A nice easy cake to have perhaps at the end a meal. It is quite a damp cake and so is best made on the day you want to eat it.
Makes one large cake for 8 to 10
150g best butter
2 Eggs
225g caster sugar
Finely grated zest of a lemon
175g self-raising flour
50g ground almonds
1.5 tsp baking powder
Bramley Cooking Apples – although nice eating apples will work if that is all you have.
*Sultanas in dessert wine or sherry – optional
Icing sugar for dusting
Preheat the oven to 180c
Lay a large piece of baking parchment (about 30cm x 30cm) over the top of a 20cm x 20cm square cake tin and set it aside.
Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat until it is just runny, then pour it into a large bowl.
Add the eggs, caster sugar, and lemon zest to the bowl and beat well into the butter until it is a smooth pale yellow mixture.
Mix in the flour, ground almonds and baking powder.
Spread two thirds of the mixture into the prepared cake tin (the baking parchment will sink into the tin with the mixture) and lay the apple slices evenly over the mixture. At this stage you could also sprinkle the apples with a few spoonfuls of the sultanas in dessert wine or sherry.
Spread the remaining cake mixture over the top of the apples – it will look a bit messy but don’t worry.
Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes by which time the cake should be firm to touch.
Allow the cake to cool and then use a small sieve to dust it with icing sugar before cutting it into squares.
*Sultanas in sherry or dessert wine.
Use some sherry or dessert wine and sultanas – fill a cooled, sterilised jar** loosely with sultanas. Cover the sultanas completely with the sherry or wine. Seal the jar with the lid and store away from direct sunlight for about 4 weeks for best results but they will be good after just a few days. Once opened, you can store them in the fridge for at least a year, probably longer.
** To sterilise jars
Preheat the oven to 120c.
Wash the jars with hot soapy water.
Rinse them in clean water.
Put them upside down on a clean baking tray.
Put them in the oven for 15 minutes.
Handle them with a clean cloth.
