Apple Cinnamon Cashew Nut Cake

A warm slice of this delicious and healthy apple and cashew nuts cake spiced with cinnamon will get you in the right mood for Fall.

I cannot believe I am writing my first Fall post of the year already! As clichéd as it sounds, I cannot help but ask, “Where does the time go?”. It seems as if 2016 just began, like yesterday or the day before. It cannot be true that nine months have already passed.

It will officially be Fall this week, the little one’s birthday is coming up and life is pretty good. But I am still desperately holding on to summer. At least the weather is with me on this, nice and sunny hot during the day, but the nights have the ever so slightest nip in the air.

But what I simply cannot get over are the hordes of pumpkins and ghouls staring at me from the storefronts in 90 degree weather. “Why are they here so early?” I blurted out loud, in front of Boy, who simply loves everything to do with pumpkins and ghosts and spiders and the H-word.

But Fall inspired food is something I can get behind. What’s not to love about apples, cinnamon spice and everything nice? This is a simple apple cake recipe to get you guys in the Fall mood, whether the weather in your hood cooperates or not.

I tweaked my trusty rustic skillet apple cake recipe, married it with this whole wheat apple bread recipe and came up with this delicious and healthy apple cake. The cake is fluffy and moist, without being overly sweet, you get the fruit and nuts in every bite.

I used shredded red apples because I feel they are better integrated in a cake batter than chopped fruit. The cake is spiced with fragrant cinnamon and just a hint of cardamom. I also added some chopped cashew nuts. You can do walnuts or pecans instead, but aren’t they so predictable? So hunt down some cashew nuts this time. They also look very pretty strewn on top of the cake. The golden glaze on top is simply a spoonful of brown sugar sprinkled on top of the batter. Hungry yet? Read on for the recipe.

Apple Cinnamon Cashew Nut Cake

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

35 mins

Total time

55 mins

 

A warm slice of this delicious and healthy apple and cashew nuts cake spiced with cinnamon will get you in the right mood for Fall.

Author: Anjana Devasahayam

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Serves: One 9" cake

You will need:

Cake:

• Whole wheat flour – 2 cups (can also use part whole wheat and part all-purpose flours)
• Baking powder – 1 tsp
• Baking soda – ½ tsp
• Salt – ½ tsp
• Cinnamon powder – 1 tsp
• Cardamom powder - ¼ tsp
• Oil – ½ cup
• Brown sugar – 1 cup, lightly packed
• White sugar - ½ cup
• Eggs – 2, large
• Vanilla extract – scant ½ tsp
• Buttermilk – 1 cup
• Red apples – 1 heaped cup, shredded
• Cashew nuts - ½ cup, chopped (use plain roasted nuts, not salted)

Topping:

• Red apple slices - from half an apple
• Cashew nuts - 6-8
• Brown sugar - 2 tbsp

How to:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 deg.F. Rub a little oil in the insides of a 9" round cake pan and dust with flour. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Sift the dry ingredients together and keep aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, cream the oil and sugars together. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix well.
4. Add the flour and buttermilk to this alternately, beginning and ending with the flour. Do not over-mix.
5. Mix in the shredded apples and nuts.
6. The batter will be thick. Pour into the pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
7. Arrange thin apple slices and whole cashew nuts on top in a circular pattern. Sprinkle 2 tbsp brown sugar all over the top.
8. Bake for 35 minutes or till the cake passes the toothpick test.
9. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack. To remove cake from pan, run a knife along the sides, then invert cake onto a plate and invert again onto your serving platter so that the cake is right side up.
10. Serve warm along with tea, coffee or some ice cream. Makes an excellent breakfast cake too.

Notes:

1. Feel free to replace the cashew nuts with other nuts off choice like walnuts, pecan, almonds, etc.

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Don’t forget to SAVE & PIN this recipe for later. The best recipe to make use of all those apples you’ll be picking this Fall.

How do you feel about the changing seasons? What are you most looking forward to? Do you bake with apples? Do share.

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I am sharing this over at Fiesta Friday, FoodieFriDIY & Saucy Saturday.