Christmas baking

Me baking mince tarts: 

"Hmm that recipe looks a bit boring. I think I'll add some roughly chopped chocolate, a decent dollop of the disaster marmalade I made earlier in the year (it's more or less solid), a handful of mixed nuts, coffee granules and assorted Christmassy spices - cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and cardamom. Oh, and then there's those chili flavoured coconut chips that are a little bit odd and the last of the coconut butter. Could work out ok." 

And it all got mixed in with the minced fruit which has been marinating in coffee flavoured vodka for a few days. 

They look a bit rustic but taste pretty darn good!

And then there were the individual Christmas cakes. In my mind Christmas baking is associated with spice. Lots of it. I found three Christmas Cooking books on the shelves, but none of them included spice in the rich fruit cake recipes. Not a skerrick. What's going on? In desperation I ferreted out the trusty old Cookery The Australian Way, and spice was included, though not very much.

Then, trusting my not entirely reliable memories, I added more than stated quantity of spice to the mix. I'd found some apricots and other forgotten end packs of sad looking dried fruit in the pantry, and had left it all soaking for a few days along with raisins, in the coffee flavoured vodka that had gathering dust on the shelf, then added extra mixed nuts. There was more marmalade to use up - will it last forever? and some chocolate that had fallen behind the vegetable crisper in the frig. May as well add that too!

Into the patty pans in the muffin tin (my token attempt at portion control), then a bit of guesswork with the timing and taadaaa. We have success!

The pantry now looks a lot neater having used the end packs of fruit, our tummies are chubbier and the house smells fantastic with all the spice. 

Perfect taste treats for picnics over Summer!
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Boiled and baked cake with pineapple and zucchini!

The zucchini plants are producing lots of wonderful golden vegetables! But what to do with the excess? We've gorged on zucchini fritters, zucchini salads, stir fried zucchini and zucchini slice.

I like carrot cake, and have enjoyed cakes with beetroot as a colourful addition, so why not zucchini?

I love fruit cake and wondered if I could find a recipe for a boiled and baked pineapple and zucchini cake. The internet is a wonderful thing and lo and behold I almost found what I was looking for ;-) By combining a number of recipes, I baked these delicious cakes. More than enough to share!

Ingredients:

• 1 x 450g tin crushed pineapple with juice. (Pineapple pieces work, but aren't as delicate.)
• 250g butter
• 500g mixed fruit (including raisins, sultanas, dates, apricots, cherries, cranberries etc)
• 2 cups sugar (I've used white, brown and palm, they all work, but give a slightly different flavour)
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• a slosh of brandy, rum, blackberry nip or similar
• 1 heaped tablespoon marmalade

Method: 
Put all of the above in a saucepan - bring to the boil then allow to cool.

Now stir in: 
2 teaspoons bicarb soda. (It'll foam and froth in an entertaining way.)

Next add:

• 3 lightly beaten eggs, if they're really small, use 4
• 1 cup grated zucchini

Combine:

• 2 cups plain white flour
• 1 cup wholemeal flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• pinch salt

If you're feeling decadent, you can chop up some chocolate and add it too!

Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Stir till mixed.

Cook the large cake about 1 - 1 1/4 hours at 160C until a skewer comes out clean. The small ones only took 30 mins. I turned them after 20 mins and moved the front one to the back as my oven doesn't heat evenly.

Apples galore = time to bake an apple cake!

The apple tree is laden, and I'm stewing, dehydrating, and giving them away. I'm also cooking them into all sorts of yummy things.

Yesterday's effort was this lovely moist German (or Dutch?) apple cake, source unknown.

• 500 gm apples (I used Granny Smith) Peel, core, slice thinly. (You can sprinkle lemon juice on stop them browning)
• Mixed spice - a generous pinch and a bit more because it tastes good
• 225 gm butter
• 195 gm caster sugar
• 6 eggs (you could possibly use 4 if that's all you have, and use milk or yogurt to make up the extra liquid - I'll try this next time and see how it goes)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 195 gm plain flour
• ... mixed with 2 flat teaspoons baking powder
• Salt - a pinch
• Cinnamon - 1/2 teaspoon or more generous if you like
• 75 gm ground almonds (I think walnuts would go well - or macadamias!)
• an extra Tablespoon of caster sugar to sprinkle on top

Oven @ 160 Celsius
23cm circular cake tin (spring form works well, lined with baking paper)

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl

• Cream the softened butter and sugar
• add vanilla
• add eggs one at a time - beat well after each egg. 
• After the 3rd egg,  add 1/2 the dry ingredients
• after the 6th egg add the remainder of the dry ingredients.

Taste test if you're that way inclined and don't have problems eating raw egg!

Ladle 1/2 the batter into the lined tin, layer on 1/2 the apples.
Put the rest of the batter on top of the apple layer and cover with the remaining apple.

Lightly dust with cinnamon.

Put in the centre of the preheated oven for 1 hour, turn 1/2 way through if your oven cooks unevenly. At about one hour, sprinkle with the 1 Tablespoon caster sugar and cook for a further 15 or so minutes. I got distracted and it was at least another 1/2 hour. Thankfully I didn't have a charred disaster!


Edit:

I've now tried the recipe with extra apple, 1 generous teaspoon cinnamon and 1 teaspoon nutmeg. It was delicious! I also want to try it with some finely chopped preserved ginger and cardamom instead of the nutmeg.

Terry McNeil (G+ profile here) suggested the following: try adding some citrus zest, either lemon or orange. You could replace a little of the liquid with a tablespoon or so of a liqueur like Calvados. Drizzle some caramel over the cake. If you're feeling adventuresome,, the tiniest bit of freshly minced rosemary is a nice addition or some dried fruit.

Thank you Terry! So many variations to try!


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