A comforting apple cake with a golden cinnamon crumble topping that is perfect for using up a harvest of apples from the plot. This recipe is particularly well timed for our members after the apple pressing sessions we hold each autumn here at Burley Model Allotments in Leeds LS4. Serve slightly warm with cream for a real treat.
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 80g butter or margarine
- 100g caster sugar
- 170g self-raising flour
- 1 egg
- 6 tablespoons milk
- 4 apples, peeled and sliced
For the crumble topping:
- 60g plain flour
- 70g soft brown sugar
- 25g butter
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C / gas mark 4. Line a 20cm cake tin with baking parchment.
- Cream the butter and caster sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the egg then fold in the self-raising flour in small quantities.
- Add the milk to loosen the mixture to a dropping consistency.
- Spread the mixture evenly into the lined tin.
- Arrange the peeled and sliced apples over the top of the mixture.
- To make the crumble topping, rub the butter into the plain flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the soft brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Spread the crumble topping evenly over the sliced apples.
- Cover the tin with foil and bake for approximately one hour, removing the foil for the final 10 minutes to allow the topping to brown.
- Leave to cool in the tin then dust with icing sugar and serve slightly warm with cream.
Plot holder tip
This cake works brilliantly with windfall apples — there's no need to use perfect fruit as the long bake time softens everything beautifully. Bramley cooking apples give a sharper flavour while dessert apples make it sweeter, so use whatever you have on the plot.
About this recipe
This recipe comes from the community at Burley Model Allotments, established in 1892 and located at Lumley Place, Burley, Leeds LS4 2NL