Dorset Apple Cake Recipe

• 225g cooking apples
• ½ lemon, juiced
• 225g plain flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 115g butter
• 165g soft brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2-3 tbsp milk
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 180° C/350° F (Gas Mark 4)
2. Grease an 8" ring cake tin
3. Peel, core and chop the apples into small pieces, and toss in the lemon juice.  This will keep the apples fresh and stop them discolouring.
4. Sift the flour and baking powder and using an electric whisk break up the butter, until like breadcrumbs.  Alternatively rub in with your fingers.
5. Stir in just 115g of the sugar, saving the remainder for the topping.  Mix the apple and the beaten egg, and the milk, a little at a time.  Mix this to a dough.
6. Transfer to the cake tin.
7. Mix the remaining sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle this evenly over the top of the cake.
8. Bake for around 45-50 minutes, until a skewer proves the mixture is set.  Leave to stand for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack.

I have made this cake in a normal round tin too, but it does require slightly longer cooking time.  I also sometimes sprinkle a little caster sugar over the top after cooling, just because it looks pretty.

The cake is beautifully moist, which my husband is most fond of.  He prefers this to the sponges that I sometimes make.