Autumn roses and apple cake

October 24, 2011

Golden dunes, a blue horizon and flocks of birds – not the sand lands of  the Algarve, but North Norfolk no less. Crab sandwiches in the sunshine at tables by a little van at Morston quay  also southern European in feel, but washing up water coffee and no chance of a glass of cool wine remind me that Rick and Jamie have yet to infiltrate places where  dismal English catering details like these  seem to be entrenched!

So good to get out of London but it also feels just a little bit countrified in my garden where I can cut the last roses and pick apples to fill a woven basket to the brim.

It’s time, to make  Apple and Ginger pudding one of the Autumn recipes in my new book.(now available in the US on Amazon) Pure Style: Recipes for Everyday. This week, too,  I thought it would be good to share the recipe with  my blog readers. I hope it gives you a taste for the other culinary delights that  lie between the pages!

Apple and Ginger Pudding

For the syrup

4 cooking or large eating apples

juice of 1 lemon

90g/scant 1 stick butter

90g/scant ½ cup sugar

4 tbsp syrup from a jar of preserved ginger

For the cake

125g/1stick butter, softened

125g/ 2 thirds of a cup caster sugar

2 large eggs beaten

125g/scant 1 cup self raising flour

4 knobs  preserved ginger, chopped

Peel, core and slice the apples and turn them in lemon juice to stop them going brown. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the sugar and syrup and stir until creamy and a pale toffee colour. Arrange the apple slices neatly in a greased lkg (2lb) bread tin or 23cm (9inch) cake tin. I line mine with greaseproof paper which I grease again to be safe. Pour in the syrup mixture.

For the cake: Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, beat in the eggs, and fold in the flour with a metal spoon. Stir in the chopped ginger and spread the cake mixture evenly over the apples.

Place in a preheated oven, 190C/Gas mark 5 for about 45 minutes. If the top browns overly, reduce the heat.

Test for readiness with a skewer in the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, with sticky cake mixture on it,it’s done.

Cool the cake on a wire rack before turning out and peeling away the greaseproof paper. Eat with ice cream, crème fraiche  or cream.