An apple a day



I love apples and eat at least one a day so they don't last long in our house! The basket of apples in my previous post is going down fast and so today we set out to replenish the stock. Our trip took us just over the border into Somerset and to North Perrott Fruit Farm, which was celebrating a crop of 30 varieties of apples and pears with an apple tasting day.


 Apple Day is on the 21st October. It is an annual celebration to celebrate the local distinctiveness in apples, and there are many events this month all over the country. Apples are thought to have been brought over to Britain by the Romans and there are still thousands of different varieties, but how many varieties do we eat on a regular basis? I love some of the old names such as Slack ma Girdle, Buttery Door, Hangy Down, Arlingham Schoolboys, Sussex Duck's bill, Sops in wine - those names conjure up such images!


Back home it didn't take me long to make an apple and blackberry pie, using some frozen blackberries from the freezer. Last week I made a Dorset Apple cake - a speciality of the county that I live in.


Easy Dorset Apple Cake
7oz (175g) Self raising flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder
1oz (25g ) cornflour
4oz (100g) butter (I don't ever use margarine in this recipe as the butter gives it a lovely flavour.)
4oz (100g) caster sugar
8oz (200g) cooking apples which have been peeled, cored and diced. (I use dessert apples sometimes and e cut  them up quite small.)
1 lemon zest
1 large egg and 1 tablespoon milk

Top of cake
1 large apple and soft brown sugar




Method
Sift flour,baking powder into bowl
Cut butter into small pieces and rub into flour
Stir in sugar, apples and zest
Bind together with egg and milk
Place in 8 inch (20cm) cake tin and peel and slice remaining apple and arrange over the top of cake. Sprinkle over the brown sugar and cook in a preheated oven  Gas Mark 6 /190C/375F for 30-40 minutes.

Allow to cool before serving.If you are feeling indulgent you could always serve it with clotted cream.

Thank you for  all your lovely comments and big welcome to Anita from Castles crowns cottages and Margaret from Margarets patch.

Sarah x

Comments

  1. Hello Sarah,
    This recipe sounds and looks really good.. i bought apples yesterday.. might give it a try tomorrow.. Only thing is Sarah.. I only have myself to eat it with.. so you can imagine. Maybe wait until family time.
    I have never heard of any of the names of the apples you mentioned.. they look super. I do however, know the apple on the bottom right of your collage.. Here its called "Queen apple"..they are great baked in the oven..with brown sugar and a little port.
    nice post.
    happy sunday
    val

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    Replies
    1. Tha cake isn't too large but it did take us a few days for the two of us to finish it! So maybe it worth waiting to the family are around or you could possibly freeze some of it. Your baked apples sound lovely with the addition of port, is that a Portuguese recipe?
      Sarah x

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  2. Lovely I like apple's to and I make also a lot of apple cake or apple tart the kids are very happy with it when I make some. My dad has a big garden and a lot of apple tree's and he give me a lot of apple's and I make some apple sauce. Or I make some jam with apple sauce in it a combination of two kinds of fruit. We love it. Have a nice evening and a very good week.
    Greetings Petra.

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  3. I have made a note to visit that fruit farm when we are next down in that area, I really get annoyed with the rubbish type of apples the supermarkets keep dishing up in fact it is so bad we do not buy them any more preferring farm apples.

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  4. Hi Sarah,

    Did you pick the apples yourself? That sounds like fun! Your apple and blackberry pie sounds good, so does your apple cake.

    Wish you a happy new week!

    Madelief x

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    Replies
    1. Unfortunately we didn't pick the apples as they were expecting so many visitors but we did see that it is an option, so we will do that another time.
      Sarah x

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  5. I love apple season! This post made me feel hungry! Just going to get an apple..... Ada :)

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  6. Lovely collage of the apples Sarah, and delicious looking Dorset Apple cake.
    We had only three apples on our tree so nothing to carry us through the winter this year. I am pleased that the apple farm you visited did not suffer the same fate.

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  7. Hello Sarah
    I have been to North Perrott Fruit Farm it is a great place to see some old verities, and to pick up some wonderful apple juice,
    I also eat an apple day, as a child I lived in Kent and we had apple trees in the garden so they were always on offer
    Your apple cake looks delicious
    Thank you for sharing you have reminded me of some lovely days spent apple picking
    Thea x

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    Replies
    1. I forgot to photograph and mention their apple juice too, it was delicious and we bought some home too.
      Sarah x

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  8. That cake looks delicious!
    June

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  9. Hi Sarah,

    As the old saying ...an apple a day keeps the doctor away.
    Lovely post and the cake looks so yummy and love the names of some of the old apple varieties.

    Happy week
    Hugs
    Carolyn

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  10. Mmmmm, you make me want to eat an apple right now. Gorgeous post!
    I have been making apple cakes and apple pies on a regular basis these last weeks.
    it's something that goes with this time of year isn't it? Thanks for sharing the recipe! I will give it a try.
    Bye,
    Marian

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  11. One of my teenage jobs was working in a fruit and vegetable store. I loved seeing the different apple names coming in. (The kangaroos on the island were very tame and relatively unfussed by our presence. I touched one kangaroo who came up to my hand. We were standing very closeby taking photos. But they are used to humans being around. Others I've come across just bounce away after checking you out for a bit!)

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  12. Greetings from Southern California...this is my first visit to your blog and I am so happy to have discovered you over there on the other side of the world. The apple cake certainly looks delicious and simple to make too. Those old apple names you listed sound quite odd to my ears...they do conjure up such images!

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  13. Ooh Sarah that cake looks lovely and I have so many cooking apples in the garden, I've jotted it down & hope to have a baking session before we go on hols! Thank you. x

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  14. mm delicious apple cake, reminds me of one my friend Carol used to make when we were students, love all the pics of the old apples, so good to know they are celebrated...and grown! we've just picked our apples, all much smaller this year but still taste so delicious because we grew them!

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  15. i love apple pies...you have a lovely photo...the apple really looked delicious and fresh...:)

    xx!

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  16. Good morning Sarah! Oh, apples do NOT last long in my household either! This cake looks lovely and perfect for the cold nights we are starting to have and tea with this cake is perfect.

    Have a great day and give little Daisy a hug! Anita

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  17. Dearest Sara - this is a charming post! I love apples too! In Switzerland it is the fruit we eat most. We can't live without them and I am like you I love the old sorts. I know in England Bramley apples are very a favorite. Unfortunately I have never had the chance to try one. Be assured that I will try out that Dorset Apple Cake! Thanks for the recipe! Christa

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  18. Hi Sarah, Am thinking a Apple crumble could be on our menu this evening!! hehe..
    Love Maria x

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  19. I also make apple cake but my recipe has almond essence in it so don't know where it originates from. Apple Crumble is my absolute favourite though.

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  20. Oh sweet Sarah!

    Thank you for coming and bringing Daisy with you (teehee) to my blog post. It is a pleasure to know you and may your walks along your sea shore be as calming as I imagine them to be...have a lovely day, Anita

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  21. We have a Bramley Apple tree in the garden, but it's not produced as much fruit this year. I must try out your apple cake recipe though it looks delicious:)

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  22. I love apples, applepie and applecake! Your pictures of the last posts are beautiful. Lovely greetings

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  23. I couldn't agree more - I love apples and trying different varieties.

    The cake looks so yummy - another beautiful recipe to tuck away and try.

    Nina x

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  24. Hi Sarah - I love Apple day too (as you might notice from my new post - great minds etc...!) and the old names and varieties. You are lucky to be down South with an abundance of Apples - not so many up here and my poor tree in Scotland suffered this year. I have never made a Dorset Apple cake - I always use a recipe that I found in my basic Good Housekeeping Cookery Book that was a Wedding present 36 years ago! Perhaps it is time for a change - it certainly looks very tempting - not sure it will count as my apple a day - that might be stretching it a bit but I am sure I am allowed a little treat. Lovely photos too - have a good week.

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  25. Yes, yes to the apple names! I wrote half a thesis chapter on French seventeenth-century fruit names concentrating mostly on pears and apples. Some were quite cheeky. I love the imagery the name affords and then fitting the character of the fruit to it. Does that make sense? The cake recipe you have kindly shared with us is just the sort of cake I enjoy in autumn so this recipe will be made this week, as soon as possible!

    Warmest wishes,

    Stephanie

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    Replies
    1. What a wonderful thing to write part of a thesis on, I love the old names too!
      Sarah

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  26. Your cake looks amazing!! After 2+ years of living here, I finally broke down and bought a scale so I can finally make some English goodies :)

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  27. Oh les pommes!!! J'adore il sont iper bon!! Jolie fotos!
    Bonne semaine!
    xxx Maria xxx

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  28. Hi Sarah!
    Autumn and appplecakes or pies; I love them!
    I will try to translate your recipe and try to make your cake.
    We had not so many fruit this year here in the netherlands; too cold and too wet in spring maybe.
    Have a nice apple-celebrationday!
    Thanks for your sweet comments on my blog- in DUTCH!
    greetings Fleur

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  29. Your apples look beautiful and I do love how you took the pictures as well. These look gorgeous :))) thanks for sharing the recipe, your cake looks yummy
    Kiss
    Natasha

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  30. We eat an apple a day too but how expensive English apples are these days. the cake looks good.

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