nutmeg | ashstylegourmet's Blog

Greeting’s dear friends. Pleasant weather round this time of the year in this part of the world with brightly coloured seasonal flowers blooming all over, around the pavements and gardens, bring out the best of the moods and lift the soul. We already are in the second month of the year, the month of celebrating Valentine’s day, showering love and affection, of caring and it also happens to be the birthday month of my dearest hubby. To celebrate his birthday I baked a warm, comforting, delicious apple cake with cinnamon and nutmeg flavouring, my first time try of using apples in a cake. I had seen and purchased a cute apple-shaped cake tin in one of my shopping spree that was waiting for the day to dawn when I could use it. Today’s post is my 50th blog post and therefore it had to be something to do with baking and I decided to post this recipe of an Upside-down Apple and Almond cake. The aroma that engulfs the house when a cake is baked is always heavenly, this time round the fruit and cinnamon flavour was divine. From the oven it went to the cake stand and was cut as a midnight birthday celebration.

I have used the Royal Gala apple variety from USA. The markets here have so many varieties from different countries, but I prefer to use these for the sweet dishes that I make. The apple slices were tossed in caramelized brown sugar to give it the sweet and chocolaty taste and almond slices were used to provide the nutty taste, I prefer to use sliced or crushed nuts in most of my cakes. To give more of a chocolate taste to the apples, the bottom layer of the cake was of batter containing chocolate and top was kept plain that added the cinnamon taste to each bite.

General Tips: Before starting to bake anything it is very essential to weigh the ingredients correctly, use room temperature ingredients, and assemble the ingredients so that one is not rushing around to get them. When everything is kept handy you would notice that baking cakes at home is not a big effort at all . Sieve the baking powder in the flour mix and keep ready for use. Grease the cake tin with butter and dust flour on it.

Upside-Down Apple and Almond Cake:

INGRIEDIENTS:

Apples: 2 no. (Ripe and firm)

Almonds: 50 gm (sliced or crushed)

Unsalted butter: 200 gm

Sugar: 200gm

Dark Brown Sugar: 3 Tbsp

Milk: 180 ml

Eggs: 3

Refined Flour: 200 gm

Baking Powder: 1 Tsp

Baking Soda: 1 Pinch

Cocoa Powder: 2 Tbsp

Cinnamon & Nutmeg: 1Tsp (Use powder or grate it directly)

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 180 deg C, fan-assisted. Grease the cake tin that is to be used for baking with butter. I used an apple-shaped tin, but a square or round tin would also be fine.

Peel, core, and slice the apples with the help of an apple cutter, and make thin slices. Heat a pan on the stove, add 1 Tsp butter and the brown sugar, stirring it and taking care not to burn the sugar. As the sugar caramelises add the apple slices and toss so that all the slices get coated with the sugar. Remove from pan and keep aside. Do not discard the leftover sugar syrup, if any.

In a bowl take the butter and beat it soft. Use a hand blender or spatula. Then add the powdered sugar or castor sugar and mix so that the mixture becomes soft, light and fluffy.

Add the eggs to the mix, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Grate the cinnamon stick and nutmeg directly over the mixture or make powder and add 1 Tsp of the powder to the mixture. If one does not want to use these flavours then add Vanilla essence 1 Tsp.

Stir in the refined flour and milk in two batches to the egg and sugar mixture. The batter should be mixed so that the mixture is smooth and folds. Divide the batter into two equal portions.

In a small bowl take the leftover caramelised sugar syrup and mix 2 Tbsp of cocoa powder in it, add milk if required. Add this cocoa mixture to one portion of the batter.

Line the bottom of the cake tin with the caramelised apple slices. Sprinkle dark brown sugar and almond slices over the apples. Then pour over the chocolate batter over it. Next pour over the other cake batter portion.

Insert the cake tin into the preheated oven, bake at 180 deg C for 50 min or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the tin for sometime and then as the sides loosen up transfer it or invert it upside- down on a cake stand, with the apple layer on top.

The sugar content added to the cake is as per my taste. If you like a more sweeter cake, then increase the sugar content to 250gm instead of 200 gm.

Serving Options: The cake can be served as a warm dessert with more chocolate sauce poured over each slice if you prefer a chocolaty taste. It can be cooled then cut into slices and served with cups of hot tea or coffee. For a cake lover it would hardly matter how it is served, I always love to have cake at home so that every time I walk past the cake I can stop and grab a slice or a bite of it.

Note for new or first time bakers: In case their is no brown sugar at home then the normal white sugar can also used for caramelizing the apples. It is always a joy to cook or bake in the kitchen, experience it for yourself by trying out different recipes.

Enjoy!!

Nowadays, the week just flies as if we are flipping through the pages of a book, and soon it is the weekend time, a time that everyone eagerly waits for. For some, these could be the days when lot of chores in the house have to be attended to or for some it might just be relaxation with nothing much to be done. Same way in my house, this is the day that starts with a slow lazy morning, kids waking up leisurely, but with the whole family together at the dining table in anticipation of a very yummy, hot, and nutritious breakfast. Taking into consideration the choice of my kids, one of the items on the breakfast list is hot pancakes. Pancakes are made of flour and sugar, the carbohydrate source of the dish, eggs that is the protein source and butter, which is the fat source of the dish. Fruits are a good source of fiber and vitamins, so to include them and as variety, I make fresh jam/chutney. So here I am, sharing with you all the pancake and fresh red apple jam breakfast recipe.

Pancakes are delicious, easy and fast to cook meal, a no extra efforts needed dish.

Ingredients: All purpose flour (Maida)-1 bowl, eggs-2, sugar 1 ½ tbsp, milk-250-300 ml, butter for frying-2 tbsp.

Method: 1. Take the flour in a bowl. Making a well in the center, break the eggs into the flour and stir, mixing the eggs and flour. Gradually, add the milk in which sugar is dissolved, making a smooth batter. This batter should be beaten well, mixing thoroughly. Those who want the pancakes to be less sweet can reduce the amount of sugar in the pancakes. Leave it to stand for few minutes.

2. Heat a pan and melt butter. Then pour the batter to make soft, round pancakes of desired sizes. Flip the pan to turn the pancake or use a spatula to do it, spread little butter on the turned surface, when golden brown remove it onto a plate.

These hot pancakes can be served with freshly made apple jam; this was the combination I used for breakfast. Some of the other combinations that one can serve it with are honey, chocolate sauce, or Nutella.

Red Apple Jam:

Ingredients: Red apples-2, Sugar – 50 gm, nutmeg for flavor, 1 tbsp butter.

Method:
1. Peel the apples to remove the skin and chop them to small pieces.
2. Heat a pan, and add the butter and apple pieces to it.
3. Stir the apple pieces to get a golden brown appearance, add the sugar and cook till the sugar is completely dissolved and the apples are soft and sugar liquid is reduced.

4.Grate nutmeg on this mix and remove the sugared apple mix from heat, cool, and then grind to get a smooth mix, I like it this way.

If one likes the soft apple pieces in each bite, then no need to use blender. Also, one can adjust the sugar according to own preferred sweetness. This is one of the advantages of making it fresh in our own kitchen. The goodness of the fresh fruits combined with flavor of nutmeg, absolutely no coloring agent or preservatives, adds to the healthy factor. Go ahead, try out this healthy fruit jam.

ashu 🙂