Years ago when we had a telly, my partner and I used to love watching the Two Fat Ladies. They were fabulously entertaining as cooks and personalities – boisterous, loud, and very opinionated. As for their food – it was glorious. Their favourite ingredient was butter – and they were also rather fond of cream, bacon, frying foods and hearty casseroles. And cakes.

So of course we bought the cookbook.

This recipe is based on their “Danish Apple & Prune Cake”, which they in turn took from the Australian cook, Greta Anna. As most ingredients are blended in the food processor, it’s as easy as pie. I’ve omitted the prunes and the walnuts, and toned down the sugar and butter. Even so, it is still rich, and utterly delicious.
(I’ve also made it with gluten-free flour, and it’s perfect.)

 

 

danish apple cake

danish apple cake {sitting on a wonderful handmade pokerwork painted tray that was left to me by my mum and has seen better days but it’s still beautiful}

 

CAKE
140g butter
200g caster sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
85g self-raising flour
115g ground almonds
125ml milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp boiling water
1/2 tsp baking powder

TOPPING
2 green apples, cored and sliced
2 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp butter

 

Preheat oven to 190’C.

Cream all the cake ingredients in  a food processor until well-blended (about 20-30 seconds). Pour into a well buttered 25cm round cake tin (I also lined mine with baking paper). Cool it in the tin.

Arrange the apple slices on top of the cake and bake for 45 minutes.

For the topping, melt the butter and mix it with the cinnamon and sugar. Drizzle this mixture over the top of the cake and bake a further 20-25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.