Cake Slice Bakers: Cheddar Cheese and Apple Cake

I read the name of this cake and thought it was just craziness; the product of a recipe writer who's cracked under the pressure of cake.

Yum yum! Also, that's the hand of a 21 YEAR OLD. uuuuuuugh.......

So I told people at school about it and they were all, "Oh, you should try cheese on slices of apple" and I was all, "Yes, I know of that combination but this is a cake" and they were like "Oh, you should try cheese with grapes" and I was all, "Fine. I'll make it." And they were all, "Oh, you should try marmite and apple" and I was like, "uuum" and someone was all, "you should try peanut butter and cheese!" and I was just like, "No."

So I made it and it was surprisingly good! It was pleasantly sweet with a nice tang and not full of melted cheese like I'd subconsciously imagined. A good word for it might be refreshing... It had a nice texture too so all in all, a nice cake.

Sad stuff now:

No. 1 - To share this cake with those cheese/pear/grapes/etc. fans, I cleverly protected it from my feline housemates by wrapping it up in three layers of clingfilm. Which of course they very cleverly ripped off in the dead of night for the sole purpose of licking all the icing sugar off the top.

Can't prove it but here's the suspected Cake Licker. I'm watching him...

No. 2 - this is my last CSBers post :( I've already gone through the new book they're going to bake from so I'm not so keen on going through it again. Good luck and happy baking to the continuing, and new, CSBers! You've been fabulous to bake with and I know where you are online now :)

Cheddar Cheese and Apple Cake
Adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup quick-cooking cornmeal/polenta
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4oz unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
6 tablespoons milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 large tart apple (I used a Granny Smith), peeled, cored and cut into 1cm (or 1/4inch) dice

Preheat oven to 175C/350F. Grease and dust a 9inch round cake pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Thoroughly mix in eggs, one at a time. Stir in half of the flour until just mixed in. Stir in milk. Stir in rest of flour until just incorporated. Carefully stir in cheese and apple.

Pour into prepared pan, smooth top, and bake until the cake is golden brown and a skewer comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes then cool completely, right way up, on a wire rack.

Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Store cake away from sneaky cats in a sealed container at room temp for up to two days.