double apple bundt cake

A perfect bundt cake

So, have you made your apple pear sauce yet?

Because you’ll need it for this moist, warmly-spiced old-fashioned cake.

The apple sauce makes this big cake incredibly moist. But so too does the grated apple and juicy sweet pear. There is lots of spice in here: you’ll taste the zestiness of ginger, the warmth of cinnamon and nutmeg, and the roundness of mixed spice that I added, just because it’s my favourite spice (what’s yours?). There are also plump golden sultanas, and just enough crumbled walnuts to add some texture. You might think that's a lot of different things going on – and it is - but they all work together so deliciously.

Did I say this is a big cake? You’ll need your biggest tin; a lovely deep fluted bundt one would be perfect if you have such a beauty. This is a cake for feeding lots of people, or just a few ravenous ones. Which we were. Mum and dad were over; dad is setting up a second rainwater tank for my vegie garden. It was … fun rolling a large plastic cube (about a metre square; a thousand litre capacity) from the back of dad’s truck, over an ivy-covered wall, and down two planks of wood into the backyard. And then again, with the metal supporting cage for the tank to sit in. Which we had to do. Oof! We well and truly worked up an appetite and needed deep mugs of tea and large chunks of this wonderful cake to restore our energy.

What did you do on the weekend to work up an appetite for a big piece of cake?

Cake demolition in progress

Double apple bundt cake
Adapted from a Dorie Greenspan recipe. It’s ‘double’ because of the grated apple and the apple sauce. If you don’t have a deep bundt tin, you could divide the mixture into two smaller loaf tins and adjust the baking time accordingly.

• Preheat your oven and prep a deep bundt tin by spraying with canola oil and dusting some plain flour around, knocking out the excess.
• Cream together 150 gms softened butter, 1 cup white sugar and ½ cup dark brown sugar.
• Add 2 eggs and continue beating for 2 or 3 minutes (a free-standing mixer is a good idea).
• While that’s happening, grate 2 apples or (as I did this time) 1 apple and 1 pear. Leave the skin on; that’s where all the goodness is!
• On a slow speed, beat in 1 cup apple sauce (store bought is fine if you haven’t made your own).
• Now use a wooden spoon to fold thru the grated fruit, then ½ cup raisins and ½ cup walnut pieces.
• Now fold thru the dry ingredients: 2 cups plain flour, 2 tspns baking powder, ½ tspn baking soda, and a ¼ tspn of each of the following spices: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and mixed spice (inhale deeply, it smells so good!).
• Spoon into your cake tin, smooth the surface and bake for 45-55 minutes or until done.
• Once baked, cool in the tin for a few minutes before crossing your fingers and turning out onto a wire rack, hopefully with all the pleats and details intact. Allow to cool before cutting; because it’s so moist, you risk making a crumbly mess if you cut it while it’s still oven-warm.
• Enjoy with a cup of tea and family or friends.