Weekend Cake

I had a friend over for afternoon tea on Sunday, and I decided to make cake. I haven't had apple cake in a good long while, and I only have one sandwich tin here at uni, so I thought it would be a good choice. Because it only needs one tin. Obviously.

The recipe comes by way of an old recipe book that we used when I was small, called Fabulous Food for Kids, or something in that vein. Now, I haven't always loved apple cake. In fact, the horrific truth is that I used to despise the stuff. And in a wave of absolute genius, at the ripe old age of eight or so, I changed the name of the recipe from 'Unbeatable Apple Cake' to 'Unbearable'. I know, right? Why didn't I get into Oxford?

Anyway, I've changed the recipe a bit to suit my obsession with ginger and cinnamon, and here it is:

Ingredients

6 oz. self-raising flour
4 oz. butter
3 oz. soft light brown sugar
about 1/2 lb apples - I used one big one - diced but unpeeled
2 medium eggs
1 tsp each of cinnamon and ground ginger
1/2 tsp (ish) grated nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder (the original doesn't have this in, but it makes it a bit less stodgy and more cumbly)

Grease a 20cm sandwich tin. (Mine was non-stick and I used sunflower oil.) Preheat the oven to 180° C.

This cake has a bit of an odd method - like pastry, though my mum said it's a bit like a giant muffin - and indeed it does have a muffin-y sort of texture. Rub the butter into the flour, then stir in the spices and the baking powder. Add the apple, then the eggs - though a word about the eggs. This is my version of the recipe which is about half the size of the original - which calls for three eggs. I used two, intending to only put about half in once I'd beaten, but I did need them both. Whether my eggs were particularly small I don't know, but beat them in another bowl and add them slowly. You should have a fairly sticky mixture with lots of apple. At this point you can add a handful or two of sultanas - golden ones would be nice - or maybe dried cherries or cranberries - or even, I suppose, chocolate chips, if you were that way inclined. 

Anyway, once it's how you like it, tip it into your tin and shove it in the oven. I cooked mine for forty minutes and it was still a bit squishy (for which read raw) in the middle, but then again I have a rubbish student oven. I'll cook it for fifty next time, but do check yours after forty.

It's good warm, with cream.

 You could also (which is what I meant to do but forgot) sprinkle the top with flaked almonds or some demerara sugar towards the end of the cooking time.

We had prawn sandwiches and cake and then we watched Fast and Loose (which everyone should watch, it's amazing. Fridays at ten on BBC2).

I had carbonara for tea, with my friend Iveta who is aching for a mention. She helped by making me look at flats so the bacon got burnt. But it was still yummy.

And then we watched some more TV. But it was Singing in the Rain, so at least it was improving TV.

So, on a scale of one to yummy, the cake was at least a 16 and the carbonara was maybe a 14.  Good weekend.