Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

Caramel and Cinnamon are wicked combinations. It entices you and you cannot stop at one. This is a wonderful autumn cake when the best apples are in season. The crisp weather ensures that we enjoy this warm cake for tea.

Ingredients

For the sauce and topping
•       3-4 Granny Smith apples very thinly sliced apples
•       115g salted butter
•       135g brown sugar
•       1 teaspoon cinnamon
•       ½ teaspoon nutmeg
•       ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
•       ¼ teaspoon dry ginger powder (optional)
•       1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•       ¼ cup toasted and chopped walnuts/ pecan nuts  

For the cake
•       115g unsalted butter
•       200g brown sugar
•       2 large eggs
•       ¼ cup milk
•       185g plain flour
•       1 teaspoon baking powder
•       ½ teaspoon cinnamon


Method
 
1. Generously grease a square 8-inch cake pan and line with baking paper at the bottom.
2. Sauce: Melt butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan until smooth and thickened slightly. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger powder and vanilla. Pour the caramel into the greased cake pan and top with the apple slices while the sauce is still hot. Top with chopped nuts.
3. Cake: Preheat the oven to 160 degree C fan-forced oven. Beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add eggs and milk and beat until incorporated. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon. Pour the batter on top of the caramel and apple layer in the cake pan.
4. Bake for 45 minutes to 60 minutes (until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean). Let cool for 10 minutes. Invert onto a plate and tap the top until the cake comes out onto the plate.

Serve hot !

Spicy Apple Pecan Tea Cake

Apples, in my opinion, are the most versatile of fruits. They are crunchy when eaten fresh; this makes a very good addition to a refreshing salad or can be eaten as is. Cooked - they are soft and can be made into pies or tarts. Make them into a juice which can be served fresh in a glass or can be turned into cider or vinegar. With flavours that run from sugary sweet to ones that raises your eye-brows, apples can find a place in every dish - tagines, cakes, cookies and the list is endless.

Prawn Pakora/ Prawn Fritters

Pakoras, also known as Bhajias, are a very popular fried snack in India. Ask any Indian, and this unbelievably addictive fritter is always associated with the cool monsoon weather. It is not very uncommon for Indians to sit down with a hot cup of tea in the verandah, enjoying the beautiful monsoon rains and munching into some crispy pakoras. Originally, a tea time snack, pakoras are nowadays served as an appetiser in an Indian food menu.

Carrot and Walnut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

The cheats' cake is what I call it - Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. It is the most easiest and foolproof cake ever; yet, the cake is very moist, dense and delicious. It is perfect as a celebration cake or a slice cake to share with your friends over coffee. Packed with carrots and walnuts, it is also a nutritious cake that your family will fall in love with.

Mochaccino Marbled Mud Cake

As I've mentioned before, nowadays I am all in for Mochaccino. The hot and strong coffee with hints of chocolate is a truly ambrosial drink that you can enjoy at any time of the day. And anywhere I look, I come across recipes for cakes and desserts that infuse coffee and chocolate flavours together to get the absolute mocha delights.

French Mocha Almond Sponge Cake

French cooking is usually considered complicated, time consuming and expensive. Can't blame us because we thought the French are well known, only for their macarons and croquembouches and danish pastries and croissants and what not! They are all, yes, complicated, time consuming and expensive. But what I didn't realize was that they also have some quick and easy recipes too...

HLT Mini Quiche

Quiche (pronounced 'keesh') is a French style egg custard, consisting of an egg-cream/milk mixture, cheese, fillings and some spices and is usually baked in a crust. It comes from the Lorraine region of France. The French detest the use of cheese in quiche because it is not meant to be there. However, the non-French have tailored quiche to always contain cheese and that is how I learnt to bake it too.

Cinnamon Spice Scones

I've been enjoying making lemonade scones for a while now; which is a simple, easy and no-fail recipe. But today I decided to step up from my comfort zone to make a traditional scone with butter and milk. And then, to pep it up with cinnamon and nutmeg.

I once read that just smelling cinnamon can boost your brain function and improve memory. It also regulates blood sugar and reduces bad cholesterol. Not too bad for a simple looking bark, heh! So now, I have no second thoughts on including this bark in my recipes. Benefit or no benefit, the best thing about using cinnamon in your baking is its sweet aroma filling the air in your house that perks up everyone fast asleep.

I made these scones for a morning tea with my friends and served it with whipped butter and it went very well with most of them. My two little boys, gave me a big thumbs-up and said that I could include this in my kitchen menu, but they want whipped cream to go with it. My big boy, gave a small grunt, a satisfied grunt, which is the best I can get from him at any time, and I know he liked it.

Zucchini-Pistachio Cake with Lime Glaze

This was the first successful cake I baked in my kitchen.

I've had some awful disasters with my baking experiments, not a very long time ago. My cakes would either be burnt, too dry and crumbly or just prosaic. I couldn't get the sugar right, the batter right or even the oven temperature right. My Mum, who bakes wonderful cakes couldn't provide me with much help either. When she was young and started baking, she didn't face half the problems that I seemed to be 'nurturing' in my kitchen.
I was lost! The baking world was closing its door at me!

And then, one of my best friends came to my rescue. She gave me the recipe for this Zucchini Pistachio Cake and encouraged me to try it out. She promised me that this was a no-fail recipe and I had to try it before saying no to baking. One day, when I had nothing to do and was totally bored, after months of holding on to this recipe, I decided on giving it a try.
And Viola! A perfect cake in my kitchen.

Spiral Curry Puffs

Childhood memories of my birthdays include Mum's cake and beef cutlets, my Aunt's mixed fruit wine and my Grandma's beef and vegetable noodles and chicken and vegetable curry puffs for a high tea, in the evening, after school, when my family and extended family got together to celebrate. My favourite in the list has always been the curry puffs.

Curry puffs found its way into our home menu through my Grandma's Malaysian family connections and it is simply a variation of the Malaysian Karipap. The simplest way of making this is to prepare a poori dough, make small balls and flatten it, fill it with your favourite filling, close the open edges and deep fry in oil (just a stuffed poori).

Lemonade Scones

Enid Blyton introduced me to scones.

Every Famous Five adventure has at least one picnic where the four children and their dog goes off to the moor, the beach or the countryside to enjoy a cold lunch of hard-boiled eggs, potted meat sandwiches, puddings and lemonade. In fact, Enid Blyton made me wonder how many things looked and tasted like; treacle pudding, mince pies, jam tarts, sausage rolls, jacket potatoes, cold chicken, ham, tongue sandwiches with lettuce and cream cheese and ginger beer. And then, there is the Secret Seven and the Five Find-Outers, who always gather together for a tea of freshly baked goodies to discuss and solve their mystery at hand. Food is at its height in Malory Towers and St. Claire's with the scrumptious Match tea and the exciting midnight feasts. The list is endless.

The children in Enid Blyton books are always eating and discussing about food. And scones, freshly baked, warm from the oven served with 'running' butter, devon cream, home-made jam and cream tea tops the list.

Lemon Friands

Lemon thrills your taste buds. What better to drink on a hot summer day than a glass of ice-cold lemonade? The tanginess lingers in your mouth and refreshes you; mind and body. It easily compliments your sweet or savoury dishes and takes the dishes to a different level.

Joan's Rainbow Cake

I reckon that is the latest rave among Malayalees who love to bake. Everyone is coming up with their own version of this cake - closely inspired by the movie 'Salt N' Pepper'.

                                   Joan's Rainbow Cake - advertised by Sheen's Bakery,Kannur