Apple and Pecan Crumble Cake

I had bought this really cool looking Bundt tin, and was thinking what I could make with it. Then what should I come across than a recipe from Ellie from Kitchen Wench for an apple and pecan crumble cake, which you can make using a Bundt tin.

This cake is really easy to make. You mix the dry ingredients, you mix the wet ingredients, you add the apples and pecan and stir. The hardest part was peeling the apples and cutting them into small chunks. Ellie suggested that you should use either Royal Gala or Fuji apples. I would have preferred using Fuji and I like to eat Fujis normally anyway. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any Fujis so used Royal Gala. It turned out good but I think Fuji's would have been better. Fuji's with their firmer flesh and a slightly tartness to them would make the cake even better.

The cake texture is very light and moist from all the water in the apples. The pecans provide a good contrast. But I just love crumble and steusel type toppings and this one was no exception. It tasted so good in one mouthful with the rest of the cake.



Apple & Pecan Crumble Cake

Ingredients
300g all-purpose flour
250g caster sugar
1 tsp baking soda/bicarb soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
4 medium-sized firm apples, peeled, cored and cut into thumbnail-sized chunks (Royal Gala or Fuji)
110g roasted pecans, roughly chopped
250mL light olive oil
3 medium-sized eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

Crumble topping
75g all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
55g firmly packed brown sugar
60g cold, unsalted butter cut into small chunks
45g coarsely chopped roasted pecans

Icing sugar, for dusting

All the pecans in this recipe can be replaced with walnut for a cake just as tasty, just slightly less crunchy

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and butter and flour your ring/bundt tin and set aside for now.

2. Make the crumble by mixing together the flour, cinnamon and sugar in a bowl or food processor, then add the butter and rub in with your fingertips or process till the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the pecans and mix in, then set aside.

3. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon to mix together, then put the chopped apples and pecans into a small bowl and add a few tablespoons of the flour mixture and toss to coat and set aside.

4. In another bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs and vanilla till evenly combined, then tip the flour mixture into the egg mixture and stir till just combined. Add the apple & pecan mix and stir through, then carefully and evenly spoon into your cake tin to 3/4 full. Lightly scatter over the crumble topping and give it a bit of a shake to even it out.

5. Bake for 45min - 1hr, or till a wooden skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cook the cake in the tin for 10 minutes, then invert onto a flat plate and invert again onto a rack so that the crumble layer is on top. Leave to cool completely.

6. Serve with a generous dusting of icing sugar.