This recipe is inspired by one of my
Christmas presents, The Kitchen Diaries II by Nigel Slater. I’ve always had a
soft spot for crumble topped cakes, I love the combination of textures. The
inclusion of apples in a cake also reminds me of the kinds of cakes my gran
used to make that would have large pieces of tart plums or apples nestling in
the soft, sweet sponge.
Ingredients
250g apple, peeled, cored and cut in to
small pieces
175g softened butter
175g caster sugar
2 eggs
255g plain flour
2 ¼ tsp baking powder
pinch ground cinnamon
few drops vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of one lemon (optional)
100g marzipan broken into small pieces
Crumble topping
110g Plain flour
75g butter
2 tbsp demerara sugar
1. Preheat oven to 160C. Grease and line the base of a 22cm round cake tin.
2. Beat the butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Break the eggs into a separate bowl, beat them gently then add to the butter and egg mixture.
4. Fold in the flour, cinnamon, vanilla extract and half of the apples and marzipan pieces then transfer the mixture to the prepared tin. Spread it out evenly with the back of a spoon or spatula.
5. Scatter the remaining marzipan and apple pieces on top of the cake mixture.
6. Quickly blitz together the crumble ingredients in the food processor or bring together by hand in a large bowl. You want the consistency of coarse breadcrumbs. Add a couple of drops of water to the mixture so that the crumbs look more like gravel then scatter over the cake with a little extra cinnamon and demerara sugar if you like.
7. Bake for about an hour in the oven or until a skewer comes out clean.
8. Remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool before cutting into slices and enjoying with your cuppa.
2. Beat the butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Break the eggs into a separate bowl, beat them gently then add to the butter and egg mixture.
4. Fold in the flour, cinnamon, vanilla extract and half of the apples and marzipan pieces then transfer the mixture to the prepared tin. Spread it out evenly with the back of a spoon or spatula.
5. Scatter the remaining marzipan and apple pieces on top of the cake mixture.
6. Quickly blitz together the crumble ingredients in the food processor or bring together by hand in a large bowl. You want the consistency of coarse breadcrumbs. Add a couple of drops of water to the mixture so that the crumbs look more like gravel then scatter over the cake with a little extra cinnamon and demerara sugar if you like.
7. Bake for about an hour in the oven or until a skewer comes out clean.
8. Remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool before cutting into slices and enjoying with your cuppa.
