Apple and Banana Muscovado Cakes

These little cakes are a Cake, Crumbs and Cooking original, inspired by the random selection of ingredients that I found myself with a few days ago....

I had an over-ripe banana (a common occurence in my house), some eggs that needed using up quickly, and some apples that were not particularly great for eating. It's the end of apple season (by a considerable margin...) and at the moment the quality is a bit mixed. These ones were ok, but some of them had been bruised and I thought baking with them would allow me to lose any soft bits when I chopped them up.

There isn't as much butter in this recipe as I would normally use for this quantity of eggs and flour, but that's because I took one 250g pack out of the fridge to soften, used 175g for a different recipe and the remaining 75g for these cakes. They didn't suffer for the lack of butter, there were plenty of other flavours going on and the banana added moisture too.

A simple glace icing topping was required to let the cakes shine, but then I thought it looked too plain so I scattered across some butterscotch chips I had, guessing that both banana, apple and muscovado would go with butterscotch. I'm pleased to say I wasn't wrong!

These were lovely and received very positive feedback at work too, which is always nice. Soft cake with a good muscovado and spice flavour, the banana adding moisture and the apples added a good crunch to the cakes as they were quite a crisp eating apple and didn't soften all that much during the cooking. A successful experiment.

Apple and Banana Muscovado Cakes
Ingredients
75g unsalted butter, softened
150g light muscovado sugar
1 ripe banana, mashed (about 100g mashed)
225g self raising flour
2 apples, chopped (unpeeled) mine weighed 240g before coring
3 medium eggs
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
generous 1/2 tsp mixed spice

Method

- Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Line a muffin tin with 14 cases (I have a 12 and 6 hole tin combination that will fit onto one layer in my oven)

- Cream the butter and sugar. It won't really go light and fluffy because there's not that much butter in there.

- Add the mashed banana, self raising flour, bicarb, mixed spice and eggs and beat well to combine.

- Fold in the chopped apple and divide between your cases.

- Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.

- Allow to cool on a wire rack.

For the icing: a simple glace icing made with about 200g icing sugar and water

I'm entering these into a number of blogging challenges:

Alphabakes, hosted this month by Ros at the More Than Occasional Baker (cohosted by Caroline of Caroline Makes) where the letter is A for Apple.

Kate of What Kate Baked is hosting Tea Time Treats this month (cohosted by Karen of Lavendar and Lovage) with a theme of cupcakes and muffins.

I'm entering them into the no-waste food challenge at Turquoise Lemons where this months theme is fruit (I was relieved to be rid of my apples and banana!) hosted by Elizabeth of Elizabeth's Kitchen.

I'm also entering them into Credit Crunch Munch, hosted by Fab Food 4 All (and Fuss Free Flavours) as I was using up eggs, apples and a banana that would otherwise have been wasted and this recipe is mercifully light on the expensive butter.

Apple and Pear Parkin

It seems appropriately cold to be thinking about warming autumnal flavours and for me, that's ginger, mixed spice and treacle. I particularly love the traditional northern cake known as Parkin. I have made a couple of other versions in previous years - click to find my traditional parkin recipe and a recipe I used from Dan Lepard. Both of these are delicious, but as ever, tastes change and my fickle taste buds wanted something new and different. This year I was browsing a little magazine which I think came as part of Waitrose Kitchen - Waitrose's own cookery magazine. This was a little booklet focusing on autumn flavours and contained a recipe for a fruity parkin. I had never really thought to add fruit to a parkin before but then thought 'why not!'.

The recipe didn't quite appeal in the form it was in, so this is more of an 'inspired by' rather than an adaptation - I've changed quite a few bits of it! I can't see it on their website at the moment, but I have changed it quite considerably so give my version below.

Apple and Pear Parkin
Ingredients
65g butter
165g self raising flour
1 heaped tsp ground ginger
scant tsp bicarbonate of soda
65g medium oatmeal
1 small conference pear
1 small apple (I used an Egremont Russet)
100g black treacle
100g golden syrup
3 pieces stem ginger in syrup, chopped
75ml milk

Method

- Preheat the oven to 170C/Gas 3. Grease and line an 8"/20cm square tin.

- Mix together the flour, ginger, oatmeal and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.

- Heat the butter, treacle, golden syrup and chopped ginger together in a pan until the butter has melted but the mixture isn't boiling.

- Remove from the heat and stir in the milk.

- Add to the flour mixture. I added a little at a time - this allows you to stir it in gradually and prevents lumps and pockets of flour forming.

- Pour into the prepared tin. Slice the apple and pear finely and lay on the top of the mixture, scattering in a random-ish fashion (I placed mine to get a good mixture of the different fruits across the top).

- Bake for about 45 minutes until the centre feels firm to the touch (I can't remember quite how long mine took).

- Serve warm as a dessert with icecream or creme fraiche or cold as a cake.

Normally, parkin benefits from having a few days for the treacle and golden syrup to draw in moisture and make the top sticky and moist - this is certainly the case for my traditional parkin recipe - it just carries on getting better and better. Here, however, the fruit on the top of the parkin means that it needs to be eaten the same day or the next day. You'll be relieved to find (as was I) that the top of the parkin is already delectably sticky and moist after only a day of waiting. In fact, I would venture to say that it is stickier and moister than either of my previous parkins. Just delicious. And this means that if you want to bake a quick batch of this for Bonfire Night this year, there's still ample time to do so!

This is fabulous - sticky, moist and full of gingery flavour. I would possibly add more ground ginger next time, and more chopped ginger, because really, can there ever be such a thing as too-much-ginger. I don't think so! I loved the ginger in the cake and the sticky top but to be honest the fruit didn't really add anything other than aesthetics (which is important, but not as important as flavour) and a good, chewy textural contrast but I think I'd leave them off next time so that the keeping qualities are improved (and I can keep more of it for myself rather than giving it away - selfish ulterior motive ;-)). Definitely a make again.

Since both apples and pears are in season right now and this makes good use of them, and as the season in a broader sense is calling to me for ginger and spice, I am submitting these to Ren at Fabulicious Food for her Simple and in Season linky, hosted this monthhttp://www.renbehan.com/2012/11/simple-and-in-season-november.html by Ren herself.

I am also submitting them to Bookmarked Recipes hosted by Jac of Tinned Tomatoes, as I first saw these when I was in the depths of revision and even though I knew I didn't have time to make them straightaway I knew without a doubt that they would be on my plate this season and recommend you add them to yours too.

Apple and Nutmeg Scones

With all of the strange weather we've had here in the UK over the growing season many crops have been early, late or just downright confused as to what they should be doing and when. One of the sad things is that this year's apple harvest is very poor and there may be shortages later on in the season. I love apples and I'm very much hoping that they will still be available for a good while yet, but I guess that some years are always going to be worse than others. It's very odd though - round here (Northwest England) other crops have been difficult - my mum's friend has a tree that is usually groaning under the weight of plums - the branches dip to the ground and have to be supported, yet this year she barely had a single plum.

Anyway, whatever happens later in the season, the new apples are here for now and I intend to make the most of them while they are around. Perfectly in season and all of the chilly weather recently (and the dark mornings closing in - I hate getting up in the dark) has put me in mind of warming autumnal flavours, and for me, that means spice.

Apples take to spicing so well, and I decided to use a combination of mixed spice and then give it a little spin with a bit of nutmeg. This is one of my less used spices simply because I'm a little lazy and nutmeg needs grating just before you use it for the best flavour. The whole nutmegs keep for years, but the fragrance and beautiful aroma of this spice is lost quickly after grating.

Apple and Nutmeg Scones
Ingredients
250g ricotta cheese
a little milk (or water)
60g caster sugar
50g light muscovado sugar
280g self raising flour
70g butter
1/4tsp mixed spice
about 1/4 of a small nutmeg, grated
2 small coxes apples, cored but not peeled, cut into small cubes
demerara sugar to sprinkle

Method

- Preheat the oven to gas 6/200C. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet.

- Place the ricotta in a small bowl, beat in the 60g of caster sugar and set aside.

- Place the flour in a large bowl and rub in the butter (I used fridge cold butter here)

- Add the muscovado sugar and the spices to the flour and mix well, breaking up any lumps of sugar.

- Add the apples to the flour mixture.

- Add the ricotta mixture to the flour mixture and bring together as a dough. You will probably need a little extra liquid - I found my mixture quite dry and as I don't usually have milk around, I used a little water to moisten it. I didn't measure it but probably about 4tbsp.

- Tip the dough onto a work surface and knead briefly - more just turning the dough over to bring it together. Pat out into a large square about 1 1/2" or 3cm thick.

- Cut into 16 pieces and transfer to the baking sheet. Scatter with demerara sugar.

- Bake for 20-25 minutes until risen and golden.

- Remove and allow to cool on a wire rack.

It has to be said that these weren't the lightest scones I've ever made, but I'm still enjoying them very much - the warm autumnal spicing, with the unusual addition of nutmeg along with the juicy chunks of apple make a very good combination for a snack time treat or would be great served with some chunks of tasty cheese for a more substantial snack.

I am entering these into alphabakes, hosted this month by Ros of The More than Occasional Baker (cohosted by Caroline of Caroline Makes). The letter this month is N for nutmeg.

I am also entering them into Simple and in Season, founded by Ren of Fabulicious Food and hosted this month by Nazima of Franglais Kitchen

Caramel apple upside down cake

As you may have guessed from the content of the blog, I'm a bit of a sucker for the sweet things in life. I'm also completely unable to resist a novelty when it comes to sweet foods. A while ago I spotted Confiture de Caramel in one of the supermarkets - essentially dulche de leche, or the equivalent of Nestle's Carnation Caramel but in a smart Bonne Maman jar.

I think I have a particular soft spot for Bonne Maman conserves and confitures; they remind me of childhood holidays spent in France. We used to drive down through England and arrive at the south coast to catch an early ferry across the channel and then drive to our campsite. We went Eurocamping (that is to say in large, static tents that were already erected, complete with sleeping compartments containing bedstands and matresses, and a fridge, gas hob and various cutlery and crockery). We obviously needed to buy food and I used to love the trips to the supermarket to get in supplies. We enjoyed baguettes or croissants with butter and jam for breakfast, and Bonne Maman was always the jam we bought. My mum always had apricot, my dad invariably chose something dark red; Myrtilles Sauvages was a favourite and my brother and I either ate one of those or had strawberry. Happy, happy (sticky) memories.

The confiture de caramel comes in one of the lovely smart jars, but instead of having a red or blue gingham top it has a lovely caramelly coloured top! I'm so in love! Sweet and rich and sticky, I wanted to bake with it. On a recent trip to Lakeland I saw a new range of tins they had - PushPans. The idea is that they are loose bottomed but there is a silicon seal around the base to prevent any leakage out of the tin. Sceptical is not the word. I found myself leaving the shop clutching my new purchase and wondering how best to test their no-leak claim. And then it occured to me that sticky upside down cake was the perfect test. I have made a number of upside down cakes, only for most of the sticky topping to leak out into the oven, caught in foil if I were suspicious of my tin, or onto the bottom of the oven if I wasn't really paying attention. 

I was brave (or stupid...) enough to trust Lakeland's claim about the leak resistance of these tins and just put it straight into the oven. And beheld that it did indeed live up to its claim of no leaking! Very happy! The downside to the lack of leaking (if there is one) is that the caramel from the bottom of the cake seems to have forced the apples upwards into the cake (the opposite of sinking fruit!) and the caramel itself bubbled up the sides of the tin, forming baked on sticky caramel. Well, the cook has to have some treats!

Sounding good? Want to make it now? Here's how...

 
Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake
Ingredients
1 jar Bonne Maman Confiture de Caramel (I used 120g)
2 apples (I used Coxes)
125g soft butter
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
120g self raising flour
milk - a splash (1-2tbsp)

Method

- Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180C. Grease a 7"/18cm tin with loose base. I lined the base with parchment paper too.

- Spread the caramel over the base of the tin. Peel, core and slice the apples - you may not need two whole ones, I used 1 1/2. Arrange them on the caramel.

- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

- Add the flour and eggs and beat to a smooth mixture. Add a little milk to slacken the mixture.

- Spoon carefully over the caramel apple mixture.

- Bake for 35-45 minutes until the cake is well risen and golden brown. There will be caramel all around the sides of the tin - yum!

- Allow to cool a little then invert onto the plate you're going to serve on. This will avoid a messy transfer later.

Serve warm with icecream, cream or custard for dessert, or leave to cool completely as I did and serve as an afternoon cake. If you go for this option remember to tell your happy eaters that they are going to get very sticky.

Great cake - the stickiness of the caramel was lovely, really sweet and moreish and then the apple provided a little juice and a slight crunch to the combination of textures. Because I had cut the apple relatively thickly, it had retained a little bite during the cooking of the cake, and had not all fallen to mush. I thought it was better this way and would definitely do the same again.

So, two new things that I'm very pleased with - Bonne Maman Confiture de Caramel and Lakeland's new Pushpans. Hmm, still some of that caramel left. I think maybe a caramel and apple crumble might appear soon...

From the enthusiasm displayed here you may be tempted to assume that I have received some sort of bribe from one of these companies in order to push their products - this is not the case - I'm a sticky, sweet loving impulse buying sort of person!

Rye Apple Cake - Short and Tweet

Sunday evening, must be #shortandtweet time again! Once again I was really pleased that the pick for this week was the rye apple cake. I have made this cake before in the past, but didn't have all of the correct ingredients for it, so I was pleased to have an excuse to revisit the cake. You can see what I thought of it last time here (I don't think the links to Dan's forums work any more. I'm waiting to see if those discussions are restored or not). The recipe can be found on page 136 of Short and Sweet, or here on the guardian website. The recipe does contain a (relatively) small proportion of ground almonds, and the cake is topped with flaked almonds before being baked, but it was easy to substitute for these. I used plain flour for the ground almonds in the cake, and followed Dan's suggestion of topping with demerara sugar, which gives a pleasingly crunchy contrasting texture to the baked cake. I baked my cake for an additional 10 minutes.

This seems to have been a really popular cake, from what I have read on other people's blogs, and rightly so. I haven't tasted this one yet, but the combination of apple and cinnamon is always a winner, and by some magic, the apple stays suspended in the cake, which is extremely satisfying. The first time I made it, I was convinced the apple would sink, but no. And this time was no different, apple suspended throughout the cake. I wish I knew how to tell before baking which recipes are going to be the ones where the fruit sinks and which ones are going to have it successfully distributed throughout. Hmm, I'll just have to make more cakes and practice!

I'll add tasting notes when I've had a proper piece, but from memory (and a quick nibble!), this is a really soft, luscious cake, with a lovely crunchy topping to contrast with it. The rye flour definitely adds a nubbly note to the cake, I think the rye flour I used is relatively coarse. I used an eating apple (a royal gala) which worked fine. Ideally, I'd use something with more flavour, but I bought the royal galas by mistake and am looking for ways to use them up, and spiced in a cake is preferable to eating on their own.

You can see the rest of the December challenges here, on the Short and Tweet blog, and you'll be able to see the round up here when it's posted. Don't hold your breath for next week's challenge - it's pastry, and pastry isn't one of my strengths!

Apple, Spice and Chocolate Tealoaf - We should Cocoa

This month Chele has set the We Should Cocoa challenge, and she admits herself that it's a tough one. Keeping it seasonal, the choice this month is apples. Like I'm sure many other people have found this month, there seems to be a distinct lack of apples and chocolate pairings in recipes out there.

Many other fruits pair extremely succesfully with chocolate, including that other seasonal gem, the pear. But apparently not the apple. I really love apples - so many different types out there and so many subtle variations in flavour and texture, so easy to just grab and go, and forgiving of being (slightly) manhandled. But I think the thing about the pairing of apple and chocolate is the texture, well it is for me anyway. When I think of chocolate and fruit I think of the soft, luscious juicy fruit and the chocolate and quite often apples either remain slightly hard, or fall to mush, neither of which immediately appeal to me in combination with chocolate.

Which is my rather longwinded way of saying that this month I've chosen the fall back option, the safe recipe rather than pushing the boat out. There was something I had in mind (and I still want to make it, and still have it in mind) but I've run out of time this month, so it'll have to be postponed to a more leisurely time. This month's bake is both apple and chocolate, yet neither of them. Neither the apple nor the chocolate is the star here, but both contribute to the flavour and texture of the final cake.

My loaf is based on a recipe to be found on the BBCGoodFood website, for Apple and Spice Tealoaf. The apple is grated into the cake to provide moisture, and I added a chopped up 100g bar of (unusually for me) milk chocolate to the cake. I decided on milk as I thought it would complement the dried fruits and general sweetness of the cake better than my usual preference of dark chocolate. I think I chose well! The other substitutions I made were to use 100g raisins and 100g dried cranberries for the specified 200g dried mixed vine fruits, and I substituted the specified ground almonds for more plain flour. I also used 1 1/2 tsp mixed spice in place of cinnamon and nutmeg. The baking of the cake is slightly odd - 45 minutes at a higher temperature followed by 45 minutes covered with foil at a lower temperature. I didn't add the sliced apple topping, but I did follow the timings given. I found this slightly odd and although I'm sure it's to stop the apple topping burning, I'm not sure it did the cake any favours.

This is a very substantial cake. Once baked it felt very heavy for its size and I was concerned that it would be dense and dry. Thankfully not. The combination of the dried fruits and sweet milk chocolate was lovely, and it was a really good cake to enjoy at teabreak time at work I don't think it will become an everyday cake, it was nice, but nothing outstanding but it fulfilled the chocolate apple combo, and so I am going to submit it. For more details of We Should Cocoa see here.

Random Recipes - Apple Snow with Yogurt and Oatmeal

I was determined to participate in random recipes this month hosted as ever by Dom from Belleau Kitchen. As an avid magazine subscriber I have piles and piles of them, and couldn't even begin to think about picking a recipe. But then I remembered my blue folder.... In days gone by when I was more organised (and had fewer magazines) I'd eventually get round to cutting out the recipes I fancied (and some that I didn't) and sticking them onto A4 paper, held in the aforementioned blue file.

However, I had a habit of cutting out not only the recipe I really fancied, but the ones I thought I might fancy at some point in the future (when I had lots of money/access to super-fresh seafood/a hugely carnivorous OH/a family of eight to feed) so there are many recipes in there which  I actually don't fancy at all! In addition, if there was a feature in a magazine on, for example, the food of Sicily, I'd clip the whole lot out, to avoid having to either decide what to take out or because I was feeling lazy with the scissors and glue!

So it was with some trepidation that I opened this file (nothing has been added to it for about five years...) and was very pleasantly surprised to find that I would be making apple snow with yogurt and oatmeal, which is a Nigel Slater recipe from the Sainsbury's Magazine in the early 2000's. Not only did it appeal to me, it was simple to make and in season too! Nigel suggests serving this as a dessert, and mentions how pleased he is to find a dessert without added sugar. I agree, but would also suggest this as a lovely refreshing breakfast.

With only three ingredients I thought it only fair to stick to the recipe as closely as possible.

Apple Snow with Yogurt and Oatmeal
You will need 2 medium apples per person, 60g thick sheep's milk yogurt and 1 tbsp of medium oatmeal.

Score lightly around the centre of the apples and roast in an oven set to gas 6/200C for around 35-40 minutes depending on size of apples and their variety. The scoring stops the apple exploding! When they have a fluffy midriff and are soft, remove from the oven, and when cool enough to handle, scrape out all of the flesh, mash with a fork and leave to cool. Chill thoroughly in the fridge.

Meanwhile, toast the oatmeal until it starts to colour and smell nutty and toasty. Using little glasses, Nigel suggests Moroccan tea glasses, spoon in the apple fluff and then top with the yogurt. Sprinkle over the oatmeal and eat straightaway - the suggestions are either to take a little of each layer, or to mix into an apple-yogurt fool.

I used coxes apples for this and the beautiful pink blush on the skins transfered to the flesh during the baking, giving my apple snow a rosy glow. I haven't had sheep's milk yogurt for years, but it was fresh and tasty and the combination of sweet apple, refreshing yogurt and toasty oatmeal was a definite winner for me. Sorry you've had to wait until the very last minute for my submission to your event Dom, but I'm glad I made it!

Two birds with one stone - Strawberry Banana Smoothie

The last post for June this year, and I'm being a bit cheeky really, so I hope that the organisers of the blog events that I'm submitting this for won't mind that it isn't an exclusive!

I recently treated myself to 'Hungry?' which is the new cookery book by Innocent (they of the making smoothies fame). I haven't had a proper chance to look through it yet, but was vastly pleased that a quick (random, even - can you see where this is leading???) flick through landed me on the smoothie page containing this recipe. I rather like smoothies and rarely buy them from the shops because they're just so expensive, so I was pleased to see that I could easily follow Innocent's recipe to make my own version of their smoothie. Because I don't often buy them I can't really give a direct comparison, but this was yummy! Simply whizz strawberries, bananas and apple juice (I cheated a little here by using good quality bought apple juice rather than squeezing my own, I also missed out the orange juice specified by the recipe) together, pour into a glass and enjoy!

I know it looks like there's not much there, but my glass was wider than I anticipated, so it looks a bit mean. Next time I'll pour into a narrower glass. It also looks much pinker in real life than these photos show, but I think that's possibly also the case for the bought smoothie - it doesn't look as pink in the plastic bottle as it does in a glass.

So no prizes for guessing that the first challenge I'm submitting this to is Dom's Random Recipe challenge - this month he challenged us to use our newest recipe book, in my case 'Hungry?' as you see above.

The second challenge I'm submitting this for is Breakfast Club - because breakfast should be more interesting than tea and toast or coffee and cereal. This event is coordinated by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours, and this month is hosted by Nayna of Simply Food with the theme of Berries. I'm really pleased that my strawberry smoothie fits this event, because it'd make a perfect breakfast - full of goodness to get the day off to the right start. To make it a bit more substantial you could add a handful of oats, but I didn't! It's sweet, but not too sweet, and light to drink, with the perfect balance of strawberry and banana flavours with the apple juice being a perfect carrier for the other flavours to shine. I was surprised at how sweet it was, but then my banana was very ripe!

 

Somerset Apple Cake

Sometimes there really is no good reason for making the cake I end up making. I guess this is pretty much one of those times! My only criteria for the cake I wanted to bake was that it needed to use three eggs. That's it. I didn't want to carry out an extensive search through various recipe books, umming and ahhhing over which cake to make, weighing up pros and cons, deciding if I could be bothered to go to the shops and get extra ingredients.... The book I chose to find my recipe in was Sue Lawrence's On Baking, a book that regular readers will recognise, as I have mentioned it a few times here. I find this book really inspiring, and often get it down from the shelf just to browse - there are so many recipes I'd like to make in it, and so little time! She didn't let me down this time either, with this delicious recipe for Somerset apple cake.

As I said, I wanted something that I had all the ingredients already in the house for, and so I have adapted the recipe slightly. As a slight aside, why does my local supermarket currently have an offer on Bramley apples? They are British apples, according to the bag they're sold in, and given that it really isn't apple season at the moment, all I can think is that they're selling off all of the apples that remain in cold storage as they must be reaching the limit of their cold-store life. Probably not too many nutrients left in them then.... but to be honest I don't really eat cake for the nutrients so I don't mind too much!

Somerset Apple Cake

175g butter, softened

175g light muscovado sugar (or light brown soft)

3 eggs

1tbsp black treacle

225g self raising wholemeal flour

1 tsp each mixed spice and cinnamon (though I have a feeling that I added a touch of ginger too, wish I'd written down what I added!)

450g bramley apples

Method

- Preheat the oven to gas 3/ 160C. Grease and line the base of a 22cm springform cake tin.

- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

- Add the eggs, beating well after the addition of each one, and adding a little of the flour if you think the mixture is going to curdle. Add the black treacle and beat in well.

- Add the remainder of the flour and mix well to combine.

- Peel and core the apples and cut into small chunks. Add these to the mixture. The original recipe specifies adding a little milk (up to 3tbsp) but I didn't because I forgot.

- Bake for about 1hr 15mins until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

- Allow to cool in the tin, brilliant served warm.

- Enjoy with a cup of tea, or with a dollop of creme fraiche, or even some custard if you're somewhere cold enough!

The mixture was slightly stiff (but this is probably due to me forgetting to add the milk specified in the original recipe) but I wasn't too worried as I reckoned that the apples would release some moisture as they cooked.

This was a gorgeous, soft, moist cake. The moist juicy apple paired perfectly with the soft cake which had a lovely gently spicy flavour, and a depth of flavour from the light muscovado sugar. I loved the way the apple pieces at the top of the cake had slightly dried out in the oven and become a little chewy! This would make a perfect dessert with some apple puree and a blob of creme fraiche or a ball of vanilla icecream. Or if you're in the middle of autumn/winter, custard would be a perfect partner. A great, versatile cake!