Dates as sweetener: Bake low-sugar cake with apples or other fruit

Berlin (dpa) – Try baking this apple cake – though it works well with other fruit too – the possibilities are practically endless. You can even bake it without using refined sugar. Susann Kreihe, recipe and cookbook author from Germany, has created a recipe for a sunken apple cake, one of a series of her recipes on low-sugar baking. Ingredients for a 22 cm springform cake tin: 150 g butter, plus more for greasing the tin 100 g flaked almonds 1 kg soft apples (e.g. Boskop) Half an organic or unwaxed lemon 1 pinch of salt 100 g date paste (see below) 4 eggs (size M) 250 g spelt flour type 630 1 packet baking powder (16 g) 50 ml milk Method Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, top/bottom heat.Grease the springform pan with butter, remove 3 tablespoons of the flaked almonds and set aside. Sprinkle the rest over the pan. Clean, wash, peel and halve the apples. Remove the cores from the halves and make several lengthwise cuts on the top. Wash the half lemon, pat dry and finely grate the zest from the peel. Squeeze the lemon juice and drizzle over the apples. Then cream the butter and salt in a food processor. Mix in the date paste and lemon zest. Add the eggs one at a time and stir for 1 minute after adding each one. Mix the flour and baking powder and sift over the mixture. Finally, pour in the milk and mix all the ingredients briefly on medium speed. Pour the batter into the springform pan and press the apple halves into the batter about 2 cm deep with the scored sides facing up. Sprinkle the 3 tablespoons of flaked almonds over the apples.Bake the apple cake in the lower third of the preheated oven for 40–45 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to cool and then remove from the tin. Slice and serve once the cake is completely cooled. Make date paste in advance: Soak 400 g pitted dried dates in 200 ml water for 2–3 hours. Place older or harder dates in warm soaking water. Then purée finely, pour into a sterilized screw-top jar, seal tightly and store in the refrigerator. The paste will keep for at least 2 months. Alternatively, you can also use dried apricots. You can also make the cake using other fruits as a garnish, such as raspberries or plums – or, depending on the season, frozen berries or frozen mango taste great too. The following information is not intended for publication dpa/tmn eut xlt cwg tsn xxde arw

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