Apple and blueberry crumble cake + a movie that could be about my own life

My dear friend Valentina introduced me to Nigel Slater years ago and I instantly became a fan: his simple way of cooking produces absolutely delicious food and he does it in a way that anyone watching him feel they can do it, too – to me, it’s like watching Nigella around the kitchen: it’s never intimidating. They have similar names and similar styles, and they both call themselves cooks, not chefs.

Months ago I watched “Toast”, which is based upon Nigel Slater’s memoirs, and I believe I’d never cried and laughed so hard before while watching a movie. The cast is divine: Helena Bonham Carter is every bit talented as she is crazy, and the once little and adorable Freddie Highmore has become a fine young actor. There were moments in the movie that I felt like I was watching a movie about my own life, so many similarities... It was pretty intense, yet I felt light after watching it – empty Kleenex boxes aside. :)

Every time someone finds out I have a food blog they ask me if I have watched “Julie & Julia” (I have) - that seems to be the ultimate foodie movie out there (maybe it’s the Meryl Streep effect). However, I can relate a lot more to “Toast” since, like Nigel, I grew up without a mother, with a father that couldn’t care less and an evil stepmother – the difference is that his mother could barely boil an egg while my mother was an excellent cook. :)

This moist and delicious cake is an adaptation of a recipe from Nigel Slater’s book on fruit, the gorgeous “Tender II”: it is one of the very best cookbooks I own.

Apple and blueberry crumble cake
slightly adapted from the marvelous “Tender II” (I bought mine here)

Crumble:
50g unsalted butter, cold and diced
50g all purpose flour
60g granulated sugar
2 heaping tablespoons rolled oats
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cake:
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled and cored
juice of ½ lemon
150g unsalted butter, softened
75g granulated sugar
75g light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
85g all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
100g almond meal
120g blueberries, fresh or frozen (unthawed)


Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 22.5x12.5cm (9x5in) loaf pan, line it with baking paper leaving an overhang on the two opposite long sides and butter the paper as well.
Make the crumble: in a small bowl, rub together the butter and flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, oats and cinnamon. Refrigerate until needed.

Cake: thinly slice the apple and place in a medium bowl. Drizzle with the lemon juice to stop the apple slices from turning brown. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt over the mixture and fold in. Fold in the almond meal. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Arrange the apple slices and the blueberries on top of the batter, and push some of the fruit down onto the batter. Sprinkle with the crumble and bake for about 1 hour or until golden and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out slightly moist. Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack. Carefully remove the cake from the pan using the baking paper as aid.

Serves 6-8