Ingredients

• 30g/1oz butter
• 225g/8oz Bramley apples (or similar cooking apples)
• peeled
• sliced
• 225g/8oz Cox's
• Pippins or any other English eating apple
• peeled
• sliced
• 30g/1oz caster sugar
• 1 vanilla pod
• split
• seeds scraped out
• 1 free-range egg yolk
• 75g/2¾ oz melted butter for the bread
• 8 slices white bread
• crusts removed
• 100g/3½oz butter
• 100g/3½oz soft dark brown sugar
• 100ml/3½fl oz double cream
• clotted cream

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
• Melt the butter in a large pan over a medium heat. Add all of the apples
• the sugar and vanilla seeds. Cook until the apples become soft enough to break down into a purée. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
• Once the apple mixture is cool
• add the egg yolk and mix well to combine.
• Butter the bread slices and line a 600ml/1 pint pudding basin with some of the bread slices
• overlapping the slices to ensure there are no gaps.
• Spoon in the apple mixture and cover the top with the remaining bread.
• Place a plate on top of the pudding and weigh it down with a can of beans (or similar weight) for one hour.
• Remove the plate and cover the pudding with kitchen foil. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
• Remove the foil and bake for ten more minutes
• or until the top is light golden-brown.
• For the sauce
• place the butter
• sugar and cream into a separate pan over a medium heat. Bring to the boil and cook for 5-6 minutes
• until combined as a smooth sauce.
• To serve
• cut out a wedge of apple Charlotte and place onto each plate. Add a generous spoonful of the sauce and a spoonful of clotted cream alongside.