Spiced rum and apple cake

It’s not very often my thoughts turn to cake but when they do, those thoughts generally include spices and booze. And fruit. My boss collected a big bag of cooking apples from her garden which I raided for the best specimens, leaving all the bruised and maggoty ones for my colleagues. They could moan about that, but then I gave them cake so I think I got away with it. See what I did there?
This is a very squidgy cake. The apple chunks are tart but this is a very good thing because the cake is quite sweet. I spiced it with allspice and rather a conservative amount of cinnamon which could easily be increased if you are more into it than I (e.g. you are American). I finished it with a glaze of rum and butter which seeps into the cake while still warm, hence all the little holes in the surface. It’s a very moist, boozy, sharp/sweet cake which would be very happy sitting underneath a blob of creme fraiche, alongside a cup of tea. I’m rather annoyed that it looks a little dry in the picture below, on account of its being so damn squidgy, but I weighed this up against your potential frustration at not being able to see the inside of the cut cake, so here it is…
Spiced rum and apple cake recipe (based on this recipe)
(fills 1 x 20cm springform cake tin)
125g butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
225 plain flour
225g dark muscovado sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
500g cooking apples, peeled, cored and diced
For the glaze (I only used half of this in the end)
3 tablespoons rum (the better the rum, the better the cake, obviously)
50g butter
50g sugar
Heat oven to 160/fan140/Gas 3
Butter a 20cm springform cake tin and line the bottom with baking paper.
Cream the butter and muscovado together in a food mixer (or by hand if you don’t have one), then mix in the egg. Sift over the flour, plus the spices and baking powder. Fold the mixture together, then add the apple. Mix it in. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 40 mins-1 hour, or until golden and risen.
To make the glaze, melt butter, sugar and rum together in a small pan. When it starts to boil and thicken slightly, it’s ready. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
When the cake is cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 mins in the tin. Poke holes all ove the top of the cake with a skewer, then brush on the glaze, letting each bit soak in before adding the next. I only used about half this glaze.