In the last few months, I have become a bit of a flour hoarder. I think that some of the reasoning certainly has to do with the still fresh memories of empty flour shelves in the supermarkets, but also I am sort of a sucker for a new addition to our bread. I love a loaf of sourdough with 200g of something thrown in to replace some of the white or brown flour of which my children are so fond.
Nothing in their minds, however, can replace the temptation of that all white bread they love and I have a range of half used bags of random flour lining my cupboard. Rye, buckwheat, kamut, brown spelt, white spelt, you name it, its there with the top of its bag rolled over and neglected.
Einkorn is one that I added to the flour graveyard after seeing baker after baker sing the praises of it. Einkorn is an ancient form a wheat - considered the first and most primitive form of wheat that can grow in poorer conditions than its more modern counterpart. Its taste is similar to spelt - sort of nutty and earthy and many bakers prefer to use einkorn as a wholesale alternative to more modern red wheats. While Kevin and I like the taste, the kids were less impressed that their precious sourdough was adulterated by anything other than their beloved white or brown flour.
In an effort to use up the flour, I ended up with this apple cake. Here the earthiness of the Einkorn flour blends perfectly with the tartness of the apples and the depth of the cinnamon. The crumble topping is what makes this a coffee cake, though you could absolutely leave it off. In the UK, you can buy wholegrain and white einkorn flour and this cake works with either.
Apple and Einkorn Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- Cake:260g chopped apple - don't bother peeling and cooking or eating work fine here 200g brown sugar60g butter, melted1 egg1 tsp. baking soda1 tsp. cinnamon1/4 tsp. salt1 tsp. vanilla120g einkorn flour (wholemeal or white)
- Crumble Topping:30g butter, melted100g einkorn flour50g golden caster sugar
- Icing:100g powdered/icing sugar25g water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180c. Grease and line an 8in springform pan.
- Chop the apples into roughly 1cm cubes
- Place in a bowl with the sugar and let rest for 15 minutes
- Add the remaining cake ingredients and mix well.
- Pour in baking pan.
- Mix crumble ingredients until they form clumps roughly the size of peas.
- Spread evenly over the top of the cake.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and the cake is baked through.
- Once the cake is cooled, mix the icing ingredients together and drizzle over the top of the cake.