Hairy Bikers Dutch apple cake is a whisked butter sponge baked in a shallow dish under thin Bramley slices, flaked almonds and cinnamon sugar. And their Big Book of Baking recipe serves 8 to 12, while I make it 65 minutes and 405 calories a slice cut 10 ways.
They ate it at a bakery in Scheveningen on the Dutch coast, and “very delicious it was”, but Frank the baker wouldn’t share his recipe. Which left them to write their own, with the apples scattered raw over the batter rather than folded through it.
Everything rides on a full 5 minutes of whisking the eggs with 150g of the sugar, until the beaters leave a thick trail. Then the flour goes in on the slowest speed, because beating it hard knocks out the air that lifts the cake.
Hairy Bikers Dutch Apple Cake
Description
Melted butter, lemon zest and juice are beaten into a pale egg foam, then the flour and mixed spice go in gently. Once the batter fills a buttered dish, sliced cooking apples tossed with almonds, cinnamon and sugar are scattered over the top.
Ingredients
For the cake
For the topping
Instructions
- Get ready: Preheat the oven to 190°C/Fan 170°C/Gas 5, and find a fairly shallow 2.25-litre ovenproof dish, such as a lasagne dish. Then melt the butter over a low heat and leave it to cool for a few minutes.
- Whisk the eggs: Using an electric hand whisk, beat the eggs with 150g of the sugar for 5 minutes, until pale and thick enough to leave a trail. Then beat in the lemon zest and juice, followed by the melted butter, until smooth.
- Add the flour: Sift the flour, baking powder and mixed spice over the top, then beat them in on the whisk’s slowest setting. And stop as soon as no lumps of flour remain, so the mixture keeps its volume.
- Fill the dish: Butter the dish, then pour in the batter. And set it aside while you prepare the apples.
- Spice the apples: Peel, quarter and core the apples, then cut each quarter in half lengthways and slice thinly. Then toss them in a large bowl with the almonds, 50g of the remaining sugar and the cinnamon.
- Top and bake: Scatter the apples over the batter and sprinkle with the last 25g of sugar. Then bake in the centre of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes until well risen and golden, and serve warm or cold with cream.
FAQs
Is Dutch apple cake the same as Dutch apple pie?
Not in their book, because this appelkoek has no pastry at all, just a whisked sponge under the apples. And it shares its Low Countries pages with buttery boterkoek and janhagels, the almond-topped Dutch Christmas cookies.
Do you cook the apples first?
No, they go on raw and thinly sliced, and they say not to worry if the pieces come out a little uneven. So the only sweetening those sharp Bramleys get is the 50g of sugar they’re tossed in and the last sprinkle over the top.
Rhubarb is a different story, since it’s far juicier, and their Perfect Pies rhubarb crumble tosses it with a tablespoon of cornflour first.
Which apples are best for Dutch apple cake?
They ask for 500g of medium cooking apples such as Bramley. But their Brilliant Bakes Swedish apple cake goes the other way, with three eating apples in slim wedges and a brush of warm jam.
And their Mums Know Best apple and blackberry crumble uses both kinds, three eating apples and two Bramleys, for more depth of flavour.
Can I bake it in a round dish or a tray?
Yes, they say a round dish works just as well, as long as it’s fairly shallow and holds about 2.25 litres. Then for neat squares, their One Pot Wonders apple streusel tray bake uses a 30 x 20cm tin, diced eating apples and walnut streusel.
Leftovers I’d keep covered and eat within 2 days, since the juice from the apples softens the sponge quickly.
Is there a lighter Hairy Bikers apple cake?
Yes, their Hairy Dieters spiced apple cake uses sunflower oil instead of butter and comes to 229 calories a slice across 12. And this one is richer with 225g of butter, so cut 12 ways I make it roughly 340 calories a slice.
