Eccles cake

Enjoy a new take on the traditional pastry and serve at bake sales, birthdays – or just for a treat. Serves 8-10 Prep 40 mins Cook 1 hr 25 mins £1.55 per serving 571 kcals, 27g fat, 16g sat. fat, 53g sugar

250g pack butter, softened, plus extra

for greasing 250g soft light brown sugar 2 tsp vanilla extract 4 large eggs 100g plain flour 250g self-raising flour 100g buttermilk 2 eating apples, peeled, cored and diced

to about 1cm pieces

FOR THE FILLING 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp mixed spice ¼ tsp ground cloves 1 lemon, zested 2 tbsp melted butter 2 tbsp soft light brown sugar 85g currants 85g raisins 50g mixed peel

TO DECORATE 85g icing sugar, sifted 1 lemon, juiced and zested a few sugar cubes, roughly crushed

1 Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease and line a deep 20cm cake tin with baking parchment. Mix together the filling ingredients and set aside.

2 Put butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and whisk until pale. Beat in the eggs, then fold in the flours, buttermilk and apples. Spoon half the mixture into the tin. Scatter over filling, leaving a 2.5cm clear border all around the edge. Spoon remaining mixture on top, starting by dolloping round the edges, then moving into the middle. Bake for 1 hr 25 mins or until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Cool in the tin.

3 Mix the icing sugar with enough lemon juice to make a runny-ish icing. Remove cake from the tin, drizzle over the icing, then scatter with crushed sugar cubes and lemon zest.