While having dinner last night, we started an interesting conversation, one that we often have at MoaAlm, it involved cake! We do seem to be slightly obsessed with cakes and with our current isolation and lockdown in the Austrian Alps, it has once again been part of our daily routine. Cake is a topic that never fails to put a smile on our faces and baking is perfect for all those days spent indoors.
The MoaAlm Mountain Retreat attracts many adventurous souls. Some come for skiing, some for yoga break, some for stargazing and some to please the taste buds and have a nutritious and delicious holiday week. We offer 3 course plant based dinners in the evening but the most popular time of the day, always is the cake o’clock.
After long adventures outside, our guests come back with that child like enthusiasm wondering what sort of treat will be waiting for them. One day it may be brownies and the next day our really popular Baked Cheesecake.
Our afternoon tea cakes vary, they are often a surprise. We constantly get inspired with different recipes blogs and try to break the myth that plant based cakes are not as good as the ones with eggs or dairy in them.
There is one cake that we would like to introduce as the 'crowd pleaser' Its our famous apple crumble cake. This cake can sometimes even cause problems amongst the team at MoaAlm, self control has to kick in so we don't eat all the cake meant for our guests who have been out in the mountains enjoying a snowshoe hike.
It is rich in flavours, moist inside and crispy on the top, what else do you need in your cake life?
It’s funny how cakes become part of our MoaAlm Mountain Retreat routine. Guests often tell us that they will struggle going back to their normal life routines where cake o’clock doesn’t exist. And it’s true, how many of us do actually treat ourselves with home-made cakes.
When long winters are becoming too hard to bear, why not to try to make delicious Apple Crumble Cake. It doesn’t even need to be apples, you can always experiment with pears, plums, rhubarb or any other seasonal fruit. Go on, treat yourself and your loved ones around. You won’t be disappointed.
6 apples
½ cup olive oil
½ cup caster sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 cup non-dairy milk,
1 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 cup ground almonds
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
Pinch of cinnamon and salt
For the crumble topping:
¾ cup flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate soda
½ cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegan butter
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
¼ cup walnuts, chopped
In one bowl mix all the wet ingredients together with cubed apples (if you have non waxed apples, keep the skin on).
In another one mix dry ingredients and then combine with wet ones.
For the crumble topping, use your fingertips to create crumbs and then add the walnuts.
Pour the apple dough mix first, then crumble topping on top.
Bake for 45-55 minutes at 180 C until the skewer comes out clean.
Hopefully this cake will also bring as much happiness to you as it does to us in Austria at the moment. Our baking frenzy is all worthwhile when we can share our recipes.