Amazing apple cake

If you follow me on Twitter - and if not, why not? Do it now! - you'll have seen countless tweets from me last night about the Great British Bake Off (sorry about that!). That's right, it's back on our screens. We have weeks stretching ahead of us watching the home bakers whip up delicious goodies and trying not cry when their crème patisserie curdles and the oven just doesn't play ball.
Although me and my sister like to pretend we're baking experts when we're watching GBBO - "that chocolate cake is way too dry", "what is that!!" - I do actually enjoy a bit of baking. It's probably something to do with the fact that I have a sweet tooth, so I can spend all afternoon baking and then have a delicious treat to stuff my face with after. But I have had my fair share of baking disasters, in school I once added tablespoon of baking powder to some brownie mix instead of teaspoon, they rose so much they pretty much exploded over the oven and since that it's taken me years to get brownies right!
Last night it was all about cake, so this week I'm sharing a recipe for a delicious apple cake. I do love this cake, although the main reason I'm making it is because we have a glut of cooking apples in our garden and my mum is pestering me to use them before I head back to uni in a couple of weeks. Although I will be remembering to put sugar into the cake batter and not salt like poor Toby did last night.

Apple tree

You will need: 

• 3-4 large cooking apples
• 225g butter at room temp.
• 275g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2tsp vanilla extract
• 350g self-raising flour
• 2tsp baking power
• Few drops of lemon juice
• Demerara sugar
• Cinnamon (optional)
• Large rectangular baking tin (around 27cm x 20cm)
• Greaseproof paper

Before you say anything - you will need about double the amount of apples!

Get Baking

1. Pre-heat the oven to: 160C for fan ovens | 180C for normal oven |
2. Butter the tin and line with greaseproof paper. I like to leave a little extra hanging over on the longer sides so I can pick the cake out of the tin easily.
3. Peel and core the apples and then cut them into thin slices, about 1cm thick. 
4. *TOP TIP - get a large plastic jug and fill it with cold water and add the lemon juice, then when you slice up the apples pop them straight into the water and it will stop them going brown*
5. Beat together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and combine
6. Sift in the flour. Because it's such a large amount of flour I like to do this is two batches to ensure I get a lovely lump-free batter. If it looks too thick then add a splash of milk!
7. Pour half of the batter into the prepared tin, then add a layer of apple slices, sprinkle the slices with demerara sugar and a pinch of cinnamon (if using), I just think cinnamon goes so well with apple. Then add the rest of the cake batter on top, add the remaining apple slices and some demerara sugar
8. Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden brown and the sponge springs back when you press the top of it
9. Lift the cake out of the tin - using the handy greaseproof paper handles - and leave to cool on a wire rack

I like to cut this cake into bars, perfect to enjoy with a cuppa, which is what I'm about to do!

Has the Great British Bake Off inspired you to get baking? Share your recipes below

Beth xxx