At least one hour beforehand, prepare your saffron by diluting it in two small espresso cups of cold water.

Pre-heat the oven to 200°.

Butter a baking tin, put it in the fridge for a quarter of an hour, then flour it (it's much easier |/poison], and you use less flour).

Wash and peel the apples, reserving the peels and pips, and cut them into small cubes.

Gently melt the remaining butter.

Break the eggs by separating the yolks from the whites.

Whisk together the yolks and 120 grams of sugar until the mixture turns white.

Add the contents of one of the two cups of saffron, strained, to the melted butter. Put the pistils back into the second cup.

In a bowl, mix the flour, yeast, saffron butter, apple slices and crushed almonds, stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth.

Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them gently into the mixture, little by little.

Remove the pan from the fridge and shake off the excess flour.

Pour in the batter, bake for 10 minutes then lower the temperature to 160° (gas mark 5-6) and bake for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the syrup by boiling the water, the remaining sugar, the contents of the second cup of saffron, and the reserved seeds and peels for 10 minutes.

Leave to brew for 10 minutes.

Strain to remove peels and pips.

Turn the cake out onto a rack, let it cool, put it on a plate, cover it with the syrup and serve.