Forbidden Fruit

The countryside in this part of the world is lovely, a fact that we sometimes lose sight of being surrounded by this natural beauty all the time. It's not picture postcard lovely, much more real and rural than that. After our three hour walk through the countryside the Handyman and I returned to Holly Grove for a cup of tea and the last two pieces of Aunt N's fruit cake.

This prompted me to restock the cake tin with a variation on a carrot cake using more HG apples:















Forbidden Fruit Cake
Ingredients
8 ozs soft tub margarine or softened butter
8 ozs soft light brown sugar
4 eggs, beaten
8 ozs plain wholemeal flour
2 level tsps baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
12 ozs HG apples, peeled and coarsely grated
finely grated rind and juice of 1 large lemon
5 ozs walnut pieces, chopped
3 ozs full fat soft cheese
2 ozs icing sugar

Method
Cream the fat and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time beating until combined. Sieve together the flour, baking powder and mixed spice. Fold the flour into the creamed mixture. Add the apples, lemon rind and 1 tbp of the lemon juice and mix well. Add 4 ozs of the chopped walnut pieces (reserving the remaining 1 oz for the topping) and fold in gently.

Place the mixture in an 8" greased and lined cake tin and put into a preheated oven at 180C for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Cover the top of the cake with a piece of greased greaseproof paper after about 1 hour to prevent the top becoming too brown.

Meanwhile make the topping by beating together the cream cheese, icing sugar and the remaining lemon juice.

Allow the cake to cool and cover the top with the cream cheese topping and sprinkle over the remaining chopped nuts.

...and the forbidden fruit of the title...well, think of the Garden of Eden and living at Holly Grove is pretty close and we have the apple trees too!