The glorious season of apples is here! I am a big fan of Autumn and besides the beautiful yellow leaves and chiller mornings, I also love the food that we prepare during this season. I go to the farmers market most weekends and inspired by the biggest Granny Smith apples I could find, I have put together a yummy apple and cinnamon cake.
Because I know that many of my readers are vegan, I have also come up with the vegan version too :)
Vegetarian option
This is what you will need:
250g ricotta
3 large apples (I like using Granny Smith because they are sour and crispy, but you can use any apple type as long as they are large or can use 4)
50g butter
2 eggs
150g sugar (I use organic granulated brown sugar, you can use any type you want)
200g brown flour (you can use plain white, mixed or wholemeal)
1 lemon (we use both the peel and the juice)
1 full tsp of cinnamon powder
16g baking powder
vanilla powder or 1 vanilla pod
2 tbsp icing sugar
NOTE: if the vegetarian dough is too thick, add in a dash of milk. If the texture is too runny, add in more flour.
Vegan option
Ingredients:
350g thick plant-based yogurt (I like Oatly greek style yogurt, it has the perfect texture)
3 large apples (I like using Granny Smith because they are sour and crispy, but you can use any apple type as long as they are large or can use 4)
50g sunflower seeds oil or tasteless coconut oil (Biona Organic is a great substitution I normally go for)
150g sugar (I use organic granulated brown sugar, you can use any type you want)
200g brown flour (you can use plain white, mixed or wholemeal)
1 lemon (we use both the peel and the juice)
1 full tsp of cinnamon powder
16g baking powder
vanilla powder or 1 vanilla pod
2 tbsp icing sugar
NOTE: if the vegan dough is too thick, add in a dash of plant based milk. If the texture is too runny, add in more flour.
Pre-heat oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
Begin by peeling the apples and slicing them quite thin, about 5mm each. Put them in a bowl and squeeze lemon juice to prevent them from going brown.
In the meantime, melt butter slowly on the hob (I recommend placing a pot of water - about 2 inches on the hob, and place a ceramic bowl containing the butter inside it, so that it will melt even slower and it will avoid burning it).
Separately, mix the eggs with the sugar and the peel of the lemon until the texture is fluffy and smooth, using an electric hand mixer at the highest setting. The colour of your mixture should be very light.
Add in the melted butter, which should be at room temperature by now.
Continue mixing, now at a lower/medium setting, adding one spoonful of flour at the time. Add in vanilla and baking powder at the end.
Now once that's done, spoon in the ricotta cheese using a silicon spatula if you have one or a regular spoon. Mixing everything in until everything is smooth and uniform.
Take a cake tin (I used a round 24cm one) and grease it with butter or olive oil (the thinnest layer possible, I use a piece of kitchen towel) and then sprinkle a bit of flour to make sure the cake won't stick to the bottom.
Place half of the apples in the tin, then cover with all the dough.
Use the other half of the apples to decorate the cake. I like to start from the outer edge and go around in circles, it makes it look like a pretty rose at the end.
In a bowl, mix the icing sugar and the cinnamon and take a sieve or strainer to sprinkle the mix on the cake, leaving no gaps.
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