Dorset apple cake recipe

There are as many versions of this apple cake recipe as there are cooks but we love this lemony one. Serve with clotted cream.

Serves 8

Takes 25 minutes to make, 1 hour to bake, plus cooling

• 225g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 450g Bramley apples
• Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 225g caster sugar, plus extra for dredging
• 3 large eggs
• 225g self-raising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 25g ground almonds
• 1 tbsp demerara sugar
• 200g clotted cream, to serve, optional

How to make dorset apple cake

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. Grease a deep 23-24cm springform cake tin and line with baking paper. Peel, core and cut the apples into 1cm pieces, and toss with the lemon juice.

2. Using an electric hand whisk, cream together the butter, caster sugar and lemon zest in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, adding a little flour with each addition to keep the mixture smooth.

3. Sift the remaining flour and the baking powder into the bowl and fold in with the ground almonds. Drain the apple pieces well, then stir into the mixture.

4. Spoon into the prepared cake tin, lightly level the top and sprinkle with the demerara sugar. Bake in the oven for 1 hour or until well-risen, brown and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. If the cake starts to look a little too brown, cover with a sheet of baking paper after about 45 minutes.

5. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the tin and place on a serving plate. Dredge heavily with the extra caster sugar. Cut the cake into generous wedges and serve warm with a spoonful of clotted cream, if you like.

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