Christmas Calendar 2016 - Apple cake with walnuts

When I found this recipe on apple cake with walnuts at Sæson (Æblekage med valnødder) using many of the spices, which you associate with Christmas, I knew I wanted to make this cake as part of my Christmas Calendar with the theme of Christmas afternoon tea.

It is possible to make the apple mash a few days before. The use of apple mash in the cake gives a cake with great moisture. However, it also makes it tricky to bake the cake, because when is the cake actually baked !

Apple cake with walnuts:

• 5 apples - cored, peeled and cut into boat shape
• 1 dl water
• 2 teaspoons of home-made vanilla sugar
• 5 teaspoons of sugar
• 125 g butter - soft
• 200 g sugar
• 1 vanilla pod - only the seeds
• 300 g (cake) wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ dl whole fat milk
• 100 g sultana raisins
• 100 g walnuts - roughly chopped

1. Add the apple boats and water into a medium cooking pot.
2. Bring the apples to the boil. Let the apple boil gently for 10-15 minutes.
3. When the apples are soft, remove the cooking from the heat and mash the apple together.
4. Add in vanilla sugar and sugar. The amount of sugar depends on your sweetness preference.
5. Cool down the apple mash.
6. Heat up the oven to 190'C.
7. Whip the butter, sugar and vanilla seeds together into a firm mass.
8. Add wheat flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt and baking soda into the cake mass together with the apple mash and milk. Stir until homogeneous.
9. Stir in the raisins and chopped walnuts.
10. Fill the cake dough into a round pie form, 22-24 cm in diameter.
11. Bake the cake in the middle of the oven at 190'C for 50-70 minutes.
12. Cold down the cake, before it is cut.