Dorset Apple Cake photos …

… or, as I have now re-named it, Comfort Cake!

Photos for you :

the cake in the tin

and out of the tin

a portion with the clotted cream

Comfort Cake sounds so much better. This will be my Christmas Cake this year – the bonus – you get a cake or a pudding, hot or cold!

Dorset Apple Cake … the verdict

This cake recipe does exactly what it says on the cake tin and then some.

I served it to friends as a dessert with clotted cream – silence is the best feedback in my home – they loved it.

Backtracking the Dorset Apple Cake I found in Lyme Regis was good but a little too sticky and may be too dense. Hand on heart this version was better - it had a delicious richness with just a hint of cinnamon, just right. Sticky, treacly from the muscovado sugar, not too Christmassy but you can't help but think it would be perfect as an alternative if you're not a lover of the heavier, classic Christmas Cake if you'd like an apple alternative this could be the cake for you.

The cooking apples don't taste like cooking apples, they are soft and taste like plump pieces of squidgy toffee apples.

More pluses :

this cake is good warm or cold – serve with vanilla

ice cream, clotted cream, custard or a combination of all

three

it keeps well. I made it on a Friday, wrapped in foil – twice.

By Tuesday it was as good as Friday – just that there were

only two portions left!

In conclusion – I'm not a huge cake eater but I loved this. It's a perfect Autumn comfort blanket with a cuppa on a chilly afternoon.

Photos up next.

Dorset Apple Cake

There are loads of recipes out there for Dorset Apple Cake. The sample I bought was dark, rich, slightly and gooey but the glory was that you could see pieces of apple in the cake – you really have to eat this cake with a fork unless of course you enjoy licking your fingers!

This is another example of there's no real authentic recipe because everyone has their own. Add this, that and the other – who is to say which version is the right one?

I looked at lots of photos of the Dorset Apple Cake, some looked very pale, some looked dry, some looked overcooked on the top and pale on the bottom.

I really wanted a cross between a cake and a pudding, if that makes sense – so that you could serve it with cream, custard, ice cream or clotted cream or all four!

Here's my offering, tweaked as usual :

Dorset Apple Cake

225g cooking apples, peeled and chopped

slice an extra apple to decorate the top

juice of half a lemon – 1 tbsp

225g plain flour

1½ tsps baking powder

115g unsalted butter, diced

165g dark muscovado sugar – gives a dark

Chrismassy style cake or use light for a lighter

version – golden demerara too – use 50g of this

for the topping

1 egg beaten

2-3 tbsp of milk

½ tsp ground cinnamon

25g ground almonds

Preheat oven to 160fan/180c/Gas 4.

Grease and line a 7” round cake tin.

Toss the apple with the lemon juice and set aside. Sift the flour and baking powder together then rub in the butter until you get breadcrumbs then add the ground almonds.

Stir in 115g of the sugar, the apple and the egg, mix well, adding a drop of the milk at a time to make a soft doughy mix.

Transfer to your tin.

Finally, mix the reserved 50g of soft brown sugar, sliced apple and cinnamon and arrange on top of the cake mix.

Bake for 45-50 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack.

Coming next ... the verdict!

My pending tray …

For those who've been used to paperwork of any kind you'll know what I mean – in theory a pending tray holds the stuff that can wait, which you promptly then forget, it gets buried and then becomes urgent.

I have a cookery pending tray which is not as dramatic – it's the stuff I want to cook or ideas I have scribbled down as an outline that I want to develop when I have the time. Part of the contents of my pending tray are ideas and research I've brought back from holidays. One of my favourite holiday habits is to research food or local delicacies before arriving. I don't want to waste time or forget a thing – it's like a picture postcard but with food.

As I've already mentioned earlier this summer we had our first holiday in Dorset – you know because I've droned on and on about the Hive Beach Café. My Dorset research told me about Dorset Apple Cake. I love a mission or a treasure hunt and this sounded just the job - the sort of cake we like – not light and fluffy! It uses cooking apples so not overtly sweet. I'm on the case.

Some time later … it wasn't easy to find but eventually I bought a huge slice from a bakery in the centre of Lyme Regis. It was as described, dark, moist and delicious.

Dorset is a large County and has its fair share of celebrity chefs and their restaurants – I think I prefer researching cake.

Top of the heap in the pending tray!

Whilst I'm on the subject of smoked mackerel …

… the following recipe is an absolute must for pescatarians. I've had and used this recipe for years – it's fast, delicious and perfect for working week lunches.

Read on …

Smoked Mackerel Paté

250g smoked mackerel

250g plain quark (it's a soft cheese made from skimmed milk –

not nice on its own but great as a low fat product for healthy pate!)

Glug of lemon juice

Black pepper

Two tsps of creamed horseradish

Remove the skin from the mackerel, flake it and pop into your food processor. Add the quark and blitz with the mackerel, then add the lemon juice, black pepper and horseradish, blitz again. You can gauge the consistency of the paté to your personal taste.

You can then add, for example, finely chopped red onion, chopped capers, sliced black olives – whatever is your fancy.

Serve with anything you like, toasted bread, rice cakes or add to warmed pitta slit, with salad. Add to cooked pasta, hot or cold – perfect for lunch on the run!

If you can't get hold of quark you can use cottage cheese - low fat of course!

If you've not come across Quark before it's an excellent low fat soft cheese suitable for vegetarians. News just in … Alpro now produce vegan quark so everyone is happy!

Now it's time for my pending tray …

Smoked Mack Stack photos

the Smoked Mack Stack

If you'd like an idea for a supper/dinner party starter, that's light, fresh and tasty, reduce the size of your ring – 6cms/2½” in diameter.

Have a look :

the Smoked Mack Starter Stack

Here's the alternative beetroot idea :

If you have a spare 30 minutes over the weekend make a batch of the Bazzin' Beetroot Relish and make a two tier stack instead of three. The recipe for the relish is given in Radio Recipes 23^rd September 2019.

the Bazzin' Beetroot Relish, glossy and gorgeous

• like I say it's excellent hot or cold

Whilst I'm on the subject of smoked mackerel …

Some hints and tips - your fridge, your freezer and your fruit bowl!

In a hurry? You don't have to roast fresh beetroot if you have no time. The organic vac packs you can buy are a great product and are not soaked in vinegar. The vac packs have good “best before” dates and so are a perfect fridge stand by.

I always have a small jar of creamed horseradish in my fridge too – you can make and box the smoked mackerel, horseradish and mayonnaise and fridge it, ready to use whenever you are.

You could buy the smoked mackerel when it's a good price and freeze it. It also has a reasonable fridge life so long as you keep it in its sealed pack.

Finally your fruit bowl – Autumn brings delicious apples. I know there are many different varieties to choose from - personally I love a Cox - it lends itself well with the smoked mackerel and the beetroot.

You don't have to go to the trouble of a stack if you've no time and want a quick healthy “salad” style supper. It takes minutes to flake the smoked mackerel and mix with the mayonnaise and the horseradish.

If you fancy treating yourself make the smoked mayonnaise for added zing! Check out Matt's mayonnaise for the stick blender recipe and method.

The moral of this missive is that there's no shopping required – all your ingredients are in your fridge, your freezer and your fruit bowl.

Have a look at the photos coming next for an alternative beetroot idea.