Teisen Cariad
Teisen Cariad – or love cake – is a fruity blend of an apple cake with lemon icing. There’s also a hint of the more well-known Bakewell tart, with its pastry case.
It’s a recipe which seems to date back hundreds of years – although I can’t actually find a definite “first” recipe. Some people add a heart to the finished cake, with the use of a heart-shaped cutter and strawberry jam – whilst this will, I’m sure, taste good (and add brownie points with the person for whom you’re baking this love cake!)
I can’t imagine that in the days when this cake was created, many branches of Lakeland existed to sell such cookie-cutters, so I’ve left it off.
What you'll need
- 225 grams plain flour
- 185 grams unsalted butter
- 225 grams icing sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 orange
- 500 grams apples
- 2 teaspoons cornflour
- 50 grams granulated sugar
- 100 grams self-raising flour
- 75 grams golden caster sugar
- 75 grams unsalted butter
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 lemon
About this recipe…
- Region: Wales
- Vegan? No
- Vegetarian? Yes
- Prep time: 1 hour and 40 mins
- Cooking time: 35 mins
Method
- Start by making the pastry. Rub the plain flour and 110g of the butter together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs
- Stir in the orange zest, the pinch of salt and 75g of the icing sugar
- Add the egg yolk, and mix. If the mixture is too dry to come together in a ball, add a tablespoon of water. Add more water if required in very small drops – you don’t want the dough to end up sticky.
- Once the pastry comes together into a ball, cover in clingfilm and put in the fridge.
- Peel, core and slice the apples, put them into a saucepan with the sugar and a little water. Stew the apples until they become soft then add the cornflour and stir in well. Leave to simmer for 5 minutes and taste for sweetness
- Using the back of a spoon, push the stewed apples through a sieve to make a puree – if you end up with some smallish pieces of apple, just add them in – they can be a bonus for the person who gets them in their slice!
- Once the pastry has chilled – leave it in the fridge for at least an hour – preheat the oven to 180C (for a fan oven), then roll out the pastry to around 3mm thickness, and drape it over a well-buttered 20cm sandwich tin. Press the pastry gently into the corners all the way around, and leave a 1cm overhang over the sides. This can be trimmed off later after the blind baking, or left in place for a more rustic finish.
- Fill the pastry with baking beads and put in the oven to blind bake for 15 minutes. Then remove the beads and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes before taking out and cooling for 10 minutes
- Cream together the remaining butter and the caster sugar with the grated lemon zest until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the whole eggs (some prefer to leave out the shell, but I'll let you decide) and then, with a metal spoon, fold in the self-raising flour.
- Add the apple puree to the pastry case, levelling with a spoon, then spread the sponge batter carefully over the apples.
- Bake at 180°C for 35 minutes or until the cake is firm and springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
- In a bowl, blend the remaining 150g icing sugar with lemon juice and water in equal parts, to make a thin icing. Add the lemon juice and water a teaspoonful at a time – it’s surprising how quickly the icing becomes too watery.
- Once the cake is no longer hot, but is still warm, spread the icing over the cake.
