Crumble Cake

In season fruit?  Cake?  Crumble?  ALL TOGETHER??  This is an extremely good 'best-of-two-worlds' sort of cake and just the thing to accompany a nice cup of tea on a dreary afternoon.

For the cake:

6oz/150g self raising flour

2oz/50g caster sugar

1 egg

1.5fl oz/40ml milk

4oz/100g butter

few drops of vanilla essence

Fruit

2tsp soft brown sugar

For the crumble:

1oz/25g oats

1oz/25g plain flour

1oz/25g butter

0.5oz/15g soft brown sugar

If you have a loose bottomed tin (about 6" diameter), grease and dust with flour, or if using a normal tin, grease and line with baking parchment.

Pre heat oven to 180C/gas mark 4.  Melt butter, then remove from heat and stir in milk.

Once cool, whisk in the egg and vanilla essence.  In a bowl mix together flour and sugar and beat in wet ingredients.

Pour into the prepared tin and smooth over.

Top with a single layer of fruit (1 apple and a couple of handfuls of frozen blackberries in my case, but you could use anything) and sprinkle over the brown sugar.

In a bowl mix together the flour and oats and rub in the butter to make a breadcrumb consistency.

Add the sugar and stir until well incorporated.

Sprinkle this over the fruit layer and bung in the oven for 30-35 mins, until a skewer inserted in to the centre comes out clean.  Leave to cool for 10 mins before removing from the tin.

Eat warm or cold, for tea, pudding, breakfast, elevenses, midnight snack....