Vegan Apple and ‘Honey’ Cake

This sticky, spiced apple and ‘honey’ cake recipe will be your go-to this autumn – perfect for chilly days when you need a satisfying treat.

Done in 1 hour

Serves 12

Dish by Mia Jacobs

Ingredients

For the caramelised apples

3apples, sliced

115gcaster sugar

For the cake

2 tbspflax seeds

100glight brown sugar

160mlagave syrup

120mlveg oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp vegan yoghurt

100mlbrewed black tea

150g, sievedplain flour

1 tspbaking powder

1/2 tspbaking soda

1 tspground cinnamon

1/2 tspground nutmeg

a pinchsalt

For me, this cake holds some pretty special memories. We would eat this cake on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, every year. My Grandma made the very best honey cake so I decided to veganise it and see if it could be nearly as good. Turns out it's just as tasty, warming, comforting and perfectly sweet without the eggs and honey. Flax eggs and agave do a great job at subbing in. FYI you definitely don't have to be celebrating Rosh Hashanah to eat this. It's great for every occasion, all Autumn/Winter long.

Method

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius. Line the bottom of an 8 inch springform cake tin with greaseproof baking paper. Arrange the apple slices at the bottom of the tin.

Combine the flax seeds with 5 tbsp water and leave for 10 minutes.

Onto the caramel. Place a small saucepan over medium heat then tip in the caster sugar with 2 tbsp water. Stir to mix thoroughly then bring the sugar to the boil. Turn it down and let it bubble gently until it turns a deep amber. Do not stir at all whilst it bubbles away! Only shake and swirl the pan gently to ensure it evenly cooks. Stirring will cause the sugar to crystallise. Pour the amber caramel immediately over the apples to cover the bottom of the cake tin.

In one bowl, mix together all the wet ingredients for the cake batter (including the flax eggs from earlier) up to the tea. In another bowl combine all the dry ingredients. Once combined, pour the wet mixture into the dry and gently fold it all together until you have a cohesive batter. Be careful not to over mix!

Pour the batter into the cake tin lined with apples and place into the oven for 40-45 minutes. Remove from the oven once a toothpick or skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake. Leave to sit for 20 minutes. Once cool, remove the sides from the tin, place a plate over the top of the cake and flip over. Remove the paper to reveal the beautifully caramalised apples.

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Mia Jacobs

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Mia is a self-taught cook with an obsession with street food and an absolute hatred for parsnips. Before joining Twisted Green, Mia founded an online vegan cooking school in the midst of the global pandemic and began teaching people all over the world how to cook incredible vegan food from the comfort of their own homes. Her mission was, and still is, to help transform kitchens everywhere from a daunting space to one that’s filled with the irresistible aroma of frying garlic, and some very special plant-based grub. She also believes that crisps and hummus are a gift to humanity.