Traditional Recipes for Dorset Apple Cake

A Cake That Belongs to Dorset

Ask anyone from Dorset about the cakes of their childhood and you will almost certainly hear about apple cake. It is not a dainty, layered affair, nor is it something you would find in a patisserie window. It is a sturdy, generous, everyday cake, the sort that sits on a wire rack in a farmhouse kitchen and disappears a slice at a time with cups of tea. Recipes vary from village to village, and most families will insist theirs is the correct one, but the character stays the same: a soft, moist crumb heavy with fruit and a sugared crust that crackles under the knife.

The beauty of it is that it was born out of thrift and abundance at the same time. Dorset has long been apple country, and when the orchards came in, cooks needed ways to use up windfalls and softening fruit. A cake was the obvious answer. Nothing was wasted, nothing was complicated, and the result was far greater than the sum of its parts.

Choosing the Right Apples

The single most important decision you will make is the fruit. Bramley is the classic choice, and for good reason. It is a cooking apple with a bracing sharpness that survives baking, breaking down into soft, tangy pockets rather than turning to bland mush. In Dorset you will often find local Bramleys sold at farm gates and markets through the autumn, and they are worth seeking out.

What you want is a mixture of textures. If every piece of apple collapses, the cake becomes heavy and damp. If none of it softens, you are left with hard nuggets in a plain sponge.

• Roughly 350–400g of prepared apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1–1.5cm dice, is the right quantity for a 20cm cake.
• Keep the pieces chunky. Small cubes dissolve; larger ones hold their shape and give you something to bite into.
• A handful of eating apple, such as a Cox or a Egremont Russet, mixed in with the Bramleys adds sweetness and structure.
• Toss the diced apple in a spoonful of flour before folding it in. This stops the pieces sinking to the bottom of the tin.

If you are picking from a tree, choose fruit that is ripe but still firm. Bruised or floury apples will make the crumb gluey, and no amount of extra baking will put that right.

The Traditional Method

You will need a 20cm round tin, greased and lined at the base with baking parchment. Heat the oven to 180°C, or 160°C for a fan oven, which is Gas Mark 4. The method below is deliberately plain and has changed very little in a century or more.

• 225g self-raising flour, sifted with 1 teaspoon of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of mixed spice. Some cooks use cinnamon alone, and some add a grating of nutmeg.
• 175g softened unsalted butter and 175g caster sugar, beaten together until pale and fluffy. This creaming stage matters more than people think, so give it a full three or four minutes.
• Three large eggs, added one at a time, with a spoonful of the flour folded in after each to stop the mixture curdling.
• The remaining flour, folded in gently with a large metal spoon.
• The diced apple, folded through last of all, along with 50g of sultanas if you like them. A splash of milk will loosen the batter if it feels stiff.

Spoon the mixture into the tin, level the top, and bake for 45 to 55 minutes. It is done when a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean, though be careful not to pierce an apple piece and mistake the moisture for raw batter. If the top is browning too quickly, lay a sheet of foil loosely over it after the first half hour.

The Demerara Crust

This is the detail that separates a good Dorset apple cake from a merely pleasant one. Roughly ten minutes before the cake comes out of the oven, pull the shelf forward and scatter two generous tablespoons of demerara sugar across the surface. Close the door and let it finish baking.

The coarse grains melt just enough to cling to the top without dissolving entirely, giving you a thin, crunchy, faintly caramelised lid. Ordinary caster sugar will not do the same job; it disappears into the crust and leaves nothing to bite through. Demerara, with its larger crystals and molasses note, is the whole point.

Serving, Keeping and Small Variations

Let the cake cool in the tin for fifteen minutes before turning it out, then leave it to firm up properly on a rack. Served slightly warm, it is superb with clotted cream or a spoonful of thick yoghurt. Cold the next day, it is arguably even better, and it will keep for four or five days in an airtight tin. It also freezes well, wrapped tightly, for up to three months.

Once you are confident with the basic recipe, small changes are fair game. A tablespoon of dark brown sugar in place of some of the caster deepens the colour. A little chopped walnut or hazelnut added with the apple gives a pleasing crunch. A drop of vanilla, or a splash of cider brandy, is not traditional but is very good indeed. What you should not do is reduce the apple or skimp on the demerara. Those two things are the heart of the cake, and everything else is decoration.