Page And Moyse

Apples

After all the lovely soft fruits of the summertime, our thoughts turn to British apples which are cheap and abundant at this time of year.

There are many orchards in and around Milton Keynes where you can pick your own apples.I have included a link below if you wish to pick your own and vist one of the many apple orchards.

www.theparkstrust.com/downloads/whatson/food-for-free-leaflet.pdf 

 I have a cox apple tree in my own garden which this year has produced a fantastic crop of apples.Delicious in crumbles, pies and  tarts,but can also be used in savory dishes or tradtionally served alongside British dishes such as classic roast pork.

 This time i have included a recipe for a traditional apple cake,plese feel free to add in your own ideas to the basic recipe.

A classic British apple cake made with coxs apples and a few hedgerow blackberries if you have them.I keep the skin on the apples for this version and chop the apple into smallish pieces which helps them keep there shape in the cake but also adds in some addtional fibre which is not a bad thing.

Delicious served warm as a tea time treat with thick Greek yogurt or as a cake with a cup of tea in the afternoon.

British Apple cake Recipe

100g Wholemeal plain flour

125g Plain white flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

A grating of fresh nutmeg

150g soft brown sugar

150g melted un salted butter

4 tangy eating apples (chopped small with the skin on )

A handfull of blackberries (optional )

2 large eggs beaten

Demerara sugar

2 tbsp flaked almonds

Method

Grease and line a 8 inch cake tin or 7 inch square cake tin.

Pre-heat the oven to 160c .Put the flour,spices,baking powder into a bowl and stir in the eggs and melted butter.

Stir in the chopped apples until combined with the blackberries if using.Spoon into the tin and spread out evenly.Sprinkle with the demerara sugar and the flaked almonds.

Bake for approx 45 minutes until it is golden brown on top and the sponge when pressed springs back a little.

Leave to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before serving.