Apple & Olive Oil Cake with Maple Frosting

This started out as another tribute to London - it's a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe - and yet, there's something very Canadian about it (it's totally the apple/maple combo). And it feels very appropriate for Fall; "Mmmmm... appropriaaaaaate" is what I said to myself while stuffing my face with cake.




The original recipe calls for raisins, so if you're into that you just need to bring 80g of sultanas and 4 tablespoons of water to a simmer on low heat until all the water is absorbed. Allow them to cool before adding them to the batter at the same time as the apples. If you do decide to use raisins, you might need to bake the cake for slightly longer, about an hour and 15 minutes.

Also, apologies in advance (again) to my imperial friends - this recipe is in metric!

Apple & Olive Oil Cake

Slightly adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe in the Ottolenghi: The Cookbook

Cake
280g plain flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
120ml olive oil
160g sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 Bramley or Braeburn apples, peeled, cored, and diced into 1 cm pieces
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 egg whites

Frosting
100g unsalted butter, room temperature
100g light brown sugar
85ml maple syrup
220g cream cheese or mascarpone

To make the cake:
Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F. Butter a 9-inch a springform pan and line the sides and bottom with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda and set aside.
In another bowl, blend the sugar and olive oil together until smooth. This is easiest with an electric mixer. Add the vanilla and, one at a time, the eggs. Beat until you have a smooth, thick mixture. With a spatula, fold in the apples and lemon zest (and sultanas, if you're using them). Gently fold in the dry ingredients, being careful to not over-mix.
In a separate clean and dry bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Fold them into the batter in 2 additions, taking care to lose as little air as possible. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and level the surface with a spatula. Bake for about 50-60 minutes, or 1h15-1h30 if you added raisins. It's done when a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool completely in the pan.

For the icing:
Beat the butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup together for a few minutes until light and airy. Add the cream cheese or mascarpone (I used a combination of these two) and continue to beat until the frosting is fluffy and smooth.

To assemble:
Remove the cake from the pan (peel off any parchment still clinging to it), and cut in half horizontally using a serrated knife. Spread a little less than half the frosting on the bottom layer of cake; carefully set the other half of the cake on top, then go crazy with the rest of the frosting. Keep the cake refrigerated, but let it come back to room temperature before eating it.

Happy nomming!