I have this beautiful lemon thyme plant on my windowsill and last weekend I had some apples that needed using and as it happened together they have made it into this simple sponge cake. I have used my almond and olive oil cake recipe for the base, added some thyme, topped it with some sliced apples and voila a new recipe was born!
This cake is made with light spelt flour, ground almonds and it’s lightly sweetened with maple syrup. The lemon thyme gives it a little lemony flavour that comes through nicely. You could choose to sweeten this cake with some unrefined sugar instead of maple syrup, just add extra milk if you do so. I have also dusted this cake with some coconut flour instead of sugar and decorated with some extra sprigs of lemon thyme. It’s not a large cake, just perfect if you fancy a little not too sweet treat with your afternoon tea.
- 2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
- little squeeze of lemon
- 2 sprigs of lemon thyme
- 140g light spelt flour (1 cup)
- 100g ground almonds (1 cup)
- 1tsp baking powder
- ½tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1tsp cinnamon
- pinch of sea salt
- 2 eggs
- 80ml maple syrup (1/3 cup)
- 80ml olive oil (1/3 cup)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp almond milk
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan)
- Grease and line 9" round spring form cake baking tin.
- Peel, core and slice the apples, squeeze little lemon juice over them and set aside.
- In a bowl whisk together spelt flour, ground almonds, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, salt and thyme and set aside.
- In a different bowl whisk together eggs, maple syrup, olive oil and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture together with 2 tbsp of milk and mix until just combined.
- Spoon the mixture into your prepared tin and level the surface.
- Arrange the sliced apples on top and bake for about 40 min or until a cocktail stick comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool down.
- Place on a cake stand and enjoy!
Teresa says
May 1, 2015 at 5:25 pmThis looks so beautiful Hana! Perfect for some relaxed, yummy bank holiday baking… Tx
Hana says
May 2, 2015 at 6:13 pmThank you! If you need some lemon thyme, you know where I am! xx
Barbara Morgan says
May 6, 2018 at 11:54 amNo. Where are you? Is there a substitute for lemon thime? Thank you for reply
Hana says
May 6, 2018 at 1:08 pmHi Barbara, any fresh thyme plant is fine or you can just leave it out if you don’t have any on hand.
Star says
May 11, 2017 at 1:35 pmhi its ground almond the same as almond flour? thank you.
Hana says
May 12, 2017 at 8:50 pmHi Star, I think almond flour is more fine, but you can happily use either. It will be OK in the cake.
Nicole says
March 4, 2018 at 1:13 amI love my lemon thyme plant, so excited to use it in a cake now! Thanks for the recipe :)
Hana says
March 10, 2018 at 7:04 pmYou’re so welcome Nicole! Lemon thyme is such lovely plant, hope you enjoy it in a cake :)