Apple cider cake with mascarpone

Ingredients

330ml/11½fl oz good-quality cider
300g/10½ oz plain flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch grated nutmeg
150g/5oz soft dark brown sugar
150g/5oz melted butter
4 apples (Cox or Russet), peeled and grated
2 free-range eggs
200g/7oz golden sultanas
100g/3½oz chopped pecans
For the mascarpone cream
250g/9oz mascarpone
splash cream
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. In a saucepan, boil the cider until it has reduced in volume by two-thirds. Leave to cool.
3. Sift the flour, baking soda, mixed spice, cinnamon and nutmeg into a mixing bowl.
4. In a separate bowl, cream together the sugar and butter and add the grated apple. Stir in the egg and reduced cider and mix well.
5. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and fold in the sultanas and pecans.
6. Spoon into a greased 20cm/8in spring-form cake tin and bake for 45-60 minutes until springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool before carefully turning out onto a plate.
7. For the mascarpone cream, whisk together the mascarpone, the cream and the ground cinnamon.
8. Serve a slice of the cake with a spoonful of the cinnamon cream.