Spelt Apple, Hazelnut and White Chocolate Tray Cake

Autumn delivers some of the most breathtaking weather Perth has to offer. The relentless heat slowly sinks away and the strong sea breezes drop. Quite often the sun is still shining down on the Indian Ocean, though if you step into the shade it's starting to get chilly. I love the moderate days and the fresh delivery of produce that comes with the change of season. Apples, the really good ones, start arriving from Manjimup and further south and you remember what they are supposed to taste like after eating fruit that has been stored for too long over the summer months. Apart from filling the fruit bowl for the kids to attack I'm mad for a simple apple cake. Mum used to make a delicious cake when I was growing up so I am probably holding on to those distant and romantic memories from when life was easy going. I have taken the memory of Mums' simple recipe and made some tweaks, as I do, changing the flour to spelt (because yum) the sugar to brown (because yum) and finishing it off with hazelnuts for crunch and white chocolate for decadence. This is a big tray cake designed to feed the whole family and the family next door. I hope you enjoy it and it becomes a modern memory for your household.

Ingredients

1 cup EVOO (olive oil)

1 ½ cup brown sugar

3 large eggs

3 cup wholemeal spelt flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, quartered and sliced 2mm

⅔ cup hazelnuts, skin off, crushed so there are varying sizes

100g white chocolate, melted

Method

Preheat oven to 180C fan forced

Whisk oil and sugar together until light and fluffy in a stand mixer. (5 minutes)

Add eggs and mix on a medium speed until combined (1 minute)

Combine all dry ingredients and combine.

Fold dry ingredients through the oil mix.

Add apple and stir to distribute the apple well.

Place your cake mix into a large rectangle cake tin (approximately 23cm x 30cm) which has been lined with baking paper or brushed well with oil.

Scatter your hazelnuts across the cake evenly.

Bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer placed in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool on a rack then drizzle with white chocolate.