R&S Pride JANUARY 234.qxp 30/11/2021 12:18 Page 64
In the KITCHEN A lovely warming pudding that’s great served with cream or custard, or enjoyed in front of the fire with big mug of tea...
CHAI SPICED APPLE CAKE Preparation Time: 30 minutes. Cooking Time: 1 hour 15 minutes. Serves: 10. 175g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing • 7 cardamom pods, cracked open 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon • 1 ½ tsp ground ginger • ½ tsp fine salt • 2 eating apples, peeled and cored 150g light brown soft sugar • 3 medium eggs • 150g self-raising flour • 100g ground almonds ¼ tsp vanilla bean paste • 1 tsp whole milk • 2½ tbsp icing sugar, sifted Preheat the oven to 160°C, gas mark 3; grease a 900g loaf tin and line with baking parchment. Shake the seeds out of the cardamom pods into a pestle and mortar. Grind to a powder, then mix with the cinnamon, ginger and salt; set aside. Finely slice 1⁄2 an apple, then dice the rest into 1cm cubes; set aside. Using electric beaters, cream together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. One at a time, beat in the eggs, making sure each one is fully incorporated before adding the next. Use a spatula to stir in the flour, almonds and spice mix until evenly combined. Stir the diced apple into the mixture, then spoon into the tin. Smooth the top with the back of a spoon, then scatter over the sliced apple. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until risen and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. For the drizzle, mix the vanilla bean paste and milk into the icing sugar to make a thick, smooth paste. Drizzle over the cake and scatter with rose petals before serving. You can vary the spice mix in this cake. Try swapping the ginger for ground allspice or crushing a couple of cloves instead of grinding the cardamom seeds. n Thousands of recipes can be found at www.waitrose.com/recipes.
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