Irish Apple Cake

Yield: serves 8

Ingredients:

• 550 grams apples
• 2 tbsp. soft light-brown sugar
• 250 grams wheat flour Type 550
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 100 grams butter, cubed
• 100 grams caster sugar
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 50-100 ml milk
• caster sugar or icing sugar, for dusting

Instructions

1. Peel and core the apples and cut the flesh into chunks. Toss with the brown sugar.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and rub in the butter until it is like breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar with a blunt knife, then the egg. Add the milk a little at a time until you have a soft dough. If you misjudge it, add more flour.
3. Butter and base-line a 20 cm loose-bottomed cake tin and spread half the dough in the bottom. Tumble in the apples, then place the rest of the dough on top. It’s fine to have apples poking through.
4. Put in an oven preheated to 180 °C/350°F/gas mark 4 and cook for 40 minutes, or until the dough is golden and the apples tender (you can test this with a sharp knife).
5. Leave the cake to cool a little then remove from the tin. Dust with sugar before serving. It’s best eaten warm.

total time: 1 h 30 minutes
preparation time: 30 minutes
cook-/baking time: 25 – 30 minutes