- Serves 10 to 12 - Ready in 1 hour 50 minutes (including cooling time) -
*uses up 5 medium-sized apples*
Gather together…
400g self-raising flour, sieved (plus 2 tbsp extra for dusting the dough later).
Pinch of salt.
200g cold butter.
400g apples (5 x average eating apples or a mixture of windfall sizes) - DON'T prep the apples until the recipe asks you to, or they will go brown.
2 tsp Cinnamon.
200g brown demerara sugar.
4 tbsp. milk
1/2 tsp Demerara sugar.
1/4 tsp Cinnamon.
Get cooking…
1. Line a large baking tray (40cm x 45cm) with butter and baking parchment (or better still use a reusable, cut-to-size silicone liner - such as this one sold by Lakeland.)
2. Sieve the 400g of SR flour and the pinch of salt into a LARGE bowl and rub in the 200g of cold butter to form breadcrumbs. Use your fingertips at first and then a handheld chopper (if you have one, as it creates breadcrumbs in under a minute).
3. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C (160 C fan) or Gas 4.
4. Just before you use them, peel, core and cut up the 5 apples into small, thin triangular pieces, no bigger than 1cm x 1cm x 1cm and no wider than ½ cm - any larger and they won't cook through in time. Sprinkle the 2 tsp of Cinnamon over the chopped apple and add the spiced apple pieces to the breadcrumbs.
5. Mix in the 200g of brown demerara sugar - you will need good arm muscles for this part of the mixing!
6. Add the 4 tbsp of milk to form a soft, but not sticky, dough.
7. Dust the ball of dough with 2 tbsp more flour, and knead the dough VERY sparingly by hand in the bowl until it just holds together (it will become tough if you over-work it). You should only knead it for about 10 seconds.
8. Very GENTLY press the dough into a large oval on the lined baking tray. Ensure the dough is evenly distributed for an even bake. It will expand a little during baking, but it won't really rise much.
9. Mix the ½ tsp of demerara sugar with the ¼ tsp of Cinnamon and scatter evenly over the dough in the tin (the cinnamon needs to be mixed into the sugar or else it will burn during baking).
10. Bake this beast in the oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes (cover with foil - IF NEEDED - after 45 min to stop it browning too fast). It is hard to tell when this cake is done - try not to over-bake the cake or it will be dry (see note below about how to very deliciously save the cake if it is a bit dry).
11. Let the finished 'cake' cool for 30 minutes on the tray, or for longer if you have time - the cooler it is the easier it will be to cut up into vaguely triangular slices. Please take note - this is not a dainty or attractive cake, it is crumbly and lumpy and craggy, but so tasty.
12. Once cool, cut up the cake into (uneven) slices ad store in an airtight container at room temperature, for up to 3 days, although it is best eaten on the day it is baked. If the cake is over-baked / a few days old and dry, then it will still be delicious if you serve it with whipped cream, ice cream or (my choice) fat-free Quark. Yum!
Adapted from a 'Dorset Apple Cake' recipe shared by my friend Ali, who always kept the staffroom well supplied with cake. She suggests generously spreading the slices of cake with butter before eating, I've not tried that yet...