Moist and crumbly apple cinnamon buttermilk cake

Apple. Cinnamon. The two words that come together to create magic in many different forms....be it apple pie, apple crumble, apple crisp, apple-cinnamon muffin....or apple-cinnamon cake. Nothing quite like a warm apple-cinnamon dessert on a cold winter night! So when I came across this Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Cake on Pinch My Salt, I had to try it asap. And was it good! This is definitely going to get made again...and again...and again. You get the picture? It's one of those oh-so-perfect cakes....moist and tender on the inside, crusty and crumbly on the outside, and totally delicious! You can't not like it!  

I had a feeling that this cake would be a winner, so I doubled the recipe, and hence used a 10-inch cake pan. I'm glad I did that...cos the cake didn't last a day! Given my love for all things cinnamony, I doubled the cinnamon as well. But I felt that the sugar was too much, so I reduced that a bit, and used brown sugar instead of regular sugar.

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsps cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbsps unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsps vanilla essence

2 eggs (I used 2 tsbps egg replacer powder dissolved in 4 tbsps water)
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups peeled and chopped apples (cubes)
extra brown sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another big bowl, beat the butter and sugar for about 2-3 minutes, until fluffy. Add the vanilla and egg and beat another few minutes.

Whisk in 1/3 of the flour mixture. Then add half the buttermilk and continue beating until incorporated. Beat in another 1/3 of the flour mixture and the remaining buttermilk. Finally beat in the remaining flour mixture and whisk into a smooth batter.

Pour the batter into a greased cake pan. Spread the apple pieces evenly on top of the batter and then sprinkle lightly with sugar and cinnamon powder.

Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes until golden-brown and a toothpick inserted in comes out clean. (The original recipe calls for 30 minutes of baking but mine took longer as it was double in quantity)

Let cool for 10 mins before serving. Serve as is, or if you want to go all the way...with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice-cream.