I do love and hand-me-down recipe and this stewed apple pancake cake is exactly that. It’s inspired by the fact that last week I got one of those ridiculous substitutions from Sainsbury’s that defy all reason. I ordered vanilla custard – one of their fancy ones. Instead I was sent a regular custard and a pack of readymade pancakes! No idea how the concept of pancakes as a substitution even went through the minds of the person making the selection but that’s what arrived.
As you can imagine I would never purchase something so random as ready made pancakes. I rarely even make them but I’m so glad that this happened. It kind of reminded me of my old blog feature Random Recipes. Anyway, I was telling my good friend Tina about the weird delivery and she mentioned that her mum Sheila used to make a dish that was layers of stewed apples between pancakes. Tina verbally described it to me and it sounded like the ideal recipe to make use of these pancakes. Simple and delicious.
I think this dish would make an amazing alternative to Christmas Pudding – think about adding a splash of brandy to the stewed fruit (dare we even think about that yet?) But I think it also makes for a lovely celebration of apple season which is just around the corner.
- 6 pancakes – I used the ready made ones from Sainsbury’s but you can easily make your own crepes.
- 4 apples – I used two golden delicious and 2 braeburn. Both chopped into very small chunks – skin on.
- 100g mixed raisins – I used some cranberries in there too
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- golden syrup
- butter
I used a 18cm Victoria sponge cake pan which I greased well with butter and sprinkled sugar on the inside.
Pre-heat the oven to 170c (fan)
Place the chopped apples, cinnamon and raisins or mixed fruit into a small pan along with a generous squeeze of golden syrup and let it gently heat for about 10 minutes. Stir frequently. Depending on the apples you’re using they should soften but not turn to mush. Take them off the heat and set aside.
Lay one pancake into the cake tin and spoon 1/5 of the warm stewed apple mixture on top. Add a couple of small nobs of butter before adding the next layer and gently pushing down.
Continue until all the pancakes and stewed apples have been used and you place the final pancake on top. A generous squeeze of syrup goes on top and then pop it in the oven for 15 mins.
Once it’s ready, carefully place a plate on top and flip it over. Serve with custard or brandy ice cream.
Eat and of course, enjoy!
