Apple season is in full flow right now. A sure sign Autumn is upon us. We foraged for crab apples last week and made some of the finest crab apple jelly yet. The apples were plump and red and nearly sweet enough to eat. The full flavour really made the jelly. Of course we added a couple spices, cinnamon, nutmeg and bay leaves. Even some pink peppercorns to give it a special edge. Our own tree in the back garden produced a fine crop of Cox’s Orange Pippins. With all these malus domestica there was only one thing to do, apple crumble of course. Not just any apple crumble though. A cake was the direction we chose. We made a cake base and mixed in chopped Cox’s apples. Then we then layered the cake with a generous helping of crab apple jelly. We topped the cake with apple jelly buttercream and finished it of with a spiced crumble. Needless to say but it didn’t last very long on the cake stand. 

The Ingredients:

For the cake

250g unsalted butter

250g light soft brown sugar

1 tsp ground mixed spice

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 

1 tbsp golden syrup

4 eggs

250g self-raising flour

2 Cox’s pippin apples, cored and diced small (any eating apple will do)

For the buttercream
50g unsalted butter, left out at room temperature to soften 

100g icing sugar

1 tbsp milk

2 tbsp crab apple jelly

For the crumble
50g cold unsalted butter

100g plain flour

50g light soft brown sugar

1 tsp ground mixed spice

The Make:

Preheat the oven at 170C fan oven. Grease and line a 9inch deep cake tin. Whisk together the sugar and butter. Then add the spices and golden syrup. Now slowly whisk in the eggs one at a time. Gently fold in the flour and diced apples. It helps to lightly coat the apple pieces with some flour before adding them to the batter this stops the fruit from sinking to the bottom of the cake. Gently spread the cake batter into the greased cake tin. Place cake in the oven for roughly 30 mins or until the cake is golden and a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack. 
To prepare the crumble, add the flour, brown sugar and mixed spice to a bowl and using your fingers rub in the butter until you reach a light breadcrumb consistency. Do not overwork it or the crumble will become too heavy. Spread the mixture evenly over a baking sheet and bake in the oven at 180C fan for approx 10-15 mins until lightly golden. 
To prepare the buttercream, add the butter to the mixer and slowly add the icing sugar. Now add the milk followed by the crab apple jelly. Mix until you have a smooth icing. 
Slice the cake in half and remove the top half. Now layer bottom half of cake with two tablespoons of buttercream and then top with two tablespoons of crab apple jelly. Now put back on top half of cake and spoon over the rest of the buttercream, smooth over with a spatula and then sprinkle with the crumble. 
Enjoy.