A wholemeal apple cake recipe that's wintry to the core

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This article titled “A wholemeal apple cake recipe that’s wintry to the core” was written by Claire Ptak, for The Guardian on Saturday 6th February 2016 12.00 UTC

Trying to stay true to seasonal baking can sometimes test your resolve. It is February and you love forced rhubarb, but you can’t eat it every day. The blood oranges are at their peak, but you have had them juiced for breakfast and sectioned in your salads. Without the bounty of choice we have in the other seasons, winter leaves us reaching for chocolate, caramel and vanilla, but we mustn’t forget the wonderful apples stored since autumn.

Apples keep extremely well and are especially good for baking at this time of year, when warm cake or pudding solves all of your problems.

It is worth seeking out different and interesting varieties of apples. I usually cook with those I most like for eating. We had a few Gravenstein apple trees in our front yard when I was growing up in California. The trees not only produced great apples, but they were great for climbing. We would boost ourselves up, shake the branches and collect the rewards. One of the things we made with them every year was apple sauce. We ate ours with vanilla ice-cream rather than custard, but I have become a total convert to the vanilla-laced unction that has earned its place in the British pudding hall of fame. In America, I wasn’t familiar with the Bramley “cooking apple”, but it would be the perfect choice for the stewed apples with boozy custard recipe this week.

Apples are also useful grated into cakes that use coarser, less-refined flours, which absorb their moisture. This gives the cake a lovely texture, making it simultaneously dense, moist and treacly, while also adding to the depth of flavour.

Related: Claire Ptak’s recipes for rhubarb turnovers and cobbler

Wholemeal apple cake (pictured above)

Makes 1 large cake

200g dark muscovado sugar

200g unsalted butter, soft

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

150g plain yoghurt

250g wholemeal flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon

A good grating of nutmeg

4 apples (about 500g)

2 tbsp demerara sugar

1 Butter and line a large (900g) cake tin with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6.

2 Using an electric mixer, cream together the muscovado sugar and soft butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and yoghurt and mix well.

3 In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add to the butter mixture and beat just until incorporated.

4 Grate three unpeeled apples (about 375g) and fold into the cake mixture.

5 Scrape into your prepared cake tin and smooth the top. Peel and slice the remaining apple and arrange on top of the cake. Sprinkle with demerara sugar and bake about 60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Stewed apples with boozy vanilla custard

Serves 6
For the custard

¼ tsp salt

100g caster sugar

30g cornflour

2 eggs

480ml whole milk

1 vanilla pod

2 tbsp Calvados (or other apple brandy)

50g unsalted butter, cut into 1cm cubes

This is a great custard recipe and can be used alongside the apple cake, transforming a simple cake into a warm, luxurious pudding. Photograph: Kristin Perers for the Guardian

For the apples

6 large apples, peeled, cored and quartered

3 tbsp golden caster sugar

4 tbsp water

2 tbsp Calvados (or other apple brandy)

1 For the custard, first separate the eggs and set the yolks aside in a small bowl. Save the egg whites for another use.

2 Whisk together the salt, sugar and cornflour. Whisk in the egg yolks to make a paste.

3 Pour the milk into a heavy-based saucepan, scrape in the seeds from the vanilla pod, along with the empty pod. Heat the milk until frothy and just about to boil. When it’s ready, temper the yolks by pouring a little of the milk into the paste mix, whisking as you go. Now pour the mix back into the remaining warm milk in the pan. Stirring continuously, heat until the mixture starts to thicken at the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat and whisk in the Calvados and butter. Transfer to a bowl to cool. Cover with a sheet of cling film directly on to the custard to avoid a skin forming.

4 Now, prepare the apples. Roughly chop the peeled and cored apples, then place in a medium saucepan with the sugar, water and Calvados. Place over a medium heat and cook gently until the apples foam and begin to soften.

5 To serve, place alternating scoops of custard and stewed apples into individual bowls. Can be served warm, at room temperature or fridge-cold.

• Claire Ptak is an author and food stylist and owner of Violet Bakery in London. She is the author of the Violet Bakery Cookbook (Square Peg); @violetcakeslondon

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A wholemeal apple cake recipe that's wintry to the core