Buttered Barley & Apple Cake

Method

1. Add the barley, zest of one of the lemons, and milk to a saucepan. Bring slowly to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cover. Cook gently, checking and stirring occasionally, adding water if it gets too thick too quickly, for 20 minutes. Check that the grains are tender through; if not continue to cook until they are (adding extra liquid if required) and the mix is very thick. Remove from the heat, beat in the butter, and cover. Leave to cool. This can be done ahead of time and kept in the fridge.
2. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180C (160 fan). Grease a 24cm spring-form tin and dust with extra demerara sugar.
3. In a large bowl, thoroughly beat together the cooled barley porridge, sugar, eggs, and the zest of the second lemon. Separately, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Fold this through the wet batter.
4. Scrape the mix into your prepared cake tin, and arrange the apple slices neatly over the top. Sprinkle over the 50g demerara sugar. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour until a skewer in the centre comes out clean. The sugar will caramelise on the edges of the apples and may catch just slightly towards the end, cover with tin foil for the last 15 mins if you don’t like this effect.