Apple and Almond Cake

Ingredients

• 5 ounces butter
• 2 eggs
• 8 ounces caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond essence
• 8 ounces self-raising flour
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ pounds cooking apples
• to taste icing sugar to dredge

Steps

1. Grease a 9-inch (23 cm) loose-bottomed spring-form cake tin.
2. Gently melt the butter in a pan.
3. Pour into a large bowl.
4. Add the eggs, sugar, and almond essence and stir well until mixed.
5. Then add the flour and baking powder.
6. Stir well—at this point, it should be a stiff mixture.
7. Spread just under two-thirds of the mixture into the cake tin.
8. Immediately afterwards, peel, core and slice the apples and arrange on top of the mixture in the tin.
9. Cover these with the remainder of the cake mixture.
10. At this stage, the cake may appear untidy, but the cooking process eliminates most unevenness or gaps in the surface.
11. Bake for 1¼ to 1½ hours in a preheated oven at 325 °F (160 °C / Gas Mark 3).
12. Once cooked, allow to cool slightly in the tin.
13. Loosen the sides of the cake with a knife and gently push the cake out onto a plate.
14. Cool completely.
15. Lightly dust the top of the cake with sieved icing sugar once cool.
16. Serve warm or cold, with cream for best results.