Irish Apple Cake

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>>Apple cake recipes vary from house to house, and the individual technique will have been passed from mother to daughter for generations. It would originally have been baked in a bastible or pot beside an open fire and later in the oven or stove on tin or enamel plates – much better than ovenproof glass because the heat travels through and cooks the pastry base more readily.<<
Darina Allen, in her book, Irish Traditional Cooking: : Over 300 Recipes from Ireland's Heritage
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Darina's recipe, and some notes from me
:
Serves 6 (approximately)
225g (8oz) plain flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
110g (4oz) butter
125g (4½oz) caster sugar
1 egg, free-range if possible, beaten
50–120ml (2–4fl oz) milk, approx.
1–2 cooking apples – we use Bramley Seedling or Grenadier
2–3 cloves (optional)
Beaten egg, to glaze

To serve:
Barbados (muscovado) sugar
Softly whipped cream
24cm (9in) ovenproof pie plate

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until it resembles the texture of breadcrumbs. Add 85g (3oz) caster sugar, then make a well in the centre and mix together with the beaten egg and enough milk to form a soft dough.

Divide in two. Put one half on to your greased ovenproof plate and pat it out to cover. Peel, core and chop up the apples. Place them on the dough with the cloves, if using, and sprinkle over the remaining sugar – the amount you need will depend on the sweetness of the apples. Roll out the remaining pastry and fit it on top. (This is easier said than done as this "pastry" is very soft like scone dough. You may need to do a bit of patchwork if it breaks.)

Press the sides together and cut a slit through the lid. Brush with beaten egg and bake in a moderate oven (180C / 350F / gas mark 4) for about 40 minutes, or until cooked through and nicely browned. Dredge with caster sugar and serve warm with Barbados sugar and softly whipped cream.
* * * * * * * * * * *
This was my first attempt. :-)
Some notes:
* I used Pink Lady apples, chopped into small pieces. They were sweet in themselves, so I did not sprinkle any sugar over them before adding the top of the cake.
* 50 ml of milk worked well.
* Did not add cloves.
* Instead of trying to roll out the dough for the top, I floured my hands and flattened the dough between them.
* Sprayed the inside of a nice, flat lid to a cast iron, enameled top of a Dutch Oven with a no-stick baking spray with flour, and baked the cake in that.
* No Barbados (or muscavado) sugar available, so I just sprinkled some "regular" sugar over the top of the cake once it was out of the oven.
* "Melted" about a teaspoon of sugar in a nice splash of Apple Brandy, and added that to the whipped cream.
Delish!

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