My first cake memory is my granny’s apple cake. They built their house in an apple orchard, so there was never a shortage of that particular childhood treat. The smell of warm crumbly cake fresh from the oven will always take me back to those days.

-Rachel Finley

For the cake

100g sultanas

90ml apple juice

215g spelt flour

15g cornflour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

300g golden caster sugar

175g butter, softened

2 medium eggs

750g eating apples, peeled, cored & cut into 1cm pieces

100g lightly toasted walnuts, broken into pieces

Put the sultanas into a small bowl & add 45ml of the apple juice & set aside for at least 3 hours.

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas4. Grease & line a 23cm round, loose bottomed cake tin. Tie a thick band of brown paper around the outside of the tin so that it protrudes 7-8cm above the top of the tin. This will stop the cake from browning too much.

Place the flour, cornflour, baking powder, salt & ground spices in a large bowl. Add the sugar & butter & beat for about a minute, until we’ll mixed.

Add the eggs & mix for another minute until the mixture is light & fluffy. Beat in the remaining 45ml of apple juice.

Fold in the chopped apples, sultanas & walnuts. Spoon the mixture into the tin & level the surface.

Bake for 1 hour 25 minutes, until it’s firm to touch & a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. Cover the cake loosely with tinfoil once the cake is browned on top.

Cool the cake in its tin on a cooling rack.

For the Caramel drizzle

175g light soft brown sugar

300ml double cream

50g butter

Stir all the ingredients together in a saucepan over a low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Turn up the heat & bubble for 2-3 minutes until the sauce is golden brown. Allow to cool before pouring over the cake.

**Top with Candied Walnuts ( see our recipe ) and for an extra special touch maybe even a splash of brandy whipped in with some creme fraiche. Be sure to add liquid slowly as it will easily split.

Serve & enjoy.

Our Tudor inspiration for this recipe

In “A Proper New Booke of Cookery” of 1545, there is a recipe which sounds like the predecessor of our much loved apple crumble.

To make an Appelmoise. Take a dozen apples and roast or boil them and draw them through a strainer and the yolks of 3 or 4 eggs withall. As ye strain them, temper them with 3 or 4 spoonfuls of damask water if ye will, then take and season it with sugar and half a dish of sweet butter. Boil them upon a chafingdish in a platter. Cast biskets or cinnamon and ginger upon them and so serve them forth.