Heirloom pudding: apple charlotte

My garden apple tree has yielded its best, and there are only a few fruit left hanging. Time to make one of my favourite-ever puddings, made by my mum from a recipe in her 1960s Good Housekeeping recipe book: apple charlotte. Unlike most charlotte recipes, it's not made with whole slices of bread but with a breadcrumb/sugar/suet mixture, and it's irresistible. The only other cookery book that has anything similar is Katie Stewart's Times Cookery Book, but Katie's is a bit more fancy and includes golden syrup. So I'll stick to the original.

I've no idea what variety of apple my tree is, but they're eaters and have a lovely sweetness.

And they have a slight rose blush in the flesh nearest the skin. For the charlotte, if I'm using eaters I pre-cook them slightly tossed in a little sugar and lemon juice. If I'm using cookers, I just slice them and use them straight away as they don't need any help beforehand to cook down to a sweet softness in the oven. Next, make your crumb mix: 3oz white breadcrumbs, 2 oz suet, 3-5 oz demerara sugar and the zest of a lemon for every pound of apples. (The original recipe is pre-metric.)

Gently spoon through the mixture to combine.

Then start making layers in a buttered pudding bowl: the quantities I use give one layer of apple, followed by a layer of crumb, then another layer of apple followed by a final layer of crumb. Dot with butter. Put in an oven at gas mark 4 for around 45 mins, or until the top is golden and crusty. The smell is fabulous.

Serve with double cream - or in my fortunate case, the last of a tub of clotted cream. It's just as good as left-overs over the next couple of days.

I'm at a loss to know why a pud this good and this frugal is so little known. I must try making it with veggie suet to see if that's as good.