Little Apple + Walnut Cakes

Okay. I am by no means claiming that these little guys are healthy, but if you are going to eat sweets and treats you are by far better off making your own. I generally use a 50/50 mixture of wholemeal and white flour. I have made, and my friends and family can vouch for this, a thousand cakes using 100% wholemeal flour. I have had to come to terms with the sad truth – they are just not very nice. The wholemeal flour holds on to too much moisture. They are much too dense. After years of torture to my family, I have finally conceded that a bit of white flour is necessary when baking cakes. I quite often add ground nuts as I have done with these little cakes, mainly for their nutritional value, but also because they are delicious.

Just a quick note on replacing ingredients; butter can easily replace the coconut oil, just add another 10 – 15g to compensate for the lower water content of the butter. Freshly ground almonds or even hazelnuts can replace the walnuts if that is what you have on hand. Also, you can swap sultanas for currants or just omit them altogether. No biggie. They will still be delicious.

This recipe makes 12 little cakes. They have a tendency to stick to the muffin tray so make sure you line them with papers. I learnt the hard way. If you pour the batter into a cake tin and bake for 50minutes or so, you will have yourself a lovely regular sized cake. Whatever the size it is a perfect match with a pot of tea on a rainy Melbourne afternoon.

Little Apple Cakes

1/2 cup wholemeal self raising flour
1/2 cup white self raising flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
100g walnuts, pulsed in a food processor until fine
3/4 cup raw cane sugar
1/2 cup currants
2 tsp cinnamon
100ml buttermilk, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
11og coconut oil, melted
1 and a half apples, grated
1/2 apple, cut into thin slices for decorating

Preheat oven to 180C and grease a 12 hole muffin tin and line with paper cases. Add flours, oats, baking powder, sugar, walnuts, currants and cinnamon to mixing bowl and stir until well combined. Add buttermilk, eggs and coconut oil, and fold in gently. Add grated apple and fold in once again, until just combined. Pour batter into your muffin cases, filing each about 3/4 of the way up. Press a few apple slices into the top of each cake. Sprinkle with a bit of extra sugar if you like and pop into the oven to bake for about 20mins – or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 15 mins.

Makes 12 little cakes