How To Make a Sticky Apple Traybake

It has been a wonderful summer but I do love the slide into autumn. As I type this the rain is lashing against the windows, the wind has started to pick up and the temperature has dropped significantly. It's certainly a change from the hot weather of recent weeks. There is something so special about autumn. The gradual change in the colour of the leaves, some incredibly fiery and vibrant, before falling to earth. The grass becoming lush once more after a parched hot summer. And the tree harvest. The blossom we saw in spring is now wonderful, tasty fruit. Enabling us to make jams, cakes, sauces and drinks. Stocking up for those winter months ahead.

One of my favourite bakes at this time of the year is apple cake. I'm not fussed if it's made with cooking or eating apples, I just love the dark sponge, flavoured with cinnamon, against the dampness of the apples.

How to make a sticky apple traybake.

You'll need a 24cm square/5cm deep baking tray, greased and lined

Ingredients

• 225g butter or margarine
• 225g soft brown sugar (light or dark)
• 3 eggs
• 225g self-raising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 medium apples, peeled & sliced into a bowl of salted water (the salt stops them going brown)
• A little more brown sugar for sprinkling on top

Method

1. Pre-heat a fan oven to 140 degrees.
2. Place all the ingredients, except the apples, into a bowl.
3. Mix with a wooden spoon until well combined.
4. Place half the mixture into the baking tray and spread to the sides.
5. Take the apples out the bowl and dry with kitchen towel.
6. Place the slices on top of the mixture.
7. Take the remaining mixture and spread out on top of the apples.
8. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
9. Bake for 45 minutes to one hour.
10. For the last fifteen minutes cover the cake with foil.
11. Remove from the oven. Test if it is done with a skewer.
12. Serve warm or cold.

sticky apple traybake

For pinterest:

Nature Baking Journal Instagram Project

Earlier this year I created a steller project about My Year in Cake. I wrote:

"The time of year always dictates what I bake. Unconsciously I use pastel icing colours in spring, with the trend continuing and brightening as we surge into summer. Autumn baking is more muted; often inspired by the apple or plum harvest. And winter baking, both the act of and eating of, is for pure comfort."

I've found with my baking pictures on Instagram that I'm inspired by what is happening outside my back door. Or, sometimes, what is not happening. When the ground is frozen, soaked and brown I look for comfort within the kitchen. Therefore chocolate and ginger feature heavily through the winter months.

But with the arrival of spring, I've noticed I'm being inspired by the colours I'm seeing as I step outside. The vivid pinks of the hyacinths, the emerging dark pink of the flowering currant buds; fading slightly as they burst into flowers. And little cones on one of the trees. A deciduous needle tree that I haven't worked out what it is, yet. Tiny and pink cones, they are. Stunning colour.

It is so cheering to see pink outside after all this time. The landscape is still a smudge of green and brown, the trees have yet to explode with the vivid green of young leaves. There is the striking yellow of daffodils, which I love to see, but the colour is too close to brown and green to create that passionate delight. Seeing these different hues of pink is a feast for the eyes.

And yes, it influences what I bake or how I style my bakes for photographing and, ultimately, Instagram.

With this is mind I've created a new hashtag for Instagram. I do love a hashtag. It's #naturebakingjournal. And I would love it if you'd join in.

You might use nature within your baking; a wild garlic and cheese scone for example is perfect for March. Or you might use nature to inspire your baking colours. Or you might find some thyme flowers, a hyacinth, or maybe some plum blossom is the perfect prop to enhance your pictures of your bakes.

However you interpret the hashtag I would LOVE to see your pictures.

Each month I'll feature my favourites on this blog.

Find me on Instagram as @abookishbaker.

Blood Orange Fairy Cakes

Blood oranges are in season. These gorgeous oranges, looking very similar to regular oranges on the outside, have got a beautiful colour on the inside; ranging from a light reddish orange to a dark, purpley, beetroot coloured flesh. There are many things you could make with them. Blood orange curd is one delicious example (my mouth watered just by typing that) or maybe a blood orange marmalade.

I fancied making something rather simple in my first experiment. Naturally it had to be a cake. So I decided on blood orange fairy cakes.

I grated zest to go in the sponge and used the juice, and there was a lot of juice, to make the icing. The result was a rich tartness. Moreish. In fact, so moreish I'm thinking of making some more. Because this lot didn't last five minutes.

Makes 12 Blood Orange Fairy Cakes

Equipment

• An electric mixer always makes life easier but it isn't imperative; a wooden spoon will do the job.
• Large bowl for the sponge, smaller bowl for the icing.
• Zester (cheese grater is fine using the smaller holes) and juicer.
• 12 cupcake cases
• 12-hole muffin/cupcake tin. {I say a muffin/cupcake tin rather than the smaller fairy cake tin because if you use a large case and tin you can cut the sponge cakes flat and create a smooth top with the icing. Of course, you can use the smaller holed tin if you have that and ice any which way you like.}
• Wire rack for cooling.
• Bread knife.

Ingredients

For the sponge

• 170g caster sugar
• 170g butter
• 3 eggs
• 170g self-raising flour
• grated zest of two blood oranges

For the icing

• 500g icing sugar
• juice of two blood oranges
• a little water in case the juice isn't enough to make a firm consistency

Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to 160 degrees fan.
2. In a large bowl cream together the sugar and the butter until well combined.
3. Add the eggs, plus a spoonful of the flour to prevent splitting, and beat again.
4. Add the flour and the zest and mix.
5. Add two desert spoonfuls to each cake case.
6. Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes. They'll be ready when you press gently and the sponge springs back again.
7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack if you have one.
8. Now you can start on the icing. Place the icing sugar into the smaller bowl and add the juice of the oranges a little at a time. You're looking for a stiff-ish consistency but not so stiff so it won't flow and fill all the little gaps. If you don't have enough juice then add a little hot water from the kettle.
9. When the cakes are cool take a knife to cut off the risen centre (see picture above).
10. Using a spoon place icing on the top of each cake so it flows to the edges of the cupcake case.
11. Allow icing to set. Then eat!

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