Eccles cake

• pack butter↗250g g

  softened, plus extra for greasing

• soft light brown sugar↗250g g
• vanilla extract↗2 tsp tsp
• large eggs↗4
• plain flour↗100g g
• self-raising flour↗250g g
• buttermilk↗100g g
• eating apples2

  peeled, cored and diced to about 1cm pieces

• ground cinnamon↗1 tsp tsp
• mixed spice1 tsp tsp
• ground cloves↗¼ tsp tsp
• zest 1 lemon
• melted butter2 tbsp tbsp
• soft light brown sugar↗2 tbsp tbsp
• currant↗85g g
• raisin↗85g
• mixed peel↗50g
• icing sugar↗85g

  sifted

• zest and juice 1 lemon
• a few sugar cubes

  roughly crushed

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease and line a deep 20cm cake tin with baking parchment. Mix together the filling ingredients and set aside.

2. 2

   Put butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and whisk until pale. Beat in the eggs, then fold in the flours, buttermilk and apples. Spoon half the mixture into the tin. Scatter over filling, leaving a 2.5cm clear border all around the edge. Spoon remaining mixture on top, starting by dolloping round the edges, then moving into the middle. Bake for 1 hr 25 mins or until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Cool in the tin.

3. 3

   Mix the icing sugar with enough lemon juice to make a runny-ish icing. Remove cake from the tin, drizzle over the icing, then scatter with crushed sugar cubes and lemon zest.