Required: Two pounds of apples Four ounces of butter. The grated rind of a lemon. Half a pound of loaf sugar. Quarter of a pint of water. Quarter of a small tin loaf.

Peel, core, and slice the apples. Put them in a stewpan with the water, lemon-rind, and sugar, and boil them gently until they are quite soft. Remove the lemon-rind, and beat the apples to a smooth pulp with a fork. Use a silver or plated fork, as iron forks often discolour fruit. Cut the bread in slices about a quarter of an inch thick, or rather less; trim off the crusts, and with a plain cutter stamp the bread into rounds the size of a shilling. Cut two round pieces of the same thickness, but of the same diameter, as the tin you are going to use; one is for the top, the other for the bottom. Put the butter in a small saucepan, melt it very gently, then boil it quickly until it bubbles. Let it stand for a minute or two, skim carefully, then pour it gently into a basin, so that all sediment is left behind. Dip each bit of bread into the butter. Put one large round in the bottom of a plain round souffle or cake tin, then line the tin throughout with the small rounds of bread. Pour in the apple pulp, which should be very thick, put on the second large round, and bake in a moderate oven for about half an hour

Turn it carefully on to a hot dish, sprinkle it with a little castor sugar, and serve.

Baked apples

Baked apples

N.B. - If more bread and less fruit is preferred, fill up the mould with layers of small rounds of bread dipped in butter and fruit.