Buckwheat Apple Cake

Coming home to the English countryside in the summer means an abundance of apples, berries, and gooseberries.  This got me yearning to create some dishes from my childhood, such as apple cake, apple pie, rhubarb crumble, and fresh fridge cakes. With just a few amendments, I realized that I could make them healthy and Break Through! approved. So I decided to take some of my favorites and transform them into gluten free low sugar alternatives, while trying to keep the homey, comforting tastes my mother created.My first re-creation was the country garden Apple Cake, so simple, but tasty and worthy of a place at any afternoon tea.

This one surprised me, as it was so tasty but super filling too, it gave me energy for hours, it must have been the mix of the heavy buckwheat flour along with all the pectin from the apples.

Ingredients:

Apple Mixture

4 small cooking apples, sliced thinly
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon honey

Dry Cake Mixture

1 ½ cups buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Wet Cake Mixture

50gm butter, melted
2 eggs, whisked
1 cup apple sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
1 tablespoon honey

Topping

1 apple, thinly sliced into moons
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

Combine all the apple mixture ingredients, and let it sit to absorb all the beautiful spices and flavours. Meanwhile mix the dry ingredients together. In another bowl combine all the wet ingredients with an electric whisk, beat until it is nice and smooth, fold in the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon until nice and smooth.

You can now add the apple mixture to the cake batter and combine well.

Pour into a greased cake tin, now you can lay out the top layer of apples and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Pop in the oven at 220C for 20 minutes, or until cooked through.

Serve with coconut yoghurt or good quality crème fresh. I had some of the cake with clotted cream, which reminded me of endless summers going out for tea with my Grandmother. Call it emotional eating, but the food does arouse such perfect memories, and it is only once a year for me.  With this recipe, it’s guilt free and satisfying, eating should always be guilt free.

Enjoy, and please share some of your favourite childhood recipes.