Name: Eccles cake
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 1 h 25 min
Total time: 2 h 5 min
Yield: 10
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 250g pack butter softened, plus extra for greasing; 250g soft light brown sugar; 2 tsp vanilla extract; 4 large eggs; 100g plain flour; 250g self-raising flour; 100g buttermilk; 2 eating apples peeled, cored and diced to about 1cm pieces; 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 1 tsp mixed spice; ¼ tsp ground cloves; zest 1 lemon; 2 tbsp melted butter; 2 tbsp soft light brown sugar; 85g currant; 85g raisin; 50g mixed peel; 85g icing sugar sifted; zest and juice 1 lemon; a few sugar cubes roughly crushed

250g pack butter
softened, plus extra for greasing
250g soft light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
100g plain flour
250g self-raising flour
100g buttermilk
2 eating apples
peeled, cored and diced to about 1cm pieces

For the filling

1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
¼ tsp ground cloves
zest 1 lemon
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
85g currant
85g raisin
50g mixed peel

To decorate

Method

step 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.
step 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.
step 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.