Apple Walnut Cake with No Added Sugar – moist, nutty, sweetened with fruit only
An autumn cake that does without sugar, syrup and sweeteners: the sweetness comes from dates, apple purée and ripe apples, the moistness from grated apple, the bite from walnuts and wholemeal spelt. Not a diet cake – a proper cake that simply tastes more honest.
Most recipes for "sugar-free cake" do not keep their promise. Either maple syrup appears in the ingredients, or coconut sugar, or a sweetener with a name you have to look up first. None of that is wrong, but none of it is sugar-free either. Syrup is sugar in liquid form, coconut sugar is sugar with a prettier label, and erythritol may not be sugar but tastes faintly cool and has no place in a cake from a country kitchen.
This cake takes a different route. It is sweet because fruit is sweet. Dates, unsweetened apple purée and a coarsely grated apple bring enough sweetness for a cake that tastes like cake – not like doing without. There is only one thing to accept: it is less sweet than a sponge from the café, and that is exactly why you taste apple, walnut and cinnamon properly for the first time.
What "no sugar" really means here
To be clear: no cake with fruit in it is entirely free of sugar. Dates are two thirds fructose and glucose, apple purée contains the sugar of the apples. The difference to table sugar is not that fruit sweetness were not sugar, but how it arrives: bound into fibre, water and flavour, and in an amount you simply cannot overdo with fruit. A slice of this cake carries about as much sweetness as two small apples – and nothing else that could not also sit in a fruit bowl.
What is in it fits in one sentence: dates, apples, apple purée, eggs, rapeseed oil, wholemeal spelt flour, walnuts, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, cardamom, lemon and salt. All available organic, none of it needs explaining. No syrup, no sweetener, no sugar substitute, no "no added sugar" small print.
The ingredients – and why each one earns its place
Dates. They are the main sweetness and part of the binding at the same time. 150 g of pitted, soft dates – Medjool are the creamiest, Deglet Nour work just as well but need a little longer in hot water – become a purée that sweetens the cake, gives it a caramel tint and keeps the crumb moist. Soak firm dates in hot water for ten minutes, then blend with the soaking water.
Apple purée. Unsweetened; in organic shops it often sits on the shelf as plain apple pulp. It brings sweetness, moisture and replaces part of the fat a classic sponge would need. If you cook your own, leave the sugar out – with sweet apples like Elstar or Gala nothing is lost.
Apples. Two jobs for two apples: one is coarsely grated and goes into the batter for moistness. The second goes on top in thin slices, where it softens in the oven and takes a little colour at the edges. Best a tart variety like Bramley, Boskoop or Elstar – the acidity keeps the fruit sweetness in balance.
Walnuts. Twice over: 80 g ground in the batter, where they replace part of the flour and make the cake nutty and tender, and 60 g coarsely chopped for bite. Fresh walnuts matter more here than in almost any other recipe; old ones turn bitter and show through, because there is no sugar to cover them.
Wholemeal spelt flour. 200 g. Wholemeal suits a cake that is allowed to be rustic anyway and gives a gently nutty depth that ties in with walnut and dates. For a lighter crumb, mix half and half with white spelt flour.
Rapeseed oil. 100 ml of cold-pressed, mild organic rapeseed oil. Oil makes the cake moister and keeps it longer than butter, and stays in the background. Butter works too – 100 g, melted and cooled – and gives a warmer, more classic note.
Spices and acid. One and a half teaspoons of cinnamon, a quarter teaspoon of cardamom, the seeds of half a vanilla pod or a teaspoon of ground vanilla, a good pinch of salt. And a tablespoon of lemon juice, which lifts the apple flavour and, together with the bicarbonate, makes sure the cake rises despite the heavy batter.
The recipe
Apple Walnut Cake sweetened with dates
20 minutes of work · 50 minutes in the oven · 22 cm springform tin
Ingredients for a 22 cm springform tin (about 12 slices)
- 150 g soft organic dates, pitted (Medjool or Deglet Nour)
- 120 ml hot water
- 150 g unsweetened apple purée
- 3 medium eggs
- 100 ml mild, cold-pressed organic rapeseed oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 200 g wholemeal spelt flour
- 80 g ground walnuts
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1½ tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground cardamom, 1 tsp ground vanilla
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tart apples (e.g. Bramley, Boskoop or Elstar)
- 60 g walnut halves, coarsely chopped
- a little oil and flour for the tin
- Soak the dates. Roughly chop the dates, pour over the hot water and leave for ten minutes. Preheat the oven to 180 °C (conventional), oil the tin and dust lightly with flour.
- Blend the date purée. Blend the dates with their soaking water and the apple purée until very smooth, with a stick blender or in a blender. You want a smooth, dark cream – tiny flecks of date are fine, large pieces are not.
- Wet ingredients. Add eggs, oil and lemon juice to the date purée and whisk vigorously until the mixture is evenly glossy.
- Dry ingredients. In a second bowl mix flour, ground walnuts, baking powder, bicarbonate, cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla and salt. Add to the wet mixture and stir only until no flour is visible – the less you stir, the lighter the cake.
- Prepare the apples. Peel one apple, grate it coarsely and fold it into the batter with its juice. Quarter the second apple unpeeled, core it and cut into thin slices.
- Fill and top. Spoon the batter into the tin and level it. Arrange the apple slices in a circle on top, pressing them in lightly. Scatter the chopped walnuts over.
- Bake. Bake for 45–50 minutes until the top is firm and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. If the edge darkens too quickly, cover loosely with baking paper after 35 minutes.
- Rest. Cool in the tin for ten minutes, then release the ring. Best cut lukewarm or fully cooled – warm, the crumb is still too soft.
Tip: Baking the cake the day before is rewarded. Overnight the date and apple sweetness settles through, the crumb becomes denser and moister, and cinnamon and walnut come forward. On the second day it is better than on the first.
Two variations on the same idea
Pear and oat tray bake. The breakfast cake of the three: 150 g rolled oats instead of the ground walnuts, 150 g yoghurt instead of apple purée, the dates stay. Halve and core two ripe pears and set them cut side up on the batter, bake on a small tray (about 20 × 30 cm) at 180 °C for around 35 minutes. Flatter, softer, and allowed on the table in the morning.
Pumpkin spice cake with maple syrup. For anyone who finds the apple cake not quite sweet enough – and the only one that honestly reads "no refined sugar" rather than "no sugar": 200 g soft-baked, puréed Hokkaido pumpkin instead of apple purée and grated apple, 3 tbsp maple syrup in addition to the dates, ginger and nutmeg alongside the cinnamon. Deeper orange, moister, and happiest in a loaf tin, 55 minutes at 175 °C.
What to serve it with
Best on its own, with a cup of black tea or coffee, because nothing is missing that a whipped cream topping would have to cover. If you want something alongside: a spoonful of unsweetened Greek yoghurt or skyr rounds off the nuttiness. At a weekend breakfast it holds its own next to bread and cheese surprisingly well, because it is not sticky-sweet. And in a lunchbox it survives the morning better than any muffin – the crumb does not dry out, because apple and dates keep it moist.
Keeping
Covered at room temperature the cake keeps for three days and tends to improve rather than fade. In the fridge four to five days, but take it out half an hour before eating, because the crumb is firmer when cold. It freezes well – in slices, with baking paper between them, for up to three months. Thaw at room temperature or warm a slice briefly in the oven; then it tastes almost fresh.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the cake really sugar-free?
- Free of added sugar, syrup and sweeteners: yes. Free of any sugar: no, no cake with fruit in it is. Dates, apple purée and apples bring natural fruit sugar – bound into fibre and flavour, in an amount roughly equal to two small apples per slice.
- Can I replace the dates with something else?
- With dried figs or prunes, soaked and blended in the same quantity. Figs make the cake slightly grainier, prunes darker and moister. Raisins work less well because they do not blend into a smooth cream.
- Can the cake be made vegan?
- Yes. Replace the three eggs with 3 tbsp ground flaxseed stirred into 9 tbsp water and left to swell for ten minutes, and add 50 ml plant milk to the batter. The cake turns out a little denser but stays moist. Extend the baking time by five minutes.
- Why is my cake not cooked through in the middle?
- Batters with apple and date purée are heavy and moist and need the full time. If the skewer still comes out damp after 50 minutes, cover the top and keep baking in five-minute steps. A 22 cm tin rather than 26 cm matters – in the larger tin the cake becomes too flat and dries out.
- Can I use wheat flour instead of spelt?
- Yes, wholemeal wheat one to one, plain white flour as well. With white flour the crumb is finer and the cake a little less nutty; then it is worth adding ten grams more ground walnuts.
- Is the cake suitable for children?
- Very much so – it is just sweet enough for children to enjoy without the sugar crash afterwards. For small children chop the walnuts finer or grind them all into the batter. The cardamom can be left out if it is too unfamiliar.
Read on
This cake is the sweet counterpart to the roasted pepper chili hummus that opened the "nothing but natural ingredients" series. For an afternoon with guests it sits well next to the autumn party food. The German edition of this recipe is at Apfel-Walnuss-Kuchen ohne Zucker.
