This is another one of my cakes that you should be able to bake with ingredients that are already in your store cupboard.

The recipe for this is originally an apple cake with rum and cinnamon but you can use any kind of fruit or berries. Peaches work well, plums are great and so are cherries.

I only had one apple, so decided to add some of berries I keep in the freezer for quick smoothies.

I am using German Vanilla Pudding powder, which is a staple in my kitchen, but it can easily be substituted by custard powder. You can buy the real deal at the German Deli in London or online.

Preheat the oven to 180C, 160C for ovens, gas mark 4

Here is what you need for the cake mix:

• 250g flour
• 125g unsalted butter
• 150g sugar
• 25 g or 1 pack vanilla pudding powder
• 1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg

Mix all the ingredients together using the kneading attachments on your hand mixer. This is important, as you want the mixture to be still crumbly.

Fill half of it into a greased baking tin and smooth the mixture out evenly and form a slightly higher rim around the edges.

And for the filling:

1/3 of a bag of frozen Black Forest berries or similar, thawed*

1 apple, peeled and cut into little pieces

1 pack orange zest or fresh zest from one orange

Mix the berries, apple and orange zest and put it in the tin. Top with rest of the cake mixture crumbles.

Bake for 50 minutes. If needed, turn the heat up slightly for the last 10-15 minutes.

Dust lightly with a mixture of vanilla and icing sugar

 

I hope you like it!

*If you want to make an apple cake, use 5 medium apples and add 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, a few drops of rum essence, one tablespoon of lemon juice and 3 teaspoons of vanilla sugar instead of the berries and orange zest.