Apple and Pear Tray Bake Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 large bramley apple, peeled, quartered, cored and cut into 3 mm slices
• 4 cooking pears, peeled, quartered, cored and cut into 3 mm slices
• juice of half a lemon
• 225g butter at room temperature
• 280g caster sugar
• 350g self-raising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 0.5 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 75g unrefined granulated sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 if it's a fan oven).
2. Mix the chopped fruit with the lemon juice so that it doesn't go brown.
3. Grease a deep baking tray (about 28cm by 20cm) with some extra butter and line it with baking paper.
4. Mix the caster sugar and butter in a large clean bowl until they are a smooth creamy paste.
5. Add the flour, baking powder, eggs, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon to the creamed butter and sugar mix. Stir until evenly combined (it's quite a stiff batter so it'll take a little bit of effort).
6. Spread half the batter mixture over the bottom of the prepared baking tray.
7. Arrange half of the apple and pear slices over the spread out mixture.
8. Carefully spoon the remaining mixture over the top of the slices and spread it out. It's easier to spread it evenly (and right to the edges) if you dollop small spoons of it: about a teaspoon or half a tablespoon.
9. Arrange the remaining slices of fruit over the mixture before carefully sprinkling the granulated sugar evenly over the top.
10. Bake int he oven for 45 to 50 minutes, until it starts to brown a tiny bit but is still a little springy.
11. Leave to cool for 15 minutes before carefully turning it out of the tin, removing the paper and slicing into squares.
12. Store the squares in an air tight box or wrap them individually in foil.

Makes 15 slices.