Nearly-dead Apple Cake

Every other Thursday is like Christmas at our house. Eagerly I wait for our fantastic veggie box to be delivered. Usually I am home and Dave, the veggie man, hands over the goods with a smile and tip of his hat....no not really a tip of his hat, but I like to imagine that 50 years ago he may have! Anyway, yesterday I ended up having to run a few errands around the time that Dave usually visits and so when I arrived home to find my box sitting by the door just WAITING for me I literally jumped for joy. Is it sad that I get so much joy from the sight of beautiful produce picked just for me? I think I can live with the stigma.

The only downside of the box, or of mass vegetable buying in general, is the ritual cleaning out of the crisper drawers and fridge shelves before anything can be put in. It isn't really all that bad, I mean we tend to use up every shred of veg before the fortnight is up (I ration very strictly...thank you Dad and your love of military history and films) and so usually the most I have to do is brush down the shelves and tip out any dirt from the crisper drawer.

This week, however, I found....lurking...in the back of the drawer.....3 slightly soft and definitely "floury" apples. GAK! Two thoughts immediately sprang to mind: 1) When did I buy these? and 2) do I have enough eggs to make a cake?

Thankfully I did!!! (I never managed to answer number 1!)

My mum makes a fabulous apple cake that she calls DEAD APPLE CAKE, because...you guessed it...it uses dead apples. Not brown and rotten and fuzzy dead apples, but those nearing death. In fact the cake should more accurately be called NEARLY DEAD APPLE CAKE (think Nearly-headless-Nick from the HP series). Originally the recipe came from my Nonna who was given the recipe from a Jewish lady whose home she used to clean waaaaaay back when. When I was growing up my Nonna made all sorts of recipes inherited from those Jewish families and I just used to think that it was Italian food, cause she was Italian.





Anyway, this cake is moist and sweet and even better...freezes well. The apples are sliced thinly and then covered in sugar and cinnamon to get some flavour and then layered in between a spongy orange flavoured batter. It is a cinch to make and tastes fab!