Spiced Apple and Cider Cake

This can be served cold as a cake or warm, with cream, as a sweet course. Either way, it's very good.

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Method

First brush a deep 8-inch (20cm) loose-based cake tin with melted fat. Line the base and sides with greaseproof paper or baking parchment; brush the paper with melted fat too.

Then cream the butter and sugar together until light, pale and fluffy, before adding the eggs a little at a time, beating well between each addition. Now sieve the flour, baking powder and nutmeg on to a sheet of greaseproof paper. Fold half of this into the creamed mixture, using a large metal spoon, followed by half the cider, then fold in the rest of the flour etc and, finally, the last of the cider.

Now peel, core and chop one of the apples and fold this carefully into the cake mix. Spoon it into the prepared tin then level the top with the back of a spoon.

To prepare the topping, measure the butter, flour, sugar and cinnamon into a bowl. Rub the mixture with the fingertips until you have a fairly coarse, crumbly mixture, then add the chopped almonds. Now, quickly, quarter, core and peel the remaining two apples. Slice them thinly and arrange the slices, slightly overlapping, in three circles on top of the cake.

Then sprinkle the topping over the apples and bake the cake on the centre shelf for 11/2-13/4 hours or until the cake shows signs of shrinking away from the side of the tin. Leave it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, before carefully removing and transferring to a wire rack.

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