Apple and Cinnamon Slice

Yes, it's not a bundt. I know, it doesn't happen often. The other day I went to our local butty shop for a post-Dublin sausage on toast style remedy. She makes all her own biscuits, cakes and brownies, and I found myself unable to resist the apple cake. It was lovely, but when you're a baker, you constantly find yourself thinking how you would have done it differently. We all have our little preferences I suppose!

The cake I had was very soft and the apple wasn't in definable chunks, so I'm presuming it was grated. I was craving a sugar crust, large pieces of fruit, plump sultanas and lots of cinnamon. I remembered a recipe I'd written down in my recipe file years ago (unsure of source), which I knew I could adapt into the perfect bake. 

The different types of sugar give this cake real depth of flavour, as does the warmth of the cinnamon. You can put the sultanas in dry (or even leave them out), but I find that plumping them up in apple juice sky rockets this cake from something good to a very special bake indeed. It's not the prettiest cake in the world, but it tastes bloody cracking. Show me what you got Autumn.

Ingredients:

• 150g sultanas
• Apple juice (enough to cover the sultanas - about 300ml)
• 225g unsalted butter - softened
• 150g dark muscovado sugar
• 150g soft brown sugar
• 4 medium eggs - beaten
• 350g self raising flour
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 sweet apples like Gala or Pink Lady
• 2 tbsp demerara sugar to sprinkle 

You'll also need some disposable foil baking trays (available online or from Asda)

Method:

1. Cover the sultanas in the apple juice and pop in the microwave for about 2 minutes, stirring after a minute. Set aside and cover with cling film.
2. Beat the soft brown and muscovado sugars into the butter until fluffy.
3. Add the eggs slowly.
4. Mix the flour, cinnamon and baking powder into a separate bowl. 
5. Fold in to the butter mix in two stages.
6. Drain the sultanas and fold into the mix.
7. Pour half the mix into the tin.
8. Cut up one of the apples into crescent shapes (see pic) and layer on top.
9. Add the rest of the cake mix and repeat with the other apple.
10. Sprinkle with demerara sugar.
11. Bake in the middle of the oven for around 45 mins to 1 hr on gas 4/180 C.
12. Note: the disposable trays are a sniff too small. This is ok... it's your friend. You'll get that nice crust I discussed. If it's catching too quickly round the edges after 45 mins, cover with foil with a hole in the middle. This allows the middle of the cake to bake through.