Apple loaf

We had a few apples which are starting to go soft - perfect excuse to bake! (Not that I generally need any excuse to bake.) I was given the recipe book 500 cakes a couple of weeks ago and this recipe was a variation of one using apples in place of cherries and marzipan. It takes a surprisingly long time to cook and the centre of the loaf fell out of the crust when I turned it upside to cool (that was weird), even though it was cooked through. Still, it tasted fine and we had it for dessert, warm with ice cream.

Apple loaf

Ingredients

• 170 g butter, at room temperature
• 140 g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 140 g self-raising flour
• 320 g apples, finely chopped or grated
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice or finely grated zest of one lemon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Beat together butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in eggs one at a time.
3. Sift in flour and fold into the mixture.
4. Add lemon juice/zest and fold in apples.
5. Pour mixture into a greased 22 x 12 cm loaf tin. Bake for about 45 minutes. Cover the top of the cake with tin foil, then bake for an additional 25 minutes until oaf is risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
6. Leave cake to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes, then lift onto a wire rack to cool.
7. Serve slightly warm from the oven and dusted with icing sugar.