Sunday bakes - Autumn apple cake

Like most people I have a few pounds that I would like to shift, so often, with good intentions, I buy a batch of fruit which tends to go uneaten. Every time I over buy apples I go to make my apple cake but I can never remember what recipe I modified last time so this time I have decided to write it down, very unlike me.

My parents have a few apple trees in their garden so I have a large batch of cooking apples to be used up.

I like to make my apple cakes a bit like bread puddings, spongy, gooey and spicy. Other apple cakes seem to layer up slices of apple but I like to stew chunks and mix it into a sponge mix before I bake.

Previous iterations of this have worked out well but having not written down what I did today will be another experiment which may or may not work out. Lets find out!

1lb 8oz of cooking apples

6oz light brown sugar

6oz sultanas

1tbsp cinnamon

½ tbsp ginger

1tsp ground cloves

For the sponge

4oz margarine, softened

4oz caster sugar

2 medium eggs

4oz self-raising flour

½ tbsp cinnamon

For the topping

2 red eating apples

Golden caster sugar

1tsp cinnamon

180° for 30 minutes

Peel and core the cooking apples and put them in a heated saucepan with the brown sugar. Heat until the apple goes soft and translucent stirring often to make sure the sugar doesn’t burn, add in the spices and sultanas as it cooks.

Whisk up the margarine and sugar until light and pale then mix in the eggs, one at a time. Once the mixture is fully mixed and light sift in the flour. Mix in the cooked apple and sultanas and pour into two greased cake tins and put in the oven for roughly 30 minutes. My oven is pretty sketchy on maintaining a temperature, for Christmas last year I was given an oven thermometer because once it is on the heat just goes up and up and you can never tell what temperature it really is, so I usually go by the colour of the cake and the skewer test. 

Whilst that is baking take two red eating apples and thinly slice them uniformly. Put them in a saucepan with some Golden caster sugar and a tsp of cinnamon and heat. Stir it carefully to make sure you don’t break the slices until the apple is going translucent and the sugar is a syrup. 

When the cake is cooked leave it in the tin for a little while as the inside will be gooey from all the apple, then take it out and carefully lay the apple slices over the top of the cake in whatever pattern you like. I tend to put it in a circle. Once the apple is laid out pour the rest of the caramel syrup over the top of the cake. 

It came out a little too gooey so next time I think I will add less stewed apple. 

Experiment outcome: salvageable  -  to be improved next time. 

Quick note, be careful where you throw your oven gloves. Preferably don’t aim for the hot stove top and then wander off to go and watch American horror story because that is pretty foolish and you would be lucky to come back in just as they are starting to smoke but before they catch. Sigh.