Caramel apple loaf cake

I don’t make that many loaf cakes which is a shame as they have to be the easiest cakes to portion (I think I’ve mentioned my cake-cutting phobia in the past)! They also have a rustic look to them that I find inviting.

This week’s cake muse was the CCD who chose the ingredient of “apples”. I love a good apple cake and picked this recipe as I was intrigued by the caramel topping . Here’s a close up of the topping oozing over the top of the cake:

Having said above that, in theory, loaf cakes are easier to cut, this one was a terror. It was crumbly and soft but I forgive it as it made it divine to eat!

I am very disappointed by the sweet eating habits of society these days. Where I live there are two large supermarkets, a well stocked newsagent and an off licence - not one of them sold toffees, which are needed to make the topping for this cake. What’s wrong with people? Why have they fallen out of love with the humble toffee? Are people too lazy to chew? Luckily, Mr CC found a bag for me further afield - cake crisis averted!

We all loved this cake; it delivers a lot flavourwise. The almost-bitter walnuts cut through the sweetness of the caramel topping and the juicy pockets of apple work nicely with the crumbly light sponge. The sponge contains yoghurt and is therefore extremely soft and light. Here are the cakes when baked (i.e. pre topping):

Add some sinful topping:

The recipe set out below makes one loaf cake; I doubled it to make two.

Ingredients

For the cake:

175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
225g self raising flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 rounded tablespoons Greek yoghurt
2 eating apples, peeled, cored and diced – I chose Cox’s, as they are small I used 2 ½
50g walnuts – roughly chopped

For the topping:

50g soft toffees (I used Werther’s chewy toffees)
2 tablespoons double cream
handful of walnuts – chopped

Method

Preheat oven to 160˚C/fan oven 140˚C/320˚F/Gas mark 3.

Line a 900g loaf tin (2lb in old money!) with baking paper.

Beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla until it is pale and smooth.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Stir in the flour, cinnamon and yoghurt.

Add the chopped apples and stir just enough to combine.

Spoon into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Scatter the walnuts over the top – I kept them centralised, like a walnut Mohican.

Bake for approximately 1 hour 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the loaf comes out clean.

Place the loaf, still in the tin, on a wire cooling rack.

Now make the topping: place the toffees and cream in a saucepan and gently heat until they melt and combine – stir the whole time (this is very important as the mixture will burn quickly if left unattended)

Leave to cool a little, about 3 minutes or so.

Turn the cake out of the tin and gently pour the topping over the top.

Scatter the extra walnuts on top – they will stick to the toffee.

This cake will keep in an airtight container for 3 days.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Iron Cupcake London Challenge XI – Celebration

Our eleventh challenge marked Iron Cupcake London’s first birthday – we are one! Our theme was that of ‘celebration’, which our entrants interpreted in many (brilliant) ways.

I know I always say it but the standard was incredibly high – when you see the entries laid out along the bar it’s like being in the best cupcake bakery in the world! School half term and holidays meant a more intimate gathering this time with 13 amateur entries and 6 professional entries.

Before we get stuck into all the delicious entries can I please draw your attention to the announcement about future challenges at the end of this post - I mention this now in case some of you don't read to the end!

As it was our birthday we had a special award on the night, voted for by bakers, for the best decorated cupcake. As you will see, the winner is stunning and made by an amateur baker! It just shows the talent out there.

Best decorated cupcake – voted for by bakers – Andrea’s Birthday cake

Andrea’s birthday cake comprised of a light-as-air egg white vanilla and almond sponge (think Angel cake but even lighter and spongier!) with fluffy vanilla buttercream. The decoration is 100% edible and there is so much to admire – the glittering candle, the birthday plaque, and even little curly party streamers. It’s a work of art!


Here are our other winners on the night:

Winner (Amateur)– Andrea’s Pink champagne and strawberry cupcakes

Andrea’s second entry on the night won the amateur category. Her pink champagne and strawberry sponge was the most pretty shade of pink and filled with a white chocolate Ganache filling, all topped off with pink champagne and strawberry buttercream. The flavours complimented each other perfectly and, yet again, the sponge was light and soft and divine! Like eating a particularly tasty cloud!

Runner up (Amateur) – Rosalyn’s Ice cream cupcakes

Rosalyn’s stunning creation comprised of an ice cream cone, into which was baked a fruity and fragrant orange drizzle sponge topped with vanilla buttercream. Of course, every good ice cream requires a flake! I always notice that Rosalyn balances flavour well and this was no exception – the orange was subtle and built in your mouth and the cone provided a nice textural contrast.


Winner (Professional)– Amanda’s Apricot and rice pudding cupcakes

These were amazing! Amanda explained that when her children were babies she was always making them apricots with rice pudding. As this was our first birthday she made us baby food cupcakes! The apricot and rice pudding sponge was filled with apricot puree and topped with apricot buttercream. I have always loved the creamy richness of a good rice pudding and Amanda’s sponge captured that perfectly. All I can say is “I want that recipe!!!”. The little gift tag was so cute – Amanda printed it with edible ink on edible paper – how clever is that?

Runner up (Professional) – Melody’s 4th July peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes


Melody debuted in the competition with a gorgeous entry (which also received a lot of votes in the best decorated competition). Her peanut butter and chocolate sponge was topped with a whipped vanilla frosting. The flavours were wonderful and reminded me very much of a Topic bar – I think it was the chocolate and peanut combination. The little flags and star decorations were so pretty and also provided some crunch.

Those were the winners on the night; here’s a run down of all the amateur entries

Kelly’s Popcorn cupcakes

Kelly’s cupcakes took the form of a carton of popcorn – the stripy case being the carton and the frosting as the overflowing popcorn. The chocolate sponge was filled with cream and topped with a scrummy almond buttercream. It reminded me of a far classier Cadbury’s mini roll – heaven! Unsurprisingly, Kelly’s entry also scored well in our ‘best decorated’ competition.

Kelly’s White mini cupcakes

Kelly’s second entry of the night was a plain sponge topped with almond frosting and gel decoration. The sponge was very light and I could have eaten lots of it! I did feel for Kelly, these were meant to have a decoration that didn’t quite work out in the time available (we’ve all been there, haven’t we?) and then they suffered in transit meaning that some of the frosting was smudged. As we all learn eventually in life – looks aren’t everything – and I’m please to report that these tasted delicious.

Elizabeth’s “Nearly 9” crème de menthe cupcakes

Elizabeth’s vegan friendly cupcakes comprised of a chocolate sponge infused with crème de menthe and a chocolate crème de menthe buttercream. The flavours worked so well together – it takes a skilled baker to use anything mint in her cakes and balance it so that the whole thing doesn’t taste of toothpaste. Elizabeth got it spot on and I loved how the minty coolness and alcohol warmth built in your mouth.

Anne’s Margarita cupcakes

Anne’s margarita cupcakes had a most pleasing aroma of booze when she took the lid of her container…always a good start! The lime sponge was infused with tequila sugar syrup and topped with a sinful tequila and grand marnier frosting. The lime definitely hit first and I loved the way the syrup added juiciness to it. Then came the booze! Ann is a girl after my own heart – every cocktail needs an umbrella. Tina, who helps plate up all the bakers on arrival, snaffled the brolly as her daughter uses them as umbrellas for her Barbies!

Annabelle’s “Ice bucket” cupcakes

Love the concept here – Annabelle’s sponge is the ice bucket, the frosting is the ice and there’s the champagne bottle being chilled to perfection! The vanilla sponge was moist and light and the caramel cheese frosting was rich and flavoursome but not too sweet – sometimes caramel can be so sweet it makes your teeth itch, but not here; teaming it with the zingy cream cheese was genius! These tasted indulgent – perfect for a celebration.

Karen’s Choc velvet cupcakes

Karen’s rich and cocoa intense chocolate sponge was topped with a thick, smooth cream cheese frosting. The cream cheese frosting looked thicker and more densely piled up on the cupcake than you normally see – apparently, Karen’s recipe is a secret and she won’t even share it with her friends…much to their annoyance!

Tamara’s Praline chocolate cupcakes

Tamara’s praline chocolate sponge was covered with a generous helping of cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with, what I suspect were, crushed oreos. The rich sponge contrasted well with the light frosting and the mini Lindt choccy on top is always going to be a welcome addition!

Shannon’s “Celebrations” cupcakes

Shannon – I like the way you think! Her soft vanilla sponge topped with thick whipped vanilla buttercream hid a wonderful secret – Celebrations chocolates baked into each one! We all agreed that our cupcake contained Snickers. The Snickers bar baked into a gooey rich pocket which was delicious with the sponge and buttercream; the silver balls added some nice crunch too.

Becky and Flo’s Doughnut cupcakes

A team effort here; vanilla sponge housing a satisfying pocket of strawberry jam all topped off with a vanilla and strawberry buttercream. The sponge reminded me of Victoria sponge, which I think I could eat more of than anybody else on the planet! The buttercream was smooth and fruity and I loved how Becky and Flo piped it – you just look at it and think “Homer Simpson”! Tina, one of my fellow tasters, loved that the frosting tasted like candyfloss.

Gem’s Pop goes the brownie cupcakes

Gem rose valiantly from her sickbed to deliver her cupcakes to the event –lucky us! Her rich, fudgy brownie cupcakes worked beautifully with the vanilla bean frosting. As if that wasn’t enough Gem also added popping candy! Ying, one of my fellow tasters, summed it up succinctly with, “I need that recipe”. The chocolate decoration made these the tallest cupcakes of the night – Gem used a chocolate mould to make a bunch of party balloons.

Here’s what the professionals served up….

Nastassja’s Candy fun cupcakes

Nastassja took us all back to childhood parties with her vanilla sponge and vanilla frosted cupcakes topped with assorted sweeties. An ugly scene almost broke out at our table as we all scrambled for the drumstick (if anyone’s interested – Ying won). The frosting was beautifully piped and had some sort of lustre added to it that caught the light.

Nastassja’s Profiterole cupcakes

Nastassja’s second entry of the night was sheer indulgence – soft sponge with a whipped creamy topping would be heaven in itself. But no – Nastassja added a profiterole…it can’t get much better than that! When you look at the perfect beauty of the cake it’s hard to believe that there was an accident in transit and the cakes had to be reassembled on site!

Amanda’s Elderflower and blueberry cupcakes

Amanda’s second entry of the night (her first entry won the professional category) was a fragrant and delicate affair. The elderflower cupcake contained blueberry compote teamed with elderflower buttercream. It was a dreamy combination that smelled – and tasted – of summer. Light and refreshing…and how cute is that little piped 1?

Shaz’s Chocolate orange cupcakes

Poor Shaz was held up in traffic but battled through, with his cupcakes strapped to his scooter, to share another of his healthy cupcakes with us. The chocolate orange flavour was unmistakable and the sponge deliciously light, but we all agreed the star of the show was the topping. Imagine a chocolatey, moussey, ganachey smooth as silk custard and you’re getting close. Hard to believe it was low fat!


I’m sure you’ll agree that, in terms of a birthday buffet, Iron Cupcake London had the best first birthday party – EVER!

As always I’d like to thank all the bakers for taking the time to enter – each month we marvel at your skill and imagination…and go home full of sponge and sugar and chocolate and other lovely things! Thanks also to all the eaters for coming along and helping us pick the winner.

Special thanks to my awesome team of helpers who make the event run so smoothly on the night: Paul, Dave, Tina, and Ying – thanks. I couldn’t do it without you, nor would I wish to.

All photos are the property of Dave Shipman and are reproduced here with his kind permission. If you wish to use any of his photos please can you email me first for permission – thanks.

Future events:

Sadly, this is going to be the last Iron Cupcake London for a little while. I’ve mentioned before in the challenge announcements and at the start of the events that the success of ICL depends on our lovely bakers baking and our eaters respecting the effort that has gone into the cakes. We continually ask people to take only what they can eat on the night and not spirit away cupcakes in Tupperware to take home before everyone has had a chance to taste what they want to.

Regrettably, some people think these rules don’t apply to them and continue to upset the bakers – a cupcake hidden away in a Tupperware container is a cupcake that cannot be enjoyed on the night or receive a vote. A cupcake taken but not eaten is a cupcake that someone else has missed the chance to taste.

Since Monday’s event I have received several emails from bakers (and seen discussion on facebook and blogs) angry and upset at how their cupcakes were snatched out of their hands as they tried to fill their platter; how they saw their cupcakes with barely a mouthful taken out of them abandoned on plates. Much as I keep stressing this is a minority of people behaving this way, it is enough people to cause significant upset.

I don’t know what to do to change this unpleasant behaviour. As you will know if you come along we are a small team of organisers and don’t have the manpower to police the event – frankly, even if we did have more people I wouldn’t want the event to be run like this – it’s meant to be a bit of fun for people who like cupcakes.

My team need to discuss what can be done, if anything, to save the event. I would rather we stop running the competition while this happens as I don’t want to upset bakers further by having people continue to wrestle the cupcakes out of their hands.

I hope you understand this stance and I apologise to the vast majority of you who come along and enjoy the event with the spirit in which it is meant to be enjoyed.

Pecan tart

It’s easy to get stuck in a baking rut and keep making similar things using your favourite ingredients. Every once in a while it’s nice to ask someone else for inspiration – this week I asked Mr CC to pick ingredients for me to use and he chose pecans and maple syrup. So obviously, it had to be pecan tart (nope, I won’t call it pie – sorry!)

I know most people would call this ‘pecan pie’ but I really struggle calling something ‘pie’ when it doesn’t have a pastry lid. It breaches all that is right in this world to misname baked goods in such a way. The Oxford English Dictionary defines pie as “a baked dish of savoury or sweet ingredients encased in or topped with pastry” – note the “encased in” bit – the pastry must seal in the filling. I’m disappointed that the OED allows anything topped with pastry to be called a pie but I’ll leave that battle for another day. So to sum up – this is a TART and not a PIE. Now that that can of worms has been successfully opened I feel a lot better....I’m no psychic but I sense this may lead to some comments....

The pastry interested me in this recipe as it didn’t use egg; normally my short crust pastry always uses egg yolk. It produced a drier, more biscuity pastry which contrasted well with the incredibly rich and sticky filling. The filling sets firm but, while the top sets hard, the inside remains soft and moist.

I served it at room temperature with thick cream but it would also be lovely warm with ice cream.

You’ll notice in my ingredients list I used half golden syrup and half maple syrup – you can easily use all of one if you wish.

Homage to the dawn of computer games...here is a pecan tart pretending to be a pacman:

Ingredients

For the pastry:

200g plain flour
115g unsalted butter, cold
2 tablespoons caster sugar
cold water

For the filling:
70g unsalted butter, at room temperature
100g light muscovado sugar
70g golden syrup
70g maple syrup
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
130g pecan nuts, roughly chopped

Method

Start by making the pastry: place the flour and butter in a food processor and blitz until you have breadcrumbs. Alternatively, rub the butter into the flour by hand.

Stir in the sugar and enough water to bring the crumbs to a stiff dough. I pulsed the mix in my food processor and found that 3 ½ tablespoons of cold water was enough.

Form the pastry into a fat disc and wrap in clingfilm, refrigerating for 20 minutes.

Roll the pastry out between two sheets of clingfilm (no extra flour needed) until it is large enough to line a 23cm round loose bottomed tart tin.

Prick the base of the pastry with a fork.

Chill for a further 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan oven 180°C/400°F/Gas mark 6.

Cover the pastry with baking paper and weigh down with baking beans.

Cook for 10 minutes then remove the paper and beans and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Put to one side while you make the filling.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.

To make the filling place the butter, sugar, golden syrup and maple syrup into a saucepan and gently heat, stirring all the time, until the ingredients have melted and combined.

Remove from the heat and beat in the eggs and vanilla.

Stir in the chopped pecans.

Pour the mixture into the pastry case and make sure the nuts are evenly distributed.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the filling is set. Mine took 35 minutes.

Leave to cool in the tin, on a wire rack.

Serve either at room temperature with thick cream or warm with ice cream.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have made.

Eat.

Iron Cupcake London Challenge XI – Celebration

Our 11^th challenge is also our first birthday, therefore I had to make sure we had an extra super prize...and here it is!

Not only does this stand have cute little silver cupcake case cups to hold your cupcakes in place but the whole thing revolves! Yes – revolves! No more having to go to all the effort of reaching for that far away cupcake you desire, simply revolve the stand and it comes to you!

The winner of both the amateur and professional competition will win one of these stands, along with other goodies.

As it’s our first birthday there is also a special prize on the night for the best decorated cupcakes – as voted for by the bakers!

Still plenty of time to bake for Monday’s challenge. All details can be found here.