Sesame Sour Cream & Apple Cake

This has become my new favourite snack cake. A sour cream sponge made with tahini and toasted sesame seeds, that has a spiced sugar running through the middle and tart apples sitting on top. It’s then finished off with a maple tahini glaze that gets poured over the surface while the cake is still hot, so that it rests into all of its nooks and crannies. It’s moist and fruity but a little savoury from the sesame too.

All I kept thinking while eating my first warm slice was, ‘when can I make this again?’

Ingredients - makes 1 x 8inch square

Sesame Sour Cream Cake:
110g unsalted butter, softened
175g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
40g hulled tahini
2 eggs
200g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
200g sour cream
2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

Spiced Sugar:
4 tbsp demerara sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Apple topping:
1 x red apple
1 x granny smith apple
40g light brown sugar

Maple Tahini Glaze:
15g hulled tahini
120g icing sugar, sieved
40g unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
60ml maple syrup

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 160°C. Grease and line an 8-inch square tin with baking paper.

Chop your apples, keeping the skin on, into roughly 1cm pieces. Toss them in a bowl with the light brown sugar and set aside. In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the spiced sugar and set aside.

In a mixing bowl; cream together the butter, sugar, tahini and vanilla until pale and fluffy. Add each egg, one at a time, beating until combined. Gently mix in half of the flour and all of the salt. Before all of the flour has been mixed in, add in half of the sour cream and mix. Repeat with the remaining flour, sour cream and the toasted sesame seeds. Fold until all the ingredients have been mixed evenly.

Spread half of the cake batter into your prepared tin in an even layer. Sprinkle over half of the spiced sugar before spreading the rest of your cake batter on top. Arrange the chopped apples on top, leaving out any liquid that has settled in the bottom of the bowl. Finish with the rest of the spiced sugar scattered over the apples. Bake for 1 hour or until golden and a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean.

Once the cake has come out of the oven, immediately start the glaze. Whisk all of the ingredients, along with a tbsp of water, for the glaze together until smooth. Check the consistency and add in another 1/2 tbsp of water, if needed, until it is a drizzling consistency. Remember the cake will still be hot so the glaze will thin out when warmed.

Once the cake has been cooling for 10 minutes, pour the maple glaze over the top in an even layer. Use the back of a spoon to spread the glaze to the edges and a bit down the sides. Leave to cool completely before serving.