A show stopping autumnal inspired cake fit for any table, with flavours of the season – this spiced apple and cinnamon cake hits all the spots. Finished with a chocolate ganache and meringues.
Welcome in the season with a cake that screams of autumn – layers of cinnamon sponge, divided by cinnamon buttercream and a spiced apple butter. As the inside layers are very much muted in colour, the outside pops with colour! The colour can always be adjusted to match your preference – I chose my favourite of course – blue. To add more seasonal appropriate touches – piping the decoration with a nozzle that replicates that of a pumpkin would make this cake fitting for any sustainable fall gatherings you may have planned. Within this recipe a dairy free chocolate ganache that doesn’t require a plant based cream alternative is used so there isn’t any added plastic from the cream container – if you have a preferred chocolate ganache recipe you could always use that instead.
If you are looking for a cake to make a statement this could be what you are looking for. There are a fair for steps especially if you make the meringues to decorate but as the days get colder and shorter, what better way to spend the day then baking away before a gathering.
How to Purchase Ingredients to be Conscious to the Planet
Most basic baking ingredients are widely available in zero waste shops, so get to know your local one or your favourite stores that delivery from online and fill our cupboards. As meringues are used for decorations a lot of eggs are used within this recipe. If you can avoid eggs that come in plastic egg box – with the variety of brands within supermarkets it should be easy to find one that comes in cupboard. If you are like me and get your eggs from a local farm shop or market – save your egg box and take them back to refill – reusing boxes will help reduce the number of items coming into the kitchen.
Piping bags are tricky item for me. Disposable ones are much more convenient and easier to just grab when decorating cakes but not great for the environment. I do have some reusable ones that I do use at times but the cleaning and drying of them isn’t always fun. Along with the fact you will have end up with certain bags that will only fit certain size piping nozzles once you have cut the ends. I have read reviews for biodegradable parchment piping bags, but have yet to be tempted to try them.
I have however, made my own piping bags from parchment paper (not used with buttercream though), so if you have a compostable parchment paper – this could be an option at times to at least reduce some plastic waste while investigating alternatives for a more sustainable kitchen. Piping out the meringues or chocolate ganache could utilise these homemade piping bags.
Ingredients you can buy Plastic Free
- Caster Sugar
- Self-Raising Flour
- Cinnamon
- Eggs
- Vanilla Paste (if sourced – would be using smaller companies or more expensive brand within supermarkets)
- Icing sugar
- Spiced Apple Butter – if homemade (can find my recipe here)
- Dark Chocolate Buttons / Chips
- Light Brown Sugar
Equipment You Will Need
- Freestanding Mixer or Mixing Bowl and Hand Held Mixer
- 4 x 6 inch Cake Tins
- Baking Parchment Paper
- Spatulas
- Measuring Spoons
- Piping Bags
- Round Piping Nozzle
- Open Star Piping Nozzle – small and large
- Teaspoon
- Saucepan
- Heat Proof Bowl
- Cooling Rack
- Cake Leveller or Sharp Knife
- Baking Sheet
- Baking silicone Mat (optional)
- Offset Palette Knife
- Cake Scraper
- Small Bowl
- Decorating Turn Table (optional)
Tips and Tricks when making Spiced Apple and Cinnamon Cake
Making the Chocolate Ganache
If you find that not all the chocolate is melting once you have added the sugar syrup, you can always place over a saucepan of simmering water and keep mixing until fully melted.
Spiced Apple and Cinnamon Cake
Equipment
- Freestanding Mixer or Mixing Bowl and Hand Held Mixer
- 4 x 6 inch Cake Tins
- Baking Parchment Paper
- Spatulas
- Measuring Spoons
- Piping Bags
- Round Piping Nozzle
- Open Star Piping Nozzle – small and large
- Teaspoon
- Saucepan
- Heat Proof Bowl
- Cooling rack
- Cake Leveller or Sharp Knife
- Baking Sheet
- Baking silicone Mat (optional)
- Offset Palette Knife
- Cake Scraper
- Small Bowl
- Decorating Turn Table (optional)
Ingredients
Cake:
- 300 g Caster Sugar
- 300 g Margarine
- 6 Eggs
- 300 g Self Raising Flour
- 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
- Spiced Apple Butter
Buttercream:
- 300 g Plant Based Butter / Butter
- 680 g Icing Sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Paste
- ¼ Teaspoon Cinnamon
- Blue food colouring or alternative colour of choice
Chocolate Ganache:
- 88 g Dark Chocolate
- 25 g Light Brown Sugar
- 38 ml water
Meringues:
- 2 Egg Whites
- 140 g Caster Sugar
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees
- Grease and line 4 6 inch cake tins
- Cream together the margarine and sugar until soft and fluffy
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition – scrape the sides of the bowl to help with the combining of the eggs, as well as a little flour with each egg after the third
- Add the flour and cinnamon and fold through until combined
- Divide the mixture between the 4 cake tins – roughly it works out at about 309g per tin
- Spread out the mixture to the edges of the tins and the make a bit of hollow in the middle
- Place on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for around 25 minutes – until a skewer comes out clean
- Leave in the tins for about 5 minutes before turning out and cooling completely on cooling racks
- Once cool, pop in the fridge – this will help with and levelling other the cake required as well as filling and stacking
- While the cake is cooling and chilling make the meringues and buttercream
Meringues:
- Pop the caster sugar on a lined baking sheet and then pop in a 200 degree oven about 8 minutes, reduce the oven to 100 degrees and leave the door open to assist with cooling while continuing to make the meringues
- While the caster sugar is in the, whisk up the egg whites until soft peaks form – easiest in a free standing mixer
- Slowly add in the warm caster sugar 1 table spoon at a time, ensuring each spoonful is incorporated before adding the next
- Once all sugar is in, whisk for a further 60 seconds
- Using a small open star nozzle in a piping bag, pipe small pumpkin shapes on a lined baking sheet (either with a silicone baking mat or baking parchment paper) – you will have more meringues than you need so you can always pipe different shapes for different uses as well
- Baking in the oven for 55-60 minutes – you can either turn the oven off and leave meringues to cool in there or cool on the tray on a cooling rack
Buttercream:
- Pop the cubed butter into the bowl of a mixer and beat until soft
- Sift in the icing sugar in batches and beat until smooth
- Once all the icing sugar is incorporated, add in the vanilla paste and cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of water, beat again for about 5 minutes
- Using a spatula, spread the buttercream up across the side of the bowl to help remove any air bubbles
Assembly of Cake:
- Level out the cake layers as required
- Pop a little buttercream in the middle of the cake board, stand or plate you are presenting on, then place on the first cake layer
- Pipe a border of the cinnamon buttercream around the edge and then spoon about 4-5 teaspoons of the spiced apple butter into the middle and spread gently towards the buttercream
- Add the next layer bottom side up and repeat the filling process until you have stacked all the layers
- Once the top layer is on, use any spare buttercream to fill in any gaps between the buttercream and edges of the cake
- Pop the cake in the fridge to chill for 10 minutes
- Add an extra tablespoon of water into the buttercream and beat again, repeat the process of spread the buttercream up the side of the bowl as well
- Spread a thin layer of buttercream around the entire cake to crumb coat – use the cake scraper to smooth or carefully do with the offset palette knife
- Pop the cake back into the fridge to chill for 30 minutes
- Remove a small amount of buttercream and set aside in a bowl
- Add in the food colouring to remaining buttercream ad beat again to combine
- Remove the cake from the fridge and pop on the turn table if using
- Spread a generous amount of buttercream around the cake using the offset palette knife
- Using a cake scraper smooth around the cake, fill in any gaps and re-smooth as needed
- You can either leave the cake smooth or you can create strokes vertically up the cake using the offset palette knife
- Pop the cake make into the fridge to firm up while you make the ganache
Ganache:
- Pop the light brown sugar and water into the saucepan and heat until the sugar has dissolved and just before boiling
- Pour the sugar syrup over the chocolate in a heat proof bowl and the whisk/stir until smooth
Decorating:
- You can create the drip in a couple of ways – pour into a piping bag and then snip of the end; use a spoon and gently push the ganache over the edges or pour into a reusable piping bottle and like the piping bag gently working around the edge of the cake allow it to drip at points you wish
- Once the drip has been created around the whole cake, use more of the ganache to cover the top of the cake
- Return the cake to the fridge to help the ganache set
- Into piping bags fitted with large open star nozzles add in the reserved uncoloured buttercream to one and coloured buttercream to another
- Pipe “pumpkins” as deserved onto the top of the cake mixing between the colours
- Add meringues to decorate
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