Pineapple Sponge

Perfect Texture

This is one of my best sponges to date.  The texture of the bake was spot on despite the juicy texture of the pineapple and its natural juices.  The flavours were really beautiful, this is a bit more livelier than your average sponge.

This recipe was taken from The Dairy Book of Family Cookery (Ebury Press, 1983).

Ingredients:

175g butter, 175g caster sugar, 3 eggs (beaten), 175g self – raising flour, Pineapple rings including 30ml of the juice.

Method:

1. Beat the butter and sugar until creamy.
2. Beat in the eggs.
3. Sift in the flour and add the juice to loosen the sponge.
4. Prepare a sandwich tin and pour in the batter.
5. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees C for 20 minutes.
6. Place the pineapple on the cake and leave in the oven to rest for a few minutes.
7. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before serving.

Apple Flapjack

Apples and Oats

I love stewed apples and oats for breakfast so making these flapjacks made me really happy.  It had been a while since I made flapjacks so I was really happy to be making these snacks again.  Flapjacks are fantastic for energy which I definitely need all the time.

This recipe is from The Dairy Book of Family Cookery (Ebury Press, 1983).

Ingredients:

900g cooking apples (peeled, cored and sliced), 65g sugar, 150g butter, 60ml golden syrup, 225g rolled oats, a tsp salt, 1 tsp ground ginger.

Method:

1. Simmer the apples gently in a covered pan until slightly pulpy.
2. Heat the sugar, butter and syrup in a large pan.
3. When melted stir in the oats, salt and ginger.
4. Place 3/4 of the flapjack mixture into a flapjack tin.
5. Place the apples on top.
6. On top of that add the flapjacks.
7. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees C.
8. Bake for 35 minutes.

Apple Streusel Cake

German Food

Pickled stuff and red meat, full on meat and more pickles.  Not really my thing.  Of course this is a stereotype of German food but on my adventures in Berlin it became increasingly difficult to separate the stereotypes from reality.  So many friendly people, so many educational activities but my favourite aspect of German food has to be the desserts.  Sometimes being restricted to white meat can seem limited but hey ho there are always desserts to look forward to.  This cake has one of the most beautiful toppings I have ever tasted and with the addition of apples the cake tasted brilliant.

This recipe was taken from Cake Days: The Hummingbird Bakery (Harper Collins Publishers, 2011).

Ingredients:

100g unsalted butter, 220g plain flour, 100g caster sugar, 1 egg, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence, 1 tsp baking powder, a pinch of salt, 80ml milk, 3 apples (peeled and chopped into spices), 70g soft light brown sugar..

Method:

1. Grease a 20cm tin and then brush with flour.
2. In a bowl cream together 60g of butter and the caster sugar.
3. When pale and fluffy add the egg and vanilla essence.
4. Sift 140g plain flour, baking powder and salt into the mixture.
5. Add the milk and beat the ingredients together thoroughly.
6. Pour this into the prepared cake tin.
7. Arrange the apples on top of the batter.
8. In a separate bowl sift the rest of the flour and ground cinnamon into the bowl.
9. Add the butter and using your fingertips rub the ingredients together until they resemble breadcrumbs.
10. Scatter the topping over the apples.
11. Heat the oven to 170 degrees C.
12.  Bake the cake for 45 minutes.
13.  Set aside the cake to cool but can be served warm and cold.

Golden Syrup & Avocado Cake

Substituting 

I love it when I get the opportunity to substitute ingredients because it means that I get to be more creative.  In this case I substituted the butter for avocado and the maple syrup for honey.  It was delicious and helped to make the cake a little less of a guilty pleasure.  Served warm with Greek yoghurt it heavenly. I am really happy that I have managed to make a cake which features good fats and affordable to make.

This recipe was adopted from Mary Berry’s Baking Bible (BBC Books, 2009).

Ingredients:

225g avocado (mashed and sprinkled with 2 tsps lemon juice), 222g muscavado sugar, 3 eggs, 100ml golden syrup, 350g self raising flour, 2 tsps baking powder, 1 tsp ground ginger.

Method:

1. Prepare a cake tin (Maximum 22 inches).
2. Beat the avocado, sugar and eggs together.
3. Sift in the rest of the ingredients.
4. Fold in the syrup then mix through thoroughly.
5. When well combined pour into the cake tin.
6. Bake for an 60 – 85 minutes.
7. When the cake is springy to the touch remove from the oven and then cool on a wire rack.