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Dorset Apple Cake for Best of British

After our visit to sophisticated, metropolitan London, the Best of British Tour moves back to the country as we sample the food of Dorset.

Karen at Lavender and Lovage is the generous host for Five go mad in  Best of British in Dorset.  I have to say that I wasnt really aware of a particular cuisine for Dorset, but on further investigation I found that Dorset Apple Cake seemed to be a specialty.

Dorset Apple Cake

225 g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
225 g caster sugar, plus extra for dredging
3 large eggs
225 g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
25 g ground almonds
450 g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped and then tossed in juice of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Grease a deep 23-24cm springform cake tin and line with baking paper.

Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time until combined

Sift the remaining flour and the baking powder into the bowl and fold in with the ground almonds. Add the chopped apple pieces and stir until thoroughly mixed.

Spoon into the prepared cake tin, smooth over the top using the back of a spoon. Bake in the oven for 1 hour or until well-risen, brown and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. If the cake starts to look a little too brown, cover with a sheet of baking paper after about 45 minutes.

Leave to cool in the tin. Serve the cake and dredge with extra caster sugar. Cut the cake into generous wedges and serve with clotted cream.

Im not sure if it was this particular recipe or the apples I used, but I found this cake rather bland.  In future I would add some cinnamon or other spice to boost the flavour.  Then again, I didnt have any clotted cream to serve it with, so maybe that would make the difference.