Apple and Walnut Cake with Treacle Icing

Apple and Walnut Cake with Treacle Icing

 Serves 10

This one bowl cake is perfect with a good cup of coffee or afternoon tea. It also makes great cupcakes! And don’t get me started on that treacle icing, it’s the tops!

Ingredients

300g plain flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

140g dark brown soft sugar

50g golden caster sugar

250ml rapeseed or sunflower oil

4 eggs

3 unpeeled apples, coarsely grated

100 walnuts, roughly chopped

FOR THE ICING

100g butter , softened

50g dark soft brown sugar

1 tablespoon black treacle

200g tub full fat soft cheese

How to

  1. Heat oven to 150C/130C fan-forced. Line two 20cm cake tins. Put the flour, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda in a big bowl, then stir in the sugars, making sure there are no lumps.
  2. Add the oil, eggs and apples, and beat everything together. Fold in the walnuts.
  3. Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for 45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool for a few minutes in the tin then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
  4. For the icing, beat all the ingredients together then chill until the mixture is thick but spreadable. Spread half the icing on top of one cake, sandwich with the other and spread the remaining icing on top.

Other info

Prep time: 20 minutes   Cooking time: 45 minutes

TIP! Try golden syrup instead of treacle in the icing if you prefer a lighter flavour. The un-iced cake can be frozen.