Spiced Apple Bundt Cake

In this week’s vlog I tackle another bundt cake, which I have pinched from this website: the naptime chef. I realised it was a large amount of batter and I have so few eggs I decided to halve the amount, and actually it fitted the bundt pan I have perfectly, although mine is an 8″ rather than a 9 1/2″ that the original recipe states. I made a discovery that using melted shredded suet was the perfect thing to grease the pan as it combines animal fat and non-gluten flour, as the shreds of suet are coated in rice flour to stop them sticking together so the resulting gloop is perfect for this purpose.

I have 3 apple trees in my garden: slumped and neglected espaliers, and 2 of them leaning at a rather rakish angle. There is a Bramley on the end which is battling canker and barely does anything, and a Cox’s Orange Pippin in the middle which seems to fruit biennially. The [what I think is a] Golden Delicious fruits copiously each and every year, and I have learnt this year that they are really tasty and juicy now, in autumn. I do nothing to the trees apart from a winter prune (the bunny and guineas adore the trimmings) so I can only conclude that the prolific fruiter is responding well to the high nitrogen from all the guano…it is situated next to the duck pen, where now I think of it, the comfrey enjoys a triffid-like existence. Maybe there is some symbiosis between the nutrient gathering capabilities of the comfrey with its deep-diving roots and that particular tree; I am waiting for a quiet evening to start my Merlin Sheldrake (love that name!) book about fungi – I find the complexity of the “wood wide web” utterly fascinating.

Just as an aside, have you seen bookshop.org? Marvellous idea! Well done to the inspired brains behind that, as the thought of independent bookshops being Covid casualties is an awful one.

Meanwhile, back at the cake. The greasing of the tin IS important so please don’t think the 5 minutes spent ensuring every millimetre of the surface covered is a waste of your time!

Please see my vlog for the details of the bake, but here is the recipe:

• 4oz butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup soft brown sugar

Use a stand mixer to mix together until pale.

• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Beat in eggs one at a time, and add vanilla essence. Mix together the dry ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp mixed/pumpkin/stollen spice
• 1 tsp salt

• 3/4 cup of buttermilk (or milk/yogurt mixed)

Add half the dry ingredients and beat the mixture, then add half the buttermilk and beat again. Repeat until the mixture is smooth.

• 2 apples, cored and grated

Add the grated apple and mix in well by hand.

• 1 tbsp shredded suet, melted

Use a pastry brush to paint the melted suet over every part of the bundt pan.

Bake at 160℃ for 45-55 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack for ten minutes, then turn out and leave to cool completely.

When completely cool, melt together the ingredients for the glaze:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sieved icing sugar
• 2 tbsp maple syrup

Pour over the cake and allow to soak in. Enjoy with coffee, or use as a dessert.

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