Chez Teresa's Apple and Cinnamon Cake

Another hit this week has been our Apple and Cinnamon Cake.  Basically I made a Victoria Sandwich mix with a hint of maple syrup, a splash of syrup of stem ginger, and a generous amount of powdered cinnamon.  Should you decide to make this cake, instead of using white sugar use a rich brown one.  Pour into a deep buttered cake tin with a circle of parchment paper at the bottom.  Next slice some fresh French Gala apples (keep the rosy skins on) and plunge them into the cake mix rather as if in the cake mixture you are creating a mini Stone Henge.  Top with some crumble mixture use semi-wholewheat flour and brown sugar with butter rubbed into the mix.  Sprinkle with some more brown sugar and bake in a pre-heated oven 180c for 45 - 50 minutes or until you can plunge a knife into the center and it comes out clean.  When cool empty onto a pretty plate.  Serve with Crème fraîche, Fresh Cream or Crème Anglaise. 

                             

I am not sure if I mentioned before that this has been the week of the Germans in terms of the overall number of customers of a particular nationality?  Last week was the week of the Italians and the week before was the week of the visitors from Chile.....they never seem to know each other, but such groups seem to visit Fontevraud l'abbaye in culturally diverse waves....Today we have also had in French, Spanish and English customers so all good.  Mostly our customers are great fun and interesting to talk to and very complimentary about our the food and atmosphere though we do get the odd horror through our doors...guess that is to be expected.  We have anyway been very very busy these past few weeks which is of course good and a revelation after the past two years when due to all the road works etc outside Chez Teresa we did not receive as many customers as in previous years.  I am very tired though, but I guess this is normal and in a way it is a nice kind of tired as overall we have had some lovely customers in this season so far to our tea room.  There is something really rather heartwarming to think that when visitors enjoy their stay with us or their lunch or afternoon tea, we are part of making their overall holiday experience a good one.  We were also thrilled earlier on in the week when a young French couple came over from Tours for a cream tea.   They had read about us in the Geo Guide and visited Fontevraud l'abbaye specifically for a taste d'Angleterre.  They combined this visit with a walk through the forest and its environs and collected a bowl of sweet tasting juicy blackberries which they gave to us as a gift.