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utumn spices! There is nothing I love more than an apple crumble overdosed with cinnamon, studded with butter chunks of crumble and drowned in (cold) Ambrosia custard. Heaven in a warm bowl on a winters evening by the fire. But with the Bake Off still dominating our papers, TV’s interview and food magazines like Slade at Christmas how could I not make a cake? With a visit to Granny planned for Sunday the excuse was inexcusable. And so the creation began. I absolutely adore this apple butter-jam which I used on various recipes such as my apple crumble ice cream. It is so richly flavoured and soothing. Cinnamon and mixed spice add a beautiful warmth and the substation here of some caramel flavoured muscavado sugar in the sponge keeps this cake amazingly moist and richly flavoured. I’ve added a hint of fresh lemon zest to the buttercream to cut through some of the sweetness and I’d suggest either using homemade granola as you can adjust the sugar levels appropriately.

Cake

• 6 oz softened butter
• 3 oz caster sugar
• 3 oz light muscavado sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 6 oz self raising flour
• 1 heaped tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Apple Jam

• 4 large crunchy apples, peeled and cubed
• 100g light muscavado sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp each mixed spice and ground ginger
• 1 knob butter
• 100ml water

Buttercream

• 125g butter
• 100g icing sugar
• Zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1 large handful of granola (recipe here) or baked crumble topping (recipe here)

1. Line 2x 6 inch cake tins with parchment and preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Begin making the apple jam which can cool while you make the cake. Add the chopped apples to a saucepan and add the water. Over a low heat, bring the water to a simmer and gently soften the apples for about 10 minutes or so until the apples are soft and tender. Add a touch more water if needed. Once soft, drain the majority of the water keeping a little in the pan to enable it to puree well and add the sugar, spices and the butter. Mix and then blend thoroughly in a food processor until smooth and well combined.
3. Tip back into the saucepan. If it is too thin (note it will thicken on cooling) heat gently on the hob for 5-10 minutes to thicken a little and reduce. Set aside to cool
4. For the cakes, cream the butter and sugars until soft. Add the eggs one by one.
5. Sift in the flour, cinnamon and baking powder and combine well.
6. Spoon the mixture into the tins and bake for around 30 minutes until cooked. Leave to cool in their tins once done.
7. Meanwhile, make the buttercream by combining the butter, icing sugar and lemon zest in a food processor then spoon into a piping bag if you want to pipe this onto the cake.
8. Once all elements are cooled, assemble the cake! It is pretty open to interpretation here. Pipe the buttercream or simply spread on top. Start however by spreading a layer of apple jam on the base layer cake. Top with butter cream.
9. Place the second cake on top and top with another layer of apple jam. Finally, sprinkle over your homemade granola, cooked crumble or similar.
10. Enjoy the flavours of Autumn!