Dorset Apple Cake With Streusel Topping

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Dorset Apple Cake With Streusel Topping

So, here we turn those ‘Bad Boy’ Granny Smith apples into butter, spice and all things nice. Who would’ve guessed they had it in them to change a staid old country Dame into an elegant Lady Of Note gracefully commanding attention and adoration?

This recipe deviates significantly from the traditional Dorset Apple Cake (admittedly somewhat unimaginative) with an unexpected, buttery and crunchy streusel topping, the addition of dried currants and sour cream; and an exotic element or two. What would life be without a touch of pizzazz now and then? To hell with the calories for this round!

Sour cream keeps the base cake layer moist and fine black pepper supports – and subtly strengthens – the tad of vanilla. Currants add a touch of class whilst nutmeg in short order coaxes the best from those ‘Bad Boy’ Granny Smith’s. Finally, a smattering of cardamom in the streusel topping elevates the bourgeois to the unusual without overpowering and dominating. Do not be intimidated by the ingredient list, everything pulls together efficiently and rapidly with a dash of prior planning and preparation.

I found the original recipe many, many moons ago in Linda Collister’s charming (and well presented) little volume “MUFFINS AND OTHER MORNING BAKES”. I don’t think it’s still in print, but the book has survived on my book shelves with surprising tenacity. And here it is with a seriously good recipe, modified somewhat for my maybe peculiar preferences. Enjoy!

By the way: did you know Granny Smith apples are as uniquely Australian as vetkoek, melktert and bobotie is characteristically South African? I was pleasantly surprised to learn this titbit of useless information.

Dorset Apple Cake Ingredients, Frontal View

DORSET APPLE CAKE WITH STREUSEL TOPPING

– PRINT RECIPE –

Recipe yields:	Total Preparation time:	Difficulty level:
10 – 12 Portions	± 120 minutes	Moderately easy

Special Equipment Required:

1 x Loaf pan, ± 1.4L capacity (22cm long x 11cm wide x 6cm high)

Ingredients:


Apple cake base:
Butter or full fat margarine, cubed and at room temperature	100g
Caster sugar	100g
Sour cream	60ml
Vanilla essence	2.5ml
Extra large eggs, beaten	2

Cake flour	150g
Baking powder	5ml
Salt	1.2ml
Fine black pepper	0.5ml
Currants	30ml
Full cream milk	± 80ml

Medium Granny Smith apples, cored & sliced into 5mm thick rings	2
Ground nutmeg	1.2ml

Streusel topping:
Brown sugar	75g
Butter or full fat margarine, diced into pea sized cubes & chilled	75g
Cake flour, sifted	150g
Salt	1.2ml
Fine cardamom	0.5ml

Method:

1. Combine the butter (or margarine), sugar, sour cream and vanilla essence in a medium size mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until creamy. Gradually beat in the eggs. The mixture will appear as if it’s going to split, this is in order.

2. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, salt and black pepper together twice in a separate bowl.

3. Using a large metal spoon; fold the flour mixture, currants and enough milk into the fat & egg mixture to make a soft batter that just drops from the spoon. Transfer the mixture the prepared loaf tin and smoothen the surface with a palette knife.

4. Arrange the apple slices in an even layer over the top. Use a fine mesh tea sieve to sprinkle the nutmeg uniformly over the apple slices. Cut one or two of the slices from the ends of the apples into pieces to fill in any gaps not covered with whole or halved apple rings.

For the streusel topping:

5. Put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and rub together with your finger tips until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. A food processor can be used as well. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the apples, then press down gently to firm.

6. Bake for 50 – 55 minutes at 165°C (330 deg. Fahrenheit) in a preheated convection oven, or 60 - 65 minutes at 180°C (355 deg. Fahrenheit) in a normal, static oven until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

7. Let cool in the tin until lukewarm and serve warm from the tin or cool completely on a wire rack to carefully turn out when cool.

8. Eat within 2 days. The cake does not freeze well.

Comments:

¨ Contrary to normal procedure, the fat, sour cream and sugar are beaten together right at the start as the fat contains insufficient moisture by itself to partially dissolve and mix the large quantity of sugar without the aid of the water content from the sour cream.

¨ The streusel topping is very brittle, so use extreme care to turn the cake out from the baking with the topping intact. Loosen the cake carefully from the sides of the tin before hand. Place a thickly folded tea towel over the room temperature cake, press down – not to firmly – with one hand and invert the tin whilst supporting the cake from below. Carefully remove the tin and place a wire rack or serving plate on top of the now upside down cake. Quickly turn upright.

¨ Glass or porcelain baking pans will require approx. 8 – 10 minutes extra baking as their heat transfer capability is inferior to that of metal pans.

Currants

Dried currants have been around for a very long time! Pliny the Elder (in 75 AD) mentioned them in his works, and by then they were already a well known and valuable commodity. Today they are also known as Zante currants, Corinth raisins, or Corinthian raisins – or simply ‘currants’.

They are the dried berries of the small, sweet and seedless grape cultivar: 'Black Corinth'. Greece is still the primary global producer, amounting to 80% of total tonnage, with California, South Africa and Australia sharing the remainder.

Mostly used for baking, they also find application in mincemeat and sometimes “mixed dried fruit”, fruit cakes, Christmas puddings, various yeast risen fruit buns, etc. Currants are generally more expensive than raisins and sultanas as they are finicky to produce and prone to a variety of botanical afflictions.

Currants are not as intensely sweet as good quality raisins or sultanas. However, they have a deeper flavour profile and more rounded character than both raisins and sultanas. I like to think of currants as adding the vegetable equivalent of ‘smokiness’ to the baked goods it’s used in.

© RS Young, 2017