Tag Archives: Cakes

Food Monday ~ Gateau au Pommes

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I wonder if Elly remembers this Apple Cake?  It was made by Robin, a French flat-mate who shared a house in Scotland.

Gateau au Pommes
Preheat the oven to 180°C

Base:
3 Cooking Apples
1 egg
4 dessert-spoons granulated sugar
7 dessert-spoons Plain Flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
7 dessert-spoons Milk
2 dessert-spoons Sunflower Oil

Topping:
1 Egg
4 dessert-spoons Granulated Sugar
100g Butter

In a large bowl put 1 whole egg, sugar, flour and baking powder.  Beat together with the milk and oil.  Cut the apples.  Place in a greased baking tin.  Spread flour mixture over the apples.  Bake for 25 minutes.

For the topping melt the butter. Mix sugar and egg add to melted butter and mix well and spread over cake.  Bake for a further 15 minutes until golden.

Food Monday ~ Chocolate Biscuit Cake

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Chocolate Biscuit Cake

250g  dark chocolate
100g of unsalted butter
4-5 tablespoons whipping cream
1 tablespoon Golden Syrup
pack of biscuits – broken into pieces
1 cup chopped walnuts
3-4 Crunchy bars*
mini marshmallows**

Line 9 x 5 x 2-inch metal loaf pan with plastic wrap.
Stir chocolate and butter in heavy large saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth   Mix in cream and golden syrup.   Remove from heat.   Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour 1/2 chocolate mixture into prepared pan. Sprinkle marshmallows on top & pour rest of mixture over the marshmallows. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, at least 3 hours or overnight. (Cake can be prepared up to 3 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.) Peel off plastic wrap. Cut cake into slices and serve.

* Chocolate coated Honeycomb bars
** I prefer the large marshmallows cut in four, I think they taste better than the mini ones.

Food Monday ~ ǝʞɐɔ uʍop ǝpısdn ɹɐǝd & ɹǝƃuıƃ

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I bet that made you sit up on a Monday morning! 😆  It is a long time since I tried ƃuıʇıɹʍ ǝpısdn uʍop!  Right settle down now and I will give you our recipe for today:

Ginger and Pear upside down Cake.
Preheat the oven to 180°C

150g butter
150g light soft brown sugar
2 pieces of preserved stem ginger in syrup, chopped
400g can of Pears, drained
125g Self-raising flour (cake flour)
1 level teaspoon baking powder
2 level teaspoons of ground ginger
1 level teaspoon of ground cinnamon
2 large eggs

lightly grease and line a 20cm round cake tin

Mix 25g of the butter with 25g sugar and spread in the base of the tin.  Scatter over ¼ of the chopped stem ginger and then place the pear halves cut side down on top.  Put the flour, baking powder and spices in a food processor and pulse for a few seconds to blend (it beats sifting), then add the remaining butter, sugar, stem ginger and eggs and process until well mixed.  Turn into the cake tin and try not to move the pears and level the top.  Bake for about 35 minutes or until the top springs back.  Leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tin and then invert on to a serving plate.
Serve warm with cream or leave to cool completly and slice.

I love the aroma of this when it is cooking.

Do you think it would work with apricots and ground almonds??

Food Monday ~ Apple Pie Coffee Cake

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Yesterday a promise was fulfilled.  A promise made over breakfast the morning after the night before!  This particular morning followed the Irish Blog Awards in Cork last February.  My breakfast that morning stretched over two hours as a continuous stream of toyboys joined our table.  The craic was mighty as we relived moments from the evening before.

Keith He of the crushing Hugs was actually at the table when I arrived.   Keith and I had a discussion about our various diets.  He is a Vogan Vulcan Vegan and embraces a diet and lifestyle that seeks to exclude the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose.  I invited him to share a recipe for Food Monday.  He has had plenty of time to practice and choose for us.  So today I give you Keith’s choice:

Apple Pie Coffee Cake
Preheat oven to 350º F

2 1/2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
3/4 tsp Salt*
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
2/3 Cup Canola Oil, or 2/3 Cup Earth Balance Margarine, softened
2/3 Cup Soymilk + 2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar (or lemon juice)
2 Tbs Cornstarch mixed with 1/2 Cup Water
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 20 to 25 oz Jar Apple Pie Filling
1 Tbs Sugar mixed with 1 tsp Cinnamon, for topping.

*Reduce salt to 1/2 tsp if using Earth Balance.

Combine all the dry ingredients of the cake and mix well. Add all of the liquid ingredients and fold the batter until just combined. The batter should be thick and nearly dough-like, as this will prevent the filling from sinking to the bottom of the pan.

Spread 1/2 of the batter in the bottom of a 9×11″ (or whatever) greased baking dish.  Add apple pie filling evenly over the top. Spoon the rest of the batter over the top in clumps, leaving some of the apple filling showing through.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture.

Bake for 80 to 90 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Be sure not to under bake. You may wish to cover the coffee cake with aluminum foil for the last 20-30 minutes to prevent over-browning.

Remove coffee cake from oven and let cool before serving. It’s just as good or better the next day.

Keith tells me that the recipe can be found with many others at Vegan Yum Yum

Food Monday ~ Fruit & Nut Cake (no Flour)

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Fruit & Nut Cake (no Flour)
Preheat oven to170°C

75g Ready soaked dried Apricots
75g Raisins
100g Glace Cherries chopped
175g Ground Almonds
3 tablespoons Ruby Port or Sherry
3 Eggs separated
75g Butter
75g Caster Sugar
½ teaspoon Almond Essence
75g toasted chopped Nuts (almonds, walnuts & Brazil nuts)

Line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment. Put raisins and apricots in a little saucepan with port or sherry. Heat gently, to allow the fruit to soak up the alcohol. Transfer into a bowl to cool. Then add the cherries and nuts to the cooled fruit. Also mix 2 tablespoons of the weighed ground almonds and toss these together. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff but not dry. In another mixing bowl beat together the butter and sugar until soft & fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks & almond essence. Stir in the remaining ground almonds into the cake mixture. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold ½ into the egg, fat and sugar mixture. Then add the fruit and nut mixture and mix. Finally, stir in the remaining egg whites until well mixed. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Level off the surface – no well and bake in a pre-heated oven for about 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin. When cool, dust with icing sugar.

Slice thickly with a sharp knife.

Food Monday ~ Death by Chocolate Cake

35 Replies

Sorry Baino, but this recipe was requested by Deborah. It needs a little extra effort and is more suitable for a party occasion.

Death by Chocolate Cake
Preheat oven to 180°C

225g plain chocolate
125g butter
150ml water
350g caster sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
2 eggs, separated
150ml soured cream
350g self-raising flour
1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

For the filling:
450g plain Chocolate
225g butter
6 tablespoons brandy
350g white chocolate
For the icing:
200g plain chocolate
200g double cream

Melt the chocolate, butter and 150ml water in a bowl over a pan of hot water. Beat in the sugar, add vanilla essence and cool. Beat in egg yolks; fold in soured cream, then flour and bicarbonate of soda. Whisk egg whites until stiff and fold into the mixture. Pour into a 25cm (10in) greased spring-release cake tin and bake for I hour until risen. Turn out to cool on a wire rack.

For the filling:
Melt the butter and the chocolate with 4 tablespoons brandy and leave until thick. Melt the white chocolate Cut the cake into three even horizontal layers and sprinkle each with remaining brandy then spread with melted white chocolate. When set, place bottom layer in the cake tin (chocolate side up), spread with half the filling, place second layer on top, spread with remaining filling and top with third layer. Chill in cake tin until set.
For the icing:
Place the chocolate in a bowl; heat the cream until almost boiling, pour over the chocolate and leave for 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth and glossy. Turn the cake out on to serving plate and cover top and sides with icing. Leave to set in a cool place, but not the fridge.

Food Monday ~ Date & Walnut Cake

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This recipe takes me back. I first tasted it when Jack brought me to meet his extended family in Co Durham, England. I have made it regularly over the years and it proved very popular.

Date & Walnut Cake
Preheat oven to 160°C

8ozs Dates chopped
4ozs Caster Sugar
1level tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
2ozs Butter or Margarine
Pinch Salt
1 Egg, beaten
6 fluid ozs Water
2ozs Walnuts
8ozs Self Raising Flour
1 tsp Vanilla essence

Place dates, sugar, salt, soda and margarine in a mixing bowl. Boil water, pour over dates etc. and mix well to melt the margarine. Cool a little. Add beaten egg, walnuts, flour & vanilla essence. Mix to a smooth batter type consistency. Pour into a greased & lined 2lb loaf tin. Bake for 1½ hours. Cool in tin.

Variation: Try apricots and almonds instead of the dates and walnuts.

Food Monday ~ Gingerbread

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Gingerbread
Preheat oven to 140°C

200g Butter
200g Soft Brown Sugar
100g Golden Syrup
100 Black Treacle
300g Plain Flour
2 Eggs, beaten
1x15ml Ground Ginger
A pinch of Salt
1x10ml Ground Cinnamon
250ml Warm Milk
1x5ml Bicarbonate Soda

Melt together slowly the treacle, sugar and butter, stirring all the time. Remove from the heat and stir in the beaten eggs. Sieve the flour, salt, cinnamon and ginger and stir into the melted mixture. Sieve the bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and pour the warm milk over it. Add this to the treacle mixture, stirring well to combine all the ingredients. Pour into a prepared 2lb loaf tin and bake for about 1 hour. Allow to cool in tin. If possible 😉 keep for a day or two before serving.

Food Monday ~ Grannymar’s Chocolate Cake

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This recipe is very quick and easy using the all-in-one method. I have no recollection of where I got it, but it has always disappeared quickly. Requests to bake it for school teachers’ birthdays, youth fellowship, mother’s union and family gatherings were as regular as night following day. I have at times served it for dessert with Maud’s Pooh Bear Ice Cream.

A word of warning: Don’t tell Elly you are baking it or she will appear from nowhere with a hungry look on her face!

Chocolate Cake
Preheat oven to 190ºC

175gr Butter
175gr Dark brown sugar
4 Eggs beaten
100gr Self Raising Flour
1 level tsp baking powder
1 tsp honey
100gr Drinking Chocolate
1 dessertspoon milk
A few drops vanilla Essence

Whisk together and pour into a well greased Ring Tin and bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool for a few minutes in tin. Turn out and when cold decorate with icing.

For icing:
4 Mars bars chopped
4 squares Dark Chocolate
1 tablespoons milk

Melt over hot water not boiling, stirring all the time, then spoon over the cake.
No licking the bowl unless you are Five!

Food Monday ~ Lemon Drizzle Cake

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I am a mammy cook. I have no professional training and my collection of recipes has grown with each year I have lived. In my young life we used pounds, shillings and pence for money and pounds (lbs) and ounces (ozs) for cooking. I was never quite happy with the move over to grams! My weighing scales has a clock type face with both sets of measurements. So when a recipe appealed I copied it as it was given. So long as I kept to one or other measurement not mixing grams with ounces I was fine.

Weights and Measures

So some of the older items will have Lbs and ozs, while the others will have grams. I am not into translations and conversions.

I located the following weights and measures conversion table. It was in Prima magazine about 15 years ago. I hope it is helpful.

Weights & Measures

Click to enlarge

Under the title of each recipe will be the oven temperature is set for ºC which I use in my fan oven. The number of servings will appear at the base of the recipe. I will use only the recipes that have made a regular appearance at my table.

Steph from The biopsy report is a steadfast and witty commenter here on my blog. I am not sure that she has forgiven me yet for scaring her cat the other day. In the hope of making amends I will officially unveil my Food Mondays with the lemon drizzle cake she asked about.

Lemon Drizzle Cake
Preheat the oven to180°C

4ozs soft Butter
6ozs Caster Sugar
6ozs Self Raising Flour
4 tablespoons Milk
Grated zest of 1 Lemon
2 large Eggs
Pinch of Salt

For the lemon Syrup:
4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon (Juice 1½ large Lemons)
3ozs Icing Sugar

Butter a 2lb loaf tin and line with baking parchment. Place all the cake ingredients in a bowl or mixer and beat for 3 minutes, until well blended. Pour into cake tin, smooth top and bake for 45 minutes. Remove and leave to cool in the tin on a cooling rack. Gently warm the lemon juice and icing sugar in a pan until sugar dissolves. Prick cake all over with a fork and spoon the warmed lemon syrup over the top. Leave until cake is cold before turning out. Serve sprinkled with icing sugar.

Enjoy.