This is one that will impress your guests

Ingredients​

TOPPING (OPTIONAL):​

• 1 Granny Smith apple , quartered, cored, thinly sliced 3 mm
• 1 1/2 tbsp demerara sugar or brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

CINNAMON APPLE:​

• 3 cups diced Granny Smith apple , 1/2” cubes, peeled (approx 2 large apples)
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 3 tbsp brown sugar

BATTER – DRY:​

• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder optional
• 1/4 tsp allspice (or mixed spice)
• 1 3/4 cups plain / all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda , sifted
• 1/4 tsp cooking salt

BATTER – WET:​

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup yogurt , plain unsweetened (sub sour cream),
• 2 eggs , at room temperature
• 1/2 cup vegetable or olive oil (or other neutral flavoured oil)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

WALNUTS (OPTIONAL):​

• 1 cup walnuts , toasted, roughly chopped into 1cm/1/3″ pieces (not too small)

Instructions​

• Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan). Position shelf in the middle of the oven.
• Loaf pan : Use a 21.5 x 11.5 x 7 cm pan. Spray with vegetable oil or lightly grease with butter, then line the long side + base with a single piece of baking paper leaving some overhang (don’t worry about lining short sides).
• Topping: Mix the Demerara sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.
• Cinnamon Apple: Mix Cinnamon Apple ingredients in a bowl. Set aside while you prepare the batter (the sugar will make the apple sweat = good thing!).
• Batter: Whisk the Dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk Wet ingredients. Pour Wet mix into the Dry bowl, whisk just until smooth. Stir in apples (including all juices) and walnuts. Batter should be thick but dollop-able (not pourable in thin stream, nor thick like sticky bread dough). Scrape into loaf pan, smooth surface.
• Topping: Take 1/4 of the apple slices, fan out (so they're overlapping) then arrange on top. Repeat in two more lots of 1/4 of an apple. (I find to cover the surface, I only use 3/4 of the apple.) Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.
• Bake 60 minutes. Cover loosely with foil, bake for further 25 minutes or until skewer inserted into the centre comes out smooth.
• Rest 15 minutes in the pan then use paper overhang to remove to a rack. Cool at least 1 hour on rack before slicing!
• Serving – The bread is moist and flavoured enough to eat plain though nobody complains if it's lightly toasted and slathered with butter!

Recipe Notes:​

1. Apple quantity – You will need about 650g large apples

Apple varieties –This recipe should work fine with most apple varieties. Some apples will cook up softer than others. I like Granny Smith for the slight tartness and it holds its shape well when cooked. If using really sweet apples, you may want to reduce the brown sugar down to 1/2 cup.

Apple topping– I can only fit 3/4 of an apple’s worth of slices on top. If you want to squeeze all of it, go right ahead!

2. Demerara sugar– This is a coarse sugar with a hint of molasses flavour that creases jewel-like crust on the surface. Substitute with 2 tbsp brown sugar.

3. Spices– I like this combination of spices for my apple loaf but if you don’t have them, feel free to substitute with more cinnamon powder.

4. Baking soda (bi-carb)is basically baking powder on steroids with ~3x lifting power. I find a combination of the two works best for crumb texture and surface shape. If you don’t have it, substitute with an extra 2 teaspoons baking powder. The surface of the loaf may end up a little more level rather than attractively domed but the crumb will be similar.

Self-raising flour can be used instead of plain flour + baking powder + baking soda but it won’t rise quite as well. It does work though!

 

[Jarred Santos]

I'm such a huge fan of cinnamon, so thank you for this @Suzanne rose!

 

[Irene Anthony]

All my favourite ingredients - thank you for sharing

 

[Suzanne rose]

booting this one up