Today I thought I’d like to make an apple crumble loaf cake and so I did. After months of not baking, over the last few weeks I’ve found my baking mojo (it’s just a shame it coincides with a cost of living crisis, inflation rising and butter and flour reaching their highest prices ever but you can’t have everything can you!) My Dad visited a few weeks ago and brought us some Bramley apples from his garden so I’d been looking for a recipe to use them in. After a quick Google I found this recipe from a Cornish food blog called Jam and Clotted Cream. After a quick scan of the ingredients I discovered I had nearly everything (the only thing I didn’t have was light muscavado sugar but after a quick Google I decided I could use light brown sugar instead) so I set to work. This cake uses an unusual method where you have to rub the butter and flour together first (similar to making a crumble or scones) before then adding the sugar and the wet ingredients.
I’m not normally into piping as it always seems a bit too much like hard work but I decided to give it a go (if piping is not for you or you don’t own a piping bag and nozzle you could always just spread the buttercream on with a palette knife.) The piping was worth it for the reaction from my Little Birdies who declared that it looked amazing and wanted to know if I’d had any help with it. I probably only used half of the crumble topping so you could half the quantities if you wanted to. I slightly overcooked my crumble topping so it was a bit darker than I wanted so keep a close eye on it as it cooks. I also slightly misread the instructions for making the buttercream and just put everything in together rather than mixing the milk with the custard powder but it all worked in the end. You’ll need a 2 pound loaf tin. The cake will last for 4 to 5 days in an airtight tin.
Ingredients
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For the cake:
- For the crumble topping:
- For the custard icing:
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°c (160°fan) and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper, as well as a small baking sheet (for the crumble topping).
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To make the cake rub the butter and flour together until you get a mixture that resembles breadcrumbs ( this will take a few minutes), Then stir through the mixed spice and light brown sugar.
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Beat in the eggs, Bramley apples and milk, then spoon into the loaf tin and bake for 55 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean (the mixture will look a bit grainy but don't worry).
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Whilst the cake is in the oven, make the crumble topping. Rub the flour, ground almonds, butter and sugar together until you get a rubble type mixture. Place the mixture onto the lined baking sheet, and put into the oven for the last 30 minutes of the cake baking.
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Once the cake and crumble topping are cooling, make the icing. Put the butter and icing sugar into a stand mixer and mix at a medium-high speed until creamy and smooth (you can alternatively use a hand mixer) . Dissolve the custard powder into the milk then beat this in on a high speed until smooth. .
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Pipe onto the cooled cake (I used a curved star nozzle), then sprinkle with the crumble topping.
