​Prepare your chosen round or square cake tin by lining and greasing well. A smaller tin will produce a taller cake, but keep within the size guidelines.  Preheat your oven to 350F/180C (160C fan).
 
First prepare your apples, by melting the 20g butter and sugar together in heavy bottomed pan and allow to caramelise. Add your chopped apples, coat in the caramel and cook on a medium heat for 5-6 minutes, turning occasionally. Transfer to a plate and leave to cool.
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Now prepare your crumble topping: rub the room temperature butter into the flour lightly with your fingertips. You don’t need to ensure even ‘breadcrumb’ texture as you want a varied crumbly texture. Add the demerara sugar and mix evenly. Set to one side with the chopped pecans.

​To make the cake batter, sift together the salt, baking powder and flour. In another bowl, cream your sugar and butter together until pale and fluffy – 4-5 minutes.​ ​

Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the top and, lastly, the streusel topping.

Place on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes. The cake will be cooked when the top is firm and a skewer comes out clean. Or, better still, use a probe thermometer. The cake will be cooked when the thermometer reads around 96C-98C. If you bake a cake to temperatures beyond this the moisture will be start to be lost and your cake will begin to dry out.
 
When cooked, remove the cake from the oven but leave in the tin for 10 minutes or so, before placing on a wire rack to cool.

Delicious warm or cold, and wonderful with a dollop of sour cream or Greek yoghurt.

​Pour yourself a cup of tea, find a good book and just take five!

​Now whisk your eggs together and gradually incorporate into your creamed butter mix. If you mix in 5 or 6 additions they egg shouldn’t curdle, but don’t panic if you add a little too quickly and the mix does separate a little. All will be well! 

​Whisk in your Greek yoghurt, lemon zest and vanilla until smoothly incorporated. Now switch to a metal spoon and gently fold in your remaining dry ingredients about a quarter at a time, working as little as possible to establish a homogenous mix. If the mix seems a little too stiff, you can let down the mixture by adding a tablespoon or two of milk. This may happen if your Greek yoghurt is particularly thick – the texture varies greatly from brand to brand, or even batch to batch!

​Finally, gently fold in your cooled caramelised apples and pour/spoon the batter into your prepared tin. ​

Method:

Sift together the salt, baking powder and flour, then rub in the lard or vegetable shortening until you have breadcrumb-like texture. Add the water and mix into a dough using a dough scraper.

Turn out onto your counter and knead for a few minutes until you have a smooth and elastic dough. (Alternatively throw into a mixer with a dough hook for a few minutes). 
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Wrap and leave to rest for 20-30 minutes for the gluten to relax before dividing your dough into six equal pieces (approx. 85g), roll into little balls and cover with a cloth whilst you roll individual ones out. 

The tortilla is ready to turn when you see it blistering all over (about 30-45 seconds), flip and bake on the other side for another 30 seconds or so.  If you over-bake, the dough will begin to crisp.

​Practise will make perfect!

You can stack the tortillas as you bake each one, but cover with a cloth each time, to ensure they keep the steam in and remain soft and pliable as they cool.
 
The cooked tortillas can be wrapped when cool and kept for several days, or you can divide the dough, keep some in the fridge for 2-3 days and cook fresh when needed.

Flour your counter well then, using a floured rolling pin, roll each piece into a thin disc, approximately 25cm in diameter and ensure they are well-floured as you stack them ready for baking. Ideally, make two piles of three, to prevent them sticking together. This dough is very soft so should easily roll, but you may need to be diligent with keeping both your counter and the rolling pin floured. Turning your tortilla over regularly will help keep it from sticking. Once you’ve practised a couple of times, it should only tale a minute or so to roll out each one.

​Before baking, prepare your griddle or heavy skillet by ensuring it is very hot before you start cooking. Have a plate or steam basket ready to stack them as each comes out of the pan and a clean tea towel ready to cover them and keep them soft. Each tortilla should only take about a minute or so in the pan — no need for oil.