Apple Tea Cake

Earlier this week, after a disastrous outing with the boys, I visited a newly opened woolies  in one of the trendier inner city suburbs (it even has a coffee bar INSIDE the store)!  All of the produce looked super fresh, and when I saw large shiny Granny Smith Apples, I had to buy some. Originally I had set out to make apple and cinnamon muffins (which I probably will still do), but when looking through my Margaret Fulton ‘Baking’ book, I decided to try her recipe for Apple Tea Cake instead.  This recipe is different to other tea cakes I’ve made in the past – I’ve never whisked egg whites for this kind of cake before.  I didn’t have an 18cm round tin, I used my 20cm tin instead and the cake still looked fine.

I’m a sucker for anything with apples in it, and I did enjoy the slice (a very small one) that I tried.  Compared to the Apple and Blueberry Cake I have previously made, I think I prefer the apple/blueberry combination better.

1 egg – separated

½ cup caster sugar

½ cup milk

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

30g butter – melted

1 cup self raising flour – sifted

1 apple – peeled, cored and thinly sliced

Topping

1 tablespoon melted butter

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon mixed with 1 tablespoon caster sugar

• Preheat over to 190 degrees and grease an 18cm round tin (I used a 20cm tin)
• Whisk the egg white until stiff, gradually beat in the sugar, then egg yolk
• Stir in the milk, vanilla and melted butter
• Fold the flour carefully into mixture
• Spoon into cake tin and arrange apple slices on the top
• Bake for 20 – 25 minutes
• When cooked, turn out and place top side up onto a wire rack. While still hot, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar