Szarlotka with Apples & Red Fruits

• Szarlotka is the word my mother used for (apple) crumble.
• In some parts of Poland szarlotka is the word used for an apple cake.
• This cake is a cross between a cake and a crumble and is based around my previous szarlotka recipe.
• Apples are mixed with bottled blackcurrants – but you can use any red fruits such as raspberries, blackberries, whinberries and so on.
• The red fruits can be bottled, fresh or frozen.

Ingredients – Filling

• 4 Bramley Apples
• Granulated Sugar to taste – keep it slightly tart
• A little water
• Around 350g of bottled blackcurrants – drained

Method – Filling

• Make the filling first, even the day beforehand as it needs to be cold before you use it.
• Peel and core the apples and cut them into thick slices.
• Stew the apples gently with some sugar and very little water. You can make this in a saucepan on the stove or place the apples and sugar in a dish in the oven.
• Do not add a lot of sugar at the beginning as it does not want to be too sweet, you can adjust the sweetness at the end.
• Do not make it too much of a purée, cook it so that you have some soft apples but with some harder less cooked chunks as well.
• Leave this to be completely cool.
• Mix in the blackcurrants.
• Adjust sweetness is necessary – but keep it fairy tart.

Ingredients – Base

• 150g  plain flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 100g butter
• 40g granulated sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 or 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or water.

Ingredients – Topping (kruszonka)

• 120g plain flour
• 60g butter
• 60g granulated sugar

Method – Base

• You have to use a loose bottom or spring-form tin or you will not be able to get the cake out.
• I use a loose bottomed anodised aluminium cake tin which is 22cm in diameter and 8cm deep.
• Grease the tin well.
• First make the cake base by rubbing the butter into the flour to make crumbs, then stir in the sugar.
• Add the yolk and lemon juice and bring the ingredients together to form a soft dough – do not handle the dough too much.
• Cover and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Pre heat the oven to GM 4 – 180ºC.
• Make the dough into a rough flat circle and press it into the base of the tin.

Method – Topping

• Make the topping by rubbing the butter into the flour to make crumbs and then stir in the sugar.
• Put the  apple & blackcurrant mixture on top of the base – it wants to be quite a thick layer.
• Sprinkle the topping crumbs over the apple & blackcurrant mixture.
• Bake in the oven for around 75minutes.
• Leave to cool in the tin.
• Use a long metal spatula to ease the cake from the side of the tin, then place the cake onto the top of a tin can and slide the side down.

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Tea plates – Aynsley – Las Palmas from the 1960s