My mother would always make a cake with apples from our garden. It would usually be a tray bake — large enough to feed the whole family and any visitors. I’ve made this cake with her recipe, but using a round tin and adding honey.
Serves: 8
Ingredients
For the apples:
4-5 medium sized English apples. I used Granny Smiths
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 tbsp runny honey
For the cake batter:
100g caster sugar
125ml runny honey
3 large free-range eggs
200ml vegetable oil
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
240g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
Small knob of butter to grease the tin
Icing sugar to dust
Method:
- Pre-heat your oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 23cm spring-form tin.
- Peel, core and slice the apples thinly. Put them in a pan with the cinnamon, brown sugar and honey and cook very gently for around five minutes. Leave them to cool.
- Beat the caster sugar, honey, eggs, vegetable oil, cinnamon and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric whisk for around three minutes until pale.
- Sift over the flour and baking powder and gently fold in with a metal spoon.
- Pour two thirds of the cake batter into the prepared tin. Using a slotted spoon, pour over the apples and discard any juice. Then cover the apples with the rest of the cake batter.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake. Keep an eye on it and if it starts to look too golden, place a piece of foil over the top.
- Cool before serving and dust with icing sugar. The cake will keep for up to five days in a tin.
