My Burning Sweet Heart Apple Cake

I don't regret how much I love

And I avoid those who repent their passion

Hundreds of Sweethearts!

I am the love and the one

lovers long for. Blue, and a cure 

for blues, sky in a small cage

Badly hurt but flying

Everybody's Scandalous Flaw is mine

Rumi

This is not the story of the perfect apple cake, nor the easiest method. There has been hard labour put into this, and yet for some reason, my beloved, my cake, always ends up burning. Some times, love is like that!

(Please refer to the end of this blog for the update and adaptations that have made this painstaking work a perfection ;)

Some might say it's these ovens. 

So. I ask. Could you try and make this cake with your sweet heart and let me know what I might be doing wrong?

It is true. There are no regrets and no repenting here. Every cake I have tried and repeated has been devoured deliciously so much so that my last guests asked me to blog about its deliciousness and provide a recipe. 

So, this recipe is a mix between Mary Berry's recipe (more on the cooking side to try and avoid black ornamental features on my cake....) and this recipe for a German apple cake.. both of who proclaim to be the best

Well. This one burns. Thats all I am saying! It is delicious though!

Hearty Tips!

I added raisins, they just sank to the bottom then burnt.. However, if you soak them first, this did not happen, and they are quite delicious!

I added Hazelnuts to one recipe... absolutely delicious and I would 100% recommend a crunch with the sweet apple

Served with Love, this recipe was delicious, moist, and moreish... I simply cut off the burnt bits... but there are other ways... for example, waiting till the cake has cooled down and then taking a small sieve and scraping the burnt bit off... works a treat if you have the patience and the cake is for an important occasion!

Now its your turn!

Update

29.09.14 There has been an update to this recipe... I finally found the crux of the problem and have been able to successfully make an apple cake without the burnt bits (This is kind of epic, I am, afterall, defying Cypriot Ovens!) It was, as it turns out too simple to work out straight away... 

Simply instead of 4 apples, put 2. 

 I cooked it for 55 minutes and it was perfect.. no burn marks!

4 Apples may work in a conventional Electric, Fancy Pancy oven. But not in my tiny, gas oven made in Cyprus. Don't get me wrong, I love this country. 

My Burning Sweet Heart Apple Cake

Ingredients

1 Cup Sunflower Oil

2 Cups Sugar

2 Eggs

1/2 tsp Salt

2 Cups Flour

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Almond Essence (if you can find it)

2 tsp Cinnamon 

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

2 Large Apples peeled, cored and cubed

Directions

1. Heat oven to 160 Celsius or Gas Mark 3

2. Mix Oil and Sugar

3 Add eggs and all other ingredients as they appear on the ingredients list and whisk together

4. Add the apples and fold in to the mixture with a wooden spoon

5. Prepare a 9'' tin (maybe 6'' works better) with grease proof paper

6. Put mixture into baking tin, and then into the oven

7. Bake for 55 mins remembering to check if the mixture is cooked in the middle with a fork or other sharpish thin implement!

Remember to serve it with love!