Spiced Apple and Walnut Loaf

 

Hi there!  How are you going?  So we are in the middle of COVID lockdown number 5 here in Melbourne, Australia... yeah, I know... number 5!!!  Like everyone else, we have been in the need of some comfort food lately so yesterday I created this delicious Spiced Apple and Walnut Loaf.

Ok, so we had some granny smith apples that were looking a bit tired, you know, the kind you would cook with but not necessarily want to bite into.  That was the inspirational starting point for this loaf.  I knew it would be heavy with fruit so I thought a loaf was probably the best shape to bake it in so you could slice it thick and smother with butter... yum!

Ok, to the nitty gritty stuff...

INGREDIENTS:

• about 3 medium granny smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped into smallish cubes
• 2 cups of wholemeal self-raising flower
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 2 egg whites
• 3/4 cup of roughly chopped walnuts - plus extra for top
• 3/4 cup of butter milk (be warned you may need to add more if your batter still feels a little dry)
• teaspoon of cinnamon
• half teaspoon of nutmeg (with the spices, feel free to add more for your tasting)
• teaspoon of vanilla extra - the one with the vanilla seeds is my preference.
• tablespoon of raw sugar to top the loaf

HOW TO:

• This is so simple, I seriously just dumped everything into a bowl and mixed it up by hand.  Be careful to not over mix, just combine. You want a firmish batter that isn't too wet just together - what you would expect a muffin batter to look like.
• Usually I would mix the wet ingredients together first but I was kinda lazy for this one (disclaimer)
• Put batter into a loaf pan that measures about 23cm x 13cm - I always use a baking paper to line my pan so there's no issues getting the cake out!
• top with a scattering of walnuts and sprinkle with raw sugar for a streusel like topping
• bake in oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 55 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
• cool in pan for about 5-10 minutes, then on a rack until cool.
• slice and serve with butter.