Living on a boat now, there is very limited space and no room at all for mixers and what-not. So the idea of making a cake wasn’t very appealing until I remembered how fabulously easy and delicious the Dutch Apple Cake was.
My breadmaker has not been used as much as it was in the past. But now it could shine. Not only does it mix but it bakes too so no need to light any ovens. The heat is well contained in the breadmaker… a double perfect!
Prior to moving on board, we baked fresh bread every day for over a year. Rarely did we repeat the same loaf in a week as we were forever trying out different types.
At times we would also bake cakes in it and that is what I would like to share with you today. A truly easy cake recipe that can be baked in either the oven or a bread maker.
It is never going to be classified as a pretty breadmaker cake because cakes and loaves from breadmakers have a hole in the bottom of them from turning out of the tin with the blade. However, that aside, they are so convenient and definitely produce something that appears to have had so much more effort than what people think!
This is about as simple as it gets.
It’s mad how tasty this cake is and yet how little effort goes into getting it onto the table. It’s even easier getting it off the table… it will be gone in minutes.
3 BAKING METHODS:
There are three ways to bake this little number. Firstly in the conventional oven or else there is a choice of two methods in the bread maker.
CONVENTIONAL OVEN METHOD
I have successfully converted this bread maker recipe and tested it out for a conventional (but not convection) oven.
I merely mixed it by hand in a bowl and added the apple chunks last. Once it was completed mixed through, I poured it into a small baking dish as seen in the photo and sprinkled sugar on top. It cooked at 170C in 45 minutes after testing it with a toothpick.
BREAD MAKER METHODS:
Either mix it in a bowl by hand first and transfer it, to bake on the cake program.
Or place all the ingredients immediately into the loaf tin and knead it on a pizza dough or bread program until all mixed through and then change it to a cake program to bake.
Both ways work but obviously the latter has less washing up. So you can guess which one I choose, everytime!
This cake is a bit unusual for the breadmaker as the apple mixture is thicker than normal meaning that you can actually pull the blade out quite easily before baking the cake. Admittedly you will get gooey fingertips but you might consider it worth it.
I like the fact that I can pull out the blade first but it is certainly not essential and very easy to remove once the cake is baked in any case. It just leaves a bit of a hole in the bottom centre of the cake and makes slicing not as pretty as it would normally be.
IT HAS AN AUTHENTIC DUTCH TASTE AND TEXTURE
This cake has a crusty edge and I remember when I visited my lovely Dutch friends Brigitta and Han, Brigitta had baked a very similar cake for us. It was Han’s favourite and I can definitely see why. This breadmaker recipe is so similar to her traditional apple cake that it blew me away. So ridiculously easy.
SMALLER LOAVES FOR DAILY BAKING
These breadmaker cakes are generally a bit smaller than a normal sized cake and will often be completely gobbled up in one sitting. But that’s okay occasionally. Right?
Do invite someone around to share it with you, otherwise you will be damning yourself that you ever made it. It’s so tempting to finish the whole thing off in one sitting.
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 large egg beaten
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- 1½ cups plain flour
- ½ tsp bi carb soda (baking soda)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 - 2 Tbsp milk or yogurt
- 1½ cups peeled and chopped sour apple eg Granny Smith (2 small apples)
- 2 tsp extra sugar
- Add in the oil and egg and mix round with a spatula until the egg is properly dispersed through the oil
- Add all the other ingredients, except the apple and extra sugar
- Put the breadmaker into a kneading program or start it on a normal bread cycle, knead 3 mins
- Stop the machine, using a spatula make sure all the flour has been incorporated
- Restart the machine and let the dough be mixed thoroughly.
- Add the chopped apple
- Knead for a minute or two until the mixture has incorporated all the loose apple.
- Add a little milk or yogurt if the mixture looks a little dry
- Turn off the machine, take the loaf tin out of the machine.
- Remove the blade. This should be very simple, If not, leave it in.
- Level the dough mixture in the loaf tin
- Sprinkle the top of the cake with the extra sugar
- Put the loaf tin in the bread maker
- Put the baking cycle on for cakes.
- Generally there is no timer. Mine is a straight 60 minutes which is perfect for this amount.
- When finished remove immediately.from loaf tin and leave to cool if you can resist the temptation to eat it hot!
- Serve with yogurt, cream or ice cream.
Thank you for this lovely apple cake recipie! We tried it today and loved how it turned out. Love from India
I am very happy to hear that. I think I might just whip one up tomorrow. The apples are truly in season now, so thank you for reminding me of this treat. Lulu
Tried your recipe today….came out great! Easy to make and delicious taste!
Thank you for sharing!
Pat