Apple and Almond Desert Cake

In my family, life revolves around food. My fondest childhood memories are all interlinked with different dishes and bakes. This cake is my version of one of my granny's recipes and instantly transports me to their living-room where at 11am every day they could be found with a cup of coffee and a large slab of cake. My granny helped teach me to bake and we still email each-other and swap recipes regularly. This cake is pretty easy to make, looks great and tastes divine. The layer of fruit through the middle keeps the cake moist while the crunchy topping adds another dimension.

Ingredients:
8oz self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
8oz caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp almond essence
5oz butter - I use dairy free
1 apple peeled and sliced
75g dried cranberries
1oz flaked almonds
1 tsp cinnamon
Icing sugar for dusting

Method:
Preheat the oven to 160degrees centigrade for a conventional oven or 140 degrees centigrade fan. Line a 20cm round baking tin with greaseproof paper in the base and butter the sides.

Place the flour and baking powder in a bowl with the sugar. Beat in the eggs and almond essence, together with the butter and mix well to create as stiff batter.  Spread half the mixture in the prepared tin. Sprinkle the batter with cherries and then lay the apple slices over the top to create a neat covering. Sprinkle with the cinnamon before spooning the rest of the mixture over the apples. I accidentally layered the apple and cranberries the wrong way round this time and it made it way harder to spread the batter over the top. Sprinkle the top with the flaked almonds.

Bake in the oven for one and a half hour until golden brown and shrinking away from the edges of the tin. Leave to cool for 15 minutes then remove from the tin and dust with icing sugar.

When you make this please take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife

Enjoy!

Granny's Apple Scones

These scones I learnt to make with my granny in her kitchen on our holidays. The smell brings back happy memories of childhood, messiness and cake is always going to be a winner. I have altered the recipe slightly but have left it in the old measurements as my Granny had them. She passed this recipe on to me and I always feel honoured to recreate something one of the best bakers I know makes. My granny is one of the people who inspired me to start baking and inspires me every day with emails of her creations. This recipe also disproves the myth that scones are difficult to make, taking around 45 minutes from start to face! I recently made these for my partners work and they lasted only a few seconds. This recipe makes around 24 scones; trust me - there's no such thing as too many.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb cooking apples
16oz plain flour
6oz butter - I used dairy free
2 egg
2 tsp baking powder
4 oz sugar
100ml  milk - I used Soy milk
2 tsp cinnamon
Sugar crystals to top

Method:
Peel, core and chop the apples finely. Mix the flour and baking powder and rub in the butter. Add the sugar, cinnamon and apple and blend to a soft dough with the egg and the milk, adding a little at a time. Knead the ingredients together.

Roll out the dough to approx. ¾ inch think and cut into 2inch rounds. Place on a floured baking tray and sprinkle with the sugar crystals before baking at 160c for 30 minutes until golden brown and firm to touch.

Slather with butter and scoff, smiling happily.

Enjoy!

When you make these, please take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife