I love apple crumble for pudding with a Sunday roast but it’s nice to ring the changes sometimes. This Apple Charlotte made with slices of all-butter Brioche and lots of delicious apple filling flavoured with lemon zest certainly ticks all the boxes. It’s very easy to make and tastes wonderful with a generous helping of custard or cream.

• All butter brioche bread loaf, sliced to about a 1/2 cm thickness, crusts removed
• 125g unsalted butter
• 4 medium apples: 2 Bramleys and 2 Braeburns (I also added a tbsp of roasted quince as I had it in the freezer – you could make it with quince and pear too)
• Zest of a lemon
• 2 tbsps caster sugar
• Grated zest of a lemon
• Custard or cream to serve

To make…

• Grease a pudding basin (approx 15cm x 10cm) generously with butter.
• Peel and core the apples, slice them finely and put them in a saucepan with the sugar, lemon zest and 30g of the butter. Cook slowly over a medium heat. The Bramley apple will pulp down and the Braeburn will hold its shape. Allow to cool.
• Preheat the oven to 200C.
• Melt the remaining butter. Dip each slice of the Brioche into the butter and line the pudding basin with 3/4 of the slices. Pack them in tightly without leaving any gaps. Spoon in the apple and cover with the remaining brioche slices. Press down and seal the edges.
• Cover the pudding basin tightly with foul and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for a further 10 minutes until the top is golden.
• Leave it to rest for 5 minutes before turning out onto a serving plate. Serve with custard or cream.

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