I am still on my healthy eating regime, but a pudding at the weekend is my one sweet treat of the week (fingers crossed behind back). Apple and a featherlight sponge is such a good combo – any ice cream accompanies it well at this time of year, but Cornish Clotted Cream flavour particularly so.

Apple Sponge Pudding

Ingredients  serves 4 – 6

6 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
100g sugar
2 tbsp water
2 eggs
tsp vanilla extract
60g self raising flour
Half tsp mixed spice

How to prepare

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4 and grease a 1.5-litre baking dish. Place the apples in a pan with 50g of the sugar and the water. Cover and cook, stirring now and then, for 8 minutes until the apple breaks down. Spoon into your dish, leaving the excess liquid in the pan.

Beat the eggs with the remaining 50g sugar until fluffy. Stir in the vanilla extract. Sift in the flour and spice and fold in.

Pour the batter over the apple and bake for 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean from the sponge. Dust with icing sugar and serve hot with ice cream or custard.