To celebrate the imminent arrival of my new eBook, Cosy Winter Bakes, I am sharing one of my favourite Winter cake recipes here on the blog. This new eBook is filled with recipes just like this one - cosy, using seasonal ingredients, and best enjoyed with a warming cup of tea! To be the first to know when this eBook is released, click here to sign up to my mailing list.
The Lumberjack Cake is a cake made up of apples and dates, with a crunchy maple coconut topping. I first heard of this cake a fair few years ago when I worked at a cafe. One of my colleagues baked for the cafe and a Lumberjack Cake was one of the things she often made. I seem to remember her saying it was something she picked up while she was in Canada, and that it was a Canadian recipe (also known as Queen Elizabeth Cake). It was the perfect cake for a cold Winters day, and I soon found myself a recipe and began creating it at home too.
One of the tips my colleague gave me at the time for this cake was to use golden syrup and maple extract in the topping, rather than maple syrup as is more customary. Not only is golden syrup less expensive than maple syrup, but from previous experience I found that pure maple syrup doesn’t work well in this cake as it is too runny. You really need the thickness of a golden syrup, or one of those maple flavoured syrups, to keep the coconut topping from sliding right off the cake!
Pure maple extract can be found at gourmet food stores, or online.
Lumberjack Cake (aka Queen Elizabeth Cake)
Ingredients:
230g apple (about 2 small/medium apples, I use Pink Lady variety), cored and roughly chopped
185g pitted medjool dates, roughly chopped
250ml boiling water
1 tsp bicarb soda
260g plain flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
145g Panela sugar
125ml canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
Ingredients for the Topping:
70g unsalted butter, roughly chopped
60ml pouring cream
50g Panela sugar
120g golden syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp pure maple extract
100g shredded coconut
Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease and line a 22cm round springform or loose bottomed cake tin.
In a medium bowl, place the apples and dates, sprinkle over the bicarb soda and cover with the boiling water. Set aside for about 10 minutes, this will allow the fruit to soften up a bit.
In another medium bowl, whisk together the plain flour and baking powder as set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, panela sugar, oil and vanilla extract until well combined.
Add the soaking apples and dates (including the water) to the oil mix, and stir to combine. Finally add the flour mix and stir until just combined.
Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
While the cake is baking make the topping by, placing all the topping ingredients except the coconut into a small saucepan. Place over low/medium heat and stir, allowing the butter to melt and the sugar to dissolve. Allow to mixture to bubble and thicken a little, then turn off the heat and stir in the coconut. Set aside until needed.
Once the cake has finished baking, remove from the oven and spoon the coconut mixture evenly over the top of the cake. Return to the oven for a further 20 minutes, or until the coconut topping has turned golden brown.
Allow the cake to cool in its tin for a few minutes, then carefully remove the cake from the tin and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
Reference: Not Quite Nigella.
