History Bakers: Dorset Apple Cake (The Great British Bake Off - Week 9 – Patisserie Week)

History Bakers: Mrs K. Leng's Dorset Apple Cake (The Great British Bake Off - Week 9 – Patisserie Week)

Apples To Apples… To Apples

To tie in with the Great British Bake Off, this year staff at the History Centre have decided to gather historic recipes and try them out. With patisserie week now finished, here is a recipe that fits my definition of patisserie and hopefully everyone else’s too. 

Around this time of year, I usually end up with a glut of apples. I take a bag full of apples from my mum’s allotment and her neighbour’s allotment too—with permission. I even ended up with extra apples this year after a trip to meet my brother and his family at Beningbrough Hall, near York. Beningbrough Hall was built in 1716 and it is a Grade I listed building in recognition of its architectural and historical significance. Beningbrough Hall consists of a beautiful country house with extensive grounds, a large outdoor play area, and a small book shop. Within the grounds there is a walled garden with all sorts of produce, including a wide variety of different apple trees, many of which I was unfamiliar with. I was able to rescue a few decent apples from the ground, my nieces and nephew saw what I was up to and helped me find a few more. 

Just when I thought I would be content not to see another apple until 2026, one of our regulars at the History Centre very kindly brought us approximately 5-6 bags full of apples. Thank you, Mr. G.

Dorset Apple Cake

With access to enough apples to keep the doctors away for many months, I set about looking for apple-based recipes in our collections and decided upon this Dorset Apple Cake. Below you will see the recipe along with the ingredients I used. As well as thanking Mr G for providing the apples, we also have to thank Mrs K. Leng for providing the recipe, which was published in the Kingston Wesley Methodist Church Bazaar souvenir recipe book in 1962. 

Image: Mrs K. Leng's recipe (C DCE/848/9)

The eagle-eyed amongst you may notice two things—firstly, this recipe calls for self-raising flour and I used plain flour, and secondly, I have not included milk in this photo of ingredients. I did add a small amount of whole milk at the appropriate time, an amount I can only refer to as a “glug.” In addition, I did not knowingly use cooking apples as the apples I got were a real mixed bag...

Image: Most of the ingredients

I began by washing the apples and then chopping them up finely, which I did for textural reasons. I was careful not to leave a pip in… I think the cake would work just as nice with larger slices of apple. I did not remove any skin from the apples except where there were minor blemishes. Once the apples were chopped, I left them in my mixing bowl and covered them with the sugar whilst I weighed and prepared the rest of the ingredients. To this mixture I eventually added everything else and gave it a good mix. Once I had a “stiff paste,”.

Image: The mixed ingredients prior to cooking

I cooked the mixture for one hour until it looked like the below image, though in hindsight I should have left it in the oven for another 10-15 minutes. I say this because I have used this recipe to create much more apple cake since. Not only did I make a larger batch, but I cooked the cake mixture for longer and preferred the overall look, taste, and texture of that cake. Picture the below, still golden and delicious… but browner and a little crispier on top. I managed to use plain flour again, though.

Image: The finished Apple Cake

As usual, I fed the results of my baking to the people in my house and to people at work, who had the following to say:

People in my house:

Dilara – “Good texture. Would be nice with cream.”

James – “This is really tasty.” 

Sofya – “That’s good, I would prefer it with custard.”

Anonymous at the History Centre:

“Totally [heavenly] – extremely moist and delicious taste of apple. Great Autumn treat.”

“Lovely delicate and fruity apple flavour. Very moist!”

“Apples had more of a solid consistency than expected but very nice.”

One day I will make this cake using self-raising flour and cooking apples to match Mrs. K. Leng’s original recipe more closely. I found this recipe easy to make and very tasty, so I will be using it whenever I end up with lots of apples. I consider it a great discovery and I’m glad it has made a cameo in History Bakers. Another bonus with this recipe is that most of the ingredients are cheap, easy to find, and mostly manufactured here.