Author Archives: bakermam

6

Apple Crumble Cake

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Oh I am very fussy about my apple crumble, any type of apple cake really. The thought of biting into an apple pie and feeling a crunch *shudder*

So if you like smooth apple, a spongy base with a sweet crumble on top, this is the recipe for you.

I have adapted it from a recipe for a Ballymaloe mincemeat crumble cake in Rachel Allen’s Cake book.

Yummy Apple Crumble

Yummy Apple Crumble

Ingredients:

100g butter softened, plus extra for greasing
100g soft light brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste
2 tablespoons of milk
175g self-raising flour
3 cooking apples
Icing sugar for sprinkling

For the crumble topping:
100g self-raising flour sifted
75g caster sugar
75g butter chilled and cut into 1 cm cubes

You will also need a 22cm diameter, loose bottomed cake tin with 6cm sides.

Now to Bake:

Preheat the oven to 180°C and butter the side and base of the cake tin make sure that the base of the tin is upside down so there’s no lip and the cake can easily slide off when cooked.

To make the crumble topping:

Place the flour and the caster sugar in a bowl, then add the butter and use your fingertips to rub in until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Kids love to help with this,  lots of fun and messy hands!

To make the sponge:

Cream the butter until soft in an electric food mixer and add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Whisk the eggs together in a small bowl with the vanilla bean paste and milk until just mixed then gradually add them to the creamed butter mixture beating all the time. Place the mixture into a large bowl and sift in the flour and fold in gently to combine.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin then using a table spoon evenly spread it over the base of the tin.

Wash and peel the apples. I like my apples to be soft with a smooth texture in my cakes so I like to grate the apples before putting it in the cake. I use an electric kitchen machine for this but if you don’t have one you could just cut the apple into thin slices. When your apples are prepared, place them evenly on top of the sponge mixture. Finally sprinkle the crumble topping on top, be sure to completely cover the apple and sponge mixture below.

Place in the oven and bake for 50 minutes, if you insert a skewer into the centre of the cake it should come out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for at least 20 minutes then loosen around the edges using the dull side of a knife and removed the sides of the tin, transfer your cake onto a plate and dust with sifted icing sugar.

Serve:

I can only eat this cake warm but there are many members of my family that don’t care about the temperature. It is also lovely with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.

Apple Crumble Cake

Apple Crumble Cake

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6

Irish Brown Soda Bread

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I make this bread regularly, it is a great accompaniment to a creamy vegetable soup and I highly recommend this soup recipe  from Nessa’s Family Kitchen. I also love to toast it and top it with melted cheddar cheese.

Funny Story:

Whilst making this bread one day, Zoe was helping me pour the dry ingredients into the bowl (she was 2 at the time) and as I turned to get the buttermilk an irresistible urge seemed to come over her and she blew into the bowl!! Well needless to say a little flour bomb exploded in her face, she looked up at me in shock and I howled laughing, the poor girl was covered in flour!

Irish Brown Soda Bread

Irish Brown Soda Bread

Ingredients:

  • 250g extra coarse wholemeal flour
  • 250g plain white flour plus a little extra for sprinkling
  • 1 teaspoon bread soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 400ml buttermilk

To Bake:

Preheat the oven to 200°

Add the wholemeal flour, plain flour, salt and bread soda into a large mixing bowl, give it a little stir with a spoon, then make a well in the centre of the ingredients and pour the buttermilk into it.

Now that all the ingredients are in the bowl, it’s time to mix, I use a an electric kitchen machine with a dough hook for this but you can also hand knead it, just use a lot of flour on your hands and the surface as it’s a very wet sticky mixture.

Get a baking tray, cover it with a baking sheet and sprinkle some plain white flour on top.

Place kneaded mixture onto the middle of the tray, sprinkle with flour and shape to a round. Last thing you need to do before putting in the oven is engrave a cross on the top of the bread with a knife.

Place in the preheated oven for approx 35 minutes, you will know it is finished by tapping the bottom of the loaf, if you hear a hollow sound it’s done.

4

Tea Brack

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Well I had to start my blog with a firm family favourite and with Halloween around the corner it’s the perfect time to bake it too!

This recipe is taken from Edible Ireland

This recipe makes 2 loaves but if you only want to make one, simply half the ingredients, same cooking time though!

Ingredients:

  • 200g raisins
  • 200g sultanas
  • 200g currants
  • 100g chopped dates
  • 600ml hot, strong black tea
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 450g self-raising flour
  • 400g soft light brown sugar
  • 2 level teaspoons of mixed spice

I can never make just one loaf of this tea brack, it is way too popular with my family. One loaf stays with us and the other always makes its way down to my Dad who is its biggest fan.

Preparation

Put the raisins, sultanas, currants and chopped dates into a very large mixing bowl. Pour the hot tea into the bowl and cover the bowl with a plate, leave overnight to soak.

Tea Soaked Fruit

Tea Soaked Fruit

Now to Bake

In the morning when you’re bright eyed and bushy tailed, preheat the oven to 180°C. Line two 450 g (1 lb) loaf tins with parchment paper.

Add in the eggs, self-raising flour, soft light brown sugar and mixed spice to the fruit and tea mixture. Stir well until everything is just combined. (Because there is a large amount of ingredients in one bowl I recommend using an electric kitchen machine and dough hook to do this.) Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tins. Bake for about 90 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack, your house will smell divine all day!

Tea Brack

The finished product. Can be stored in an air tight container.

2

Bakermam is baking bread…..

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Hi and welcome to the Bakermam blog!

I’m Rachael and I’m Mammy to the beautiful Zoe who is 4; we love to bake together and over the next few weeks I’ll be posting up what we are baking  and I hope you can join in and let me know how you get on.

So where did Bakermam come from? I got the idea for the name from a very chilled out song by Laid Back (yes, even the band have a chilled out name!), the song is called Bakerman and I love singing it when I’m baking, particularly bread .

So to get into the mood for some easy home baking, here is the video: