Apple Cake

I made an apple cake on Sunday with some Bramley apples I’d found lurking in the back of the fridge.  I’d been saving the recipe for such an occasion (despite my good intentions to reduce my cake intake) and I wasn’t disappointed.  It had a lovely light texture as it was made by whisking eggs and sugar together before adding the other ingredients.   Andy, Molly and I munched on 2 large slabs as we hunkered down in a frosty peat hag below the summit of Arkleton Hill yesterday. It proved to be an extremely tasty part of our packed lunch

Dutch Apple Cake


Ingredients
2 eggs
175g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
85g butter
75ml milk
125g SR flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cooking apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
2 tbsp Demerara sugar


Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6. Line the sides and base of a 20cm cake tin with parchment paper.
2. Using an electric whisk, whisk the eggs, caster sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl until the mixture is thick and mousse-like and the whisk leaves a figure of eight pattern (This will take about 5 minutes). 
3. Melt the butter in a saucepan with the milk, then pour onto the eggs, whisking all the time. Sift in the flour, cinnamon and baking powder and fold carefully into the batter so that there are no lumps of flour. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface.
4. Arrange the apple slices over the batter. (They will sink to the bottom.) Sprinkle over the 2 tablespoons of Demerara sugar and bake in the oven for ten minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 180C/gas 4 and bake for a further 20±25 minutes or until well risen and golden brown.
5. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the tin before cutting into slices