Apple and blueberry cake

Apples and blueberries in one cake?  That’s two of your five a day in one simple slice* Plus think of all those calories you’ll burn pouring the cream over the cake, lifting weights (ok, the spoon) and chewing.  It’s the cake for anyone on a January health-kick*

We had the cake warm, but not hot, from the oven with pouring cream and it was lovely.  The apples had a little tartness and the sugar sprinkled on top of them had crunch which gave many lovely textures while eating.

Mr CC is not a fan where fruit is baked in a sponge and makes it squidgy.  He liked this because the sponge remained crumbly as the fruit sits on top.  He’s not normally at home when I bake and the smell of this straight from the oven was too tempting for him....hence us eating it warm!

The weather is grim at the moment – grey, dark and mostly wet.  I know we’re getting off lightly compared to other parts of the country, and indeed other countries, but there was something cheering about this cake.  It was quick to make, colourful and flavoursome.  I’m not sure cakes can have personalities but if they could this one would be saying ‘hey, it’s not so bad – spring will soon be here’....and ‘eat me’.  All cakes say ‘eat me’.  It’s the law*

*May not actually be true (sadly)

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
165g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
225g self raising flour
125ml milk
1-2 eating apples, depending on size, peeled, cored and cut into slices
125g blueberries
2 tablespoons Demerara sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Line a 20cm round springform tin with baking paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and pale – it won’t go as whippy as some other mixes because of the ratios.

Beat in the vanilla.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Stir in the flour and milk until the batter is just combined – don’t over beat it.

Spoon into the prepared cake tin and level the surface.

Arrange the apple slices on top and then scatter the blueberries over the apple.

Sprinkle the Demerara sugar over the top.

Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Best check the cake after 40 minutes and, if it’s browning too quickly, cover the top loosely with foil.

Leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack until it is cool enough to de-tin.

Leave to cool completely or serve warm.

Serve either warm for dessert with ice cream, or at room temperature with cream.

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

Eat.

Tunis cake

If, like me, you watched the Christmas Bake Off special on TV you will have spotted this cake as the one made by Mary Berry.  It got Mr CC’s attention and within seconds of that thick ganache topping going on I was made to promise it would appear in our household at some point over Christmas!  Mr CC can never resist a good chocolate cake.

This is a deceptively simple cake to make and tastes of luxury.  The ganache topping tastes like the richest, most delicious truffle and works so well with the soft, crumbly Madeira-like sponge. 

I made one tweak in that I turned the sponge into a vanilla one rather than Mary’s lemon version.  This was an act of selfishness on my part! 

The sponge was so good I will use it for other cakes – I think it would take sultanas well, or be nice topped with cream and fruit in the summer.

The origin of Tunis cake seems uncertain.  It was mass produced by McVities in the 1970s but it is thought the recipe dates back to Edwardian times.  However, the reason for the name perhaps dates back a lot further to the days of Carthage’s wars with the Roman Empire.   After a victory the Tunis warriors would celebrate with cake and wine, which is why Tunis cake is made for celebrations.  I think a victorious warrior would be very pleased with a slice of this cake named after him!

Ingredients

For the sponge:
225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
225g caster sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used this instead of the recommended grated zest of 1 lemon)
225g self raising flour
70g ground almonds

For the ganache:
300ml double cream
400g chocolate – I used half dark, half milk – broken into squares

To decorate: sprinkles of your choice

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Line a 20cm round springform tin with baking paper, making sure the paper comes up above the height of the tin.

Beat together the butter and sugar until whippy and pale.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding some of the flour if it looks like it might curdle.

Beat in the vanilla.

Fold in the flour and almonds.

Spoon into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Bake for approximately 1 hour, although it’s best to check the cake after 45 minutes in case it is browning too quickly.  If it is, loosely cover the top with foil, and carry on baking.  Mine didn’t need this, but all ovens are different.

Leave the cake to cool – do not remove from the tin.  This is of vital importance!

Now make the ganache topping: heat the cream until just starting to bubble but not boiling.

Remove from the heat and add the chocolate.

Stir gently to help the chocolate melt.  At first it will look a bit of a mess but gradually the mix will turn into a smooth, glossy ganache.

Leave to cool, but not set.

If your cake has a peak – and you can do it without de-tinning the cake – level it as best you can.

Pour the ganache over the top of the cake and put aside to set.  It’s best not to refrigerate at this point as it keeps the chocolate glossy.

When the ganache has set, decorate however you wish.

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

Eat.

Snowy rocky road

Now for something that requires no baking and very little prep, this was one of the stand-out hits of my Christmas goodies!  This is the perfect treat for having on standby in the fridge whenever a cup of tea needs a little bit of something tasty to accompany it.

You could reinvent this and change the ingredients, for example switching sultanas for the cranberries, or almonds for the pistachio, but the combination set out below really worked well – whatever you do, make sure you keep the mix of chewy and crunchy.

The pistachio and cranberry also looked festive sitting in the white chocolate.  I struggled to get good photos as it must have been one of the greyest, wettest, darkest Christmases ever...and, of course, I only remembered to photograph it when I was sitting with my cup of tea waiting to eat a square.  Impatience and greed does not make for good photos!

Happy New Year everyone – here’s to a year of wonderful bakes and may you never have a soggy bottom!

Ingredients

400g white chocolate, chopped
25g mini marshmallows
50g desiccated coconut, plus extra for sprinkling
50g dried sweetened cranberries
40g pistachios, roughly chopped
50g ginger nut biscuits, broken into small chunks but not crumbs

To decorate: sprinkles of your choice

Method

Line a tin approximately 15cm x 20cm with clingfilm.

Melt the chocolate, either in the microwave or in a bowl above a saucepan of steaming water (making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water).  Be gentle and don’t rush as white chocolate is more sensitive than other chocolate.

Stir in all the ingredients and spoon into the prepared tin, leveling the surface.

Sprinkle over the additional coconut and decoration of your choice; I used bronze sugar pieces.

Refrigerate until set and then remove from the tin and cut into squares.

Keep in the fridge until wanted – it keeps for days.

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

Eat.

Trifle cheesecake

Trifle or cheesecake?  Surely, one of the toughest decisions the dessert menu can pose.  Well, fret no more because nature has found a solution: trifle cheesecake.  All the flavour and texture of cheesecake with all the bells and whistles of trifle.

As soon as I saw this recipe in the BBC Good Food Christmas magazine I knew it was what we’d be eating after Christmas lunch.  If I was in a romcom, I could tell the BBC they had me at “trifle cheesecake”.

Christmas would be much more drab without sprinkles:

When you think about it, some cheesecakes already have a thick fruity layer on top but more of a set coulis than jelly.  The jelly works really well and lightens the whole dessert.  It was definitely a crowd pleaser.

I thought I had lined my tin pretty thoroughly, and also thought I had spread out the cheesecake layer to close off any holes.  Wrong.  That liquid jelly is a terror and I say this to prepare you for the likelihood of leakage.  Take precautions in advance – lots of kitchen paper under the tin will prevent it looking like a jelly massacre took place shortly before you opened the fridge door.  Also have a spare packet of jelly to make up for the jelly lost in leakage; it looks a bit weird if your raspberries are left poking out the top! (Not a sentence I ever thought I’d type)

Apologies for the poor quality photos; the light wasn’t great and, by this point in events, I had roast potato-fuelled inertia.  In other words....a typical Christmas!  Hope you all had a good one!

Ingredients

For the base:

250g digestive biscuits
100g unsalted butter

For the cheesecake layer:

3 gelatine leaves
3 tablespoons Bird’s custard powder
200ml milk
100ml double cream
900g cream cheese – I used Philadelphia
200g golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the jelly:

1 x 135g pack raspberry jelly cubes (You might want a spare pack on standby, should you lose jelly to leakages – I did!)
175g raspberries

For the cream:

300ml double cream
Cadbury’s Flake
Sprinkles of your choice

Method

Line a 23cm round springform tin with foil or clingfilm.  It needs to be completely lined.  Also wrap the outside of the tin with foil – because the chances are the jelly will leak!  If you’re a pessimist (I am) then place some kitchen paper under the tin inside the foil as it soaks up any leaks.

In a food processor blitz together the digestive biscuits and butter (no need to melt) until it resembles wet sand.

Press the biscuits crumbs into the base of the prepared tin and refrigerate.

Now make the custard for the cheesecake layer: place the gelatine leaves into a bowl of cold water.  Put to one side.

Spoon the custard powder into a bowl.

Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan and then take three or four tablespoons of this to stir into the custard powder and make a thick paste.

Heat the milk and cream in the saucepan until almost at boiling point.

Pour over the custard paste and stir to ensure no lumps.

Return to the saucepan and heat, stirring all the time, until the custard thickens.

Remove from the heat.

Squeeze all the water from the gelatine leaves and whisk into the warm custard.

Pour into a bowl and press clingfilm onto the surface to stop a skin forming.

Leave to cool.

When it is cool, you can make the cheesecake layer: beat together the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth and well combined.

Stir the custard to loosen it a bit, and then beat into the cheesecake mix.

Spoon over the biscuit base and return to the refrigerator for 4 hours.

Now make the jelly layer: Make half the packet of jelly and leave, in the jug to cool for 30 minutes or so.

Pour over the cheesecake and place the raspberries in the jelly.  At this point, they won’t be covered.  There might be some jelly leakage at this point but if you have prepared your tin adequately it shouldn’t cause any fridge-carnage!

Refrigerate for an hour.

Make up the remaining half pack of jelly and pour over the raspberries.

Refrigerate for an hour or until the jelly is totally set.

Whip up the cream and pipe over the jelly on top of the trifle.

Sprinkle over crushed Flake or almonds, or any sugar decoration you have.

Remove from the refrigerator about 10 minutes before you wish to serve.

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

Eat.