Apple and Sultana Cake

Most of that huge bag of Bramley apples that cost me all of £2 at the weekend were still sitting there, despite having made a family-sized Apple and Plum Crumble https://eatingforireland.com/recipe/apple-and-raspberry-crumble/  which we more-or-less demolished between us.. Time to think up something else to do with them – I was too lazy to start making pastry again, but a trawl through the BBC Good food page gave me an idea for an apple cake..

EQUIPMENT:

• A 20cm spring-release cake tin, lined with grease-proof paper
• weighing scales
• A large bowl, for mixing
• a wooden spoon
• a small jug
• A food processor (optional)

INGREDIENTS:

• 225g self-raising flour
• 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• 125g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes.

• 125g light brown sugar (I used light Muscavado)
• 1 large egg
• 6-8 tablespoons of milk – this came to 125mls today when I measured it, and I used it all.
• 225g cooking apples, peeled and cut into cubes

• 100g sultanas
• 2 generous tablespoonful of Demerara sugar (for sprinkling)

METHOD:

• Grease and line your tin, put it on a baking tray and leave to one side.
• Heat the oven to 160 fan.
• Put the flour, cinnamon and butter into the food processor and whiz until it looks like breadcrumbs (or of course, you can do this by hand – just rub the butter into the flour, then add the cinnamon)

• Transfer the flour/butter mix to the large bowl.
• Add the soft brown sugar and mix through.
• Make a well and crack the egg in. Mix it in well, bearing in mind that it will be fairly hard work.
• Add the milk and keep stirring in until you’ve got a smooth-ish, thick batter.
• Add the chopped apples and sultanas, and fold in – for some reason it becomes easier at this stage.

• Transfer to the prepared tin, and level out.
• Sprinkle over the Demerara

• Put it into the oven and give it 35-40 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean (it took an extra 10 minutes for me today)

• Leave it to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then remove from the tin and allow to cool further on a cooling rack.

NOTES:

• This is a delicious cake – but be warned – it’s quite delicate on the day you make it – although it toughens up after a night’s rest 😉 Don’t be tempted to take it out of its tin before the 15 minutes are up.(I gave it half an hour) I also left it on the ‘plate’ part of the spring-release cake tin while it was cooling.
• I’m not normally a great fan of Demerara sugar sprinkled on, but it gives this cake a really nice crust. The flavour is fabulous too..
• Best served warm, or at room temperature, with either custard (Mr Saturday Night’s favourite) or some cream, crème fraiche, or even creamy yoghurt.
• Once, I ran out of Sultanas, so I used raisins – just as good really