Time
2 hours
Serves
24
Difficulty
Medium
Ingredients
220g all-purpose flour
190g whole wheat flour
2 tbsp ground flax seed (optional)
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
4 tart apples, unpeeled and cut into large (½”-1”) chunks
1 tbsp lemon juice (or enough to keep them from turning brown)
3 large eggs
125ml canola or olive oil
220g packed brown sugar
100g sugar
160g canned whole peeled tomatoes, crushed with a fork
orange juice or water (about 125ml)
2 tsp vanilla
50-100g chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Spray a Bundt or tube pan well with nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, stir together the flours, flaxseed, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In another bowl, toss the apple chunks with lemon juice, about 1/4 cup of the sugar, and a bit of cinnamon; set aside.
In a third bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, brown sugar, sugar, crushed tomatoes, orange juice, and vanilla until smooth. Add to the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.
Pour a third of the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Scatter with a third of the apples (and half the nuts, if you’re using them), then repeat with another layer of batter and apples and nuts, and a final layer of batter, then apples. (Nuts are best kept inside the cake to keep them from burning.) Pour any juices that accumulated in the bottom of the apple bowl on the top.
Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until golden and springy to the touch.
Cool the cake in the pan to lukewarm before inverting it onto a wire rack or plate.
