Apple, cinnamon and walnut cake... birthday surprise!

It was Neil's birthday last weekend so I thought I'd bake him a surprise birthday cake. I've baked quite a lot of different things in the last year or so (shortbread, brownies, cupcakes, muffins etc), but I've never baked an actual cake so I was keen to set myself a new challenge. I dug out my trusty Mary Berry book and decided on the apple, cinnamon and walnut cake. Seriously, how good does that combination sound?

It turned out like this... I think this is actually the tastiest thing I've ever baked, and Neil agreed!

So here's how I made it...

Ingredients 

225g unsalted butter, softened

225g light muscovado sugar

3 large eggs

100g chopped walnuts

100g sultanas

225g self raising flour

2 level tsp baking powder

400g cooking apples (peeled, cored and grated)

1 level tsp ground cinnamon

Extra light muscovado sugar, for sprinkling

Extra chopped walnuts, for sprinking

Icing sugar, for dusting

You will also need a deep, round 23cm cake tin. I used a springform tin which worked with no problems, apart from the minor ones listed below!

Method 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C / Fan 160C / gas 4. Grease the tin and line the base with non-stick baking paper. 

2. Measure the sugar, chopped walnuts, sultanas, flour, baking powder, eggs and butter into a large bowl and beat for about 2 minutes until the mixture is thoroughly blended. 

3. I added the dry ingredients first, then added the butter and the eggs. I needed to beat for a lot longer than 2 minutes... the mixture was very thick! What is it with me and thick mixture?

4. Spoon half the mixture into the prepared tin. As you can see, I didn't quite soften my butter enough! Good lesson for next time, as this is probably why my mixture was extra thick. 

5. Spread the grated apple and ground cinnamon in an even layer on top. Spoon the remaining cake mixture on top, level the surface then sprinkle generously with light muscovado sugar and walnuts. This step was fairly difficult as the cake mixture was so thick, but there was thankfully enough left to spread an even layer over the grated apples. 

6. Bake for 75 minutes to 90 minutes, or until the cake is well risen and golden brown. Shortly after I put the cake into the oven, I noticed that there were tiny droplets coming from the bottom of the springform tin. I just put a layer of foil underneath it to catch the drips, and next time I'll wrap the bottom of the tin in foil just in case. 

7. After taking the cake out of the oven, leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out, peel off the parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack.

8. Dust with a generous sprinkling of icing sugar to serve. I know it doesn't taste of anything, but it makes the cake look pretty! I'm so proud of this cake and the way it looked when it was cut up... my biggest fear about baking a cake was that it would be too crumbly to even cut into decent slices. 

9. If it's a surprise birthday cake, add some candles!

Has anyone else tried Mary Berry's apple, cinnamon and walnut cake? What did you think?