A Cake–And A Correction

As well as a fruit platter, I also served Rachel Allen’s Apple Cake as dessert on Saturday. I used a very large pear which was in the fruit basket. Here is her recipe – it was easy to follow and the result was tasty!

INGREDIENTS

· 2 eggs

· 175 g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

· 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

· 85 g butter

· 75 ml milk

· 125 g plain flour

· 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

· 2 1/4 tsp baking powder

· 2 cooking apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

· cream, to serve

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6. Line the sides and base of a 20 x 20cm square 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 a tablespoon of 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. Cut into 16 squares [or 12 rectangles] and serve with cream.

And a correction – I had misunderstood Steph’s instructions for the banana ice cream. She simply freezes the bananas – and then when she is ready to serve the dessert, she blitzes the frozen fruit in the blender with the other ingredients. This gives a much smoother ice, with no large crystals, and gives you the option of adding different flavours later [like speculoos] or serving it plain. So now we know!