Let Her Eat Cake: Summer Cider Apple Pudding

It's August, and that means that it's time for three things: festivals, weddings and dancing. In this season of making hay in whatever patches of sunshine we can muster, there is one must-have accessory that will see us glide joyfully from occasion to occasion.

CIDER. In all guises, rough and ready, sparkling and sophisticated, fruity, dry, home-made with bits of twig and dead mice floating in it... You name it, it's cider season. So what better than to have a cake to match? I'm spoilt; living in Bristol, we have a whole shop just dedicated to the stuff. I wanted a medium-sweet cider so I went for Oliver's 'Making Hay', but a drive into your local countryside should yield a couple of farm shops selling off drums of boozy apple goodness.

What's more, this pudding is so easy, you can make it when off your face in your sleep. Crack it open, m'luvver.

Summer Cider Apple Pudding

You will need:

For the cider apples:

• 1 large apple, peeled and sliced
• 50ml good-quality still cider

For the cake:

• 125g self-raising flour
• 125g golden caster sugar
• 50g roughly chopped nuts (I used almonds and walnuts)
• 100g butter
• 50ml cider
• 1 large free-range egg, beaten
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 large apple, peeled and chopped into chunks

Make it!

The cider apples:

1. Place the sliced apples in a shallow saucepan with just enough cider to cover them.
2. Poach over a low heat for 10 minutes, until the cider has reduced away and the apples are soft, but still retain their shape. 
3. Set aside to cool.

The cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4. Lightly grease a 20cm cake tin (springform or silicon).
2. Place the flour, sugar and nuts in a bowl and stir together. 
3. Soften the butter until almost melted and tip into the flour mixture. 
4. In a separate bowl or jug, whisk together the cider, egg and cinnamon.
5. Pour into the rest of the ingredients, along with the apple chunks, and stir until evenly distributed. 
6. Spoon half of the batter into the tin and smooth over. 
7. Arrange the cider apples into a layer over the top of the batter, spreading out but stopping 1 inch short of the edge. 
8. Top with the remaining batter, smoothing out the top. 
9. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden and a skewer inserted into the batter comes out clean. 
10. Cool for a minute or two in the tin, before turning out onto a wire rack. 
11. Poke some holes in the top of the cake and spoon over a few tablespoons of cider to soak in... before drinking the rest. 
12. Eat warm with clotted cream or custard or BOTH. 

Let Her Eat Cake: Little Apple Pudding Loaves

It's not often that we get to blame a novelist for sparking a cake obsession, but at the moment, the fault lies squarely with Lawrence Norfolk, author of John Saturnall's Feast. Mentioned in our monthly reading round-up, the book is set in the kitchens of a seventeenth-century manor house, and since finishing it, I've been haunted by phrases like 'Madeira sugar', 'Quodling apples', 'dates and sweet cream'.

So with a bit of digging, I came across a very old recipe for baked apple pudding, from a Danish book of folk-tales. It's a fruit-heavy, and definitely more pudding than cake; I adapted it by adding dates for natural sweetness and hazelnuts for a woodland feel. The vanilla bean mingles beautifully with the flavour of cooked apples, so if you can get your hands on a real vanilla pod, all the better. If you're not a hazelnut fan (or don't have any in the cupboard) walnuts would work fine. 

These mini-loaf cases are adorable, minimum fuss and very efficient if you have to transport the cakes around. They're widely available in most larger supermarkets or cook shops, but if you can't find any, then a  450g loaf tin will do.

Little Apple Pudding Loaves (Makes 6 mini-loaves or 1 small loaf)
You'll need:
For the cake:

• 80g butter, very soft
• 140g muscovado sugar
• 140g plain flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice
• pinch of salt
• 2 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
• large handful dates, chopped
• large handful of hazelnuts, chopped
• Icing sugar and apple slices, to decorate (optional)

For the apple filling:

• 2 apples, peeled and chopped
• 1 vanilla bean pod (or 1/2 tsp vanilla essence)
• 2 tbsp muscovado sugar
• Dash apple juice

Make it!
The apple filling:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Lightly grease the mini loaf cases, or grease and line the larger loaf tin, if using. 
2. Place the chopped apples in a small saucepan with the sugar and dash of juice or water. 
3. Using the point of a sharp knife, split the vanilla pod and scrape the seeds into the apple mix, stirring to combine.
4. Cook gently over a low heat for around 10 minutes, or until the apples are just turning gooey. Set aside. 

The cake:

1. Gently toast the chopped hazelnuts in a dry saucepan or a tray in the oven for a minute or two. Don't take your eye off them! Set aside. 
2. Combine all of the cake ingredients, including the hazelnuts, in a large mixing bowl. The mixture will seem dry at first, but keep stirring and it should become moist. 
3. Fill the loaf cases halfway with the cake mixture, then add a spoonful of apples, spreading them out evenly. Cover the apples with more cake mixture, until the cases are 2/3 full. 
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the cakes are risen and a skewer comes out almost clean. (If using the larger loaf tin, you may need to increase the cooking time by 10-15 minutes).
5. Decorate with a dusting of icing sugar and slices of fresh apple.
6. In an ideal world, these should be served warm, with a pot of thick, whipped cream or smothered with real home-made custard.