Moroccan Green Apple and Lime Cake
When I was a kid I used to watch my grandma peel apples without breaking the peel and I used to think that was the most amazing thing ever…so now every time I peel an apple I have to make sure I do it all in one go and don’t break the peel

This recipe is for the Cookbook Challenge week 40, theme is Apple. It’s from my Moroccan cookbook, Moorish – Moroccan Green Apple and Lime Cake.
Warning: This is not a recipe you want to do on a day you have no patience, it is not a cake you whip up and throw in the oven, more of a creative artistic piece that needs a lot of love and attention!
Ingredients
5 Granny Smith apples
90g unsalted butter, melted
150g caster sugar
zest of 2 limes
1 tablespoon rosewater
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Peel and core the apples, quarter and slice them as thinly as you can. I used a peeler.
Cut a circle of baking paper to fit the base of a well buttered 21cm cake tin and brush with melted butter. Cover the bottom of the tin with a layer of finely sliced apple. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with sugar and a little lime zest. Then continue to layer, butter and sprinkle with sugar and zest until the tin is full. Cover with foil.
Half fill a baking tray with hot water and carefully place the cake tin in the centre. Place in the centre of the oven and cook for 1 hour. At this point you should check the water level, which may have dropped. If so, carefully pour in extra water from a boiled kettle, to bring the level back up to half-full. Cook for a further hour, then remove from the oven and sprinkle the surface of the cake with rosewater.
Cut out another circle of baking paper and lay over the top of the cake. Find a flat plate that just fits inside the cake tin, and weigh it down with a couple of heavy tins or weights. You will probably find some juice and melted butter spills over – don’t worry about this. Leave to cool completely before refrigerating for a minimum of 12 hours, and up to 24 hours.
When you are ready to serve the cake, remove the weights, plate and greaseproof paper. Carefully loosen around the sides with a sharp knife and invert onto a plate. Serve with lightly whipped cream and a dusting of cinnamon and icing sugar.









Don’t they say that if you break the peel, you’ll never get married? Or is that something else?
Maybe that’s why my grandma taught me young