This recipe was handed down through my family, from my great-grandmother to my mother and when I moved to Ireland from Germany, I brought it with me – every year in the weeks before Christmas, this is one of my favourite things to bake. It just so happens to be vegan, too! A gently spiced, moist, sumptuous treat that’s amazing with a bit of (vegan) butter and a cup of tea.
Ingredients
- 500g peeled and grated apple
- 200g sugar
- 125g raisins
- 6 dried apricots, chopped
- 70g almonds, chopped
- 1 heaped tsp cocoa powder
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- a pinch of salt
- 40ml rum (or fruit juice)
- 250g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
Method
- Mix the apple and sugar in a large mixing bowl and allow it to sit in the fridge overnight or for an hour or so at room temperature.
- Pre-heat the oven to 175C. Line a loaf tin with baking parchment.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the apple and sugar mixture (which should now be very wet) and mix to evenly combine the ingredients into a thick, spoonable batter.
- Spread the batter into the lined loaf tin and bake the cake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or so until it is risen and set. It should still be moist but when you insert a skewer it should come out mostly dry with a few damp crumbs.
- Allow the cake to cool in the tin then remove and slice it thickly. This cake stays fresh for a week in the fridge if tightly wrapped.
