This new bakery is making cute little cakes that look like Granny Smith apples

It’s more than a name. The invention of the Granny Smith apple is a local legend in Sydney. The distinctive green variety came into being as an act of chance, when Maria Ann ‘Granny’ Smith, a humble orchardist from Ryde, discarded over-ripe French crab apples near her creek. From these, seedlings sprouted that produced a green apple like no other – or so one version of the story goes.

Every October, Ryde celebrates all things green apple and the luck of little acts (like the chance invention of one of the most recognisable mutations of apples in the world) with the Granny Smith Festival. In honour of Smith’s legend, one of Sydney’s newest bakeries, Banksia Bakehouse, has invented a cake that perfectly resembles a Granny Smith apple (and is made from them, too).

The ‘Apple Delight’ is actually more of a cake/pie hybrid. How do you like them apples? (Personally, we’re very into it.) This carefully crafted and gluten-free concoction is encased in a crisp white chocolate shell with glossy green ‘skin’, with a moist cinnamon-spiced apple compote at the centre, which is surrounded by a delicate vanilla cream. The whole creation sits atop a crisp sable cookie (a French shortbread) base, made from gluten-free and almond flour). 

“Our team of cake and pastry specialists were thrilled to create a special cake that pays homage to an Australian pioneering woman,” Banksia Bakehouse’s co-owner, Chris Sheldrick, said in a statement. “We love apple pie and wanted to add it to our menu, but as it’s quintessentially American, we wanted something that was uniquely Australian, and to move it away from being a pie. Hence the Apple Delight was born! It’s a beautiful patisserie item and still has elements of a traditional apple pie but with an Australian twist.

Banksia Bakehouse opened in August, you’ll find it fountain-side in Grosvenor Place on George Street. Get down there and peek through the oversized bakehouse window for front-row viewing of the team as they make Apple Delights and other pastry creations. 

The Apple Delight costs $10 and is made each weekday, year round at the bakehouse, which is open from Monday to Friday between 7.30am and 4.30pm. 

Find the best new things to see, do and eat in Sydney in October.