Baking Advent Calendar day 15

My partner was supposed to be going out to meet a friend for a pre Christmas drink and bite to eat this evening, but then circumstances changed and now said friend is coming here and they’re eating in. This was all well and good until a I got a panicked call to say “there’s no cake in the house, can you bake something”. So it’s a case of thank goodness for emergency ‘go to’ recipes as we have apple cake with lemon & chocolate flecks for Baking Advent Calendar day 15.

This is another recipe from Honey & Co The Baking Book , the same book that I shared the pistachio and orange cakes from on day 10. For this recipe Sarit & Itamar describe it as the cake that they would choose above all others and as one if the favourites in their restaurant. It’s always popular here as well, there something about the subtle aniseed of the fennel seeds that works so well with the other flavours.   

So there’s a cake on the cooling rack in my kitchen and hopefully the panic is over.

Ingredients

• 2tbsp whisky
• Zest & juice of one lemon
• 2 small apples diced, skin on. Pink Lady apples work well.
• 40g dark chocolate
• 2 eggs
• 160g caster sugar
• 130ml vegetable oil
• 150g paling flour
• 1.5tsp baking powder
• 1tsp ground nutmeg
• 1tsp ground fennel seeds
• pinch of salt

Method

• Heat the oven to gas mark 4, grease and line a 1kg loaf tin.
• Mix the whisky in a bowl with the lemon juice and zest. Dice the apples and toss them in the whisky & lemon mix
• Chop the chocolate into slivers
• Whisk the sugar and eggs until pale. Slowly pour in the oil and continue to whisk until combined.
• Mix all of the dry ingredients together and them fold them into the egg & sugar mix until combined.
• Fold in the apples along with the whisky and lemon. Then fold in the chocolate.
• Pour into the lined tin and place in the oven.
• Bake for 35 minutes, then turn the tin around and bake for a further 15 minutes. If your oven runs hot it might be advisable to cover the cake with foil for the last part of the bake.
• Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn onto a rack.

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