Simple Pleasure

After being unable to bake for over a month it's such a relief to be able to leisurely enjoy making this apple cake. So simple and yet very gratifying to make. The cake came out tender and the apples were sweet and firm.  I  love this cake.




Rustic Apple Cake

50 g cake flour
50 g all purpose flour
70 g caster sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
62 g sourcream
2 tbsp olive oil
grated zest of half a lemon
200 g apples (I used Pink Lady)
1 tbsp butter
1-2 tbsp muscovado sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 180 C

Butter and flour a 7 inch round cake pan.

Peel and core the apples. Dice one apple and the rest cut in thin slices. Set aside.

In a bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl rub together sugar and lemon zest. Add in the egg and whisk until creamy and light. Beat in sour cream and olive oil. Add in the dry ingredients just until moistened. Add the diced apples.

Transfer batter to the prepared pan. Spread the thin slices of apple on top of the batter. Scatter pats of butter over the apples and sprinkle muscovado sugar.

Cake for 30- 45 minutes.

CNY

Last week my husband requested me to make some cookies for his colleagues at work since he will be away on a overseas work for a couple of weeks and won't be in Singapore this coming CNY holidays. I admit I'm not very familiar with traditional Chinese goodies so I tried to stick to recipes I've tried before like Pineapple Tart and Chocolate Shortbread Cookies. I also made Cashew Sugee Cookies and Peanut Sesame Cookies. For the Peanut cookies my youngest son offered his help by shaping the cookies in a 1/2 tbsp measuring spoon. I was happy he helped me out or else it would take me forever to finish everything.


Happy Chinese New Year!





Peanut Sesame Cookies

200 g flour
180 g icing sugar
60 g cornflour
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
30 g roasted sesame seeds (I used black)
180 g roasted peanuts
200 g butter

Finely chop peanuts and sesame seeds in food processor.

In a bowl, sift plain flour and corn flour.

Put butter, icing sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until sugar is just dissolved. Add egg and vanilla extract and mix well.

Add the plain flour, cornflour, peanuts, sesame seeds and mix until dry ingredients are just moistened.

Shape into small balls and arranged on lined baking tray. Brush with beaten egg yolk and decorate with halved peanut.

Bake at 180 C for 10 minutes.

Start of the Year

As the new year starts, I am again engrossed in cleaning and de-cluttering my home. I have been spending this past few days organizing stuff, throwing away things we don't need anymore. As for my kids they are starting a new school year so I was also busy making sure they are prepared. My eldest son will be in Sec 1 this year and I was happy he did well in his PSLE exams so he was able to go to his preferred school.

Although I don't really go for New Year's resolution, my husband and I has decided that we should exert more effort to eat healthily and exercise regularly. Sad to say, hubby and I has gained some extra pounds and our recent medical screening revealed we both have high level of cholesterol. I will be slowing down with my bakes but hopefully I'd still be able to update my blog every now and then.



For now, let me leave you with the last cake I made for last year. A Car's the movie themed cake for Caleb's 3rd birthday.

Lesson

I made this cake for little Denice. Sad to say I made a grave mistake when I misspelled her name. It should be a C not an S. I was so disappointed with myself and although I could have corrected it by going to their place, unfortunately there was not enough time. I have to admit my body couldn't handle the long hours of baking and cake decorating. My body and mind wasn't functioning anymore after days of lack of sleep. Oh well! the joys and pains of baking. I swear I learned my lesson from this incident... again my sincerest apologies A.