Loaded Apple Spice Muffins (low fat content) FOODBUZZ #5 14/11/11

I was totally taken in by the stunning images on Anncoo Journal of some wonderful Italian apple cupcakes. Gosh – they looked so good I visually ate the lot off the screen. The ingredients list was awesome too. There was whacking great amount of butter – bound to make any cake taste good.... but not exactly easy on the waistline. Then again, what cake doesn’t add inches to your waistline. Blimey. I’m sure just thinking about it makes mine expand.

Hmm. My apple trees did well this year. I’ve got a fridge drawer full of Bramleys, a shelf full of Empire Reds and a car load of Jonagolds. Apples are bountiful in England in the autumn and winter months. I’ve been good. I don’t each much cake these days. I’ve got an abundance of apples begging to be used. How many excuses does a fat girl (trying to get thin) need to bake ?

I’ve waited a week.

“Mummy .... I need to bake cake !” a little voice chirps up and a fluffy blond head pops round the door.

One. Just one. That’s all the excuse I need.

Three years ago, I was convinced I was going to have a little girl. I had dreams of riding ponies together and threading daisy chains on the grass. Instead, I was nurturing a little boy that would love mud and cars. I worried as he’s start to grow up, all he would want was to spend all his time with Daddy.

 That may well happen.... buy my little boy loves mud, and cars and BAKING with Mummy.

Sure, this is cake, compared to Ann’s amazing Italian Apple Cakes, it’s much lower in fat. That does NOT mean eat six. Don’t eat cake in excess. You’ll get fat. Don’t sue me – I warned you !

 RECIPE

Makes 12 > 14

255g all purpose flour

3tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

good couple of pinches nutmeg

good pinch of ground cloves

150g granulated sugar

90mls oil

150mls milk

1 beaten egg

350g finely cored and finely sliced apples ( I used some small Empire Reds, peel left on)

agave nectar (or warmed golden syrup) to glaze

Sift dry ingredients together.

In a separate bowl or jug, mix the wet ingredients together. Combine wet and dry ingredients, (taking care not to over mix) folding in the mass of apples in the final few strokes. It will look like mainly apples and not much batter !

Spoon into standard size cupcake / muffin paper cases in a muffin tray or silicone muffin mould. These need filling more or less to the top. There is so little batter in relation to apples that these muffins aren’t going to give a great rise.

Bake for approx 22mins at 180deg C fan oven until tops are golden and a cocktail stick comes out clean.

Glaze the top with some agave syrup brushed onto the tops of the hot muffins. Allow to cool and serve.

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On leaving the house this morning, I put one of these in these in the fridge for Oliver. We’d made 14, though next time, I’ll use the batter to make just 12. Oliver had already demolished one still a little warm before we left. 

Twelve left.

I put the baking tray with the silicone mould containing the muffins on the back seat of the car. I didn’t box them up, as they were still a little warm. I wanted to take them into work to photograph and figured that the lads that work with me would find resisting these futile. What I didn’t forsee was that only 10 would make it to work.

I know what you are thinking.

The smell of my car was amazing. The wafts of warm spices cheered me up no end. Nothing like the smell of Christmassy spices to lift your soul. It made me hungry too.

The tray bounced and slid as I cursed and hit a pot hole that had escaped my notice. The tray slid and two muffins out and hit the floor. Only 10 lots of temptation remained.

I set my lightbox up on a table in the stove showroom to take a few snaps. I didn’t think it would take long before my colleagues would start coming to look at what I had in there. But it wasn’t Colin that was first (despite the fact he usually is). Nor Richard, or Martin. It was a little boy that came in the door with his mum to buy a fire grate as I was just starting to take some photos.

“I’m hungry!” he piped up.

Not much time for photos – they were a little hurried to say the least. I now wish I'd taken some more.

 The little boy and his mum had a cake. Colin, Richard and Martin had a cake. Another customer coming in had a cake as did I .... and the postman. The last two ? I don’t know where they went !

I didn’t eat them. I SWEAR I didn’t eat them.

Wherever they went, that has to be the most amazing fastest cake disappearance I’ve ever seen. Five minutes max and ...... gone.

The paper muffin / cupcake cases are a new design just in. You can find the RED DOTTY HEARTS paper cases here in standard 50mm size.

Sarah-Jane Nash, November 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com - silicone bakeware moulds.

Thanks for voting for these in the Foodbuzz top 9 !

Dutch Apple CASTLE Cake !

This is a post for loads of people out there who are still waiting to see what all our new moulds are.

 I'm sorry it's taking me so long.. it's SUCH a big job at the moment as there are so many new silicone bakeware moulds and other items just in.

This CASTLE mould is an absolute cracker, and such fun too ! There are so many things you could do with it. Using a vanilla mix, the cake should retain a pale colour and look fab decorated with lots of sweets / candy - or just leave it as a plain and unadulterated cake. No sin in that.

It would look totally awesome as a chocolate cake simply dusted with icing sugar for a wintery seasonal feel.... I fancy making an icecream castle too. Or even for a giant rocky road as one of our shop customers has in mind. I'm looking forward to seeing how creative some of the purchasers are.

Anyway - for this cake, I made a Dutch Apple Bundt Cake originating from http://www.allrecipes.com/ - but tweaked it to suit. The cake mix produces a moist and dense cake. Refrigerated, it should keep well after baking. I found rises very little and one batch is no where near enough. Yup - this was my second cake of the day and the mould was still short by a couple of spoonfuls if I'm being really critical. As this cake has got so much apple in it, it also comes out quite a dark colour.

The original recipe was to fill a 10" bundt ring, but as mentioned, I've tweaked it and added 50%. I also decided to grate the apple instead of slice, added some bicarbonate of soda and increased the liquid a little. By the way - I'll warn you - you need a big mixing bowl !

Ingredients

6 apples (or 4 large cooking apples) - peeled, cored and grated
1/3 cup of white sugar
6 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 teaspoons ground ginger

4.1/2 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons of baking powder
2 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda
3 cups white sugar
6 eggs
1.1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup of orange juice or milk

Add the first lot of sugar and the spices to the grated apple and mix. Set aside whilst you prepare the rest.

Sift dry ingredients together. Whisk eggs and wet ingredients (except apple) to the dry. Mix with a wooden spoon to combine and then stir in the apple.

Pour into your greased and floured castle mould set on a baking tray. Put into a 170deg Fan oven for approx 1hr 10mins until cooked and a cake tester comes out clean.

Allow cake to cool for 15 mins or so before turning out on to a wire rack.

Sarah-Jane Nash - http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ / http://www.naturalheating.co.uk/ - July 2010

BIG Cake - Spiced Apple Cake

For some reason, I didn't expect this cake to turn out so huge. Nor did I expect to have my worst baking day ever on Friday and throw 3 lots of cake in the bin in frustration !

Friday just WASN'T my day ... I started off making a carrot cake in a 10" round silicone mould, which is a core recipe I use often for large cakes and muffins. It turned out beautifully as per normal. I then made a spiced pineapple and coconut cake to put on top to layer with. That would have been perfect. It looked fab by eye - but on turning out, wasn't quite cooked and the whole thing disintegrated in front of me. This was made worse by the fact I was trying to turn out on to the top of the iced carrot cake. The whole thing was then a complete write off and ended up in the bin. Teach me not to test it when taking out the oven !

Third cake was another spiced coconut and pineapple concoction..... BUT I forgot to put in the eggs. My 3rd disaster !

By this point, I'd run out of both pineapple and coconut. It was just as well we had a glut of eggs and the chickens had done us proud :-P

Attempt 4 created a spiced apple cake which turned out truly yummy and was demolished by office staff on Saturday morning. There was still stacks of it left and that came on a Saturday afternoon picnic to the park with my friend (Nicky) and our toddlers. There was so much of it - that we shared it with other visitors to the park too ! After all - they'd be mad to turn down cake, wouldn't they ?

I made this in a new mould we have in manufacture which should be available at the end of May. It's a large sunflower silicone bakeware mould with double layered petals for extra effect. It looks stunning plain or dusted with icing sugar - you really don't want to do much to it at all.

The Large sunflower mould is just over 10" internal diameter and recipe volumes to suit a standard 10" bundt ring mould / tube pan fit perfectly.

Large Sunflower Silicone Cake Mould - Available May

You'll see I've just added all the new moulds coming in May to the website - these are not yet available and I need to work through measurements, weights etc when they arrive.

Recipe

Ingredients

300g cooking apples - peeled, cored and small diced

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp ground ginger

375 g all-purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

400g granulated sugar

250 ml vegetable oil

60ml milk

3 tsp vanilla essence

4 eggs

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

icing sugar for dusting

 

Preheat oven to 180deg C (fan)

 

In a medium bowl, mix the chopped apples, spices and sugar and set aside.

 

In a large bowl, beat the wet ingredients. Sift in dry ingredients and beat on low with electric mixer until all combined.

 

Pour 1/3 of the cake batter into the mould or tin. It's wise to grease brand new silicone moulds for the first time - especially if the cake mix has a high sugar content. The sugar wasn't too bad in this one, so I didn't bother and it came out just fine.

 

Mix the apples into the remaining batter and pour into the mould. The reason I've done this is to get a nice smooth top to the cake after turning out - rather than bits of apple spoiling the look of the top of my cake.

 

This will take 1hour to cook in a 10" tube / bundt pan - or approx 1hour 20 mins in a standard circular cake mould / tin.

Allow to cool until warm and then turn out on a wire rack. When totally cool, dust with icing sugar or glaze as required. Easily serves 12 > 14

This cake eats even better on day 2. My little cake tester (Oliver) had a bit of the cut slice on the Friday afternoon to give it a seal of approval and the rest sat waiting until Saturday. It was definately best the next day after the apples had a chance to release some more moisture. I'm afraid there are no photos of the cake in the park !

Sarah-Jane Nash - http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ - April 2010