Cut-and-Come-Again Cake: Part 1 - Apple and Sultana Cake

Nigel Slater, food writer extraordinaire, writes about how his kitchen feels incomplete without a 'cut-and-come-again cake' ready and waiting for visitors. It's a concept I wholeheartedly agree with!

I would hate not to be able to offer freshly baked cake/bread/biscuits to people with a cup of tea/wine when they come a-calling.

My easiest option here is always my fail safe lemon sponge (I say mine - it's a recipe I got years ago. I still have the piece of paper it's written down on and every year it seems to gather more spots of dried on cake batter!). I've written about this cake before on feedahappylife and it's well worth a try.

For fear of friends boredom at rolling this out again and my own desire to experiment, I've been testing out new cake recipes on visitors to the new home of feedahappylife. My next few posts will focus on my own versions of these cut-and-come-again cakes.

This one is a boozy concoction of apple and cognac soaked sultanas (the final taste of alcohol is actually quite mild). The mix creates a firm but moist cake. Good for slicing into thick, welcoming wedges.

Apple and Cognac Soaked Sultana Cake

Ingredients

• 300g apples (grated)
• 1/2 lemon (juiced & zested)
• 100g butter
• 150g sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 185g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 50g chopped walnuts
• 40g sultanas (boiled in 35ml cognac and left to cool)

Step 1: Preheat oven to 180c/GM 4 and butter/line a small cake tin (15 - 20cm)

Step 2: Mix the grated apples with the lemon juice and zest. Stir in the sultanas and cognac

Step 3: Cream butter and sugar until light and gradually beat in the egg and vanilla until combined and smooth.

Step 4: Add all dry ingredients and stir to combine

Step 5: Pour into tin and bake for 40 minutes, then turn temperature down to 150c/GM 2 for another 20 minutes

Step 6: Cool in the tin before slicing and serving with a drizzle of cream and a giant spoon!

Enjoy!
Helen x