If you’ve been following my blog you’d know thatearlier this week I celebrated Norway’s Constitution Day – hip hip hurrah!

The Norwegian Kitchen is a collection of traditional and new recipes from each region of Norway, presented by the Association of Norwegian Chefs.

Choosing just one cake recipe was hard but I decided to recreate a popular cake from my own childhood – apple cake.

When I made the cake I thought three apples was a bit excessive and only used two. Once baked I regretted my decision – whilst still di-licious, the extra apple in the centre of the cake as well as on top would have provided a greater apple flavour and a moister cake. Definitely use two green cooking apples – in Australia we would use Granny Smiths.

I made the cake the day of our afternoon tea so it was still slightly warm when served. The leftover cake was popped into an airtight container and consumed over a week. Kept in the fridge it stays quite fresh. To bring out the aromas, gently reheat a cake slice in the microwave on 50% power.

My mum tells me that her recipe has cream in it. I’m still trying to pin her down to translate her recipes but she’s promised to do it when she gets back from her Norwegian holiday.

The Norwegian Kitchen
Ingredients

200g (7 oz, scant 1 cup) unsalted butter
2 ¼ dl (1 cup) sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp baking powder
3dl (1 ¼ cup) flour
3 apples
2 tsp sugar
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
Pearl (coffee) sugar

Method

Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F).

Grease and line a 24cm (10inch) spring-form cake tin.

Beat butter and sugar together til light and fluffy and sugar has dissolved (this will take a few minutes).

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Combine baking powder and flour and sift over the batter. Fold through batter until just mixed through.

Pour half the batter into lined pan.

Peel and core two of the apples and slice thinly and arrange over the batter. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

Cover apples with remaining batter.

Peel, core and slice the last apple. Arrange the slices over the batter in a decorative pattern. Sprinkle top of apples with pearl sugar.

Bake on the lowest oven shelf for approximately 50 minutes.

Serve the cake still warm with thick pouring cream and Norway’s national drink – coffee.