Apple and marzipan loaf cake

Are you getting ready for the 2nd episode of GBBO tonight? Have you been baking, or bought something sweet to munch on, while chuckling at the terrible baking puns?
Last week's episode included a Battenberg- baking challenge. I've never baked a Battenberg in my life. It's Mr Kipling's Battenberg for me all the way, it looks pretty, and gives just the right amount of sugar rush.

Before I tell you what I've baked for tonight, let me share some interesting data. There were 7.9 million viewers glued to the screen last week, tutting at the bad jokes and gasping at the pineapple-upside-down-cakes-gate. The Showstopper was as silly as they tend to be. Why would you want to cut someone's head to eat it, even if it's a cake?!

I'm not a fan of Matt Lucas, and don't find him amusing. But I suppose, it's a GBBO tradition to have  cringeworthy presenters, whose jokes make you roll your eyes.

The restaurant discount supplier Enjoy Stevie decided to look at Google Search trend data on the bakery show, at the rise of different recipes, which have been discussed on the show, to see how searches increased or decreased. And the results are very curious.

The Key Stats revealed that:
- rise of the Marzipan searches increased by 4200%
- Bake-Off and Battenberg/Battenburg searches increased by 12000%
- The Upside Down Pineapple Revolution searches increased by 600%

The list shows just how influential the show has become.

And while I wanted to bake something with marzipan, I don't have time to make my own, and I'm also not feeling great (the seasonal colds have caught up with me). I popped into Waitrose today, grabbed a bar of Niederegger milk chocolate marzipan and this afternoon I baked an apple and marzipan loaf cake.
It's a quick and easy recipe. Don't think the GBBO judges would give me the Baker of the week badge, but my family would.

Apple and marzipan loaf cake
Ingredients:

2 medium eggs
80g demerara sugar
70g ground almonds
100g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
90g butter, melted
1 big apple, peeled and chopped into small cubes
half a bar of Niederegger milk chocolate marzipan
1tsp cinnamon

Beat the eggs with the sugar, mix in the ground almonds and sift in the flour with baking powder. Melt the butter, cool it a bit, then add to the cake batter.
Peel one big apple, core, and chop into small cubes. Add to the cake batter with the chopped chocolate marzipan bar and cinnamon. The cake batter is quite thick. Spoon it into an oiled loaf tin, place the tin in the oven preheated to 180C and bake for 35+ minutes. Check the readiness with a wooden toothpick.

Let it cool on the cooling rack before you start cutting it, it's rather crumbly.
Serve warm or cold, with single cream or ice cream.

If I'm not wrong, it's a biscuit week tonight on GBBO. Who are you rooting for?

Disclosure: The data above has been shared, courtesy of Enjoy Stevie. This is not a sponsored post.