This weekend called for a belated blog birthday celebration and naturally a cake! Celebrating not only the last day of August which was blissfully sunny and spent wakeboarding on a glass-like lake in Wiltshire with some friends, but also the 2nd birthday of ‘forage in the pantry’ or FITP as its been recently named. Since my first ever blogged recipe and still one of my absolute favourites (see here) it has been two years of new experiments, flavours, combinations, styles, and ingredients which have flown by deliciously. A LOT has happened and changed in these past 2 years but the blog has been ticking over loyally and creatively in the background. Maintaining my sanity and satiety.
It pains me to say it but as Autumn approaches on the horizon in the form of darker nights and colder mornings, the apples are abundant and I felt it only natural to choose them as the star in my birthday cake. Taking inspiration from the controversial Starbucks ‘Duffin’ (muffin filled with jam) I have concocted a cinnamon cake filled wickedly with a slow roasted spiced apple puree and a tangy ginger lemon frosting. I refrained from rolling in sugar. Delicious served fresh on the day bitten into with no prior warning of the jammy filling.
Apple Puree – see here
Apple Crisps
- 1 apple
- 65g caster sugar
- 35ml water
- cinnamon
- Preheat the oven to 130° C and line a baking tray with parchment.
- Slice the apple on the horizontal using a mandolin to very fine slithers.
- Heat the water and sugar in a pan until the sugar dissolves and it bubbles into a lovely clear syrup.
- Lay the slices on the tray and brush with the glaze. Dust with a little cinnamon and sugar if you like and bake in a low oven for about 30 minutes until dry and crisp. Leave to cool.
Cinnamon Muffins – I actually found these too big and dense. I think they’d work much better as cupcake with a lighted spongy texture so I have included a recipe below but feel free to make them GIANT and muffin like as titled.
- 115g unsalted butter
- 115g caster sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 115g flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 35g chopped hazelnuts (optional)
- 2-3 tbsp milk
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- Preheat the oven to 180° C and line a cupcake tin with cases.
- Cream the butter and sugar together very well until pale a fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs and vanilla a bit at a time.
- Now sieve in the flour, cinnamon and baking powder and fold in gently until just incorporated.
- Fold in the nuts and loosen with a dash of milk if needed.
- Fill your cupcake cases and bake for about 15 minutes until golden and set in the middle. Leave to cool.
Ginger Lemon Buttercream
- 125g softened unsalted butter
- 100g icing sugar
- 1-2 tbsp ginger syrup (from a jar of stem ginger. You can also add some chopped stem ginger if you like)
- 1 lemon, zest only
- Combine all (in a food processor) until well mixed. Fill a piping bag and use to decorate the duffins.
Assembling….
- Take your cooled cupcake/muffin and slice the top off (usually easier if they have risen with a dome!)
- Cut out the middle to create a small whole keeping the removed cake.
- Fill with about 2tsp of apple puree.
- Top with a little bit of the filling to hide the puree, eat the excess.
- Pipe the buttercream over the top in any pattern you like
- Top with a wafer
- The best bit….serve to a greedy worthy friend.
