Put the kettle on for some tea…cake

Here is a recipe for a teacake from Karen Martini (ubiquitous TV and cookbook ‘celebrity’). I’ve never made anything of hers before, and had heard some conflicting views on her recipes, but this one turned out quite well.

Some observations: the cake mix to apple ratio seems quite low (ie. too much fruit, too little flour), but it does balance out in the cake tin. Also, instead of the traditional method of creaming the butter and sugar, the recipe calls for mixing in a food processor. Now, I don’t have a food processor, only a stick mixer with bowl attachment, so I mixed the butter and sugar and then transferred it to a larger bowl to add the flour by hand. The resulting mix is very dense and not as light as creaming with a mixer. Not a problem, though, because the apple makes the cake really moist anyway.

The final result is quite delicious, perfect with a cuppa for afternoon tea.


Apple and Sultana Teacake

4 apples, peeled, cored and finely diced (I used 3 medium granny smith apples, and it was plenty)
¼ cup sultanas
¾ tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp brown sugar
½ lemon, juiced
140g butter
140g raw sugar
2 large eggs
140g plain flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp brown sugar


Method

Preheat oven to 180 deg C (fanforced) or 200 deg C (conventional).
Combine apples, sultanas, cinnamon, brown sugar and lemon juice in bowl. Stir and set aside.
Place butter and raw sugar in a food processor and process until well combined.
Add eggs one at a time and whiz until combined.
Sift flour and baking powder together in a bowl.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture and whiz until smooth.
Spread half the cake mix in the base of a lined loaf pan (I used a 10 x 23cm tin).
Top with half the apple mix.
Spoon over the remaining cake mix and top with the remaining apple mix.
Sprinkle with brown sugar and bake for 60 mins or until cooked (the top may burn, so I took it out after 50 mins and it was already cooked).
Cook for a few minutes in tin before turning out and eating warm (yum!)

Adapted from Karen Martini’s recipe in Sunday Life magazine.