Christmas Apple Cake

Ingredients

• 350 g whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• Salt
• 90 g honey
• 2 egg yolks
• 240 g cold butter
• 50 g hazelnuts
• 50 g walnuts
• 50 g dried apricots
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 0.5 tsp ground cloves
• 0.25 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp untreated grated orange zest
• 6 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
• 5 tbsp liquid honey
• 800 g tart apples
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 egg yolk
• powdered sugar (for dusting)

Instructions

1. 1.

   Mix the flour with baking powder and a pinch of salt, heap on a work surface, create a well and add honey and egg yolks. Gather cold butter in pieces around the edge and cut dough ingredients into crumbs with a large knife until crumbly. Quickly knead into a smooth dough with both hands. Shape into a ball and chill for 30 minutes.

2. 2.

   Meanwhile finely chop nuts and apricots and mix with spices, grated orange zest, orange juice, and honey.

3. 3.

   After chilling, grease and flour a springform pan, roll two-thirds of the dough on a lightly floured surface into a 26 cm diameter circle and lay it on the pan bottom. Form the remaining third into a mound, flatten, and place along the rim; cut star shapes from some dough and set aside to chill. Press the rim firmly and attach to the base. Shape a strip of foil into a ridge and insert into the pan to stabilize. Chill again for 30 minutes.

4. 4.

   Preheat oven to 180°C (356°F) fan‑fry.

5. 5.

   Wash apples, quarter, core, cut into wedges, drizzle with lemon juice immediately.

6. 6.

   Prick the chilled dough base with a fork several times, remove foil.

7. 7.

   Spread half of the nut mixture over the base, top with apple wedges, sprinkle remaining nuts and star shapes on top. Brush with egg yolk and bake in preheated oven 35‑45 minutes until rim is crisp and apples are tender.

8. 8.

   Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, lift rim off, cool on a rack. When cooled, decorate with red ribbon and dust with powdered sugar before serving.