Mary Berry’s mini apple and almond cakes are individual Bramley apple sponges baked in 7cm cooking rings at 180°C (160°C fan) for 25 to 30 minutes, topped with flaked almonds. The recipe makes 6 cakes and they’re best served warm with crème fraîche.
Berry’s headnote in Absolute Favourites (2015) calls this a version of “a recipe for apple cake I created many years ago,” meaning her Devonshire Apple Cake. She’s scaled the same batter down into individual portions sized for dinner parties or picnics.
Berry’s accuracy warning is the detail that catches people out. She says to “weigh all the ingredients accurately or a dip may appear in the top” because even a few extra grams of apple throws off a cake this small. There’s only 60g of Bramley split across six rings.
Mary Berry Mini Apple and Almond Cakes
Course: DessertCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy6
servings10
minutes25
minutes245
kcal40
minutesBerry’s melted butter base means no creaming and no mixer. The whole batter comes together in one bowl, so you can have these in the oven inside ten minutes if the apples are ready.
Ingredients
75g (3 oz) butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
100g (4 oz) caster sugar
100g (4 oz) self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
1 egg, beaten
½ tsp almond extract
60g (2½ oz) Bramley apples, peeled and thinly sliced
15g (½ oz) flaked almonds
Directions
- Prepare the rings: You will need six 7cm (2¾ in) cooking rings (or see FAQ below). Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas 4 (350°F). Grease the inside of the cooking rings with a little butter and dust with flour, then arrange the cooking rings on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
- Mix the batter: Pour the melted butter into a large bowl, add the sugar, flour, egg and almond extract and mix together until combined.
- Layer the cakes: Spoon a little of the mixture into the base of each ring, arrange some of the apple slices over the batter and spoon the remaining cake mixture on top, levelling with the back of a teaspoon.
- Bake: Scatter each cake with flaked almonds and bake in the oven for 25–30 minutes or until well risen and golden brown. Set aside to cool for about 10 minutes before removing the rings. Serve warm with a dollop of crème fraîche.
Notes
- Calories: 75g butter (538) + 100g sugar (387) + 100g SR flour (345) + 1 egg (78) + almond extract (5) + 60g apples (28) + 15g flaked almonds (86) = 1,467 ÷ 6 = 245 kcal per cake
FAQs
Do I need special cooking rings to make these?
Berry gives a brilliant workaround in her tip. She says to use empty 200g baked bean tins with both the top and bottom removed, greased with butter and dusted with flour the same way you’d prep the proper rings. The diameter is close to 7cm, so the cakes turn out almost identical.
She also mentions straight-sided bun tins with a loose bottom as another option, though I find the rings give a neater finish because you can lift each cake out cleanly. If you’re using baked bean tins, be careful with the sharp edges when you’re greasing them.
Why doesn’t this recipe use baking powder like the Devonshire apple cake?
Berry’s full-size Devonshire Apple Cake in Baking Bible (2010) has 450g of apple pressing down on the batter, so she adds 2 level teaspoons of baking powder on top of the self-raising flour to keep it risen. These mini cakes carry roughly 10g of apple each, which isn’t enough weight to cause the same problem.
The shorter bake time matters too. A traybake sits in the oven for 1¼ hours and the batter needs to hold its structure the whole time, while these are done in under half an hour. Self-raising flour on its own provides plenty of lift for something this small and quick.
Can I serve these cold or do they have to be warm?
Berry says both work. Her headnote positions them as a “warm dinner party dessert” or a “cold picnic treat,” so she clearly tested them at both temperatures. I’ve done the same, and warm is noticeably better because the apple stays soft and the sponge has a slight fudginess to it.
Cold, they firm up and become more cake-like, which is fine for a lunchbox or a walk but not as impressive on a plate. If you’ve made them ahead, 8 to 10 minutes in a low oven brings them back close to freshly baked.
How far ahead can I make mini apple and almond cakes?
Berry includes specific storage notes for these. They keep for 3 days in an airtight tin, and the cooked cakes freeze well. She doesn’t say how long they last in the freezer here, though her Apple, Almond and Honey Cake in Family Sunday Lunches (2016) uses a similar batter and she gives that 3 months frozen.
She also writes in her Ultimate Cake Book that small cakes freeze particularly well because you can thaw just what you need. I freeze them individually wrapped in cling film, then stack them in a freezer bag so I can pull one or two out at a time.
Why does Berry name Bramley apples specifically here?
In her Devonshire Apple Cake she just writes “cooking apples” without naming a variety, but here she calls for Bramleys by name. It matters more in a cake this size because you need apples that collapse completely during the shorter 25 to 30 minute bake. Bramleys break down faster than any other cooking apple, which is exactly what a 7cm cake needs.
There’s no room for firm apple chunks in something this small. If a piece of apple holds its shape, it’ll sit in the middle of the cake like a lump rather than melting through the sponge. Cox’s or Granny Smiths won’t do the same job here.
Can I double the recipe to make 12?
The batter scales up without any problems, just double everything. The tricky part is finding 12 cooking rings, which is where Berry’s baked bean tin trick from the recipe tip saves you. Most kitchens have a few empty tins lying around, and you can prep a dozen in a couple of minutes.
If you’re baking in two batches because your baking sheet won’t fit all 12, keep the second lot of batter covered at room temperature while the first batch is in the oven. Don’t fill the rings until the sheet is ready to go in, since the batter starts to set against the warm greased metal and you want an even rise.
