Lumberjack cake

My original title for this post was "I'm a lumberjack and I'm a cake", but I thought that was just too groan inducing, so I will just give you the recipe instead.  This is such a delicous and filling cake - and it certainly doesn't deserve to be the focus of my bad attempt at a pun.
The recipe comes from The River Cottage Cake Handbook, by the very lovely and gentle Pam Corbin.  For once I actually had all the ingredients called for, so no tweakery necessary today.

Grate two eating apples - these are Discovery, and I left the skin on.

Add 250g  (9oz) chopped dates to the apples and mix together.

Sprinkle over 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and add 250 ml (8 fl oz) boiling water/

Set aside until warm.

Then beat 125g (4 oz) soft butter and 175 g (6 oz) light soft brown sugar until light and fluffy

Beat in 1 egg

Add the apple and date mixture including the liquid and mix well

Sift in 150g (5 oz) plain flour with a good pinch of ground cloves and salt added

Fold together gently

The mixture will be very sloppy, but Pam says that is just fine.

Pour into a prepared tin - sorry forgot to mention that a 18cm (7") square (mine was 19cm) or a 20cm (8") round tin, greased and lined is required.

I also forgot to take photographs of the buttery, sugary, floury, mixy bit, but you can imagine what that looks like, can't you?  This was what the bowl looked like at the end.

And my glamorous assistant took care of the rest.

Bake @ 180c, 350f, or Gas mark 4 for 40 minutes, until firm to touch.

While it is baking, make up the topping.

In a saucepan, melt together 75 g (3 oz) butter, 75g  soft brown sugar (Pam says either light or dark!),

 60g (2 oz) dessicated coconut and 75 ml (5 Tblsp) milk

When the cake is cooked, spread the coconut topping over the cake and bake again for another 25 mins.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin and then turn out.  Do try and stop yourself from picking at the edges, as it cools - although I certainly couldn't.

So there we have it!  Moist, dense, chewy, soft, puddingy, appley, coconutty, totally deliciously -

 Lumberjack cake.

I think it would have gone well as a dessert with ice cream, if it had lasted long enough!

Eta:  I was thinking about this again last night - I'm not the only person to think about cakes all the time, surely?  Anyway, I had an idea that it might work beautifully with pear and dried blueberries maybe with a slight gingery hit or with dried apricots, apple and cinnamon??

♥