Apple Cake (w/ skin)

Today I bring you another cake, not a fancy, layered cake, but a humble yet delicious apple cake. Perfect for  a chilly afternoon snack along with a cup of tea. =)

What I like the most about this cake is that there's no waste since you use the whole apple - well, except for the seeds, but you can keep them and plant an apple tree. Who knows, maybe oneday you'll be making this apple cake with your own apples. ;) Haha.

Bake on, people!

-Ana

Apple Cake (with skin)

I took this recipe from a brazilian website but I can't find it anymore. =s

1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
3 apples - I used Fuji apples
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
Ground cinnamon, to taste - I used 1 teaspoon
1/2 cup raisins - optional
You can also add nuts, like hazelnuts or cashew nuts

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Grease and flour a cake pan.
1. Peel the apples and save the skins. Chop the apples into cubes.
2. In a blender, add the oil, eggs, sugar and apple skins and blend until smooth.
3. In a medium/large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Add the wet ingredients and mix well. Add the chopped apples, raisins, and nuts and mix.
4. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Let it cool for 15-20 minutes in the pan.

Mother's Day Cake

Hey, everybody! I'm back! These past few weeks have been a litlle busy around this part of the world. Lots of studying and paperworks to do. *sigh* Things are not quite back to normal yet - and I think they won't be 'til the end of June (end of the semester, yay!)- but I wanted to leave a special post for Mother's Day which is right around the corner!

I actually made this cake for my mother's b-day, a couple of weeks ago, and what I really liked about it is the decoration, with the visible layers and the arranged strawberries and meringues on top. Modesty aside, I think this is the prettiest cake I've ever made. =) And it's pretty simple to assemble. I took the idea from here (in Portuguese). Make this cake for your mother, she deserves it! I guarantee she will love it!

To all mother's out there: Happy Mother's Day! Enjoy your so deserved day  and eat cake if you can. =D

-Ana

Strawberry Meringue Cake

You can use your favorite yellow cake recipe. Here's the one I used:
8 egg yolks
1 cup milk, warm
3 cups refined white sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
8 egg whites

Whipping cream, around 500 ml, beaten.
Around 2 packs of strawberries
Meringues, around 150g.

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Grease the bottom and sides of a cake pan (sorry, don't know what size I used.) with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper, also greasing it with butter.

2. With a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat egg yolks with milk just until combined. Add the sugar and beat for 20 minutes, over mid-high speed. After the 20 minutes you should be able to draw an 8 with a spoon and it will hold that 8-shape for a few sconds.

3. Using a spatula, fold in the flour and baking powder. I suggest you sift a little bit of the flour over the mixture and fold, repeating until flour is over. Don't forget the baking powder.

4. Beat the egg whites until stiff picks form and fold into the cake batter.

5. Bake until tooth-pick inserted in the centre comes out clean. I forgot to time it but it should take 40 minutes or longer. Just keep an eye on it. Let it cool completely. You can make the cake the day before.

6. Divide the cake in 3. Place the top layer facing down onto a nice cake stand and drizzle with milk, syrup or soda, like Sprite or a similar clear lemon drink (not Coke, please.). Note: If your cake is already moist, skip this step. My cake was more on the dry side.

7. Spread the whipping cream, arrange the strawberries and the meringues. Do not crush your meringues into tiny pieces because they will disspear and you won't taste them after.

8. Place the middle layer on top, drizzle with soda, spread whipping cream, arrange strawberries and meringues. Place the final layer and drizzle again. 

9. Spread a thin layer of whipping cream and decorate as you desire. Keep the cake refrigerated.