I gave my friend Penny a copy of The Allotment Kitchen. She was immediately disappointed that my ‘default’ Cheltenham cake was not included. This is the cake I make every year for our picnic at the end of our day at the Cheltenham Festival. I am sure I had written it down but Apples was a big chapter in the book that needed to be cut. So, I have just made the cake and took care to measure all the ingredients.

Line a 30 x 23 cm greased baking tray with baking parchment. Oven at 180°C.

225g softened butter
225g golden caster sugar
275g self-raising flour
2 level tsp baking powder
4 large eggs (or 3 duck eggs), beaten
275g sultanas
175g dessert apples, peeled and coarsely grated
Pinch of ground cinnamon
1 tbsp demerara sugar

Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Add the flour, baking powder, eggs, sultanas and beat together, Then grate the apples and add these and the cinnamon. Beat once more and put into the prepared baking tray. Smooth over with a knife and bake for 25 minutes. Take out of the oven and sprinkle over the demerara sugar. Return to the oven and bake for a further 15-20 minutes until the cake is brown, has shrunk from the sides of the tin and springs back when pressed with your finger tip. Leave to cool in the tin and then cut into squares.