Tuesday Tasties No.49 - Feeling Sweet

Yay, my blog is almost 1 year old, I've decided to put together a compilation of some of my favourite recipes from the past. This week, it's time to appreciate some you time with something for those of you with a sweet tooth.

So first up we have the Clean & Lean Pancakes which formed my second ever food based post here on What Laura Loves Today. These little beauties are delicious and make more than enough for four which is ideal if you're hosting and don't fancy cooking up a full English. The not so secret ingredient is actually cottage cheese, everyone I've made these for is pretty surprised they can't taste the cheese at all! They're well worth a go and only take minutes to fling together.

Next, it's time to sing Ad's praises as he's a dab hand when it comes to baking and this loaf is one of his signature bakes. I mean, he has seriously got the technique on this bad boy down. Of course, I'm talking about his Lemon & Poppyseed Loaf which is quick and fairly easy to fling together and doesn't require to many ingredients so is pretty darn cheap to boot.

The final recipe which I'm going to share with you today is another one of Ad's creations. By this of course I mean that he baked this lovely looking cake with his bare hands including the crumble topping and the whisking of the eggs. Of course, this is the Apple Streusel Cake, I've always imagined that this is what it would look like if apple crumble and cinnamon cookies decided to have a baby. It is that good, the cinnamon is lovely and comforting and the crumble topping against the softness of the apples just warms the cockles of even the coldest of hearts. This is one of my favourites, Ad really is good isn't he?

Be sure to keep your peepers peeled for some more Tuesday Tasties Compilations coming your way, if there's something specific you're after be sure to let me know.

Tuesday Tasties No.27

Rejoice Tuesday Tasties fans for I about to share you with you another delicious cake recipe. It's been a while since I shared some bits and pieces for those of you with a sweet tooth, so I suppose you're about ready for another bite of cake based cherry. 

Apple Streusel Cake

 

Is it a cake or is it a crumble, who cares really? What matter is that this thing is delicious served on it's own with a nice cup of tea, or with some home-made vanilla ice cream (or store bought if you're so inclined!). I should start this weeks edit by saying that it was Ad who baked this creation, so all of your awe should be aimed at him.

For this recipe you'll need:

• 100g unsalted butter, 60g to be soft, the remainder to be chilled.
• 210g plain flour
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 80ml milk (we use semi-skimmed)
• 3 Granny Smith Apples
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 70g soft brown sugar
• ONE 8 INCH PAN

As with most of the recipes I pop on here, the first thing you'll need to do is heat the oven to around 170 degrees and grease your tin with a little butter before dusting with flour.

The first step to making a streusel cake involves making the topping, this being the crispy bit you can see at the top. To do this, sift 70g of the flour and the cinnamon together in a bowl. Then add the chilled 40g of butter and proceed to rub the ingredients together using your finger tips.

After doing this for long enough, the mixture will start to resemble breadcrumbs and will be more in keeping with the crumble toppings which you're no doubt used to seeing. Once you've hit this stage, it's time to mix in the brown sugar before setting things to one side.

Now, grab another bowl.

You're going to add the 60g of softened butter and sugar to the bowl before creaming the two together using an electric whisk. Don't panic if you don't have an electric whisk, you can beat by hand, it'll just take a little longer.

Once the two are nice and fluffy add your egg and vanilla and make sure it's all been incorporated into the mixture.

Next, in a separate bowl sift the remaining flour, baking powder and salt together. Add half of this to your egg/butter/sugar mix along with 40ml of the milk. Give things a good mix together before adding the remaining flour mixture and the remaining 40ml of milk. Again, give things another good mix and ensure that everything is well combined.

Pour everything into the cake tin.

Right, it's time to peel and core your apples before slicing them into quarters. You want to carefully arrange these on top of the cake batter and then pour your streusel topping all over the top. Make sure things are well covered!

Stick this in the oven for around 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Once it's cooked, just leave it to cool.

You can see all the layers in this picture, you get the sponge base, the lovely soft apples and the crunchy crumble style topping. Delicious if I do say so, Ad's a dab hand at this baking lark.

Have you tried a Streusel Cake before? What did you make of it?

This recipe was taken from the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days cook book, I'm still of the opinion the recipes in here are fool proof!