Apples and fudge. All in a cake. It sounds like something that kids would put together. I had read somewhere that apple and caramel are a god combination. So fudge didn’t sound too far off. You see, I love baked apples, apple juice, apple yoghurt, apple pureé. Not too excited by the fruit in its natural form. Nonetheless I do buy apples galore when in season, and go overboard making yummy things with it. This cake fits perfectly in the yummy and fun apple baked goods shelf.
I came across this recipe when at home on a Sunday with the BBC show Something for the Weekend playing in the background. For the ones who don’t know it’s a Sunday TV show which mixes interviews with cooking. There I was with my back turned to the screen and I heard the words ‘apple and fudge’. I Put a stop on lunch prep work and focused fully on watching the steps to apple cake heaven.
The recipe is really quick to put together. The most laborious tasks being peeling, coring, slicing and chopping the apples. Plus chopping the fudge. The cake will sit in the oven for nearly an hour which allows you to get on with things. You can even have a shower and wash your hair. This beautiful chemistry of ingredients fills the kitchen with the most seasonal and alluring smell, that of apples and cinnamon.
A couple of weeks after making the cake for the first time I found myself in the shop of Wiseley Gardens not far from where I live. Prior to visiting the shop I had been on a nice stroll on the grounds, and the chilly autumn walk had filled me with cake and tea desire. In the shop I saw soft fudge on sale, and immediately decided to bake the apple cake again. That soft fudge was going to be just perfect. And so it was.
It’s a ‘grown up’ cake. Doesn’t need hand holding, or pretty icing. It stands out on it’s own merit, and rewards you when you take a bite. Gentle crust on the sides, sticky on the finger. Juicy on top where the apple rings sit, and sort of spongy in the middle. Brew a cup of tea to have with it, and have a taste of autumn with specs of fudge in the palate.
For the recipe go to this link – Something for the weekend. Just want to mention that I used three small apples, each weighing 100g each. Once peeled they weigh about 85 . I cut 1 1/2 apples in rings, and the remaining was chopped. I strongly believe that there might have been a typo on the apple weight in original recipe. The cake also served more than 6 people – I guess it will depend on the size of the slices.
