Five go to Kent for the weekend...part 3

"This must be a record, four posts in eight or nine days! Someone give me a medal...It's another quickie today and the recipe for that Devon Apple Cake (made with those scrumped apples) I promised you..."

This is a bit of a funny recipe and I haven't made a cake like this before. Just as when you're making pastry, you rub the fat in to the dry ingredients and then add the liquid to form a dough, before putting it into a tin and baking it. But the end result is no worse for this and it's very to easy to make and very tasty to eat. By the way this is a recipe that originally comes from my Grandma, so you should be grateful I've chosen to share it!

I did plan to to turn this into a cake version of my all time favourite pud, blackberry and apple crumble, but the combined powers of Brixton Market and Sainsbury's were unable to provide me with any blackberries. In any case I really resent paying two quid for a punnet of plumped up blackberries instead of using the free one's you can gather from the local hedgerow.

So no blackberries meant Saturday's effort became a Devon Apple Cake with a crumble topping. It was pretty good with the crumble, but this can obviously be omitted if you don't fancy it...

Devon Apple Cake with a Crumble Topping

For the cake

225g self raising flour
100g sugar
100g butter - cubed
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
350g apples - peeled and chopped
1 large egg - beaten

For the crumble

50g each of sugar, butter, flour and oats (or just 100g flour and no oats)

1. Start off with the cake by combining the dry ingredients in a bowl and then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Add the apples and combine them with the flour and butter mixture.
3. Add the beaten egg and mix this into the flour, apples, sugar etc. After a bit of a stir and some light kneading the mixture will come together into a loose dough.
4. Press the dough into a greased and lined cake tin.
5. To make the crumble, combine the ingredients, and using that rubbing in method, mix it all together until it resembles breadcrumbs. 
6. Sprinkle this mixture over the cake and press down lightly. 
7. Bake in the oven at 190 degrees for 35-45 minutes.

The cake is delicious served warm with some cream, creme fraiche or yoghurt, but also tastes pretty good cold after a few days in the tin.

Phew, after all this blogging I need a lie-down! Happy cake making!