Apple And Date Crumble Cake - cooking recipe

Ingredients

Crumble Topping
2 ounces plain flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 ounces butter
Cake
6 ounces butter, at room temperature
6 ounces caster sugar (superfine)
3 medium eggs, at room temperature
6 ounces self raising flour, sifted
2 ounces stoned dates, chopped
12 ounces tart baking apples, peeled, cored and sliced

Preparation

Pre-heat oven to 375F, 190C, gas mark 5: butter an 8 inch (20cm) round springform tin and base-line with buttered baking parchment.
To make the crumble topping, sift the flour and ginger into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs (you don't have to be too precise about this as the topping melts into the cake during baking): stir in the sugar and set aside.
For the cake mixture, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy; gradually beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a little of the flour with each egg to prevent curdling: fold the remaining flour and chopped dates into the mixture.
Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared tin and when it is all in the tin, finish off by making a slight hollow in the centre with the back of a spoon: layer the sliced apples evenly over the top of the cake mixture, pressing the slices down slightly as you work: scatter the crumble mix over the top.
Bake for 50 - 60 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean: cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes, then serve warm with custard or cream.