An excellent cake for October, or any time really. Good warm or cold
Serves 10-12
150g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
3-4 large dessert apples
1 lemon, finely grated zest and 2 tbsp juice
150g golden caster sugar, plus 4 tsp
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
300ml soured cream
225g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
150ml double cream
2 tbsp Calvados
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/ Gas 4. Butter a 23cm springform cake tin.
2 Use a melon baller to make rounds of apple (keep the skin on). Aim for 36 balls.
3 Mix the lemon juice with 3 tsp of caster sugar; stir through the apple balls. Set aside.
4 Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then the vanilla extract and 200ml soured cream.
5 Fold in the flour, baking powder, a pinch of salt and the lemon zest. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and push the apple balls into the cake mix, skin-side up. Bake for 50 mins until firm to the touch.
6 As soon as the cake is out of the oven, sprinkle over 1 tsp of caster sugar. Leave to cool for 15 mins then remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack.
7 Whip the double cream to soft peaks, then whisk in the remaining soured cream and Calvados. Serve the slices of cool or warmed cake with the Calvados cream.
Cook’s note: If you don’t have a melon baller, you can cut the apple into chunks. You can also add a little ground cinnamon to the cake mixture if you like. If you don’t have Calvados, you could mix the cream with elderflower cordial instead.
Taken from the Four Seasons cookbook, a collection of recipes that champion British ingredients and reflect the influence of the seasons. By Emily Davenport, Kathryn Hawkins, Clare Lewis and Wendy Veale. Photography by Steve Lee. Available from dairydiary.co.uk
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