Winter fruity Sponge Bake

Crisp colourful leaves on the ground. Bit knitted tops. Bowls of tomato soup and darker evenings watching box sets. Yes that pretty much sounds like Autumn. I love every season going and when the seasons change I often dream about what will happen in this season. Autumn to me is about comfort, appreciation and preparing for ‘come what may’. The colourful leaves followed by the crazy colourful fireworks have me lusting for this season a lot.

And as a baker with children with a sweet tooth I love experimenting with flavours and in Autumn I love gently spicing food with cinnamon, ginger and cardamom. The warm aroma makes me feel safe and snug.

What says ‘hey it’s Autumn’ to me is the combination of apples and blackberries. So here I have an awesome recipe for winter fruit sponge. It’s not too sweet, not too tart and has a spongy warm layer that says Autumn has arrived.
Serve this beauty with lashings of custard….or if you are still pining for Summer a scoop of vanilla ice-cream!

Ingredients:

For the fruity layer
500 grams Apples, Blackberries & plums
175 ml water
60 grams sugar
1 small cinnamon stick

For the spongy top:

125 grams butter at room temperature
125 grams castor sugar
125 grams self raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg whisked
50 ml milk

1) Place the apples, cinnamon and sugar in a pan and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and cook for 5 minutes.
2) Add the blackberries and cook for a further 2/3 minutes. Turn off the heat.
3) In a large bowl beat together the sugar and butter until creamed together. Add the egg and beat further.
4) Add the flour baking powder and ground ginger and beat. Don’t worry if it looks a bit lumpy that will be fixed later.
5) Now add the milk and stir in.
6) Take the baking tin and place the apple and blackberry in it. Spread evenly. Remove the cinnamon stick.
7) Pour over the sponge mix and spread evenly with a spatula.
8) Bake at 170 for 25 minutes (or until golden brown).
9) Take out of the oven and serve warm with custard.
10) Enjoy!