Cottage Pudding

This apple cake could use more precise directions. Three quarters of a cup of sugar is needed, 2/3 for the batter, the remainder for the top. I would rather have measured the 2/3 of a cup of sugar and then measure tablespoons or teaspoons of sugar for the topping. It did not say, so I did not peel the apple, but it would have been better if I had. Since my apples were so large, I should have cut the apple into eighths instead of quarters. The spices only go on the top of the cake with some sugar and are critical for the overall flavor of the cake, so some idea of how much of each of the cloves, nutmeg and allspice to add would have been helpful. As these spices can dominate, I went with a large pinch of each. The color of the topping sugar with these spices looked "weak”, but turned out perfect for my taste. There are so many choices in apple desserts that this one just did not stand out and I will not make it again. One advantage of it is that you should have all of the ingredients on hand, and it does not contain expensive ingredients like nuts.