apple cake with a ginger glaze

apple cake with a ginger glaze

• 9 Nov 2026

When I first looked through Helen Goh's book 'Baking and the Meaning of Life' I must have bookmarked about half the book and ever since I've been slowly working my way through my selections. I recently purchased 2 new bundt pans and whilst going through the book I landed on the apple cake with ginger glaze recipe. In the book they're baked as mini bundts but I made a larger bundt cake as I was just too lazy to grease all the holes in my mini bundt tin tray.

The apples are macerated before being cooked so this needs to be factored in when preparing the cake. I prepared the apples the day before I made the cake then stored them in the fridge. As this is an oil based cake, it takes no time to put together and thoroughly greasing and flouring the bundt tin was the most time consuming part of the exercise.

Here's the recipe for you for you from 'Baking and the Meaning of Life' by Helen Goh which makes a small (4 cup) bundt cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced, you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C. 

Apple Cake with a Ginger Glaze

Apples
2 large apples, preferably 1 Granny Smith and 1 Pink Lady
35g caster sugar
20ml apple cider vinegar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
pinch fine sea salt
15g unsalted butter, plus extra softened for brushing

Cake
150g plain flour plus extra for dusting
scant ¾ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
scant ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch fine sea salt
100g caster sugar
Zest of 1 large lemon (reserve juice for the glaze)
75g egg (1 egg and 1 yolk)
65g sour cream
100ml/80g light olive oil or sunflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze
60g icing sugar, sifted
¼ tsp ground ginger
1 tbs lemon juice

To decorate (optional)
3 pieces of crystallised ginger finely diced 

 
Apples
Peel and core the apples then cut into roughly 1-cm dice - you should have about 335g in total. Place the apples, sugar, cider vinegar, cinnamon and salt into a medium bowl and toss to combine. Allow to macerate at room temperature for about 20 minutes (and up to an hour), until the apples have softened a little and released their juices.

Meanwhile, grease a 4-cup bundt tin with the extra softened butter, the sprinkle with some flour and rotate to cover the entire tin. Turn the tin upside down over the sink or a bin then tap firmly to remove the excess flour, then set aside in a cool place.

When the apples have had their macerating time, and have exuded their juices, place a large, wide (preferably non-stick) saute pan over medium-high heat and add the butter and the apples, along with juices. Cook tossing regularly for about 8 minutes, until the juices evaporate and the apples are beginning to soften and take on some colour. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Cake

Preheat the oven to 165°C fan-forced/180°C, conventional.

Sift the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a medium mixing bowl and set aside.

Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl and rub together firmly between you thumb and fingers for a few minutes to release the fragrant oils. Add the eggs and whisk together until smooth, then add the sour cream, oil and vanilla. Whisk until thoroughly combined and then add the cooled apple mix and stir gently to combine. Add the sifted dry ingredients and fold everything together with a large flexible spatula until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared bundt tin and then place on the centre rack. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cake sit on a wire rack for 10 minutes to cool slightly before turning out onto a tray lined with baking paper.

While the cake is cooling, combine all the glaze ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until smooth. The glaze should be thick but still able to run off a spoon.

When the cake is just barely warm, drizzle the glaze over the top – it should spread itself out evenly, then begin to set into a thin, crusty icing after a few minutes. Allow the icing to set a little before topping with the diced ginger, if using. 

This lovely cake keeps very well. I stored my cake slices in an airtight container in the fridge and 4 days later the cake was still tender and delicious.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian