Olive oil lemon apple cake

You can use berries in place of apples in this lovely egg-free cake.

Olive oil lemon cake. Credit: Freshly Picked with Simon Toohey

• serves

  8

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  50 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 3 medium apples, such as Fuji
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate soda
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup soy milk (or other plant-based milk)
• ½ cup olive oil (light flavoured)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• Icing sugar and plant-based cream, to serve

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Grease a cake tin. I use a springform 20 cm x 6 cm round tin.
2. Peel and core 2 of the apples and dice into small pieces. Slice the remaining apple into thin wedges, leaving the peel on.
3. Into a large bowl, sift the flour and bicarb soda and stir through the sugar. In another large bowl whisk together the milk, oil, vanilla, lemon juice and zest. Pour the wet into the dry ingredients, a little at a time, and stir until thoroughly combined. If the mix is a little dry, add a dash more milk.
4. Fold the diced apples through the batter. Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin. Garnish the top of the cake with the apple wedges.
5. Bake in a preheated oven for approximately 50-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool slightly in the tin and then transfer onto a cake rack to cool further.
7. Dust with icing sugar and serve with cream.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.