Norwegian Apple Cake to celebrate 5 years of A Pot of Tea and a Biscuit

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Well, the real reason for making an apple cake was that my lovely friend Liz came round on Sunday with a bag full of windfall apples from her garden that needed using. However,  I also realised that A Pot of Tea and a Biscuit is five years old this week and figured I should bake a birthday cake to celebrate.



How time flies and how things change...

When I started blogging in 2007 there weren't all that many food blogs around. Sometimes it seems to me that you can't move around the internet for food blogs these days. On the one hand that's great, because it is wonderful to see how many people out there all over the world share my love for food and it also means that there is hardly a recipe or tip that I can't find online when needed. On the other hand at times it has made me question why I still bother, especially as so many of the blogs out there are absolutely amazing with magazine quality photographs and a regularity of posts that makes me wonder how the writers do it!?

There have been times over the last five years when I didn't feel like cooking or writing and the blog became like a neglected friend. You know the one? The one you know you should call, but for no apparent reason you keep putting off picking up the phone. And the longer you leave it the more guilty you feel. Well, in this case it's all you wonderful followers out there, those of you who leave nice comments or send me a friendly e-mail, asking questions about a recipe, wondering if I have a tip for a specific cooking related problem and also all you silent followers that register as a number in the blog stats, it's all of you that make me 'pick up the phone' in the end and get back to writing and cooking! So here is a BIG THANK YOU to all of you who keep reading even when I'm being neglectful.




I'd send you all a slice of this lovely apple cake, but I'm afraid technology has not yet advanced to that level, so you'll just have to try the recipe yourself. If you like apple cake, you'll love this one!

Norwegian Apple Cake (serves 8-12)

200g unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 ¼ cup flour
3 apples, peeled and sliced thinly
4 tsp sugar
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
a handful of slivered almonds

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F/Gas

Grease and line a 24/26cm springform pan.

If you want to peel, core and slice your apples before starting on the batter, put the slices into a bowl of water mixed with a bit of lemon juice until ready to use them. Just make sure you dry them off well with a bit of kitchen towel. Alternatively, you can peel and slice as you go along.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy with an electric mixer.

Once the butter/sugar mix has become quite light in colour, start adding the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Combine the baking powder and flour and sift it over the batter.

Use a wooden spoon to fold the flour into the batter. Don't over mix it, just combine and fold rather than stir. you want to keep the air you have beaten into the eggs/butter/sugar mixture, otherwise the sponge will become quite dense.

Pour half the batter into lined pan, spread out evenly.

Arrange 2/3 of the apple slices (or peel and slice 2 apples at this stage) over the batter.

Sprinkle with the 2tsp of sugar and cinnamon.

Pour the remaining batter over the apples and spread out evenly.

Arrange the remaining slices (or peel and slice the last apple) over the top in a decorative pattern.

Sprinkle top of apples with another 2tsp of sugar.

Bake on the lowest oven shelf for about 25 minutes. Scatter the flaked almonds over the top and return to the oven to bake for another 25 minutes or so. The cake is done when a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Serve still warm with ice cream or cold with whipped cream.

Enjoy!