Spiced apple & blueberry muffin cake

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Grease a 23x6.5cm deep, loose-bottomed nonstick cake tin and line the base with baking parchment (see tip, right). Mix the flour, baking powder, mixed spice and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Peel, core and chop 2 of the apples into bitesized chunks and stir into the flour with 150g of the blueberries.

2. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, light brown sugar, soft cheese, melted butter and milk to combine into a batter (it doesn’t matter if you have tiny lumps). Using a large spoon, fold into the dry fruit mix, then spoon the combined mixture into the cake tin.

3. Core and slice the remaining 2 apples and arrange them on top of the cake, slightly overlapping, in circles. Scatter with the remaining blueberries and sprinkle with the demerara sugar. Put the tin on a baking tray and bake the cake for 1 hour 25 minutes.

4. Cool the cake in the tin, then remove and place on a serving plate. Discard the parchment, then dust with the icing sugar. Delicious warm or cold with whipped cream or Greek yogurt.