The beginning of winter still feels rather autumnal, and apples and walnuts continue to feature heavily at the markets – although they will soon give way to citrus and kiwi and other more wintry fruits. Even though this cake has equal proportions of almonds and walnuts, the latter is more pronounced in flavour, and so it is an apple and walnut cake. Buy locally grown walnuts, if possible, or at least local-ish. Imported walnuts are usually very old and are often extremely bitter and not pleasant at all. I usually bake with granny smiths, but if there is another apple variety you prefer, go for it.
