Donna Hay’s Simple Apple and Blueberry Cake

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Serves 8 – 10

This cake is not just super easy, it’s super delicious! It’s one of the first recipes I ever posted but I’ve since  broadened my horizons by converting it to the Thermomix and using berries of all kinds.

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A few years ago after the Great Pesticide Berry Scandal and the ensuing frozen berry debacle, I prefer to buy berries when they’re in season and freeze them so I use whatever I have to hand. That said, I have a terrible memory and now I have forgotten all about those bad berries and am back all aboard the frozen berry train. They’re just so convenient! 

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Whatever berries you use, and whether you prepare it traditionally or with a Thermomix, this cake will always be lovely and light and pretty as a picture! 

Do you have a good memory? What do you always keep in your freezer?

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Ingredients

¾  cup (165g) caster sugar (or mill raw sugar, if using Thermomix)

125g butter, softened

2 eggs

½ cup (125 ml) milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups (225g) self-raising flour

1 apple, cored and thinly sliced

¾ cup  fresh or frozen berries

2 tablespoons demerara/raw sugar

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How to – Traditional 

  1. Preheat oven to 180C /160C fan-forced. Grease and line the base of a 22cm springform tin.
  2. Place flour, sugar, butter, vanilla, eggs and milk in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until just combined.
  3. Spoon the mixture into tin and. Top with some of the berries, place the apple slices around the edge of the tin allowing them to overlap and place the remaining berries in the centre. Sprinkle with raw/demerara sugar.
  4. Bake for 45 minutes or until the cake is cooked when tested with a skewer. If the cake is browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil.
  5. Allow to cool in the tin (at least 20 minutes.)
  6. Dust with icing sugar before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream.

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How to:  With a Thermomix

  1. Preheat oven to180C /160C fan-forced. Grease and line the base of a 22cm springform tin.
  2. Add the butter to the TM bowl and chop for 5 seconds on speed 8.
  3. Insert the butterfly, add the sugar, and mix for 30 seconds on speed 4. Scrape down lid and sides and remove the butterfly.
  4. Add the milk and vanilla and mix for  5 seconds  on speed 4. Scrape down sides.
  5. Add eggs one at a time, with the blades running on speed 3. This will take about 30 seconds.
  6. Add the flour and mix on 20 seconds on speed 4 scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl half way through.
  7. Spoon the mixture into tin and. Top with some of the berries, place the apple slices around the edge of the tin allowing them to overlap and place the remaining berries in the centre. Sprinkle with raw/demerara sugar.
  8. Bake for 45 minutes or until the cake is cooked when tested with a skewer. If the cake is browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil.
  9. Allow to cool in the tin (at least 20 minutes.)
  10. Dust with icing sugar before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream.

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