Fresh apples are the star ingredient in this Dorset Apple Cake. You'll find fresh apples inside and on top of this old fashioned apple cake! It looks stunning, but you'll be surprised that this is an easy apple cake recipe.
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This Dorset Apple Cake can be a day-long adventure (at least it was for me)! Because it's best eaten on the day it is baked, I'd recommend that you bake it first thing in the morning.
Enjoy this Dorset Apple Cake for breakfast with a heap of yogurt and a mug of coffee
Once it's out of the oven, have a slice with a heap of yogurt and a mug of coffee for breakfast. When afternoon tea rolls around, lightly warm up another slice and serve it with clotted cream. And if you really fancy it, this apple cake is also tasty for dessert with a spoonful of vanilla ice cream.
Dorset Apple Cakes come in all different shapes, sizes and types. Some recipes are made with raisins or currants. Some recipes add some cinnamon and spices.
Even the shape the apples are cut into can be different: either as chunks to put into the cake or sliced as decorations on top of the cake.
This Dorset Apple Cake has apples inside the cake and on top of the cake
And depending on the look you are going for, a Dorset Apple Cake can be baked in a round cake tin, made into a large tray bake, baked in muffin tins, or even baked in a loaf pan.
There isn't one way to bake a Dorset Apple Cake, but you are best to use fresh apples, real butter (instead of oil), and some may argue, whole wheat flour to get a rustic cake. These are reminiscent of old fashioned apple cake recipes.
For this Dorset Apple Cake recipe, fresh apples are the star ingredient (no distracting raisins or currants) with a touch of cinnamon. I cut the apples into small chunks and put half inside the cake, and half on top of the cake.
How to Make Apple Cake in Easy Steps
This is a very easy apple cake recipe with a beautiful presentation. I love bring this cake to potlucks and gatherings because it looks impressive. But the reality is that this apple cake recipe is very easy to make.
The most difficult part of this recipe is waiting for the cake to bake. You can do that right? Then you'll have no problems making this easy apple cake.
Scroll down for the full recipe and actual detailed step by step. But in a nutshell, to make this easy apple cake recipe, you just need to:
- Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl.
- Mix the wet ingredients in a second bowl.
- Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients.
- Pour ⅔ of the cake batter into the pan and top with ½ of the chopped apples.
- Spread the remaining cake batter on top, top with the remaining apples, and sprinkle on some sugar.
- Bake in the oven.
The oven takes care of the rest, and you can rest and relax while your home fills with the aroma of an old fashioned apple cake.
Fresh apples are a must in this Dorset apple cake. While some apple cake recipes will use applesauce, this apple cake relies solely on fresh apples.
The beautiful caramelized apples on top of this easy apple cake make this a show stopper
The apples lend moisture into the cake, but you also get the beautiful effect of the sugar-coated browned apples piled on top. With apples inside and on top of the cake, you are bound to get an apple piece in every single bite of the cake.
This post is sponsored by cottages.com since they want to give you a taste of food around Britain. On cottages.com, you can find a wide array of self-catering properties. This is particularly of interest to us now since we have a baby in tow.
With one of the quaint properties, we would have the space we need for the baby, and of course, a kitchen so we can comfortably eat without having to worry about finding a "baby friendly" restaurant.
Dorset Apple Cake -- Fresh Apple Cake
Print Recipe Save RecipeIngredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (replace half with whole wheat flour for a more rustic cake)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter - at room temperature
- ¾ cup lightly packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 4 medium eggs
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon quality vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ pounds cooking apples (or about 3 large apples) - peeled, cored and cut into ½-inch (2-cm) pieces (I used a mix of Bramley and Granny Smith)
- 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar (demerara sugar)
- powdered sugar (icing sugar) (for finishing)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C. Line the bottom of an 8-inch (20-cm) x 3-inch tall springform pan with parchment paper and lightly oil the sides of the pan. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream together the butter and sugars until smooth and lighter in color, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs, milk and vanilla extract.
- Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined.
- Add two-thirds of the batter into the prepared pan, and using a spatula, spread the batter until it's even. Evenly layer on half of the apple pieces. Add in the remaining batter, and using a spatula, carefully spread the batter until it's even. Evenly layer on the remaining apples. Evenly sprinkle the demerara sugar over the apples. Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing the cake and transferring it to a cooling rack.
- Dust with powdered sugar once the cake has cooled.
Love this Dorset Apple Cake Recipe? Try these other recipes that feature apples!
ashok says
My Family Loved it. I am definitely sharing!
Beanie says
I actually made this recipe to use up a bunch of old apples so that they wouldn't go to waste, and it turned out absolutely amazing! Thank you for the recipe, I will definitely be making it again. Also I replaced 1 tsp of the cinnamon with gingerbread spice.
Deidre says
Can I make this in a bundt pan?
Pam Gayford says
Made your Fabulous Dorset Apple cake to take to my WI Crochet group today....Tbey Absolutely Loved it,all I brought home was an empty cake container....This is going to be one of my regular cake bakes...Thank-you...xx
Calvin says
Anyone else have trouble with it fitting an 8” pan as specified. After I mixed the batter I knew there was no way it was going to fit so I switched to a 9”. It still overflowed quite a bit. I’m not sure even a 10” pan would have been large enough. I followed the recipe exactly including weighing the apples.
Tina Jui says
Hi Calvin, I'm sorry to hear that happened to you! I use an 8-inch x 3-inch springform pan, and it does bake right up to the top, but it never overflows. How tall is your pan? I see other 8-inch x 3-inch springform pans on Amazon, but I wonder if that height isn't standard across all brands of pans.
Calvin says
My 8” springform is 2.5” tall. My 9” and 10” are 2.75” tall. I just checked Amazon and it appears those are common depths. Not to worry, I will figure out how to make it work. It’s a beautiful rustic cake; the flavor and texture are spot on. My end result is not pretty due to my mechanics but I can tell this is a keeper.
Tina Jui says
I'm really glad you enjoyed the cake otherwise. I'll update the recipe to include to use a 3-inch tall pan.
Sarah says
I use a deep 8” pan not an 8” shallow sandwich tin. :)
Ashley says
This looks amazing! I'm making it tonight, I only wish I had brown sugar in the house. I'm adding a bit of molasses instead and I bet it'll be wonderful still.
Maria says
Looking very nice and delicious also. I'm trying to make the cake for my family. Thanks for your sharing.