Cozy Fall Apple Walnut Cake

Fall means apple season.

I spent a few years of my childhood living in England, my parents’ native country, and fall there (actually, autumn there) was so beautiful and, well, appley (yes, I made that word up).

We lived three of our years in England in Southwell, Nottinghamshire. Southwell is known for being the home of the Bramley apple, which is THE apple to use when baking pies/cobblers/crumbles/crisps/cakes (there’s a lot of yummy things you can bake with apples).

Well, today I am reliving my childhood with this delicious and oh-so-seasonal apple walnut cake recipe.

This is a recipe that is practically already vegan (just swap out the egg for an egg replacement to make it completely vegan!). It’s also surprisingly good for you, thanks to the omegas from the olive oil, the use of oat flour and the abundance of fruit and nuts in this cake. Now in England we would serve this with heavy cream, but you can add ice cream, whipped cream or no cream. It is also traditionally served hot out of the oven but you can also eat it cold.

This recipe uses the NuNaturals MoreFiber Stevia Baking Blend, so it won’t raise your blood sugar…so remember to enter my stevia giveaway!

The use of oat flour makes the cake pretty crumbly, but honestly, that’s a very small sacrifice for its taste. Crumbly is NOT a bad thing with this cake – it means that it practically melts in your mouth with the warm spices and apple flavours…trust me, it’s delicious, and so great for fall. Shall we see a shot of it basking in the fall sunshine?

Yeah. It knows it’s good looking :).

In exchange for such a beauty can I ask a small favour? I launched my Facebook page on Monday … can you stop by and Like it? Either click on that link or go to www.facebook.com/theguiltlesslife.

Thank you! If you’re in the continental US, liking that page will also get you an entry into my stevia giveaway IF you then go back to that post and leave a comment letting me know you liked my page :).

Now, I will give you the magic ingredients…

INGREDIENTS (serves 8-12)

1 cup self-raising white flour
1/2 cup oats, ground into flour (or 1/2 cup oat flour)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 egg or vegan egg alternative
3/4 cup NuNaturals MoreFiber Stevia Baking Blend (two days left to enter my stevia giveaway!)
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups grated and peeled Granny Smith apples (about 2-3 small-medium apples)
1/2 cup walnut pieces

To top cake:

1 red apple, thinly sliced (peel left on)
1/2 cup whole walnuts

For glaze:

1 cup apple juice
1 tbsp cornstarch

DIRECTIONS:

1. Whisk flour and spices together in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk together egg, olive oil and stevia blend.

2. Add flour and spices to the egg mixture and then fold in the grated apple and walnut pieces.

3. Lightly spray a springform pan with cooking spray and then line with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 325 F.

4. Pour batter into pan, spreading with a spatula so it flattens on top. Arrange apple slices around the perimeter of the cake and arrange the walnut pieces in the centre.

5. Heat apple juice in a small saucepan and whisk in cornstarch. Keep whisking until mixture starts to thicken.

6. Brush glaze over apple slices and walnuts in the centre of the cake.

7. Bake in oven for 50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

8. Take out of the oven and lift out in parchment paper. Brush remaining glaze over cake and let cool.

9. Lift the cake in its parchment paper out of the springform tin. Slowly slide it onto a serving platter.

10. Serve and enjoy!

Nutritional information below is per slice if cake serves 12 slices: