Apple Loaf Cake

5 from 2 votes

This apple loaf cake made with eating apples and cooking apples is easy to make yet loaded with flavour and texture. Topped with maple syrup buttercream this is a quick & simple spiced apple loaf cake to put together.

Prep Time20

Cook Time55

Total Time1 15

Course: Baking, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Worldwide

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings:

Calories: 421kcal

Author: Jane Coupland

Equipment

1 x 2lb loaf tin (mine measured 23.5cm x 12.6cm x 6.5cm)

Ingredients

For the cake

180 g Baking margarine such as Stork
180 g Light brown sugar
3 Eggs large, free-range
225 g Plain flour all-purpose
3 teaspoons Baking powder
1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon Ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon Ground cloves
125 g Cooking apples peeled and coarsely grated
100 g Eating apples peeled and finely chopped
45 g Carrots peeled and finely grated
60 g Raisins
30 g Pecan nuts or walnuts

For the buttercream

150 g Butter room temperature
150 g Icing sugar
3 tablespoons Maple syrup

Instructions

Bake the cake

Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F and grease & line a 2lb loaf pan with baking paper.
Use electric beaters to cream the margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition.
Sieve the flour, baking powder and spices into the bowl. Mix them in, using a large metal spoon, until just combined.
Chop the nuts finely and grate the carrot using the fine edge of a grater. Blot the excess moisture from the carrots firmly using kitchen paper. Peel the eating apple and chop it into small pieces. Keep on chopping until you have 100g of it. Grate the Bramley apple using the coarse edge of a grater and ensure that you gather 125g of it. Now blot the grated apple lightly to remove excess moisture. (Do not add more than these quantities of carrot or apple and the grated carrot and apple must be blotted on kitchen paper).
Fold the grated apple, chopped apple, grated carrot, raisins and chopped nuts into the cake batter.
Spoon the batter into a prepared 2lb loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean (or a digital food thermometer registers 95c-98c when pushed into the centre of the cake). Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin.
When the cake has cooled completely, remove it from the tin and peel away the baking parchment.

Make the buttercream

Cream the butter and icing sugar together using electric beaters until light and fluffy.
Beat in the maple syrup.
Optional: press the buttercream with the back of a metal spoon to deflate air bubbles, creating a smoother buttercream.
Spread the maple buttercream over the top of the cake and dust lightly with ground cinnamon.

Notes

Always use digital scales and the gram system of measurement when baking this cake. It’s the most accurate way to measure ingredients.
Use room temperature ingredients to help the cake bake more evenly.
Grease and line the bottom and sides of the baking tin even if it is a non-stick pan. This makes the cake easier to remove from the pan.
Do not be tempted to add more apples or carrots to this cake than the quantities listed. If you add more then the cake will end up soggy as these ingredients contain a lot of liquid.
On that note, it is vital to remove some of the excess liquid from the grated carrot and grated apple before adding them to the cake batter.
Weigh the correct quantities of carrots, cooking apples and eating apples after they have been peeled and grated or chopped. This is the only way to ensure that the correct quantities of these ingredients are used.
As this apple and raisin loaf cake contains plenty of fruit it is very moist and it will last well, at room temperature, for around 5 days. It can also be frozen if desired.
To make a smaller version of this cake simply halve all of the ingredients, pour the batter into a 1lb loaf tin and bake for around 40 minutes.

Nutrition