Somerset Apple Cake

A gorgeous sweet and tart apple cake which is so quick and easy to put together, incredibly tasty when using cooking apples - and you can add some berries if you like too!

A recipe card saved for years

I found a recipe card in with my cookbooks when I was rearranging my bookshelf, and suddenly it stood out to me: “Nanna’s Somerset Apple Cake”. It had actually come with an order I placed, and perfectly fittingly that order was my The From Scratch Body apron (which you can see me wear in a lot of my YouTube videos) from Sparks & Daughters. I had just been given a bunch of huge cooking apples straight off the tree from our lovely allotment neighbours, and I had also picked quite a bit of blackberries - though it hadn’t been the best year for blackberries around where we live so I didn’t have quite enough for a big batch of jam like I’d hoped. This recipe suggested an optional addition of 100g blackberries! How perfect! I have made some small adjustments to the recipe on the card, but essentially this is taken from Sparks & Daughters’ recipe card, so a huge thank you to them for introducing me to the concept of a Somerset apple cake in the first place. It’s a super easy cake to make and has an apple pie kind of feel to it, it was a mega hit in my house and will be made again. I really recommend using cooking apples for this as the tartness makes it just lovely, and other berries would be really nice too, I’m sure - especially raspberries would be a great alternative. But the apples on their own are more than enough!

Somerset Apple Cake

Makes 1

• 450g apples (this is the weight you want after the apples are peeled and cored)

• 100g sugar (plus a little bit extra to sprinkle on top)

• 100g butter

• 100g plain flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• A pinch of cardamom (or vanilla essence or seeds if you prefer)

• 2 eggs

• Zest from 1 lemon

• Optional: 100g blackberries (or raspberries or other berries)

Peel, core and slice the apples and spread them out in a buttered cake tin (or other oven dish) and add berries if you want. Grate the lemon zest over the apples and berries.

Preheat your oven to 180ºC (360ºF).

In a bowl, cream the sugar and butter with an immersion blender, whisk (or other blender solution you use!) until you have a lovely light and fluffy mix.

Beat the eggs and mix with the sugar and butter mix.

Sift the flour and add in, also add baking powder and cardamom (if using). Fold until it’s all mixed evenly, don’t overdo it.

Pour the mix over the fruit and sprinkle some sugar on top if desired.

Bake in the oven for about 35-40 minutes, remember all ovens are different. Test with a skewer to see if it comes out clean if you’re unsure.

This cake is absolute autumn bliss!

Do let me know if you tried it and share a photo on social media - don’t forget to tag me!