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Damp Apple And Almond Cake

Asked by lladygrey. Answered on 10th April 2016

Full question

I tried making the Apple and Almond cake from Nigella and I had a few problems. First, after 45 minutes, the cake was too soft and moist, so I put it back in the oven. But after 10, 20, 30 minutes it was still too moist. I couldn't figure out what I might've done to make the cake so moist and in my experience with gluten free cakes I know this can happen - but this cake just didn't firm up at all. At then end I finally realized my problem: I used very big apples for the apple puree and forgot to use 2 instead of 3 apples. What would you say is the amount in grams of apples you use, or the amount of apple sauce you can get from these apples? Also what can I do to fix the cake? It's still falling apart, but the outsides are dark.

Our answer

Nigella's Apple And Almond Cake from FEAST is made with an apple puree, sugar, eggas and ground almonds (almond meal). In the recipe Nigella suggests using 3 tart apples, such as braeburns. These apples are likely to weigh between 500g and 600g (1 pound 2 ounces to 1 1/2 pounds). When cooked the apple puree should weigh around 285g (generous 1 cup). The cake should take around 45 minutes to bake but check after 35 minutes as ovens do vary. The cake is done when a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Unfortunately if the cake is not baked in the middle and the outsides are very brown then it is difficult to rescue the whole cake. However you could slice the cooked parts of the cake and layer on a platter with fruit and whipped cream, creme fraiche, or Greek yogurt, to make a free-form trifle.

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