Garam Masala Apple Bundt Cake

While garam masala is a much used spice blend in most gravies and curries in Indian cuisine, this recipe from My Food Story convincingly adds it to cake batter to give an unusual twist to your classic apple cake. Baked in a pretty Bundt pan, this dense spicy cake is good to serve on a cold winter afternoon and you do not even have to worry about making masala chai to go with it. The browned butter rum sauce is for those who dare to add a bit more sugar and complexity to the winter flavors of this warm and cozy tea time apple bake.

GARAM MASALA APPLE BUNDT CAKE

Ingredients:

For the Apple Bundt Cake

1 cup almond milk

1 teaspoon white vinegar

2 large apples, finely chopped

2 lemons, zested and juiced

2 1/8 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon garam masala powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

3/4 cup light muscovado sugar

1/2 cup mild vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Brown Butter Sauce

1/4 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-3 tablespoons milk

Method:

• In a bowl mix together almond milk and vinegar and set aside. Add lemon juice to chopped apples.
• Grease a 4 cup Bundt cake pan well, making sure to get the crevices. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.

• In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, garam masala, cinnamon, ginger and lemon zest.
• In another bowl, whisk together almond milk-vinegar mixture, muscovado sugar, oil and vanilla.

• Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix till combined, then fold in chopped apples.
• Spread the mixture into the greased Bundt cake pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden brown.

• A skewer inserted in the middle of the cake will come out clean. While cake is baking, make glaze.
• Heat butter in a pan till it starts foaming and frothing and will start browning. Remove from heat.

• Whisk in sugar, vanilla and milk till the mixture is smooth. Set aside until the cake finishes baking.
• Once the cake is baked, invert it onto a plate or baking sheet. Drizzle the glaze over the warm cake.

Garam Masala Apple Cake

Apple & Fig Flapjacks

APPLE & FIG FLAPJACKS

Ingredients:

450g apples, peeled and cored

25g golden caster sugar

Zest of 1 small lemon

100g dried figs, chopped

140g butter, cut into pieces

50g light muscovado sugar

140g golden syrup

250g porridge oats

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

25g walnuts, chopped

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 190 oC. Slice the apples into a small pan and stir in the caster sugar.

• Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes until apple is soft, stirring occasionally.

• Stir in the zest and the figs and cook for another 15 minutes, uncovered. Stir mixture often.

• When the figs are softened and the mixture is quite dry, remove from heat and cool slightly.

• Whizz the cooked apple and fig mixture into a smooth puree in a food processor, set aside.

• Melt butter, muscovado sugar and syrup into a heavy based, medium saucepan over low heat.

• Do not let it boil. Stir in the oats and cinnamon and mix well to form a loose, sticky mixture.

• Press half of the mixture into a shallow 18 x 18cm square baking pan. Spread puree on top.

• Cover the puree with the remaining oat mixture and sprinkle the chopped walnuts all over.

• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until it is golden. Remove from oven, cut into squares and serve.

Apple & Fig Flapjacks from BBC GoodFood

Cinnamon Apple Roses

It told me a while to get my hands on frozen puff pastry; it seemed that all my usual stores and supermarkets had run out of the stuff right when I needed it. Of course, I could make my own from scratch but after one has been through the gruesome experience of being on call almost every alternate night over the past month, one tends to resort to laziness and shortcuts to get things done. I finally got round baking these beauties on my mum’s birthday and they make a really beautiful edible ‘bouquet’ of red roses for someone who loves both food and flowers. The recipe, from Cooking with Manuela, can be tweaked to include other fruits like plums or peaches if you don’t care for apples and the baked roses should be eaten on the same day as the puff pastry looses its crispness if stored for too long.

CINNAMON APPLE ROSES

Ingredients:

1 frozen puff pastry sheet

2 large red organic apples

Juice of half a medium lemon

1 tablespoon flour, for dusting

3 tablespoons apricot preserve

1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

Powdered sugar, for dusting

Method:

• Thaw the puff pastry for about 20 to 30 minutes. Prepare a bowl with some water and the lemon juice.
• Cut the apples in half and remove the cores. Cut the apples into paper thin slices but leave the peel on.

• Right away, place the sliced apples in the bowl with lemon and water, so that they do not change color.
• Microwave the apples for about 3 minutes, to make them slightly softer or simmer them in a small pan.

• Unwrap the puff pastry over a clean, lightly floured counter. Using rolling pin stretch the dough a little.
• Try to keep the rectangular shape. Cut the dough in 6 strips. These are about 2 in x 9 in (5 cm x 22 cm).

• Combine apricot preserve with two tablespoons of water in a bowl and microwave for about one minute.
• Spread the preserve on the dough. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Drain the apples.

• Place the apples on the dough and sprinkle with cinnamon. Now fold up the bottom part of the dough.
• Carefully roll, seal the edge, and place in a greased muffin cup and repeat the same steps for all 6 roses.

• Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 40 to 45 minutes until the pastry is fully cooked on the inside.
• Remove immediately from the muffin cups and leave to cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack before serving.

Cinnamon Apple Roses