Traditional Dorset apple cake
- Published: 4 Jan 24
- Updated: 25 Mar 24
Learn how to make a traditional Dorset apple cake with Sue Quinn’s trusty recipe, inspired by a 1932 compendium of recipes compiled by a little-known British food writer.
Sue says: “I’ve updated this recipe from Good Things In England by Florence White. She was sent the original by a Miss Annette Vipan, who got it from a farmer’s wife in North Chideock, in Dorset. It’s a special recipe to me because I often drive through this village. Whenever I do, I picture that farmer’s wife, long ago, making this moist, buttery and very delicious cake.”
Looking for a baking project? Try our sourdough banana bread.
Ingredients
- 110g unsalted butter, chilled and chopped, plus extra to grease
- 225g plain flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 110g caster sugar
- 4 eating apples
- 100g natural yogurt or soured cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp demerara sugar
Specialist kit
- 20cm springform cake tin
Method
- Heat the oven to 160°C fan/gas 4 and butter the cake tin. In a large mixing bowl, rub the butter and flour together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the baking powder and a pinch of salt, then put the bowl in the fridge.
- Put the caster sugar in another mixing bowl. Peel, core and chop the apples into bite-size pieces, adding them to the sugar and tossing as you go. When all the apples are chopped, give the fruit a good stir so any sugar at the bottom of the bowl is distributed over the fruit. Tip the sugary apples into the flour mixture, then stir in the yogurt/soured cream and vanilla extract. This will create a thick batter (it will seem like there is more apple than batter).
- Pour the batter into the prepared tin, pushing it to the edges and spreading it out evenly. Smooth the top, then sprinkle with the demerara sugar. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until golden and a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. Leave the cake in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely
- Recipe from January 2024 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 333kcals
- Fat
- 13g
- Protein
- 3.9g
- Carbohydrates
- 50g (29g sugars)
- Fibre
- 2.2g
- Salt
- trace
FAQs
How long will the cake keep?
This cake will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days. It also freezes well.
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This cake is a huge success in our house! I don’t like over sweet things so I used a third less sugar than the recipe and it was perfect. Next time I make it I’ll try swapping some of the flour for ground almonds, I think that would work. Be warned, it is one of those things that you keep going back to for “just a tiny bit more”! In fact, as I am typing this I can see my Hubby at the cake tin cutting himself another little slice!!
Simple and delicious!