Apple & Honey Tart

This is a delicate and delicious cake, a glam way to use up a glut of apples. The recipe doesn't use any eggs, giving it a tart-like quality, and the honey creates a gooeyness perfect for showcasing those pretty glazed apple slices. It's one of those cakes that not only tastes and looks great, but also makes the house sing with the sweet smell of warm honey and apple.

Recipe

Serves 8-10

Adapted from Tessa Kiros' recipe for Honey Tart, in her lovely book Piri Piri Starfish: Portugal Found. Buy the book on Amazon here. I've turned that simple recipe into a more complicated and pretty apple tart, with a sweet apricot glaze.

250g clear runny honey

125ml milk

100g butter

150g plain flour

3 medium apples or 2 large
juice of 1 lemon

1. Turn the oven to 180C (160 fan ovens), and grease a 20cm springform tin.

2. Core and cut the apples into thin slices, then toss in lemon juice to stop them browning and put to one side. Being an idle sort, I didn't cut my home grown apples that finely, because I like the rustic look, so just slice them thinner than this if you want yours to look more cosmopolitan! 

3. Gently mix the honey and butter together with a little milk.

4. Pour in the rest of the milk, before adding the flour and mix slowly until well combined.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared tin.

6. Place the apple slices in concentric circles over the cake batter, starting outside and working in. Press them gently into the batter.

7. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, then place foil over the top to prevent the apples from burning, and bake again for approximately 15 minutes more. You'll know it's done when the batter is brown and a skewer comes out clean.

8. Take the cake out of the oven, remove the foil, and leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before carefully placing on a plate or wire rack to cool further.

for the apricot glaze:
4 tablespoons apricot jam
2 teaspoons lemon juice

9. Warm the jam and lemon juice gently over a medium heat for 5 minutes.

10. Strain the warm glaze through a sieve, to get rid of any lumps, then using a pastry brush very gently brush the thin glaze over the top and sides of the cake, being careful not to dislodge any of the apple slices as you do so. Serve with icecream or cream.

This cake was idly baked to the sounds of Goldfrapp's album Seventh Tree