MIX & MATCH AUTUMN FRUIT CAKE

Fancy an apple cake, rhubarb or perhaps fig? You choose! This rustic cake is designed to celebrate autumn fruits of your choice during this #stayathome Easter.

And whether you choose apples, rhubarb or figs, you can serve the cake straight from the oven for dessert, dust with icing sugar if you want be fancy, or cool to room temperature to have with a cuppa. It keeps very well too.

serves 8 

¼ cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing

2 free range eggs (I used Yokey Dokey XL eggs)

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup (50g) brown sugar, plus an extra tablespoon for tossing fruit

2 tablespoons honey

90g almond meal

¼ cup (35g) Tuerong Farm Khorasan or Spelt flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cardamom, or allspice

¼ teaspoon sea salt

Fruit to choose:

1 bunch rhubarb, leaves and ends discarded, stems cut into 1cm pieces

OR

4 apples (such as royal gala, red delicious, catshead), peeled optional, quartered, cored and thinly sliced

OR

8 figs, 4 ripe figs roughly chopped and 4 figs halved (reserved for top of cake)

Greek yoghurt, to serve

Pre-heat oven to 190°C (170°C fan-forced). Grease and line the base of a 20cm spring form cake tin.  

If using rhubarb or apple, transfer a third of the slices in to a bowl and toss with the extra brown sugar. Set aside for the topping. If using figs, place the fig halves in a bowl and toss with the extra sugar. Set aside for the topping.

In a medium bowl whisk together the oil, eggs, vanilla, sugar and honey. In a separate bowl combine the almond meal, flour, baking powder, spices and salt to mix well. Fold the almond mixture into the egg mixture to combine. Fold in the chosen fruit to combine. Pour the batter into the cake tin and spread evenly. Scatter the reserved fruit pieces over the top.

Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven heat to 180°C (160°C fan-forced) and bake a further 15 minutes, or until the top is golden and a skewer comes out clean when inserted. If serving warm, leave to cool for 10 minutes, before removing from the tin. Otherwise, cool completely in the tin before removing.

Cut into wedges and serve with Greek yoghurt.

Fiona Hammond © April 2020