Apple Sour Cream Cake with Hazelnut Crumble

I’m one of those people that has to have a little somethin’ somethin’ with my afternoon coffee.  I think I can blame my mum for that.  I can also blame my Mum for the addition of this recipe to my website because she gave me a huge bag full of home grown apples last weekend which prompted me to make this cake.  Thanks Mum ;) xx

This cake is my idea of the perfect accompaniment to that afternoon coffee (or tea, if that’s your jam…).  The sour cream provides a wonderful richness, which, together with the moistness of the apples and a crunchy crumble topping with the warm spice of cinnamon, I seriously find it hard to beat.  I think you will love it too.

Mel xoxo

Apple Sour Cream Cake with Hazelnut Crumble

serves 8-10

Ingredients

Apple Sour Cream Cake

150g unsalted butter, softened

150g golden caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla paste

3 eggs, room temperature

100g sour cream

100g self raising flour

160g ground almonds (almond meal)

3 large green apples, peeled and diced

Hazelnut Crumble

150g unsalted butter, cold and cubed

130g plain four

90g soft brown sugar

1tsp ground cinnamon

80g raw hazelnuts, roughly chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 165C.  Grease and line a 23cm springform cake tin.

To make the cake, place the butter, golden caster sugar and vanilla paste in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater.  Beat until pale, light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition, then beat in the sour cream.  Fold in the flour and ground almonds until just combined and then fold through the apples.  Pour the mixture into the cake tin and level out the top.

To make the crumble, put all ingredients, except for the hazelnuts, into the mixer bowl (just use the same one you made the cake batter in, no need to clean it).  Using the flat beater, mix on slow until the mixture becomes crumbly.  Stir through the hazelnuts.  Crumble the mixture evenly over the top of the cake and bake for around 70-75 minutes.  The cooking time will depend on your oven and also the size and type of apple you’ve used (I used Granny Smith).  Best way to check is by inserting a skewer into the centre of the cake - if the skewer has any wet batter on it, give it a few more minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for at least 20 minutes before removing the sides of the tin and allowing it to cool on a rack.  Serve at room temperature with some thick double cream, or my favourite, serve it slightly warm with some vanilla ice cream.