Scandinavian Apple Cake

I bought a big box of apples. Too many to eat on their own, so found an amazing recipe for an amazing cake. A Scandinavian apple cake to be precise. I have a soft spot for all things Scandinavian so this was a must try.

I was bought up with "coffee and cake", so when Finnish baking comes to mind it is filled with lots of sugar, cream, spices of cinnamon, vanilla, cardamon and so on... This recipe doesn't disappoint.

I used 5 small to medium sized apples for this recipe. Simply cored and cut.

The result is a deliciously sweet light to medium density cake strewn with soft melt in your mouth apple pieces and topped off with a toasty caramalised hit of sugar and spices. Yum!

Well worth a try and very easy. Tip: I was concerned about the apple skin because I find it off putting when I get apple skin from those tins of baking apples. But they were as soft as butter, so leave the skin on, it is the healthiest bit you know.

This recipe was found on [Cook Almost Anything]

If you want this delicious recipe, click on the picture below and it will take you straight to the page. Enjoy!

Do you notice how I rarely have a photo of my whole cake? It seems we (meaning I) am too excited to cut in and see how it tastes before I think about taking my photos.

Whole Orange Cake

There is nothing like making a mistake with my online food shopping order and ending up with 9kg of oranges on my kitchen bench... so apart from lots of fresh orange juice.... I had to explore the world of orange cooking. 

And what better way to use up oranges than with a whole orange cake, skin and all. This recipe is taken from my favourite cooking site taste.com.au. Taking all of the recipe notes into consideration, I also added a little milk to the puree process to get the oranges as smooth as possible. 

The result is a delicious fresh orange cake. 

A nice dense and moist texture. But still slightly spongy. I must have a super sweet tooth though, the bitterness of the skin still came through for me just a little, so I overcompensate with enough icing 'on the side' to make up for it IF needed. The icing was a simple butter icing mix with orange juice for a nice orange flavour.

Here is the link to the recipe http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/25160/whole+orange+cake

Tip: this cake freezes perfectly ~ seeing it is not fitting for anyone's waistline to have whole cakes sitting around in the kitchen, I generally cut them into 3rds and freeze into perfect size portions for coffee+cake visits. 

First times a treat...

I saw a similar version of this cake on another site and thought I would love to try it. Although I had to wait to have guests over as this is too much of a treat to have all to ourselves.

"YUMMY sponge filled with a layer of lemon curd and fresh cream, topped with more fresh cream and a cluster of berries at the top."

I am a little Masterchef inspired at the moment and have been enjoying cooking; and cooking new things too. There is a first time for everything!

This is my first sponge cake and the first time I put together this cake.

.... And it worked a treat.

A few yummy things:

CREAM ~ Instead of just whipping some thickened cream I always add some white sugar and vanilla essence. Just tops it off.

BERRIES ~ Not just your ordinary berries, these were frozen, defrosted and sugar coated.