Fantastic Apple cake!!!

[Earthbabe]

I'll pm you the details, ISBN number etc. I got it from waterstones. It even has a decent flatbread and the hot cross buns are pretty good. The coconut cake is to die for.

[monkeybum]

That would be great. Got a fantastic book barn round here so I will see if I can get it there. Thanks Earthbabe!

[dexterdoglancashire]

I really should get into baking! this recipe sounds brill! DDL

[MissyMoo]

Earthbabe, Monkeybum....have you tried brown rice flour? Apparently that makes a nice crumble topping.

[monkeybum]

I have tried it for baking but not for topping. I found it went a bit powdery. It's a bit trial and error with more of the errors at the moment.

[kirsty b]

Apple cake

Hi Elmo
That recipe looks fab. Have printed it off and will try that later today, my lot are always asking for cakes and stuff for lunchboxes.
Will have to see if there is a phantom cake pincher in my house too.
Kirsty

[Earthbabe]

At least it's not a phantom raspberry blower.

[kirsty b]

Or flan flinger

[Waffler]

Could you post the recipe please Waffler. Crumble topping doesn't seem to work with gluten-free flour for some reason. Might try it with oats though as I can eat those.

Sorry EB - only just spotted this request.

Autumn Pear Cake (from Sainsbury's mag, Sept 06)

serves at least 8
35mins prep
1.5 hours cooking

250g / 9oz golden caster sugar
250g / 9oz unsalted butter, softened
4 medium free-range eggs, separated
250g / 9oz ground almonds
3 tbsp eau de vie de poire Williams, or Calvados (in the absence of neither or perry, I used cider, and it was just fine!)
6 dessert pears, peeled, quartered, cored and finely sliced lengthways.

For the crumble:
75g / 3oz self-raising flour
50g / 2oz light muscovado sugar
25g / 1oz unsalted butter, chopped

You will also need:
a 23cm / 9" diameter springform cake tin, 6cm / 2.5" deep, lightly buttered, the base and sides lined with baking parchment and buttered again.

(Phew!)

Preheat the oven to 170C, fan 160C
To make the cake, cream the sugar and butter together. Lightly beat egg yolks then add to creamed mix a bit at a time, adding almonds in between. Add the alcohol.
Whisk the egg whites in to soft peaks. Using a large kitchen spoon, fold about a fifth of the whites in to the cake mixture to lighten it. Carefully fold in the remaining whites, retaining as much air as possible. Working quickly, fold in the pears then pile mixture in to prepared cake tin.
For the crumble, combine the flour and muscovado sugar, then rub in the butter until the mixture is like very coarse breadcrumbs. Scatter the crumble over the top of the cake, then bake it for about 90 mins or until firm and golden brown. Serve warm (allow to cool in tin for a while) or at least at room temperature - not chilled (or you can do what you d*mn well like!!)

Nice with a good blob of creme fraisch, or go mad with clotted cream - YUM!

[Shortie]

At least it's not a phantom raspberry blower.

Sorry, off topic I know... We were watching repeats of these two the other night and the Phantom Raspbery Blower sketch came on.. even my little boy was laughing away. They did do such fab comedy!