1-Pan Up-side Down Apple Cake

This is a wonderfully easy and less messy cake version of tarte-tatin.
You don't even need a cake baking tin.  
You only need one bowl to mix the batter and one stainless-steel sauce pan to make caramel and bake the cake.
There's less washing up afterwards. 
If you have baked tarte-tatin, you know how annoying it can be to clean the pan which is used for making caramel. Hardened caramel stuck to the bottom of the pan is really difficult to clean.
However, I have noticed that the caramel which is baked in the cake tin doesn't stick as much as caramel made in the pan.
So, here is the solution. Make caramel in the pan, place the apple on top of the caramel in the pan. Then pour in the cake mix and bake. 
As a result, as the pan bakes the cake, there is no need to use a cake tin. AND, not surprisingly, the caramel in the bottom of the pan melts in the apple cake, and is SO easy to clean afterword. 
Ha! Isn't it a clever idea?
Ah, I've just got another idea. I could sprinkle sea salt on top of the caramel before laying sliced apples. "Salted Caramel Upside-Down Apple Cake"...... sounds even more interesting??? 

Ingredients 

• 6 oz self-raising flour 

• 6 oz caster sugar 

• 6 oz low-fat margarine  (or butter if you like)

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

• 2 apples sliced

• Caramel: 3 oz caster sugar + 3 tablespoons water  

Method

1. Place the granulated sugar and 3 Tbsp water into a stainless steel pan.
2. Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and there are no granules.
3. Remove the spoon and increase the heat. (Do NOT stir! Just watch!)
4. Boil until a golden straw colour. Then immediately put the bottom of the hot pan in a bowl of water. This stops cooking the caramel further. Leave it to cool at room temperature. (you could sprinkle some sea salt on the caramel to give it a "salted caramel" effect.)
5. Slice the apples and place them on top of the caramel layer in the bottom of the pan.
6. Put all the ingredients of the cake mixture in the bowl and mix with an electric hand-mixer.
7. Pour the mixture into the pan over the apple.
8. Bake in a preheated (180 C) oven for 50 minutes or until golden brown on top. 
9. When the cake is baked, leave it for a few minutes then turn it upside-down onto a plate. 

Here is the "pear version"

Apple Flapjack

A friend of mine has a BIG apple tree in her garden that produces a lot of Bramley apples.
I just can't resit her offer of huge bags full of such lovely, juicy and tangy fruit.
So, I've been busy making apple chutney, muffins and cakes.... goodness knows pretty much everything I could think of.  When I almost ran out of ideas for using up the apples, I came across a recipe for "Apple Flapjack" which is not "crunchy" flapjack, but is very moist.
I suppose it's a different type of snack and very morish, a great afternoon treat for sure.

Ingredients

• 250g (8oz) butter or low-fat spread 
• 250g (8oz) caster sugar
• 175g (6oz) golden syrup 425g (14oz) porridge oats
• 2 apples (I used 300g of grated Bramley apples, which turned out VERY moist. Use 200g of Apples for a less moist result)

Method

1. Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4, 180°C, fan160°C. Line a 20 x 30cm (8 x 12in) cake tin with non-stick baking paper.
2. Melt butter, caster sugar and golden syrup together in a pan, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in the oats and apples.
3. Spread the mixture in the tin and sprinkle cinnamon sugar and bake for 25-30 minutes. Cut into 12-14 bars; allow to cool before turning out of the tin. 

Spiced Apple Muffins

Apple and spices like cinnamon and ginger are a great combo.
I add the spices quite generously as I love the flavour of them.
Chopped apple pieces make the muffins moist but keep them light.
I found if I mix grated apple rather than chopped apples the muffins turn out quite dense. I prefer light muffins like these.
Make sure to add the apple pieces into the dry mixture first to stop the apple pieces sinking to the bottom.
These are great to enjoy when they are still warm.

Ingredients

• 200g Plain flour
• 100g Caster sugar
• 50g Soft brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons Baking powder
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon powder 
• 2 teaspoons Ginger powder
• ¼  teaspoon Salt
• 90ml Milk
• 80ml Vegetable oil
• 1 large Egg, beaten
• 2 large Apples - peeled, cored and chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 C / 180 C (Fan) and add paper cases to a muffin tray.
2. Measure out flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices in a large mixing bowl. 
3. Mix the dry ingredients well and then add the chopped apples. Make sure the apple pieces are well coated by the flour mixture.
4. In a separate jug, mix milk, oil, and egg. Stir until just combined.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Fold in but do not over mix.
6. Fill the muffin cases equally. 
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Apple and cranberry tarte tatin

Yes, this is really red, isn't it?  I didn't use any food colouring at all.
This beautiful ruby red naturally came from cranberries. I stocked up lots of fresh cranberries in my freezer after post-Christmas shopping.   Cranberries did not only add this beautiful colour but also added a lovely tangy flavour to my usual apple tarte tatin.
You can imagine my excitement when I turned it upside down on the plate.   What a wonderful surprise. :) 
Anyway, having warm dessert is a treat on a snowy day like today.

I filled the gaps with frozen cranberries straight from the freezer. My rough-puff pastry looking promising.

It makes a lovely dessert with creme fraiche. 

Ingredients

For the pastry

· 100g/4oz plain flour

· 50g/2oz butter (in a block) salted butter would be better for sharpening the flavour

· 25g/1oz lard (in a block) 

For the caramel

· 175g/6oz granulated sugar 

For the topping

· 3-4 red dessert apples

· some fresh cranberries to fill the gap

To finish

         · 50g/2oz caster sugar and lemon juice

         

Preparation method

1.    First make the pastry. Freeze the butter and lard until very cold.

2.    Measure the flour into a bowl and grate the butter and lard into the flour. Use a knife to coat the butter and lard in the flour. Add 4-5 tbsp cold water and mix to a firm dough until it comes together.

3.    Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface to a rectangle. Fold one third down and then fold the bottom third up and over the top fold. Turn it 90 degrees (a quarter turn) and repeat the rolling and folding. Set aside, covered, in the fridge for 20 minutes. Repeat the rolling, folding and chilling twice more so you have a total of four folds and turns.

4.    Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.

5.    For the caramel, place the granulated sugar and 6 tbsp water into a stainless steel pan. Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and there are no granules. Remove the spoon and increase the heat. Boil until a golden straw colour and immediately pour into a 23cm/9in fixed-base deep sponge sandwich tin. Don’t let it get too dark or it will be bitter – this is very important!  

6.    For the topping, core the apples, then cut into thick slices. Arrange a layer over the caramel in the tin in a circular pattern – start from the outside of the tin and work inwards. Fill the gaps with cranberries.

7.    Roll out the pastry to a round, slightly bigger than the tin. Cover the apples and tuck the edges of the pastry down around the apples. Make a small cross in the top of the pastry to let the steam out.

8.    Bake for about 40 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden-brown and the apples are soft.

9.    To finish, before turning the tarte out, tip the juices from the tin into a saucepan. Add the caster sugar and lemon juice and boil until syrupy.

10. Turn the tarte tatin out onto a plate and spoon the syrup over the apples. Serve with cream or crème fraîche.

       Do not wash-up the sauce pan which was used for making caramel. Use the sauce pan to make glaze!  Add sugar, lemon juice and some juices from the tarte tatin to the sauce pan which has leftover hardened caramel. 

Cranberry and apple upside-down cake

Yes, I still have some cranberries which I got when I shopped after Christmas. These bargain cranberries have a really great flavour and very fresh. I used these beauties for my good old upside-down caramel cake. 

The cake looks very cheering on a cold winter day. :) 

Ingredients  (for 19cm round cake tin)

• 5 oz plain flour or selfraising flour 
• 5 oz caster sugar
• 5 oz butter or low-fat spread 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder (no need if you use selfraising flour)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp milk 
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g cranberries
• 1 small apple
• for caramel: 3 oz granulated sugar + 3 tablespoon water

Method

To make the caramel sauce: 

• Place the granulated sugar and water into a stainless steel pan.
• Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and there are no granules.
• Remove the spoon and increase the heat.
• Boil until a golden straw colour and immediately pour into a tin. 

1. Preheat oven to 180 °C.  
2. Place cranberries and chopped apple in the cake tin when the caramel is cool and set.
3. Put all ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, lemon juice, vanilla, eggs and milk) in a bowl.
4. Mix with electric whisk.  
5. Pour the mixture on top of the cranberries and chopped apple.
6. Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 30-40 minutes. When the cake cools down turn the cake tin upside down.

Apple and Walnut Muffins

Ideally, muffins should be eaten or frozen on the same day that they are baked. Otherwise they become a bit dry.  However, I found out that if I put grated apple in the batter, the muffins stay moist. When I added apple to ginger cupcakes the other day, they stayed moist for a couple of days. :)  So, I added 1 grated apple to these muffins. These muffins are extra moist but very fluffy. 

Ingredients 

• 200g plain flour
• 100g sugar (50g soft brown + 50g white caster) 
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 100ml milk
• 50ml vegetable oil  
• 1 egg
• 1 apple grated
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 50g walnut chopped 

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 C / Gas 6 and add paper cases to a muffin tray.
2. Measure out dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
3. Measure milk and oil in a large measuring jug. Add egg and whisk well.
4. Add the wet mixture (3) into the dry mixture (2).  Stir until just combined. The mixture will be lumpy. Do NOT over mix.     Then, gently fold in grated apple and walnuts.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top. 

Apple and Almond Cake

To be honest, I'm not a great fan of almonds, but I love the flavour of almond in cake. 

So, here is my almond cake but this is not a kind of almond cake which doesn't require flour at all. 

It's an upside down cake. :)   It's beautiful when it is turned out because the bottom of the cake shows a pretty pattern of sliced apples .... Of course, if you laid the apples beautifully that is ...  :)

I made glaze with marmalade and lemon juice to give a shine to the cake.  

Ingredients 

• 180g butter, at room temperature, (or low-fat spread) 

• 140g caster sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 3 eggs, at room temperature

• 100g ground almonds

• 150g self-raising flour (or plain flower with 1 tsp baking powder) 

• 50ml to 80ml milk 

• 2 small Royal Gala apples, quartered, cored & thinly sliced  

Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 170 C / Gas mark 3. Brush around 22cm (base measurement) cake tin with melted butter to grease. Line base and side with baking parchment.

2.  Beat butter, caster sugar & vanilla in a bowl for 8 mins or till pale and creamy (by hand or electric beater). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

3.  Stir in ground almonds. Add half the flour and half the milk. Use a wooden spoon to stir until well combined. Repeat remaining flour and milk.

4.  Arrange the apple, slightly overlapping, over the base of the prepared tin. Spoon mixture into the tin and smooth the surface.

5.  Bake in the oven for 30-35 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

6.  Set aside in the pan for 10 mins to cool slightly before turning onto a serving plate. 

Apple tart tatin with rough puff pastry

I have been baking a lot of upside-down cakes recently with some burnt caramel.... it's a bit tricky to make  caramel "just right." The difference in cooking time between undone caramel and burnt caramel is literally seconds. Anyway, here is another attempt to make caramel. This time, I made tart tatin with rough puff pastry. The caramel turned out almost right. :)

I found Mary Berry's technique, which grates butter and lard with a cheese grater very useful. Both butter and lard should be ice cold to do a good grating job in order not to melt the fat. I put the butter and lard in the freezer for a while before using it. I followed Mary's apple tart tatin recipe for this.

Just came out of the oven                           Upside-down... hurray

Baked as a dessert for the dinner party 16.11.2012

Success. :) 

Apple "Cake" Tatin

Good old British Cox apples are now in season. I love the sweet but slightly tangy flavour of Cox apples. They are great just as they are and fantastic for cooking. So, to celebrate British Cox,
I wanted to bake "Tart Tatin"... Well...it's not a tart, it's a cake. So, it's upside-down apple caramel cake. :) Enjoy the fresh flavour of apple and sticky caramel.

Ingredients 

• 4 oz plain flour 
• 4 oz soft brown sugar 
• 4 oz low-fat margarine  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 Vanila extract 
• 2 apples sliced
• Caramel: 85g Caster sugar + 1 tablespoon water  

Method

Making Caramel sauce 

•  Warm the pan gently over a medium heat for a few moments then place white caster sugar in the pan, still over a medium heat. Leave the sugar and keep an eye on it, until it begins to melt. After about 5 minutes the sugar will start to melt and turn liquid around the edges.  Do not stir!
•  Give the pan a good shake and leave it again until about a quarter of the sugar has melted. Using a wooden spoon, give it a gentle stir and continue to cook until the sugar has transformed from crystals to liquid and is the colour of dark runny honey – a dark amber colour.
•  Take the pan off the heat and add 1 tablespoon of tap-hot water – the caramel will splutter and steam so protect your hands with a cloth and take care. Stir well – you may need to return the pan to a gentle heat to re-melt any lumps of caramel that have formed. The caramel is now ready to use.

1. Preheat oven to 170 °C.  Place greaseproof paper in the cake tin.
2. Put all the ingredients, apart from apples and sugar for caramel, in a bowl and mix with the electric whisk.
3. Make caramel sauce ( see above for the method)  
4. Pour the caramel sauce into the cake tin.
5. Place the sliced apples and then pour the cake mixture on top.
6. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 40 minutes. When the cake cools down turn the cake tin upside down and gently peel away the greaseproof paper.

Apple Crumble Muffins

Apple crumble is a classic pudding that goes with a good old English Sunday roast and everybody's favourite, isn't it?  Here is a muffin version of apple crumble.  You can enjoy the very moist but light sponge, juicy apples and crunchy crumble topping. I used brown sugar to get a toffee like rich flavour, but you can use white caster sugar for a lighter finish. Do not forget to add cinnamon to both batter and topping mixture as the cinnamon flavour is the key to this muffin.... well, of course, if you like cinnamon. Anyway, I think apple and cinnamon is an unbeatable combo. 

I also added walnuts to the topping mixture to create an even crunchier texture. 

These muffins make a lovely Sunday breakfast with a big mug of coffee. :) 

Ingredients for 8 Muffins       

• 200g Plain flour
• 100g Caster sugar
• 50g Soft brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons Baking powder
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon powder 
• ¼  teaspoon Salt
• 90ml Milk
• 80ml Vegetable oil
• 1 large Egg, beaten
• 5 drops Vanilla extract
• 2 large Apples - peeled, cored and chopped

   

 for Crumble Topping

• 30g Plain flour
• 15g Granulated sugar or Demerara sugar
• 15g Soft butter or Low-fat spread
• Cinnamon and crushed Walnuts, ( Oats, Hazelnuts, Sesame seeds, Pumpkin seeds ...... etc.)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 C / Gas 6 and add paper cases to a muffin tray.

2. Measure out flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add milk, oil, egg and vanilla. Stir until just combined (mixture will be lumpy).

3. Gently fold in chopped apples and spoon mixture into muffin cups. Sprinkle Crumble topping on top of each. 
4. Rub together the flour, sugar and butter (or low-fat spread) until the mix resembles bread crumbs. Sprinkle over top of each muffin. 
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.