Apple & Cheese Cake

I can't tell you how many times I have longingly looked at the picture of this cake from the pages of the November 1996 edition of the Good Housekeeping magazine. Now that I've finally made it I realised that I have to do some adjustment next time around. I couldn't quite place this cake whether to categorise on the sweet or savoury side. Could it be that I used cheddar instead of caerphilly? It certainly was not very sweet and the generous amount of cheese in it made it a bit salty. I did enjoy it more as a snack rather than as a dessert. Strong coffee or tea certainly goes well with this.


Apple & Cheese Cake

550 g  dessert apples - chopped [about 3 cups]
50 g  Brazil nuts or walnuts - chopped [1/2 cup]
1/3 cup sunflower oil
175 g  [1 1/3 cups] self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
75 g  [1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp] light muscovado sugar
100 g  [2/3 cups] raisins or sultanas or combination of both
2 eggs
200 g  cheddar or Caerphilly or Wensleydale cheese - grated or crumbled
icing sugar for dusting (optional)

1. Grease a 9-inch (23 cm) deep tart pan. Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F.
2. Combine the flour and baking powder in a bowl.
3. Stir in sugar, raisins and sultanas (if using), nuts and apples.
4. Beat eggs and oil in another bowl.
5. Stir in the egg mixture to the flour mixture.
6. Put half of batter in the tart pan.
7. Sprinkle cheese on top.
8. Spoon the rest of the batter on top of the cheese.
9. Bake for 50 mins - 1 hour or until firm in the centre.
10. Cool completely then sprinkle with icing sugar.