Apple traditions in Somerset
My new novel, The Orchard Girls, is set among a group of Land Girls at a 1940 Somerset apple orchard estate. One of my favourite things about writing that book was the research on orchards, the seasons of apple trees, the ways the fruit was harvested and what happened to it afterwards. Somerset apple orchards have such a rich history and tradition, and as I delved into that part of the novel it was lovely to see how many apple growers are now reviving old businesses or starting anew, using some of the old ways and wisdoms.
The only thing that was missing from the novel was a character actually cooking the apples. For the life of me, I couldn’t quite persuade my heroine Violet (who runs away from her upper class London life to join the Land Girls at Winterbourne, my fictional apple orchard) nor the Land Girls (who are trying to survive farming life and something much darker threatening to tear them apart) to make their way into the kitchen and start baking – much as I love novels that include baking and cake-making!
Baking with apples
But in the spirit of all things apples, trees and orchard living, I’m sharing one of my favourite apple cake recipes with you today. It’s called “Krimmel”, a German cousin of the English “crumble”, and it was given to me by my mum.
I think all families have a family recipe that was such a natural part of growing up that you’re always taken aback when other people have never come across it. This is such a cake. It’s not new, not remotely fancy, adaptable a million and one ways and always delicious. There is practically nothing you can mess up with this cake, trust me, in fact, the messier and craggier the crumb-clumps, the more moreish the whole thing becomes.
You can use any add-on (nuts or oats), any additional flavouring (rum raisins, anyone?) and, really, any fruit that decently holds up inside a pie (blackberries, plums, that kind of thing). Personally, I am a purist about my Krimmel and just go with the basic recipe below, but by all means, be bold and take this new and adventurous places.
Krimmel: A sort of German Apple Crumble
400 g flour
200 g sugar
250 g butter
100 g ground almonds
vanilla and / or cinnamon to taste
ca. 5 Apples (my mum uses Granny Smith or Braeburn)
A spritz of lemon
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and butter & flour a 23 cm springform or other cake form. For smaller forms adjust the amount accordingly.
Peel, core and cut the apples into smallish, flattish chunks. Toss through with a spritz of lemon.
Combine flour, sugar, ground almonds, cinnamon and / or vanilla to taste. Drop the butter in pieces across the surface and work the whole thing into crumbs and clumps. Divide this amorphous crumb mass roughly into two thirds and one third. Pat the bigger portion into the tin, creating a layer that is still a nubbly with clumps and crumbs but works as a base for the fruit. Spread the apples across the surface and dot — messy is not only fine but recommended – with the remaining crumbs. Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes. If it gets too brown before the time is up, lay a lose piece of foil over the top but don’t tuck it around.
Enjoy!
As anything in life, this only improves with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream slathered across the top, but it can absolutely hold its own exactly the way it is described here and it remains delicious for a few days.
