Make time for Dorset Apple Cake

 Dorset Apple Cake

One of the great things about doing talks about Grandma Abson’s Traditional Baking legacy is meeting people and picking up more traditional family recipes. Barbara from Bournemouth passed on her Great Aunt Madge’s recipe for Dorset Apple Cake. The recipe has been in the family for generations.

Dorset Apple Cake

12oz/340g self raising flour

6oz/175g butter

4oz/110g soft brown sugar

 3 cooking apples (preferably Bramley)

3 eggs

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp mixed peel or zest of a lemon or orange

Milk to mix

1 tbsp caster or demerara sugar for topping

Rub the butter into the flour. Peel, core and chop the add the apples into chunky pieces and add these and the soft brown sugar to the mixture. Add the beaten egg, spices and mixed peel. Put into a 9 inch/23 cms cake tin and sprinkle the sugar on top. Bake in a moderate oven 180C/350F/Mark 4 for approximately 1hour.

Meryl’s tip : Double the quantities and bake as a tray bake then cut into squares. For a fruity decoration, thinly slice another apple and layer the slices on the top of the cake.

Barbara told me that many Dorset Teashops used to serve this recipe warm with butter or clotted cream as part of an afternoon tea time treat. That’s sounds delicious!

There are more of Grandma’s recipes with apples in the Recipes page. What’s the apple of your eye recipe?