Celebrating the atumn
on October 23, 2006
in misc
A glorious hazy Sunday, so bright and warm it could easily be mistaken for a one in May, if it wasn’t for a light fungal smell to the air. It’s a perfect time for a proper session of relaxed weekend cooking, using only simplest produce the season offers. On the menu today – a spicy pumpkin soup, humble chicken roast with chestnuts, and an unsophisticated apple cake. All rustled up in under two hours.
The sounds: October breeze; noises from the nearby school football pitch; Jamie Saft trio playing Zorn’s Book of Angels (a reminder from Kraków);
The meal washed down with a bottle of South African wine. And, of course, there’s a good thing to share.
English apple cake. A slim, moist cake, best served warm, that will keep for a day or two wrapped in foil.
- butter – 130g
- unrefined caster sugar – 130g
- ‘eating’ apples – 3
- the juice of half a lemon
- ground cinnamon – 1/2 teaspoon
- demerara sugar – 2 tablespoons
- eggs – 2 large
- plain flour – 130g
- baking powder – a teaspoon
- fresh white breadcrumbs – 3 tablespoons
- a little extra sugar
Set the oven at 180 degrees centigrade. Line the base of a square 24cm cake tin, about 6cm deep, with a piece of baking parchment.
Put the butter and caster sugar into a food mixer and beat till light and fluffy. Cut the apples into small chunks, removing the cores as you go and dropping the fruit into a bowl with the juice of the half lemon. Toss the apples with the cinnamon and demerara sugar.
Break the eggs, beat them with a fork, then gradually add them to the butter and sugar. Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold them gently into the mixture. Scrape into the lined cake tin. Put the spiced apples on top of the cake mixture, then scatter with breadcrumbs and, if you wish, a little more demerara sugar.
Bake for fifty-five minutes to an hour. The edges should be browning nicely and the centre firm. Leave to cool for ten minutes or so before turning out. Eat warm. Enough for 8.
