Quince and honey cake

Heat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Halve the quinces, scoop out the cores (you might need a small knife to do this) and put them skin-side down in a small baking dish. Add a spoonful of honey to the centre of each and pour water around the edge to come 1½ cm up the side. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 3 hours, or until they feel tender to the point of a knife. Lift out the quinces, cool and peel off the skins. Slice them thinly. Simmer the juice until it has reduced to syrup and then cool.

Butter and line a 20cm springform cake tin and arrange the quince slices in the base. Heat the honey, butter and sugar together until it is completely melted then bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and cool to warm, then beat in the eggs and fold in the flour and allspice. Spoon the cake mix over the quince slices and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean (bear in mind the quince will be sticky, so check for cake mixture only). Cool for 5 minutes, then loosen the side of the tin and turn the cake onto a serving plate and lift off the base. Carefully peel off the paper. Brush over some of the quince juices and serve the rest with the cake if you like.