Its mid-September where there seems to be ripe apples everywhere. Not just on my little apple tree in the studio garden, but as I pootle along the lanes across Exmoor, people are generously leaving windfalls and surplus harvests in buckets and baskets at their front doors and drives, to help yourselves. For me I see free ingredients for, jams, jellies or perhaps a desert or two.
If you have been to my studio for a workshop, you will know there is always a freshly baked cake to go with afternoon tea. My favourite for this “apple-fest” time of year is this recipe for an easy to make fruit and apple cake, it is moist, fruity with a combination of apples and sultanas, with a spicy touch of cinnamon. This combination of fruit and flavour works well together as it warms the heart with a nice cup of afternoon tea, watching the day light draw in slightly earlier each day as we head to towards the winter.
Quick Cinnamon Apple Cake
Ingredients:
2x apples (either eating or cooking. Cut one chopped and one sliced)
4oz of sultanas
2x medium sized eggs
4oz of soft margarine
4oz cater sugar
5 1/2 oz self-raising flour
1 level teaspoon of baking powder
2 level teaspoons of ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
For a sugary crust you will need 1oz of granulated white or brown sugar
Greased and lined loose bottom round cake tin
Cooking temperature 180 c or gas mark 4
Method:
Set the oven to pre heat.
In one bowl add soft margarine, caster sugar and eggs, beat together until well mixed until light texture.
In a separate bowl add, flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and sultanas. Quarter, core and chop into small chunks one of the apples and add to the flour mixture. Coat all ingredients with the flour mixture. Now add this to the batter mixture and mix well until all the ingredients are coated.
Spoon and level into a greased and lined cake tin.
Now take the 2nd apple and quarter and core. Cut thin long slices of apple and lay in a rosette formation on top of the cake mixture. Next sprinkle generously with sugar and place the cake to bake on the middle shelf of the oven.
Leave to bake for 40 minutes. Then test with a skewer to see the centre is cooked. If the cake still seems a little wet in the centre place back in the oven for another 5 minutes and then test again.
Once cooked, place the tin on a cooling rack. When just warm you can turn out the cake and leave to cool further.
Can be eaten warm or cold. Nice served with a little crème fresh or thick Greek Yogurt.
Note on Storage: You can keep in an air tight tin, for a few days (if it lasts that long) but be aware in a warm environment of the kitchen it can go mouldy after a few days, as this is quite a moist cake. To keep longer just keep in the fridge and then gently warm a slice or two on defrost setting in the microwave. Freezes well.