This is such a great dessert cake recipe. Serve it warm with cream (or yoghurt if you must) and feel free to ring the changes with your fruit and spices.

INGREDIENTS

185g butter, softened
185g castor sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp good vanilla extract
150g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp ground ginger
40g ground almonds
75mls buttermilk*
2 apples and 2 good sized feijoas - peeled and chopped into approx 1.5cm pieces**

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180C (bake, 160C fan bake). Grease and line a 20cm cake tin (I love Fat Daddios anodised tins, but I've also made a version of this very successfully in a NordicWare Loaf pan).

Cream butter and sugar until pale, light and fluffy - about four minutes in a stand mixer. Whisk the eggs and add them a little at a time to the creamed mixture, mixing well and scraping down the bowl regularly between additions.

Sift flour, baking powder and ginger together, then add the ground almonds and mix well. Fold through the butter, sugar, egg mixture to just incorporate then add the buttermilk, again gently fold through until just incorporated. (One thing I've learned about baking is, once you've introduced your dry ingredients, use a very light touch to guard against tough, dense cakes). Then add your fruit, gently folding through until just incorporated.

Pour the mix into your prepared cake tin and bake for around 40-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.

Allow to cool in the tin until the cake is firm enough to handle (about 30mins) and then remove to a wire cake cooling rack to cool completely.

Serve dusted with icing sugar and topped with your choice of whipped cream or Greek yoghurt.

* In the interests of easy weekend baking, feel free to substitute the buttermilk with yoghurt or even whisked sour cream, both should be fine but if you're using really thick Greek yoghurt you may need to loosen it with a little milk.

** If feijoas are very ripe, place the cut pieces on a paper towel to drain/dry slightly.