Apples… it is the season of apple magnificence. Although apples do store well – if kept cool, dry and clean, and stored without bruises – still I am driven by a need to keep eating them. This cake by Nigella Lawson is definitely more of a pudding than a cake and cries out for a generous scoop of ice-cream or natural yogurt. We actually eat a bowlful as a ‘treat’. We sit on the steps and look down onto the terraces, which are now considerably more weed-free than they were three hours ago. Of course, they will never be 100% weed-free [see my earlier ramblings about Spanish weeds] but there is an immense feeling of satisfaction. And the calories used by weeding certainly made space for the cake. 100g soft unsalted butter [plus more for greasing the cake tin]
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
150g caster sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
Zest of an unwaxed lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
75ml full-fat milk, at room temperature
3 crisp eating apples, around 500g total

For the topping:-
1 tsp light brown or demerara sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon Preheat the oven to 200°C/ gas 6. Butter a 22cm or 23cm springform cake tin, and line the bottom with baking parchment.

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy, then beat in the eggs. Next add the flour, baking powder, pinch of salt, lemon zest, vanilla extract and milk until you have a batter with a soft dropping consistency. Halve one of the apples. Peel, core and chop one half into 1cm cubes, add these to the batter and mix. Pour the batter into the springform tin.

Prepare the remaining apples, and apple half, leaving the skin on if pink-skinned for a pretty pinky look once the cake is baked. Finely slice the apples, and arrange in concentric circles on top of the cake batter. Prepare the topping, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle this over the top of the apples. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes when the cake is risen and golden. Pierce with a cake skewer, when cooked only a few crumbs should stick to it when removed. Leave to cool for one hour before springing it out of the tin.

5 to remember
italiano/a – talian
un gusto – a treat
se conservan bien – they store well
cierto – definitely
la temperature de la habitación – room temperature

‘Nigellissima’ by Nigella Lawson