Dairy Free Russian Apple Cake

It was recently my housemate’s birthday and in my book any birthday has to be accompanied by a cake. The problem is my housemate isn’t the biggest cake fan. Last year for her birthday rather than a cake I made her a loaf of bread as a celebratory substitute. But this year I didn’t think I could repeat the bread trick so wanted to make a cake that my housemate would enjoy, which basically involved a cake that isn’t too cakey!! A bit of trawling of the internet and I came across a Russian Apple cake or ‘Sharlotka’ recipe over at Smitten Kitten. This is a recipe where layers of apples are covered in a batter and then baked to make a cake that is more apple than anything else…so a perfect non-cakey cake. And as a bonus there is no added fat so this is a great dairy free addition to the blog.

I adapted the original recipe I found over at Smitten Kitten to include some blackberries from our garden along with some ground almonds to add a more English autumnal twist to this Russian recipe.

INGREDIENTS

500g tart eating apples e.g. Granny Smith (8 small)

½ cup blackberries

4 eggs

250g caster sugar

Seeds from ½ vanilla pod

150g flour

20g ground almonds

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C or 360°F and line a 25cm diameter, loose bottomed tin with non-stick baking parchment.

Peel and core the apples and slice into 2cm thick chunks.

Fill the lined tin with layers of the apple interspersed with blackberries.

In a large mixing bowl beat together the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy.

Fold in the vanilla, flour and almonds until fully combined, being careful not to overwork the mixture.

Gradually pour the batter over the apples and blackberries ensuring the mixture fills all of the gaps between the fruit.

Transfer to the oven and bake for 1 hour until firm and golden brown on top.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin before removing and transferring to a cooling rack.

This cake can be served warm with cream or custard or cold as an afternoon teatime treat.