Dorset Apple Cake (Traybake)

This simple Dorset Apple Cake (Traybake) made with cooking apples (Bramley) and gently spiced with cinnamon is incredibly moist & delicious. Perfect on its own with cup of tea or slightly warm with ice cream or cream for dessert.

Moist & buttery apple cake that smells of cinnamon must be one of my favourite things about the autumn! Apple & cinnamon combination is without a doubt marriage made in heaven, it just works so brilliantly well and this lovely cake celebrates it in its full glory. My Apple and Cinnamon Muffins would be another recipe worth trying if these are flavours you love!

Majority of traditional Dorset Apple Cakes I’ve come across are baked in round cake tins but as I do like my traybakes, rectangular one it is! It is also so much easier to cut into portions or sneak a little piece out to pop into the lunch box or straight into your mouth… Not that I’ve ever done that!

Ingredients to make Dorset Apple Cake (Traybake)

Apples – I would highly recommend using tart cooking apples like Bramley or Granny Smith which work fantastically well against the sweetness of the cake providing perfect balance! Using windfalls is absolutely fine, in fact that is exactly what I used for this particular cake. Make sure you cut off all the blemishes etc. You will need approximately 750g apples to get 500g after peeling and coring.

Self-raising flour – If all you have at home is plain (all-purpose) flour then you can make your own self-raising one by mixing it with baking powder. Simply sieve or whisk together 3 tsp of baking powder with 250g of plain flour required in this recipe.

Baking powder – Don’t skip baking powder, even if you’ve made your own self-raising flour. Add it as per recipe.

Cinnamon – my very favourite spice to bake with, EVER! You simply cannot beat combination of apples and cinnamon in my opinion. I’ve added two teaspoons in my recipe but if you are not a huge fan feel free to reduce it to 1 tsp. You could also try using 1 tsp cinnamon + 1 tsp mixed spice.

Unsalted butter – I would not recommend substituting baking spread for butter in this particular cake as butter gives it a lot of lovely flavour.

Milk – Either semi-skimmed or full fat milk would be fine.

Light Brown Sugar – It gives the cake lovely caramel like flavour.

Demerara Sugar – Its large crystals sprinkled on top of the cake before baking will give you a little bit of lovely crunch. You could substitute it with light brown sugar but the crunch will simply not be there.

Lemon juice – Squeezing some juice over the apple slices straight after they’ve been peeled and sliced will slow down oxidation process preventing them from browning too quickly.

Serving suggestions + storing and freezing Dorset Apple Cake

I think this cake is simply perfect lightly dusted with icing sugar but if you’re after more elaborate dessert try serving it gently warmed with a splash of cream or scoop of good vanilla ice cream!

This cake can be stored in the airtight container on the kitchen counter for up to 2 days providing your kitchen is not too warm. Otherwise, as it’s such a moist cake, I would recommend to keep it in the fridge and warm it gently in the microwave or low oven once you are ready to eat.

This cake is also freezer friendly. Simply wrap it tightly in the baking paper and some aluminium foil and pop in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Do I need to use rectangular tin/tray to bake Dorset Apple Cake?

Absolutely not. Feel free to use round cake tin instead. I would suggest 23cm/9inch one as it would be a rough equivalent of the rectangular one I use 28x18cm. You can try and use bigger or smaller size as well but make sure it will fit your cake mixture with the room to raise and of course adjust the baking time accordingly. The taller the cake the longer it will bake so make sure you keep a watchful eye and do the skewer test to check if your cake is baked and not still raw.

How to make Dorset Apple Cake (Traybake) – Step-By-Step Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and prepare your baking tin by greasing it generously and lining the bottom with some baking paper.
• Put the flour into the large bowl, add baking powder and cinnamon and give it all a good mix with a whisk. Alternatively, feel free to sieve your dry ingredients into the bowl.
• Add softened butter.

• Rub butter into the flour with your fingers (you could use mixer or food processor if you wanted to) until the mix resembles wet sand.
• Add sugar and give it all a light mix. Set aside.

• Peel, core and thinly slice your apples and place them in a large bowl. Squeeze the juice of half lemon over them to prevent them from getting brown. Set aside.

• Add lightly beaten eggs into the flour/sugar and mix them in gently.
• Start adding milk and mixing it in slowly bit by bit until it’s all gone and you have thick, batter like mixture.

• Add most of your sliced apple to the cake batter saving some slices to put on top. Mix them in only just and pour the mixture into prepared cake tin.
• Smooth the surface of the cake mixture with spatula and arrange your saved apple slices on top in any fashion you want.
• Sprinkle demerara sugar on top and bake in preheated oven for 50-55min until nice and golden brown and the skewer inserted into centre of the cake comes out clean.
• Important! Once you take your cake out of the oven, let it cool in the tin for good 20 minutes before you take it out onto the rack to cool completely.
• Serve dusted with icing sugar or slightly warm with cream or ice cream. Enjoy!

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5 from 7 votes

Dorset Apple Cake (Traybake)

This simple Dorset Apple Cake (Traybake) made with cooking apples (Bramley) and gently spiced with cinnamon is incredibly moist & delicious. Perfect on its own with cup of tea or slightly warm with ice cream or cream for dessert.

Course Afternoon Tea, Cake, Dessert, Traybake

Cuisine British

Keyword dorset apple cake

Equipment

• Rectangular Cake Tin (Small) 28x18cm*
• Large Glass Bowl*

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 55 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings 8 generous servings

Calories 389kcal

Author Jo Allison

Ingredients

Metric - US Customary

• 250 g self-raising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon see notes
• 150 g unsalted butter softened
• 150 g light brown sugar
• 100 ml milk
• 2 large eggs lightly beaten
• 500 g cooking apples (Bramley, Granny Smith) weight after peeling, coring and thinly slicing
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 Tbsp demerara sugar
• icing sugar to serve

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and prepare your baking tin by greasing it generously and lining the bottom with some baking paper.
• Put the flour into the large bowl, add baking powder and cinnamon and give it all a mix with a whisk. Alternatively, feel free to sieve your dry ingredients into the bowl.
• Add softened butter.
• Rub butter into the flour with your fingers (you could use mixer or food processor if you wanted to) until the mix resembles wet sand.
• Add sugar and give it all a light mix. Set aside.
• Peel, core and thinly slice your apples and place them in a large bowl. Squeeze the juice of half lemon over them to prevent them from getting brown. Set aside.
• Add your lightly beaten eggs into the flour/sugar and mix them in gently.
• Start adding milk and mixing it in slowly bit by bit until it's all gone and you have thick, batter like mixture.
• Add most of your sliced apple to the cake batter, saving some slices to put on top. Mix them in only just and pour in the mixture into prepared cake tin.
• Smooth the surface of the cake mixture with spatula and arrange your remaining apple slices on top in any fashion you want.
• Sprinkle demerara sugar on top and bake in preheated oven for 50-55 min until nice and golden brown and the skewer inserted into centre of the cake comes out clean.
• Important! Once you take your cake out of the oven, let it cool in the tin for good 20 minutes before you take it out onto the rack to cool completely.
• Serve dusted with icing sugar or slightly warm with cream or ice cream. Enjoy!

Notes

• Nutritional information is approximate, per 1/8 of the cake and should be treated as guideline only. 
• You will need roughly 750g apples to give you 500g after peeling and coring. 
• Feel free to reduce the amount of cinnamon to 1 tsp if you are not a fan or perhaps use 1 tsp cinnamon +1 tsp mixed spice. 
• Store in the airtight container for up to 2 days or freeze wrapped tightly for up to 3 months. 

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Dorset Apple Cake (Traybake)

Amount Per Serving

Calories 389 Calories from Fat 153

% Daily Value*

Fat 17g26%

Saturated Fat 10g50%

Cholesterol 82mg27%

Sodium 31mg1%

Potassium 285mg8%

Carbohydrates 54g18%

Fiber 3g12%

Sugar 28g31%

Protein 6g12%

Vitamin A 582IU12%

Vitamin C 3mg4%

Calcium 109mg11%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Some more delicious fruity cake recipes you might enjoy:

Easy Pear & Fresh Ginger Cake

Italian Plum & Almond Cake

Easy Rhubarb Cake

Gluten-Free Orange & Almond Cake

Easy Blood Orange Upside-Down Cake

Chocolate Banana Cake (Traybake)

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