Torta Di Mela

Total Time: 2 hrs Preparation Time: 40 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 20 mins

Ingredients

• 1 kg granny smith apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (approx. 6)
• 1 lemon, rind finely grated, juiced
• 120 g unsalted butter
• 50 g walnuts, roasted and finely ground
• 3 eggs
• 165 g muscovado sugar (3/4 cup)
• 110 g caster sugar (raw if possible, 1/2 cup)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 100 ml milk
• 150 g plain flour (1 cup)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 200 g dried figs, finely chopped
• 200 g pine nuts, roasted
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 180 g honey (1/2 cup)
• 1 lemon, juiced (strained)

Recipe

• 1 combine apples, lemon juice and rind in a bowl, toss to coat and set aside.
• 2 grease a 24 cm springform cake pan with 1 tbsp of butter and dust with ground walnuts.
• 3 whisk eggs, 1/2 cup muscovado sugar, caster sugar & vanilla essence until pale and creamy. melt remaining butter and add to egg mixture with milk, flour and baking powder, then stir to combine.
• 4 pour 1/3 of the mixture into prepared cake pan, arrange 1/3 of apples on top, scatter with half the figs and pine nuts. repeat, finishing with apples.
• 5 combine cinnamon and remaining muscovado and icing sugars, scatter over cake.
• 6 bake at 180 degrees c for 1 hour 20 minutes, cool in pan for 20 minutes.
• 7 towards the end of the cake's baking time, prepare the lemon syrup by heating the honey in a pan over medium heat and simmering for 5 minutes. remove from heat and stir through lemon juice.
• 8 turn cake onto a platter, drizzle with warmed syrup.
• 9 serve with fresh cream if desired.