The last days of September ended with a swirl of grey cloud and starred nights. With a feeling that every warm day could be the last of the year, I wanted something that would bring zing and warmth into the kitchen and our stomachs.

Lemons ,the colour of the sun in a children’s drawing, and limoncello, an Italian liquor made from lemon zest, were combined to make a cake that’s both sweet and sour.

You can make this without limoncello easily, but if you do, you’ll have an incredible cake, but also be able to have a strong drink while it’s baking.

The cake is adapted from a simple sponge cake- so its easy enough with equal weights of flour, sugar and eggs.

For the cake

180g self-raising flour

160g caster sugar

3 eggs

lemon zest from four lemons

For the drizzle

20g sugar

juice of 4 lemons

a good shot or two of limoncello

Beat the sugar and butter till light and fluffy, and then beat in the eggs bit by bit. I add a little flour with each egg to stop the mixture curdling.

Grate in the lemon zest and then fold in the flour with a large spoon. Spoon into a loaf tin and bake in an oven heated to 180C.

While the cake is baking, juice the lemons and pour in the sugar and limoncello.

After around half an hour, when the cake is baked, pour over the zesty, punchy drizzle and then sprinkle with a little sugar. This will form a sweet, sharp crust above the soft sponge.

After a dinner shared with the grandparents, I tore up a handful of thyme over the cake, and sliced through the sugar studded crust and lemon soaked crumb.

The two apple trees in the centre of the lawn are the heart and soul of our garden.

They are over half a century old, and they show their history- bark like an old man’s hands, moss, trunks leading to a hundred branches. As they have grown and developed, so has the life that they support.

Right now, the trees are at the best. Just as the first leaves are falling, the apples are ripening to emerald and crimson under the September sun.

Our crop of Discovery apples has been few, but the trees have been resting after their bumper crop last year. Just like us, sometimes the trees need to take a breather. And right now, in this brief September window, fruit trees and hedgerows are holding onto the produce of a years growth.

Just as the seasons change, I think the food on our plates should. These apple, blackberry and damson tarts are the kitchen’s idea of late summer and early autumn. All you need is some pastry, either shop bought or homemade (but whichever it is, all-butter), jam and fruit. And a spoonful of cinnamon. Each of the ingredients- damson jam, blackberries and the apples all offer sharpness as well as sweetness.

Pastry

as usual- double flour to butter- 230g plain flour, 115g butter

30g caster sugar

Filling

4 apples

a couple of handfuls of blackberries

jam- blackberry, blackcurrant, damson or plum would all work well

If you are making the pastry, rub the butter into the flour or whizz together in a processor.

When that’s done, add the sugar and just enough water to bring it together (about 2 tablespoons).

Put the dough in the fridge, ready to roll out when the fillings done. For that, heat the jam in a small pan and squeeze in half a lemon. Lastly, peel and roughly chop the apples and mix the berries, apples and jam in the pan.

Roll out the pastry into circles to match your tart tins or one big sheet, and then pour over the fillings. Bake until the pastry is browning around the edges.

We all hear the message to eat seasonal, eat local, to reduce our food miles. But eating this way, from the garden to plate, is the way things are meant to be.