Apple and Honey Cake: A Great Alternative Xmas Dessert

When I was a kid I used to hate Christmas pudding, it was so rich and I never acquired a taste for it at all. My Yorkshire nan knew this and every time she visited us for Xmas she'd whip up an apple and honey cake, just for us kids. I started making the cake for my own kids at Christmas and it's become quite a family tradition now. If I don't make the cake, one of my daughters will bake it on Christmas Eve, as it's one of their favourite Christmas Day breakfast snacks, too.

100g castor sugar

3 large eggs

3oz/70g honey

12oz/300g self-raising flour

3oz/80g butter

1 tsp cinnamon

3 - 4 dessert apples - peeled, cored and diced into small cubes

Heat oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4 and grease a 8 inch/20cm cake tin.

Add sugar, honey and eggs to mixing bowl and whisk with electric mixer for around ten minutes, until mixture is pale and fluffy in texture.

Cut softened butter into small squares and beat into mixture.

Sieve flour and add to mixture, along with cinnamon and apple pieces. Beat mixture until all ingredients are combined well.

Spoon cake mixture into greased cake tin and place in hot oven for around 45 minutes. Check cake after 25 minutes, if top has browned sufficiently cover with foil to ensure it does not burn. Test cake with a skewer before removing from oven - there should be no uncooked mixture in the middle of the cake.

Drizzle honey over top of cake and dust with sifted icing sugar.

Serve with cream, or thick honey and apple sauce and cream or ice cream.

1 cup honey
1 cup apple juice or cider

Pour honey and apple juice or cider into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Stir sauce constantly until the mixture thickens to required consistency. Spoon warm sauce over the top and sides of honey and apple cake and serve immediately.

This moist honey and apple cake is a delicious dessert alternative at Christmas, or any other time of year, and it's sure to become a well-loved family favourite pudding.

This moist honey and apple cake is a delicious dessert alternative at Christmas, or any other time of year, and it's sure to become a well-loved family favourite pudding. You'll find kids will adore this dessert, particularly with the added honey apple sauce to give it added moisture and texture.