Apple Crumble Muffins {recipe}

Whenever someone says they don't know how to bake or they aren't good at baking I always try to encourage them to start with muffins. You cannot go wrong with muffins and if you comment and say yes you can I fucked some up one time. I will stand corrected, but I assure you that they are pretty easy and straight forward.

In the past 9 months or so I have become somewhat of a bookstagrammer. What is a bookstagrammer? Well, it's a made up word that smooshes book and instagrammer together and indicates people who share pictures of books and talk only of books.

And it is through this lovely amazing community that I have met some fun people a couple in person. One lovely person (find her here) and I did a book swap and along with the book she sent me a recipe for these Apple Crumble Muffins.

So, I just had to try them out! I am glad I did, they turned out great and the bonus was that my flat smelt like apples and cinnamon.

Apple Crumble Muffins: 

Crumble -

150g plain flour
150g light brown sugar
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
85g salted butter, melted*

Whisk the dry ingredients together before mixing in the melted butter, use a fork or a whisk to sort of mash it together until it resembles crumbs. As seen in the pictures. *I didn't have salted butter so I added a pinch of salt.

Apple Muffins -

100ml veggie oil
85g light brown sugar
50g caster sugar
130ml buttermilk
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
300g self raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
approx. 2 apples, peeled and chopped

Pre-heat the oven to 190C or 170Cfan and line your muffin tin with paper liners.
Whisk the oil, brown sugar, caster sugar, and buttermilk together until just combined.
Add eggs one at a time and whisk until just combined. Stir through the vanilla extract.
Gradually add the flour to the mixture and mix until just combined, you don't want to over mix. Fold in the apples.
Divide the batter between the paper cases, about 3/4 full. Then generously add the crumble topping to each muffin press down lightly, otherwise while baking it can just fall off.
Bake for 20-25 minutes depending on your oven, I know I have a tricky spot in one corner of my oven so after 10 minutes I rotate my muffin tin.

While you are waiting for them to bake, take my advice and clean up so you don't have to deal with that shit later and get your coffee and book ready!

Raisin Cake with Apple Syrup {recipe} *inspired by The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

My life is always torn between books and baking and on occasion they merge.

This is one of those occasions.

The Cruel Prince was released early this year and everyone went mad for it. I love Holly Black, her Curse Worker series being one of my all time favorites, however fairies and the world of the Faerie have never been my first choice in supernatural worlds, genre, or whatever.

The book is clever and deserves all the praise it has received and I will probably read the rest of the series/trilogy but, I will do so in my own time. One thing about the Faerie world that I like best is the food. Note that if you are a human living in Faerie you sprinkle all your food with salt to counter act any spells or enchantments that may have been placed on the food. After that you are free to enjoy the delicious food they provide, the author mentions our heroine or anti-heroine (Holly Black writes a great anti-hero) eating a raisin cake with apple syrup and I literally had a light bulb moment.

Even if you haven't read the book this cake is worth a try. My apple syrup is a little thick and that was due to my timing of taking pictures, life of a blogger. So, the syrup can be made looser or thicker to match your preference.

Raisin Cake:

160g raisins
60ml apple juice
185g self-raising flour
60g plain flour
150g butter, cubed
140g light brown sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
apple syrup to serve (recipe below)

Heat the oven to 180C/350F - Start by soaking the raisins in the apple juice and leave aside for 10 minutes. While they chilling and soaking up all that juice line the base of a deep 7 in (17cm) round cake tin grease the sides of your tin, I always very lightly grease the baking paper too.

Melt the butter and sugar on a low heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. While it's melting sift both of the flours into a large mixing bowl. Once the butter and sugar mixture is done mix with the raisins and then add to the flour. Add the eggs to the mixture and stir with a spatula/wooden spoon until just combined.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, smooth it down as best as you can. Bake for 45-55 minutes, use the skewer test to confirm it's baked through. It will brown quicker then it will cook, so keep the golden brown color you want place a piece of tin foil over the top to help stop it from burning or becoming too dark on the top.

Leave to cool and make the apple syrup.

Apple Syrup:

2 tart apples, cored, peeled, and sliced thin
100g sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp water

Place all of the ingredients in a saucepan over a medium/high heat and bring to a boil before reducing the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes or until the apples are soft and the sauce has thickened.

If you aren't using immediately take off the heat and place in a separate bowl as I left it and it thickened a little more then I would have liked. But it's all a personal preference!

Then pour over a slice of raisin cake and enjoy!

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
synopsis - Of course I want to be like them. They're beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.
And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.
One terrible morning, Jude and her sisters see their parents murdered in front of them. The terrifying assassin abducts all three girls to the world of Faerie, where Jude is installed in the royal court but mocked and tormented by the Faerie royalty for being mortal. 
As Jude grows older, she realises that she will need to take part in the dangerous deceptions of the fey to ever truly belong.
But the stairway to power is fraught with shadows and betrayal. And looming over all is the infuriating, arrogant and charismatic Prince Cardan . . . 

*All opinions are my own, I bought my own copy of The Cruel Prince from amazon for my Kindle. For more information see my contact/policy page above!

Apple & Elderflower Drizzle Cake

The Great British Bake Off is back! Well it was what 2 weeks ago? Every year I say I'm going to bake along with the Bake Off and every year I don't. I like baking and I enjoy the show, but I hate feeling like I have to bake something I don't want to bake just to tag along.

But every year there is that part of me that wants to tag along! I want to be apart of all the social media groups that are baking along and take part in all the competitions held by Lakeland and Dunelm and other various kitchenware companies.

I just can't get my act together. I made a drizzle cake, the one I'm about to share with you two days after the first episode! Yay great, but I'm only just blogging about it. Oops. I also had all the ingredients to make Viennese Whirls and I still have all the ingredients sitting in my cupboard. Oops again. And there is no way I'm going to prepared for this week! Bread.

However, I will be watching every week and maybe I'll be able to sort it out and actually bake something and blog it all in the same week? Although please don't hold me to it.

Apple & Elderflower Drizzle Cake

2 granny smith apples, diced
juice and zest of one lime
2 tbsp sparkling elderflower presse
300g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g ground almonds
250ml sunflower oil
250g caster sugar
4 large eggs, 3 separated
1 tsp vanilla extract

Drizzle
2 tbsp sparkling elderflower presse
juice and zest of one lime
50g demerara sugar

Heat the oven to 160C and grease the bundt with butter and dust lightly with flour.
Mix the diced apples with the juice and zest of the lime along with the elderflower presse.
Combine the flour, baking powder, and almonds and leave to the side.
Beat the sunflower oil, 125g of the sugar, 1 whole egg and 3 yolks plus the vanilla until completely combined it should be lighter in color. Fold in the dry ingredients and just the juice from the apples.
In a separate bowl whisk the 3 leftover egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add the leftover 125g of sugar and whisk until thick and shiny. Gently fold it into the cake batter a third at a time. Last, but not least, fold in the diced apples.
Gently pour/spoon the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool for about 10 minutes before carefully turning the cake out of the pan gently poke holes around the cake.
Leave mixing the drizzle ingredients together until you finished the last step. You don't want the sugar dissolving in the liquid you want it to be a bit crunchy where the sugar doesn't soak all the way through. Leave to cool completely before serving!

notes: recipe is inspired from a BBC Good Food recipe found in their 2016 calendar.

Apple Season: A Round Up of Amazing Apple Recipes

Apples are one of my favorite things to bake with, probably because it pairs really well with cinnamon and cinnamon is my favorite spice. 

As the apples on our apple tree started to ripen I was looking for ways to use up the abundance of apples it gave us this year. So, instead of just looking myself I was lazy and set up this linky so the apple recipes could come to me!   

There are as many varieties of apples as there is recipes to use them in and here are some amazing ones.... 

Apple & Custard Lasagne

Foodie Quine

Spiced Apple Challah - Shaped 3 Ways (vegan)

Blackberry & Apple Crumble Cake

family friends food

Polish Apple Pancakes

Little Sunny Kitchen 

Feast of Pink Lady Apples 

(apple and fennel salad, pork, apple, and chorizo stew, and wholesome apple pie)

It's not easy being greedy

Honey Apple Mini Bundt Cakes

Apple Crumble and Custard Mini Cakes

Tin and Thyme

Freda’s apple and fruit loaf (thanks Freda)

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

How to Make Apple Butter 

Feeding Boys and a Firefighter 

Apple Crumble & Custard Cupcakes 

Only Crumbs Remain

Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie

Cakeyboi a

Here are a few of my favorite apple bakes I've made here on United Cakedom:

Apple Pie Cheesecake Bars

Apple & Oatmeal Cookies

Apploffi Pie

Caramel Apple Pie Scones

Apple Pie Ice Cream

Butterscotch Apple Pudding

I hope you enjoyed reading and discovering all these apple recipes as much as I did! Let us know if you tried one out for yourself by leaving a comment below and/or on the blogger's page! Perhaps I will do another link up next year! 

notes: not all the pictures are my own, the majority of them are taken from the linked blog, they are being used with the understanding that when linked up they would be used for this round-up

Double Apple Post: Butterscotch Apple Pudding & Apple Butter

We have a gorgeous apple tree in our garden that my husband planted when he was younger. About two years ago we had apples everywhere! As I was handing them out to friends and family I kept getting asked what type of apples they were and I had no clue!

Well I was was on Twitter and saw a tweet promoting Winchester Mill’s Apple Day. When I looked into it further they said that if you brought in your apples they would identify them for you. So, of course I had to go! I was told that they were pretty sure they were Spartan apples. They looked at the skin, shape, and most importantly the seeds. If you cut them in half it’s how the star is shaped.

Well, last years apple hull was disappointing, as it usually is after a good year, so I didn’t go crazy with apples. However, this year we have had loads! So, I’ve got to baking and eating! Here are two things I have made so far.

The first being a simple apple pudding from Rachel Allen and the second an American favorite Apple Butter.

The Butterscotch Apple Pudding is a super easy and comforting dessert. Just before your comforting roast or stew or pie in the oven start preparing this dessert. It can bake in the oven while you eat and then will be warm and ready for a big spoon of ice cream!

Butterscotch Apple Pudding 

2 large or 3 average apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
125g self-rising flour
1/4 tsp salt
200g brown sugar,
100g butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
200ml milk
2 tablespoons golden syrup
150ml boiling water, be sure to measure after the water is boiled

Heat the oven to 180C. Scatter the chopped apples evenly into the bottom of a 20x30cm ovenproof dish.
Put the flour, salt, and half the sugar (100g) into a bowl and gently whisk. In a jug measure out the milk and then add the melted butter, vanilla extract, and egg. Like when making muffins, pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and whisk just until it’s mixed. Pour the mixture over the chopped apples.
To make the butterscotch put the golden syrup in a sauce pan with 150ml boiling water and the rest of the sugar (100g). Stir while the water is starting to boil and continue until the sugar has dissolved. It is a bit more liquidy then I thought it would have been, but don’t worry it all sorts out in the oven! Pour the sugar mixture over the batter as evenly as possible.
Pop it in the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes, the sponge should be a golden light color and spring back when prodded.
I served mine with salted caramel ice cream, but feel free to use cream or custard or any other flavor of ice cream!

Apple Butter: 

The next thing I made with all the excess apples we have hanging around was Apple Butter. There isn’t actually any butter in it, incase you didn’t know! There are many recipes out there and most of them American, because it’s an American thing. Apple Butter that is!

When you make Apple Butter it is better then having any-old smelling “Apple Spice” candle in your house, it makes the whole house smell delicious with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves how could it not?

My apple butter wasn’t as thick as I thought it should be, it’s possible because I didn’t do mine overnight, but through the day. So, when it was down to the 12th hour I was ready for bed! Perhaps I jumped the gun a little and blitzed it before it was ready. Oh well, it’s still tasty and a whole jar has already been used, with the majority of it being given to friends and family.

For the recipe visit Cakeyboi for his Easy Apple Butter which is the recipe I used! He’s also recently made Pumpkin Spice Latte Butter in his slow cooker! Thinking I might have to try that out next!!

notes: The recipe was adapted from Rachel Allen’s Home Cooking, but can also be found online here. The Winchester City Mill Day was talked about in this post here! I am currently rounding up the Apple Linky I hosted from early September to October so be prepared for lots of apple recipes! Apples have had a really good season this year!

Blogging Reflections and Paula Deen’s Fresh Apple Cake

When I started blogging I did for a few reasons, first it was a creative outlet and it filled a part of my life that was missing. As a stay-at-home mom it was a distraction that took me away from baby stuff that didn’t take me out of the house. My posts were shared only with friends and family. There was no Facebook page, Twitter account, or Pinterest boards to promote my blog. It wasn’t about the numbers. It was for me; a way to experiment with baking and a way to share my experiences.

I can’t recall when I made my accounts for all these social media sites (I’m sure they would all tell me if I could be bothered to look), but it changed the way I blogged. All of the sudden it was about trends, shares, and likes. I started making things I thought might do well on the blog instead of things I wanted to actually eat in hopes it would get shared and liked. When I realised I wasn’t enjoying blogging or baking any more following this behavior, I backed off and went back to doing what I liked and relished in any views or likes I did get, not the ones I didn’t get.

It’s changed again, but now it seems to be all about the free stuff and/or being paid. There are bloggers out there that have amazing blogs with amazing stats and they deserve to get paid for their work. However, I’m not there yet and I don’t know that I ever will be.

There was a time where I was actually quite flattered and said yes to every “free” sample offered to me. It didn’t long before I didn’t recognise my blog and realised the hard way that nothing is free. I have politely said no to 98% of the opportunities sent my way in the last year or so. Sometimes I wonder if I’m missing out, but I’m not ready, as I mentioned above, to make it a job.

It’s something I do besides everything else I do. It’s something I do for me.

Blogging 101 - Get to the Point.

I do ramble a lot. To the point or to the cake.

I taught myself how to bake by using other people’s recipes and then as I became more confident adapting them one way or the other to make them more my own. There are debates on this method of sharing recipes, but I’ve never considered nor claimed myself to be a recipe developer. My blog is to share my adventures in learning to bake and how it’s become a part of my life and changed it.

There are still many times I still just follow a recipe and a lot of the time these baked goods don’t make it on to the blog. This time I thought I would share it by linking to the recipe online. I found the recipe in a book who had permission to republish it, but it’s also available online. The recipe for Paula Deen’s Fresh Apple Cake from Georgia can be found on the USA Food Network website.

First you have the cake with the apples, coconut, and pecans but to take it that step further you pour a warm butter mixture into/onto the warm cake and let it sit to soak in. There are no words. It’s amazing! Follow the link above and make it for yourself. You will want a slice right away as the whole kitchen fills with the smells of autumn spices!

notes: or I should say disclaimer! I was not asked to make this recipe or to promote it, Paula Deen, or Food Network in anyway. It looked good and so I made it and I liked it and now I’m sharing with you! Enjoy!

Apple Season Link-Up

We've had an awful summer, but instead of being annoyed about that I am going to embrace my favorite time of year autumn!

One of the reasons I love this time of year is the food! Summer food is good lots of refreshing salads and loads of fruit, but autumn and winter bring in the root vegetables and comfort food that I love! That and it's apple season! 

I miss the days going to an orchard to pick apples! I remember going as a fund raiser for my church youth group and having a blast! So, this linky is all about the apples! Unlike my last apple linky (see here) it's not just about baking! If you have any recipe to do with apples or if you have written about apple picking or apple fashion basically anything to do with apples link it up! I want to see it all! 

How to Join in! 

- Follow the instructions to link up 1-5 new or old apple posts with the inlinkz widget/gadget below. 

- Tweet me @unitedcakedom with the hashtag #appleseason and I will like and RT. 

- In your blog post please link back to this post so others can easily join in too! If you want to use the image above please do so, but it's not mandatory. 

- Again not mandatory but linky's are all about sharing the love so if you have a moment please have a look at some of the other links and comment/share/like/RT or however you like to share the love! 

What to expect from me! 

- Already mentioned above I will RT/like any tweets I see with the above criteria. 

- I will also add links to my Pinterest board Apple Season! which currently has 537 followers (please follow or have a look for ideas!)

- There will be a round-up post sometime in October where I will link back to your posts. An image from your post will be used so please let me know if this is not okay with you. 

- I will attempt to comment on every post as well, but please be patient as I might only do it once a week! Same for adding to Pinterest I will do it as soon as I can! 

Now all there is to do is link up! It's a one off linky which starts today and will end 6 weeks today, plenty of time to join in! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Bramley Apple Sausage Rolls with Apple & Pear Chutney

These sausage rolls are basically cheating when it comes to homemade baking. I mean I didn’t make the chutney or the puff pastry. Heck I could have even made my own sausage meat, but I didn’t.

I bought all three of these ingredients and I put them together to make a delicious and easy picnic snack! Which is the theme of this month’s Pastry Challenge, the very one I co-host with Jen from Jen’s Food.

Sausage rolls are like a blank canvas; they are just waiting for you to add flavor and pizzazz! They are also perfect for picnics because they can be eaten cold or at room temperature. 

As I said above these sausage rolls are like cheating, but when you eat them and they are better then any store bought sausage roll, that guilt will quickly fade.

Bramley Apple Sausage Rolls with Apple & Pear Chutney

½ Bramley Apple, chopped small

knob of butter

500g sausage meat

500g puff pastry

4-6 heaped tablespoons of Apple & Pear chutney

1 egg, beaten

Melt the butter with the chopped apple and heat until the apple is soft. Leave to cool while you roll out the pastry to approximately 32x20cm. Then cut in half-length wise so you have two long thin pastry strips. Spread 2-3 tablespoons of chutney on each one, leaving a border along the edges. Then mix the sausage meat with the cooled apples before dividing as evenly as possible into two portions. Make each one to look like a long sausage and place on top of apple chutney, then fold the pastry over the sausage meat and press down to seal. Use a fork if it’s not sticking. Cut the sausage rolls into whatever size suits you before glazing with the beaten egg. Be sure to cut a few slices in the top of each pastry. Then enjoy!

notes: made for The Pastry Challenge hosted by Jen at Jen’s Food and myself!

Five on Friday: My Five Favorite Baking Ingredients

As a blogger I start a lot of my posts out with I love love love this or that. Apparently that's annoying. There was a person on twitter saying so. Ever since then I try really hard not to gush about my favorite types or flavors of bakes too much or in that way. I try to be a bit more natural about it.

However I do have a handful of favorite baking ingredients. If I had to choose between these five things I would have to walk away as I couldn't decide I love all of them!!

Apples:

An apple a day keeps the doctor away! It counts if they are baked in pastry or cake or cookies!! 

Check out my apple bakes!

Cinnamon: 

Works so well in bakes!! It's got a bit of heat and always makes me think of fall/winter! 

Things I've made with cinnamon!

Peanut Butter:

Reminds me of my childhood and tastes great paired with chocolate or on it's own!! 

Look no further for my favorite recipes using peanut butter!

Coconut:

You either love it or you hate it!! 

If you love it find recipes here!

Coffee: 

I not only love drinking coffee, but I love coffee flavored cakes, frosting, ice cream, and so on!

See how I use coffee to enhance my baking!

What are your favorite things to bake with? 

Apple Cinnamon Bundt

A is for Apple.

B is for Bundt

C is for Cinnamon        

This cake is as easy as A-B-C 1-2-3! The batter for this cake is a bit more like a muffin batter, because you have all the wet ingredients mixed together and the dry mixed together and then you just combine them.

I like the easy things in life especially in the chaos of everyday life. Plus a good slice of cake makes life just a little bit better too.

This cake fits both criteria.

It’s easy to make and since it’s in a bundt pan there is no need to decorate, as it’s gorgeous as is! It isn't a big secret that I don't do a lot of fancy decorating when it comes to my cakes. Probably because I have been tricked by too many pretty cakes that had no flavor!

Trust is an easy thing to lose yet, very hard to gain back. So, while I am still building up a trust in gorgeous looking cakes, I will stick to the simple and wow looking ones like these!  

It’s also a good cake, with a soft spongy texture and cinnamon apples spread through out, exactly what you need when life is being a little complicated. 

Apple Cinnamon Bundt                                      

 2-3 tart apples

3 tbsp sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

350g sugar

250ml sunflower oil

4 eggs

60ml apple juice

2 tsp vanilla extract

500g plain flour

1 tablespoon of baking powder

½ tsp salt

Grease and flour a 10 or 12 cup bundt pan, leave aside. Peel and chop the apples into little cubes. Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over the apples and mix. Leave aside.

Heat the oven to 160C or 325F. 

Whisk the sugar and oil together in a bowl until combined and a bit sloppy looking. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until just combined. Then add the apple juice and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together before sifting into the wet ingredients. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
Spoon a third of the batter into the bundt pan, then spread half of the apples over the batter before topping it with half of the remaining batter. The apples might be a bit watery try to leave the liquid behind. Then spread the rest of the apples and top with the remaining batter before placing in the oven to bake for an hour/60 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Beware that the apples may make it look greasy when doing the skewer test, but just check in a few different places.

Leave to cool for at least 10 minutes before turning it over and taking it out of the pan.

Slice and enjoy! 

notes: This bundt was actually made for National Bundt Day, that day is November 15th. I am clearly not on top of my posting at the moment. So, here it is finally! 

Changing of the Seasons: Caramel Apple Pie Scones

The change in seasons has been influencing my taste buds at the moment.

Definitely craving apples, pumpkin, cinnamon, and other seasonal dishes. Like stews, soups, and pies the list could go on forever!

Usually this time of year I bake a lot of apple bakes, but our tree has produced no more then 5 edible apples this year.

Which is very sad really, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from baking with apples at least once this autumn!

After much thought and deliberation I decided to give a classic teatime treat an apple twist. No, not a Victoria Sponge, but the humble scone.

I made Caramel Apple Pie Scones. They are by far one of the most delicious scones I have ever made. Which isn't really saying a lot because I don’t make scones that often.

That doesn't make them any less delicious though!

They would be perfect for an Autumn Afternoon Tea! 

The scones themselves are seasoned with apple pie spice and have fresh apples in them. I topped them with the traditional clotted cream and instead of jam used some delicious caramel!

Caramel Apple Pie Scones

500g plain flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp cream of tartar

2 tsp golden caster sugar

2 tsp apple pie spice

50g unsalted butter, cold and cubed

25g vegetable shortening/Trek, broken up

300ml buttermilk

75g or ½ an apple chopped into little cubes

sprinkle of sugar

clotted cream

caramel sauce

Start by chopping the apple and sprinkling with sugar, leave in a colander so the juice from the apple drips out. Press between a towel or paper towels to dry them completely.

Heat the oven to 220C and line a baking sheet.

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl before rubbing in the butter and shortening. Add the buttermilk and chopped apple and mix together until it forms a soft dough.

On a lightly floured surface smoosh the dough into a thick circle, using a medium to small circle cutter cut out the scones. I got about ten, but it depends on the size of your cutter. Then place on prepared baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes. They should rise in the oven and slightly brown. When you transfer them to the cooling rack they should feel light. Cool for a bit before adding the clotted cream and caramel. Enjoy! 

notes: These are my entry for The Great Denby Cake Off blogger competition. Apple Pie Spice isn't very common in the UK, however if you add a tsp of ground nutmeg and a tsp of ground cinnamon and maybe a baby pinch of ground cloves it will pretty much be apple pie spice. This could also be tried with dried apples.