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Photography: Sylwia Freda

Photography: Sylwia Freda

On Sunday afternoon, my dad and I joined forces and made a very tasty traditional Polish apple cake! (I have to admit, most of the credit goes to my dad as he did all the work, it was my first time making this cake and I was worried it wouldn't come out well). It's a fairly easy recipe and the cake is perfect for afternoon tea.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

- 4 cups of flour
- 1 cup of sugar
- 250g margarine (I recommend Stork)
- 3 eggs
- 15g vanilla sugar (so this may be hard to find in shops as it's not a common product in the UK, I recommend finding a Polish shop near you or looking in the Polish section in Tesco for it; however, if you want to make your own vanilla sugar then here is a very simple recipe)
- 30g baking powder

For the filling:

- 2kg apples
- ground cinammon (my dad can't remember how much he put in so just add a little bit to the apples and taste it, just add however much suits you, everyone likes different amounts)

STEP 1: Preparation (Dough)

Firstly, put all the ingredients for the dough in a big bowl. I recommend cutting up the margarine into smaller pieces as then it's a lot easier to mix it together. Now, my least favourite part, you have to knead the ingredients together with your hands until the dough is able to hold its shape.

Secondly, divide the dough into two equal parts. Roll out the first part so it's the size of the baking tray you're using (I recommend rolling it out on baking paper because otherwise when you try to put it in the tray the dough will break). Roll out the second part in the same way you did with the first part.

STEP 2: Preparation (Filling)

Grate the apples and mix together with cinammon.

STEP 3: Baking

Line the tray with baking paper.

Put the first part of the dough in the baking tray, then put the filling on top of it, making sure it's evenly distributed. On top of the filling, you then have to put the second part of dough you rolled out.

Put the tray in the oven and bake it for 50-55 minutes at 200ºC until golden.

TIP: If the top of the cake seems seems to be getting too brown (nearly burning) then cover it with aluminium foil.

STEP 4: Serving

When the cake has cooled down, decorate it with a dusting of icing sugar. Cut into equal pieces of any size you desire.

Finally, make yourself a nice cup of tea and tuck in ;)