Tobie Puttock's Apple Tea Cake

Dad came home from the paddock the other night with buckets and buckets of apples from our little orchard. Given that I don't get my braces off for another month, I had to find another way to enjoy them and what better way than in a cake (hey - that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!)

So I went looking for a a nice little apple tea cake recipe and thought I'd take it in to my lovelies at work. There's a heap of them around but when I saw this one by Tobie Puttock, I knew I couldn't go wrong.

The crunchy sugar and cinnamon on the top is
an oldie but a goodie... there's a reason they've
done it this way for years!

THE RECIPE
This one is easy peasy! Preheat your oven to 180c and grease and line a springform tin. Grab out your mixmaster or the electric beaters to save some effort. In the bowl put 95g butter at room temperature and 1/2 cup caster sugar. It's really important that the butter is at room temperature else you'll end up with a flat and tough cake. Beat the butter and sugar until they're creamy and then add 1 egg (also at room temperature) and 1 tsp vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Sift 1 and 1/4 cups SR flour three times. Turn the mixer on low and gradually add the flour, alternating with parts of 1/2 cup milk until it's all mixed in. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared tin. Peel, core and quarter 2 large or 3 smaller apples then slice them thinly and arrange over the top of the cake. Pop it into the oven - it should take about 30-35 minutes but just keep an eye on it. When it's cooked grab it out and sprinkle it with 1 tbsp sugar combined with 1/2 tsp cinnamon. And you're done!

I really enjoyed baking with homegrown produce - most satisfying!