Apple cake

 A blustery day brought a garden full of windfalls. I like to make apple cake which freezes well. I adapted the recipe from a lemon drizzle cake basic recipe and, inevitably, use eggs from the hens.

Ingredients
8oz butter - we always use unsalted
8oz caster sugar - refined, natural cane
4 eggs
8oz self raising flour
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 or 3 windfall apples chopped into pieces about 1-2 cm

Method
Pre heat the oven to gas mark 3
Melt the butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds then cream together, using an electric hand whisk with the sugar until the mixture is pale in colour.
Add the eggs one at a time beating each one well in
Sift in half the flour and the cinnamon and fold in to the mixture.
Add the apples to the remaining flour so that the apple pieces are coated in flour before gently folding them all in.
Spoon the mixture into a 2lb loaf tin that has been lined with a greaseproof liner. Alternatively I find that this makes about 12 apple muffin type cakes - lovely for breakfast.
Bake in the middle of the oven for about an hour for the loaf or until a skewer comes out clean. For the muffins raise the temperature to gas mark 5 and bake for about 20 minutes

Note to self to spend some time adapting recipe to use one set of measurements for baking. I alternate happily between imperial and metric.

Some dried fruit - raisins, currants, sultanas go well. Dark brown demerera sugar adds a crunch.