Apple Crumble Cake

We used to make this cake in the early days of our second restaurant, Stoney Street. That funny-shaped little spot came and went too soon, but there were so many brilliant recipes, loved by us and by so many who came through the doors. Here’s to one of them, a truly brilliant Apple Crumble Cake.

Watch the recipe video here

Crumble top
95g unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes, plus extra for lining the tin
150g spelt flour
Pinch of sea salt flakes
40g soft brown sugar

Cake
3 large apples, peeled and diced
120g unsalted butter, soft
120g soft brown sugar
60g creme fraiche
1 tsp vanilla extract
Good pinch salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
110g plain flour
2 eggs

Custard (serves 2-3, double up if you’re serving the cake all at once)
130g double cream
130g milk
3 egg yolks
35g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (ideally vanilla bean extract)

Crumble and Cake

Start by making the crumble top. Mix all the crumble ingredients together either using a mixer with a paddle attachment or by rubbing everything through your fingers until you get a crumble consistency. Pop it in the fridge until needed.

Preheat oven to 180C and butter and line base of tin with parchment paper.
Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy and lighter in colour. Add the creme fraiche, vanilla extract, salt and mix to combine
While the mixer is still on (low speed) add half the flour, then an egg, then the remainder of the flour and then the final egg.

Prepare apples by peeling and dicing them. Fold the apples into the cake mix, turn out into the tin tin. Sprinkle over the crumble and bake for about 1 hour, covering the cake at about 40-45 minutes so the top doesn’t go too dark.

Custard

Warm milk and cream in a sauce pan over a medium heat, removing just before it starts to boil.

In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks and sugar together. Add vanilla. With hot milk and cream, pour a little bit into the egg mix to temper egg and the pour the remainder of the hot mix into the eggs whisking as you do. Add everything back into the saucepan and set back over a medium heat on the hob. Stirring regularly, cook until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Pour the custard through a sieve into a bowl.