This recipe for an Apple Sponge Cake is a seasonal twist on my basic sandwich cake recipe, which makes it especially suitable for an early autumn tea party. September so often means a surplus of apples, and this sponge cake is a delicious way to use up the odd windfall. An apple is grated into the batter, which makes the cake beautifully moist and delicately flavoured. I love to pair the sponge with a slightly tart blood orange curd and buttercream. Of course, regular orange curd or lemon curd works well too (if using lemon, add lemon zest instead of orange to the batter).

Because this cake is small (perfect for serving 3-4), it doesn’t take too long to bake and cool, so is handy if you’re baking fairly last minute. The cake also keeps well in an airtight tin for a few days; we had a surprise visitor yesterday evening and were relieved we still had 3/4s of the cake left in the tin, so were able to serve our guest a slice with his tea!

Apple Sponge Cake with Blood Orange Curd

Ingredients:

(All ingredients should be at room temperature)

4oz soft margarine or butter

4oz caster sugar (I use golden caster sugar)

4oz self-raising flour, sifted with 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 large eggs

1 tsp orange juice

1 small tart eating apple, grated

Zest of 1/2 orange

Buttercream Filling and topping:

4oz icing sugar

2oz soft margarine or butter

1 heaped tsp blood orange curd

1/2 tsp orange juice

To decorate:

Small amount blood orange curd for filling and to decorate and a few nasturtium flowers or other edible flowers/petals for top.

Instructions:

Grease and line the base of two 6" round tins. Set the oven to 350F, 180C, Gas Mark 4.

Sieve the flour and baking powder together into a mixing bowl and then add the sugar, soft butter or margarine, and eggs. Beat well with wooden spoon or hand held mixer for a few minutes. Fold in the grated apple, orange zest and orange juice. Spoon into the prepared tins and level the tops of the cake. Bake in the centre of the oven for 20- 25 mins until springy to touch. Turn out onto wire rack and allow to cool completely before filling and icing.

For the buttercream:

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and use hand held mixer or wooden spoon to beat in the soft butter or margarine, blood orange curd and orange juice until the icing is pale and smooth.

Once cakes are cool, sandwich them with a layer of blood orange curd and half the buttercream, using the rest of the buttercream to ice the top. Decorate with swirls of blood orange curd and flowers if available. Enjoy!