Peel, core and roughly chop half of the apples. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Grease and line the base of a deep 21-23cm/8½-9in square cake tin.
Apple Cake
This old fashioned cake is great with a cup of tea in front of a blazing fire, even goes well with a dollop of vanilla ice cream, apple sorbet or clotted cream.
Yield: Makes one 8½–9in square cake
Method
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and stir in the ground almonds and 115g/4oz of the caster sugar. Add 175g/6oz of the butter and rub in with your fingers until the mixture is like that of breadcrumbs.
Add the beaten eggs but do not over mix. Add the calvados (cider or milk could be used instead) to make a spoonable mixture and add the apples. Then spoon the mixture into the tin.
Peel, core and slice the remaining apples, scatter over the top of the cake mix and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
Bake for 50-60 minutes.
Heat the remaining butter, light brown sugar and cinnamon in a pan till the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the flaked almonds.
Remove the cake from the oven and spread the butter mixture over the top.
Return to the oven and bake for a further 10-15 minutes.