Bramley Apple Fruit Cake
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This Bramley Apple Fruit Cake is a softer, lighter version of your regular fruit cake. Packed with apples, dates, sultanas and cranberries and flavoured with a touch of citrus and spice. This naturally gluten-free cake is beautifully moist and delicious with a cup of tea or a good pour of custard.
I have been making a version of this cake for years and it’s always a joy when I serve it to people who are surprised by just how delicious it is. Fruit cakes can be terribly underrated but this humble looking cake will charm even the most hardened of fruit cake naysayers. You can enjoy it at any time of year but the dark notes of muscovado and the spices lend it to a cake you might prefer in the cooler months.
I will warn you though you will find this Bramley Apple Fruit Cake utterly irresistible and it doesn’t last long on the kitchen counter, a nibble here and there is unavoidable and encouraged. It has a much softer texture than the usual farmhouse fruit cake or Christmas fruit cake which you may be used to. However that makes it an incredibly versatile cake as it can be served at tea or as dessert with lashings of custard.
Why You’ll Love This Bramley Apple Cake
- Bramley Apple. Is there any better cooking apple. Their lovely tart flavour and soft texture gives the cake its personality.
- Naturally gluten-free. This cake uses oat flour and ground almonds for a beautiful texture and flavour.
- Gloriously moist thanks to the grated Bramley Apple in the sponge.
- Packed with fruit. From dates to cranberries this cake crams them in.
- Beautifully spiced. The spices give a gentle flavour which are a great background note.
- Versatile. You can dress the cake up for Christmas or you can keep it low key and serve plain with a cup of tea as an everyday cake.
Watch to see how to make it
Ingredients needed
Butter. Unsalted at room temperature.
Sugar. We use dark muscovado sugar for a lovely treacle flavour.
Orange. Beautiful warm citrus flavour.
Lemon. Sharp citrus tang
Eggs. We use a medium size here, about 60g each. If you can’t get hold of medium eggs then you can use the weighted amount.
Bramley Apple. You can use any cooking apple but bramleys give a lovely soft texture and gentle tartness.
Dates. Use medjool dates for their soft toffee flavour.
Dried cranberries. You can swap for dried cherries or raisins.
Sultanas. You can swap for raisins or any other dried fruit.
Oat flour. You can buy oat flour or grind your own from rolled oats which you can whizz up in the food processor until fine.
Ground almonds (almond flour). You are looking for blanched ground almonds. There is a bit of labelling confusion over almond flour which is sold as ‘ground almonds’ in most major UK supermarkets and found in the baking aisle. If you want to know what exactly you are looking for then check out this post >>>Is Almond Flour The Same As Ground Almonds.
Raising agents. We use both baking powder and bicarbonate of soda for a tender crumb and good rise.
Spices. We use ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
Salt. This lifts all the flavours.
Apricot conserve. This is used for brushing over the top of the baked cake to make the cake shine.
Flaked almonds. They were originally added to the recipe for decoration purposes but the flavour they impart is the finishing touch.
How To Make Bramley Apple Cake
For full recipe instructions go to the recipe card at the end of this post.
Beat the butter and sugar with the orange and lemon zest until creamy.
Mix in the eggs, followed by the grated apple and dried fruit.
Whisk the dry ingredients together then stir into the batter.
Pour into a greased 8 inch round cake tin and bake for 50 minutes. Brush the cooled cake all over with melted apricot jam and sprinkle over toasted flaked almonds.
Expert Tips
Make sure the butter is at room temperature before using. Cut into little cubes and keep out for 20-30 minutes.
Rub the muscovado sugar through your fingertips before adding to the butter to release the clumps.
Break eggs into separate bowl before adding in, just in case you get a bad one and to help avoid the shell going into your cake.
Grate the apple directly before adding it to the cake batter. This avoids the apple going brown if it stands by for too long.
I recommend toasting the flaked almonds before using them to decorate. Pour the almonds into an even layer in a hot pan and dry fry for 30 seconds until the almonds are just turning slightly brown at the edges. Remove from the heat and pour out of the pan immediately so they don’t continue to cook.
FAQs
This cake keeps very well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Don’t freeze with the apricot conserve or the flaked almonds. Allow the cake to cool completely then double wrap it in plastic wrap and aluminium foil before storing in the freezer. It will keep well for up to 2 months.
Defrost at room temperature before unwrapping and finishing the decoration.
This cake has only been tested with dairy ingredients. You can substitute the dairy if you have a favourite plant based butter which works well as a 1:1 swap.
Serving suggestions
This Bramley Apple Fruit Cake can be served in so many different ways depending on the occasion.
- Dress it up with icing and decorate with a Christmas scene, just like this Mincemeat Sponge Cake.
- Try serving it warm with brandy sauce or a homemade custard.
- For an everyday tea time treat serve with melted salted butter.
- For after dinner you might like to serve it alongside a cheeseboard. This cake goes so well with a hunk of sharp cheddar.
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Bramley Apple Fruit Cake
Ingredients
- 125 g unsalted butter
- 150 g dark muscovado sugar
- Finely grated zest 1 orange
- Finely grated zest 1 lemon
- 2 eggs - medium, 60g each
- 300 g bramley apple - (1) peeled, cored and grated
- 100 g dates - pitted and chopped (about 5)
- 80 g dried cranberries
- 80 g sultanas
- 100 g oat flour
- 125 g ground almonds
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons apricot jam
- 50 g flaked almonds - toasted
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/ gas mark 6. Line and grease an 8 inch diameter x 4 inch round cake tin.
- Beat the butter and sugar with the orange and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer or in a stand mixer for 3-4 minutes until creamy.
- Add the eggs one at a time and mix in until fully combined.
- Add the grated apple and dried fruit and mix in well.
- Whisk the oat flour and ground almonds together with the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt in a large bowl then stir into the batter.
- Pour into the cake tin and place in the oven.
- Bake for 50 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, carefully insert the cake out of the tin and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Pour the apricot jam into a small saucepan and heat until the jam is runny.
- Brush the cooled cake all over with the apricot jam then decorate with the toasted flaked almonds.
Video
Notes
- Tip #1. Rub the muscovado sugar through your fingertips before adding to the butter to release the clumps.
- Tip #2. Grate the apple directly before adding it to the cake batter.
- Tip #3. Brushing the surface of the cooled cake with the apricot jam gives the cake a beautiful shine, you will be surprised how effective it is!
Love this very moist recipe. Today I have made it vegan, just waiting to see how it has turned out!
So happy you enjoyed the recipe!! Thank you for sharing your experience with this cake.
Dear Georgia you have written that you need, at least in the 3x recipe, 300 grams of dried dates and then you write 'about 5' I now have 13 good quality dates from an Asian shop in our nearest town, so not dried out. And in my weighing scales dish and that is still only reaching 200 grams.
Should I continue to add more? Best wishes Lindy
Hi Lindy, the sizing up of the recipe is an automatic conversion. To be honest I haven't tried sizing up this recipe. The weight of 100g of dates is equal to about 5 medjool dates which is the quantity I use in this recipe. Why are you sizing up? Are you using a different cake tin or are you baking 3 cakes?
Yep, 3 cakes, I made one last November for my birthday treat and my son and I thought it was delicious. He said it tasted like Christmas....
It does in a way I think. So this time I made 4 of them. Two little ones and two larger ones using the 3x sizing up. One was for friends, one for us at home and two others are for freezing in, not to be eaten consecutively!! If I can discipline myself. My husband is less keen because he is not a fan of dried fruit anyway.
It just seemed a mass of dates that's all. I just weighed the four dates I have left and together they weigh almost 40 grams, so shy of 10 grams per date.
So happy you enjoyed the cake (s). Yes, the dates quantities are correct.
I am about to make this cake , question for you I want to bake them in mini Cake pans x3 , what temperature & time should I bake them for?
I'm afraid I can't advise but this article is very helpful.https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-resize-cake-recipes-to-fit-any-pan
I made this cake for the first time yesterday. It is absolutely gorgeous and my family are already asking me to make another one!!
I'm so happy to hear that! Thank you Geri!
Oh sorry, forgot to rate it in my previous post! 😀
Thank you!!!
Hi, I've made this recipe today and it tastes great, thank you!
I replaced the cranberries with half the amount of pecans and it worked really well.
Can I please ask about the apples: it it 300g before grating or after ie. is the weight of the core included? Also, did you squeeze the liquid out from the grated apples? Mine ended up really wet, so I did, but then I was unsure how this affected the weight... The cake turned out great, but thought I ask for next time.
Thank you!
It's 300g before grating - for the whole apple. No, I don't squeeze the liquid out - yes it can be quite wet as it releases a lot of juice. I'm happy your cake turned out well!
I love the flavour and have made this cake several times, it is quite difficult to cut though as it crumbles a lot. Is there a remedy? Should I try with a proportion of sweet rice flour perhaps? Thanks.
You can certainly try that - I bet it would be lovely with sweet rice flour.
Thank you, Georgina,
I love this recipe! I didn't have dried cransberries so I substituted
dried cherries. It is a big win. My 2 1/2 yr old great niece loved it as well.
Jalene
That's great to hear - thank you Jalene!!
Absolutely delicious in flavour and texture. Highly recommend! Georgina is my gluten free guru and I have never had a failure with any of her recipes.
That's so great to hear Janet - thank you!!
This recipe sounds awesome, but I have an allergy to avenin - the protein found in oats. Would you replace with more almond flour or use something else? Many thanks Ally
Hi Ally, you can substitute the oat flour for a regular gluten-free flour, sorghum flour or buckwheat flour. All should work fine but I haven't tested with those substitutions.