I do hope you've been able to find some cooking apples - look out for Gravenstein. It's an excellent choice for tarts, if you can find it. Once upon a time there used to be hundreds of different kinds. Today, there are only about a dozen varieties widely grown in New Zealand. That's in keeping with a global decline in fruit and vegetable varieties. (And also in keeping with a general decline of biodiversity of whatever description - except humans.)

One reason cooking apples are so difficult to find is that the "market" supposedly demands super-sweet and super-crispy apples that never go off. This "market", of course, consists of busy mums who are bullied by their spoilt brats into buying whatever they want. Supermarkets dictate what farmers grow as kids dictate what parents buy - not the other way round. That's why the only apples you'll find in supermarkets are those plasticky things developed to please kids and adults with retarded tastebuds who will whinge and whine when they're served anything that is not totally sweet or salty or creamy or all of the above.

Okay - before you start rolling your eyes - here's another one of my favourite apple cake recipes. I picked it up while on holiday - it rained the whole week I was there, so eating and begging for recipes kept me busy. Enjoy!

Apple cake from Brittany

150g butter
3/4 cup (150g) sugar
4 eggs
2 tbsp vanilla sugar
1 pinch baking powder
1 cup + 4 tbsp (150g) flour
1kg apples
juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 170deg.
Grease and crumb (or line, if you can be bothered) a springform.
Peel and core apples, cut them into quarters, place in bowl, sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent discolouration and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar, stir in eggs (one at a time) and add vanilla sugar.
Sift together baking powder and flour.
Add flour mix to butter mix, stir well until smooth.
Pour batter into form.
Cut the outside of each apple piece lengthwise nearly to the core a few times - parallel cuts (see picture, hope you can see the cuts). Carefully place the apple pieces on top of the batter, beginning at the outside, going round in circles as best you can, pressing lightly.
Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over cake.
Bake for about 45 minutes. This cake will be dark golden when done. If your cake looks very dark after about 20 minutes of baking, loosely place a piece of baking paper on the top to prevent burning.