a little.
  6. Add the apples and sultanas: Add in the apples, sultanas and remaining 75ml water to this mixture and fold in.
  7. Fold in the dry ingredients: Add in the sifted dry ingredients and gently fold to combine.
  8. Fold in the egg whites: Whisk the egg whites (by hand, as it is so little in volume) until stiff peaks form. Then fold into the batter.
  9. Divide and top with apples: Divide the batter between the lined cake tins. In one of the tins, layer the sliced apples on the top, irregularly, to create a pretty design. This will be the top of the cake.
  10. Bake: Bake for around 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. It may take a bit longer than this. Keep monitoring it every five minutes or so. If you find the apples beginning to brown too much, cover the cake with foil.
  11. Let cool: Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Method: maple cream cheese icing

  1. Beat the butter: Beat the butter until slightly creamed.
  2. Add the sugar, syrup and vanilla: Then add the sugar, maple syrup and vanilla essence and continue to beat.
  3. Add the cream cheese: Finally, gradually add in the cream cheese and beat until thick and smooth.
  4. Fill the cake: Once cooled, spread the frosting generously on the bottom layer, then place on the top layer which has the apple slices.
  5. Dust with icing sugar: Finish with a dusting of icing sugar on the top.

Recipe by adventureswithsugar.com

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