fruit or vegetables that have the ability to cross-polinate and this includes apples, nuts and potatoes... it tends to effect hay-fever sufferers and usually effects them in different ways with different fruit and veg... after 10 years on the Atkins Diet, cutting out apples and potatoes my tolerance levels seemed to have changed and I can now eat apples again, which I do with relish... I just love biting into a crisp, juicy apple that squirts out the side of my mouth... one of the varieties that Sainsbury's sent me, called Rubens was particularly juicy and it's also the fragrance that I particularly love, subtle in some varieties but really obviously appley in others... belleau apple and pear cake this is a classic cake that I have made plenty of times before here on the blog but it celebrates the apple so beautifully as it really packs them in... it's more apple and pear than cake in fact... and you can use any variety you wish... i'm using 3 varieties of apple and 2 of pear and i'm caramelising them first just for added depth... and what I love is that you can really feel the different textures of each fruit... as you can see i've also gone a little bundt crazy of late... it's just that they look so cool (and I spent a small fortune on a bundt tin...) to caramelise 2 tablespoons soft brown sugar 2 tablespoons butter for the cake 1lb apples and pears - peeled