Saturday 20 February 2010

Wholemeal Apple and Orange Cake

This is a Nigel Slater recipe, published recently in The Observer, and is one of his hearty, rustic cakes. I was a little worried how it would come out, as I only had wholemeal bread flour. I used half white plain flour, in an attempt to reduce the higher gluten of the bread flour, although I didn't really know if it would have any effect on the cake batter. I also made the mistake of actually melting the butter, when trying to soften it in the microwave, so I was also concerned that this would also have an adverse effect, as I couldn't beat in air when creaming.

If there were any negative ramifications of these mistakes and changes, then all I can say is that the cake would be superb when made properly, as it was very good as it was. The flavour was very subtle, and not strongly orangey - perhaps because the marmalade I used was shredless, and quite mild in flavour. A darker, richer marmalade, with chunks of peel, would have a more pronounced effect on the flavour. My only criticism was that most of the sprinkling of demerara sugar on the top dissolved into the batter - I'll try adding more next time.



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Suelle, that looks delicious! I love the combination of apple and wholemeal or rye flours, so maybe you improved the original recipe. Isn't demerara sugar just the best thing? I put it on everything from shortbread cookies to crumbles.... Celia

Hilary said...

Excellent, a new Nigel recipe to try! I always like his 'everyday' cakes.

Suelle said...

Hi Celia - you're right about demerara sugar - it gives a lovely sparkle when you don't want to add any frosting.

Most of my cooking is 'everyday' cakes, Hilary, so it's always nice to find a new recipe. Nigel Slater is so down to earth about cooking!

Lucie said...

This looks delicious, I like cakes like this that are forgiving if you don't follow the recipe to the letter. I will try this x

Choclette said...

As I pretty much always use wholemeal flour, I'm with Celia on this one. The cakes I make are generally reasonably light. This looks lovely and moist and delicious.

Suelle said...

Choclette - I wasn't worried that wholemeal flour would make the cake heavy; it was the unknown effects of using bread flour which was causing me concern.