Farmhouse Apple Cake

Today I'm giving you a wonderful recipe where the main ingredient is the apples. It is really easy and you don't need special instruments or ingredients. Here it goes:

Ingredients:

• 7 tablespoons Butter - recipe said unsalted but I used it with salt and was delicious
• 1/2 cup Whole Milk
• 2 large Eggs
• 5 Golden Delicious Apples
• Juice of 1 Lemon (to avoid the apples getting brown once peeled and cut)
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 teaspoons Baking powder
• 1 cup of white Sugar
• 1/2 cup Flour

Preparation Instructions:

1. Put the milk into a cup and add the 7 tablespoons of butter into pieces. Microwave for a minute or two, until the butter is just melted. Set aside to cool.
2. Peel, core and quarter the apples. Slice them into thin slices, 0’5cm thick. Put them in a bowl with lemon juice to avoid them getting brown. Later we will need the apples, but not the lemon juice. Reserve it.
3. Preheat your oven to 200ºC. Butter a spring-form pan. You can also wrap the bottom of the pan with tin foil so it doesn’t leak (depends how liquid it’s the mixture it’s possible that it leaks a little.
4. Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl with a wire whisk (I used a fork) until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the flour, baking powder and vanilla extract and blend thoroughly. Then add the milk-butter mixture and mix it with the rest.
5. Fold in the sliced apples and pour the mixture into the spring-form pan.
6. Place the pan directly on the floor of the oven for 10 minutes and then decrease the oven temperature to 180ºC for about an 40 minutes more. Check it every ten minutes to see if it’s golden brown. When it is, cover it with kitchen foil so it doesn’t “burn”. It should be in the oven a total of 50-55 minutes.
7. When done, place the cake on a cooling rack and leave there to cool enough to handle.
8. After a while run a thin knife around the cake and remove the spring-form ring. Leave some more time to cool as if you cut it when very warm it could “break” and look a bit messy.

When serving you can also add it some vanilla ice-cream and/or cream plus some caramel, to decorate.

Everybody loved it so I highly recommend it if you are looking for some easy and different cake to prepare.

Mascarpone Cake

The Mascarpone Cake is something that we like to have, not as a dessert but as breakfast or snack, but you can also decorate it with some whipped cream and fruits and have it as dessert for a great meal.

We should also say that, apart from Mascarpone Cheese it has apples and some lemon so it is not as tasteless as you can think in a first impression.

Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients for one cake:

• 250 grams Mascarpone Cheese
• 200 grams Icing Sugar
• 150 grams all-purpose Flour
• 4 Eggs (separated)
• 2 Apples (I use golden apples as are the ones I like the most but you choose)
• 1 Lemon (rind grated for the cake and juice to avoid the apples getting brown once peeled and cut)
• 1 teaspoon Baking powder
• 1 teaspoon Butter

Preparation Instructions:

1. Wash the lemon and grated the rind. Reserve it. (I use only half of the lemon's rind).
2. Make the juice with the lemon and put it in a bowl.
3. Then peel and chop the apples in small pieces so then get soft after baking the cake.
4. Put them in the bowl with the lemon juice trying to cover the apples with the liquid to avoid them getting brown. Later we will need the apples, but not the lemon juice. Reserve it.
5. Separate the yolks from the whites.
6. Mix the yolks perfectly and add the sugar.
7. Once it is completely mixed add the mascarpone cheese, the chopped apples, le lemon rind, the baking powder and the flour and mix until it is an smooth mixture.
8. In a different bowl whip egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
9. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
10. Once done, we add the stiffed egg whites gradually into mascarpone mixture. Mix only enough to blend. Over mixing will deflate the egg whites.
11. We butter or spray a 23 cm round springform pan and add the mixture.
12. Bake until cooked. In my oven this took around 40 minutes.

As every oven is different you should check every 10 minutes inserting a toothrbick in the center. When you take it out it should be clean, not with a little batter clinging to it so it is possible that the cake is golden brown but not cooked enough. In my case after 30 minutes I put kitchen foil above it to avoid the cake getting burnt but leaving it to cook in the inside.

The result is a grat Mascarpone Cake with Apples and a lightly lemon taste. If you prefer it without the lemon taste, do not use the rind.

Apple Crumble

This is another easy recipe that can be prepare with whatever fruit you choose. In this case I chose apple but it could have been pear and chocolate, strawberries, raspberries, etc.

Ingredients (for 4 people):

• 6 Apples, I chose Golden but put the ones you prefer
• 200 grams Flour
• 80 grams Soft Light Brown Sugar (up to 100 grams, depending on your taste)
• 90 grams Butter (diced and chilled)
• Lemon juice.
• Cinnamon, to taste
• 1/2 glass Water

Preparation Instructions:

1. Peel the apples and cut them in small square pieces.
2. Add some lemon juice above them, to avoid them getting brown.
3. Put in a pot half a glass of water and add the diced apples. Let them cook until they are a bit soft.
4. Add some cinammon, to taste,  and stir until mixed.
5. Put the apples in a 23 cm square, ovenproof dish that is also suitable for serving..
6. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
7. Meanwhile, make the crumble. Sift the flour and sugar together into a bowl and mix.
8. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
9. Stir evenly over the fruit and press down lightly with a fork.
10. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for around 25 minutes until the crumble is golden brown. Control the time as each oven is different.
11. Serve warm with cream, yogurt or custard.

If you decided to use another fruits, instead of the cinnamon I recomend using vanilla essence, or even a bit of ground ginger.

If the chosen fruits are softer thatn the apples, for exmple pears, berries, etc., you can start in step 7 after wasing them properly, cutting them in small pieces, adding the vanilla extract and/or ground ginger, putting them in the ovenproof dish and baking them in the preheated oven for around 15 minutes.