BREAD AND BUTTER APPLE CAKE

This is a very old recipe and is a dessert cake rather than a ‘cup of tea” cake. I wish I had the words to describe to you how wonderful it tastes!, especially eaten warm, with lashings of clotted cream. [It is still good cold the next day] The long slow bake turns the buttered apple slices golden and so soft.  I use homemade bread that is a day or two old. But it does need to be stale. If using bought bread, make sure it is a farmhouse type, or better still an artisan bread. I used white, but you can use wholemeal too. 

This cake has just 5 ingredients and is so easy and failsafe.

about 2lb eating apples [I used a mix of varieties]

11 oz caster sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

8 oz stale breadcrumbs from a whole loaf

6-7 oz butter

Pre heat your fan oven to 130C. Line a 9” or 10” cake tin [not too deep] with tin foil and brush with a little melted butter. [make sure there are no holes in the foil!]

Melt together [in the microwave] about 3 tablespoons each of butter and caster sugar [from the above quantities] and mix well. Spread evenly over the base of the tin.

Mix the remaining sugar, cinnamon and breadcrumbs together until evenly combined.

Have a bowl ready with some water and a little lemon juice handy then peel and core your apples, then cut them into neat thin wedges. Pat dry before slicing to use.

Arrange a layer, making a pattern of your choice in the bottom of the tin [this will be the top]. You do not have to be so careful with the other layers. Add a layer of breadcrumbs then dot this with the softened butter. Carry on in this manner with more layers of apples, breadcrumb mix and butter ending with a breadcrumb layer. Press lightly.

Bake for about 1½ hours in your preheated oven, then when it has cooled slightly, invert onto your serving plate. Yummy, scrummy, so delicious. There are many ways you can decorate the cake, if you wish. Sprinkled toasted almonds are good, custard or whipped double cream too. Whatever. But clotted cream is just plain and dandy. I left the photo undecorated to show you the apple and moist buttery texture.

Note: I have mentioned this before, but please make sure your cinnamon [any spice] is well in date. The flavours do deteriorate so quickly.