Toffee Apple & Carrot Upside-down Cake - Suma Blogger's Network

We've had a good crop of discovery apples this year, so I've been trying to come up with different ways of using up the windfalls. This fruity upside-down cake, which was inspired by this week's episode of The Great British Bake Off, makes a lovely autumnal recipe for the Suma Blogger's Network and must almost count as a 5-a-day!

Serves 6-8

• 2-3 dessert apples, peeled, cored and thickly sliced
• 100g/4oz toffee sauce - I used Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding Sauce from Suma
• 100g/4oz butter
• 100g/4oz soft brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 150g/6oz SR flour
• 1 medium-large carrot, grated
• 50g/2oz raisins or sultanas
• ½ tsp cinnamon

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/170C Fan/350F/Gas 4.

Grease and line and 8" baking tin.

Spread the toffee sauce over the base of the tin and then cover with a single layer of sliced apples.

Cream the butter and sugar together, then mix in the rest of the ingredients to make a thick mixture.

Carefully top the apples with the cake mixture, being sure to spread the mixture over evenly to cover all the apples.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and firm to the touch.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tin, before turning out, to allow the sauce to soak into the cake.

Serve warm with custard, cream or ice cream.

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Super-Quick Microwave Chocolate Traybake

My microwave mug cake recipe has always been popular with my kids. Now they're teenagers, they can whip up a pudding themselves in record time and have adapted it to their own particular tastes. As they often want to entertain friends and there's a boyfriend on the scene, I thought I'd better come up with a recipe which can me made just as quickly, but can feed several hungry teenagers!

Serves 4+

• 50g/2oz peanut butter (or other nut butter)
• 50g/2oz butter or dairy-free spread
• 1 egg or equivalent vegan egg replacer
• 2 tbsp date, agave or golden syrup
• 25g/1oz unsweetened cocoa powder
• 75g/3oz SR flour
• 50g/2oz soft, brown sugar or coconut sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• Toppings: your choice of chopped (dairy-free) chocolate, vegetarian sweets, dried fruit/chopped nuts, chocolate-hazelnut spread, jam, nut butter or a combination of any of these.

Put the butter and nut butter into a microwave-safe bowl and cook on high for 20-30 seconds to melt.
Stir well and mix in the sugar, syrup and vanilla.
Beat in the egg or egg equivalent and finally stir in the flour and cocoa powder.

Grease and line the base of a microwave-safe dish (around 15cm round or square).
Spoon in the mixture and spread out evenly with the back of a spoon.
Spoon or sprinkle your topping/s over the surface of the mixture.

Cook for 3-4 minutes on high in the microwave, or until the edges are cooked and firm and the middle still looks just slightly undercooked. Check after 2½-3 minutes, to ensure it doesn't over cook.

Leave in the dish and allow to cool for 10-15 mins.
Cut into 4-9 pieces.
Remove from the dish and serve warm or cold with custard or ice cream, if so desired.

Suitable for freezing.

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Grasmere Gingerbread

Many years ago, I visited Grasmere on a school trip, and remember spending some of my pocket money on Grasmere gingerbread. We were all given a recipe when we were back at school and made some in Home Economics. If you've never tasted Grasmere gingerbread before, it's like an oaty, ginger shortbread and is easily vegan-ised!

I've lost my original recipe, so I tweaked one from Jane Grigson's English Food. 

• 6oz/150g SR flour
• 4oz/100g fine oatmeal (or porridge oats)
• 6oz/150g soft brown sugar
• 6oz/150g butter/dairy-free spread
• 1-2 tsp ground ginger

Pre-heat oven to 180C/170C Fan/Gas 4/350F.
If using porridge oats, whiz in the food processor for a few seconds to make them finer.
Mix all of the dried ingredients together.
Rub in the butter/spread or mix in the food processor - the resulting mixture should be fairly dry and will look something like the Sahara desert - don't worry, it will stick together as it cooks!
Tip the mixture into a well greased baking tray (25x30cm) and press down firmly with the back of a spoon.

Bake for approx. 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and mark into pieces with a sharp knife. 
Allow to cool fully in the tray before removing and breaking up.

Suitable for freezing.
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Eric Lanlard's Peanut Butter Blondies

The new series of Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard started on 5th March at 12:05pm on Channel 4 and will be on every week day for 4 weeks. If you haven't seen the programme before, Eric bakes sweet treats ranging from simple, but delicious home baking recipes to his beautifully crafted signature desserts. 

Each episode will also feature three members of the public who will come to his cookery school and take part in a bake off. Various bloggers have also been invited to take up the challenge to bake one of Eric's culinary creations in their own home and enter into a virtual bake off. 

I chose to bake Peanut Butter Blondies as we all love brownies, but had never tried blondies before. 10 year old Miss Kahonie helped me bake and decorate them, and I think she did a pretty good job; She also did a good job of licking the bowls clean! 
The recipe was spot on (including the cooking time), and I'm very happy with the resulting blondies, which are suitably peanut-buttery, moist and chewy - what's left of them anyway!

Peanut Butter Blondies

Makes 12

• 100g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing the tray
• 150g crunchy peanut butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 75g white chocolate, plus extra to decorate
• 75g walnut halves, chopped plus extra to decorate
• 125g plain flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• Dark chocolate melted, to decorate.
• White chocolate chips, to decorate

Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan/325°F/Gas Mark 3. Grease a 20cm/ 8-inch square tin with butter and line the base with baking paper.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and peanut butter together until creamy, using an electric hand whisk at medium speed. Add the vanilla, sugar and the egg, and beat again until light and fluffy.

Chop up the white chocolate and stir into the mixture along with the chopped walnuts.

Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture and fold in, using a large metal spoon.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake the mixture in the middle of the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes until it has a nice golden crust but is still fudgy in the middle.

Leave to cool in the tin. Decorate with white chocolate chunks and walnut pieces and drizzle over some melted dark chocolate. Cut into squares and serve.  

"Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard is a beautifully produced series that balances inspiration with information, engaging the viewer to try new things to add to their baking repertoire. Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard is sponsored by Bakingmad.com, an inspirational online community of over 100,000 members sharing a wealth of information, recipes, hints, tips and advice."

Integrity Statement
This is a sponsored post, for which I have received free cooking ingredients and 2 free cook books. The views expressed are genuinely those of myself and my family.
Recipe reproduced by kind permission of Baking Mad.

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Butternut Squash Cake

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I received 2 butternut squashes instead of one (by mistake) in my online shopping delivery this week, so instead of boring the family with squash-filled savoury dishes every day, I thought I'd try baking with squash, in a carrot-cake type recipe. Miss Kahonie wasn't too keen on the idea though. 
"Vegetables should not be in cakes" she protested.
"But squash is a fruit not a vegetable, so you'll love this" I sneakily replied "...and it'll count towards your 5-a-days!".

• 200g/8oz peeled and grated butternut squash
• 100g/4oz butter/marg
• 100g/4oz soft brown sugar
• 150g/6oz SR flour
• 2 medium eggs, beaten
• 100g/4oz mixed dried fruit (I used chopped glacé cherries, raisins and sultanas)
• 1 heaped tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp cinnamon

Pre-heat oven to 170C/160C Fan/Gas 3
Cream the butter and sugar.
Add all of the remaining ingredients except the dried fruits and mix well.
Fold in the dried fruits.
Spoon the mixture into a greased and lined baking tin (approx 18-20cm/7-8" sqaure).
Bake for 30-40 mins until firm to the touch.

Allow to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes, before turning out and cutting into squares.
Serve warm (with custard or ice cream) or cold.

Suitable for freezing.

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Peanut Butter Traybake Bars (Vegan)

These chocolate-coated peanut butter bars are really quick and easy to make. My kids reckon they taste like Snickers bars.  

Makes 12-16

• 100g/4oz crunchy peanut butter
• 25g/1oz dairy-free spread
• 100g/4oz soft brown sugar
• 50g/2oz SR flour
• 50g/2oz porridge oats/oatmeal
• 2 tbsp golden syrup/corn syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon or ginger (optional)
• 100g/4oz plain (dairy free) chocolate.

Cream the peanut butter, spread, syrup and sugar together.
Add the flour, oats, vanilla and cinnamon/ginger.
Mix well until you have a firm dough.
Add a drop of  water if the dough is too dry to stick together.
Press the dough into a shallow (approx. 15cm) square greased baking tray. The dough should be around 1-1.5 cm thick.
Cook for around 12-15 mins at 180C/170C Fan/Gas 4/350F until golden brown around the edges.
Leave to cool.
Melt the chocolate and spread over the base. 
Allow to set before cutting into bars and removing from the tray.

Suitable for freezing.

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