Menu for Hope 6 and Cranberry Apple Spice Cake

There’s only 9 days left on Menu for Hope people!! The great news is that, as of this morning, it’s already raised over $12,000. But I’m hoping that we can do WAY better than that! Spread the word! Shout it from the roof tops! Blog! Tweet! Facebook it! Whatever you do, make sure people know about it.

And hey, if you’re not a baked goods fan (although I do think that makes you certifiable) there’s a whole bunch of other stuff you can bid on!! We’re thinking of spending a few days in Paris for our honeymoon, before heading to a little chateaux somewhere with yummy food and vineyard tours so here’s a few of the items I’m going to bid on…


EU02 – Tour of France wine – An afternoon of tasting French wines? Yes please!
EU03 – Wine and cheese lunch - my two FAVORITE things! Mmmm, French cheese…
EU05 – Cooking Class in Paris – oh yes. That sounds INCREDIBLE!
EU19 – Personalised one-day Paris Itinerary. Ooo, I really want to win this one.
EU31 – Market Tour and Cooking Class in Burgundy – ok, so I’m actually DESPERATE to win this one!
EU34 – Private Chocolate Tour and Tasting in Rococo Chocolate in London. I know, it’s not France, but this chocolate is A-MAZ-ING.

But then there’s this one, this one, this one and this one too! Argh, I’m so torn! I have no idea how I’m going to narrow it down. Oh well – maybe I’ll just have to put a ticket on each. It is for charity, after all...

So basically, if my entry doesn’t float your boat, PLEASE don’t let that stop you from helping to support this fantastic cause. It’s only about £6.20 (US$10) for a ticket - that's the price of a cocktail in London.

There's also a great new widget to make donating even easier - just click on this link.

But to hawk my entry a little, Here’s a little something to whet your appetite. This beauty not only tastes delicious but lasts really well. Actually improves in flavour if left until the second day so will be perfect for me to post to wherever you are!

Festive but (unlike most festive treats) it’s not crazy heavy or crazy sweet. Moist, spongey and filled with tart cranberries and apples. Practically a health food! Ok, that might be stretching things a little too far, but it can’t be as bad as a mince pie.

Cranberry Apple Spice Cake

Adapted from Joy the Baker

375g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups (375ml) flavourless oil (sunflower, vegetable or similar)
3 large eggs
300g caster sugar
110g brown sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1 tbsp rum, bourbon or other spirit you have on hand. Or orange juice if you’re out of the hard stuff!
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tart apples (granny smith, bramley, something along those lines) peeled, cored and cut into little cubes – about 1/4 “
1 cup (probably about 125g) fresh cranberries, very roughly chopped. You could swap in dried fruit like raisins or apricots if you can’t get fresh cranberries.

Preheat the oven to 350F or 180C or Gas Mark 4.

For this, I used a bundt pan as, on a whim, I bought one recently. It does look super cute in a bundt pan but this could equally make 2 loaves or a 7” square tin. Whatever you choose to use, butter and flour the tin (or line with greaseproof paper) and knock the excess flour out.

Then – easy as anything – in one bowl, mix up the oil, eggs, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, alcohol and vanilla. In another, sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Then fold the flour mix gently into the oil mix, until only just combined. Remember, overmixing once the flour is in there develops the gluten and leads to rubbery cakes! Yuck.

Carefully fold in the fruit before transferring the mixture to the prepared pan. Bake for about 1hr 15mins until a skewer comes out clean. Then leave in the tin to cool for 30 mins before transferring onto a cooling rack to finish cooling. As I baked mine last thing at night, I actually left it in the tin to cool with a tea towel over the top and it was absolutely fine.

Dust with a light snow of icing sugar before serving.

Rosy xx

Gingerbread Party!

Mmmm, gingerbread... Isn't gingerbread just the perfect holiday baked good? It fills the house with the most warm and comforting festive scents and you just can't help but feel that swell of excitement, knowing that Christmas is just around the corner.

So easy to make too! The dough comes together in a matter of minutes and, unlike pastry, can put up with a fair amount of handling, so perfect for a cold Sunday afternoon activity with children. Or even a group of 20-something year old adults in this case! Not that you'd think that from the fruits of our labour...

Ahem, yes, children made this... That's the reason for the somewhat vibrant decorations! (rather large children) There's a cool 1kg of icing on top of this baby. And that doesn't include the 5 bags of sweet that were placed thrown on the outside. I do love the tree with all the little pressies under it though...

So that's what we made at the end of an afternoon drinking copious quantities of mulled wine (with a VERY generous slug of brandy added!) and eating nothing but sugar. In our more sober moments, we did do some more regular decorating.

LOVE his mustache. Like Poirot the snowman...

Here's the recipe - very simple, and the gingerbread keeps well for a good week or so in an airtight container. I'm going to whip up some more of these and tie red gingham ribbon to them to hang from our Christmas tree. Eeekk, getting SO excited about Christmas now!!

Gingerbread

Adapted from Delia's Book of Cakes

Ingredients:
75g soft brown sugar
2 tbsp (50g) golden syrup
1 tbsp (30g) black treacle - I think this is also called molasses
1 tbsp water
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger, or a touch more if you like them spicy
1 pinch ground cloves
finely grated rind of 1/2 orange
95g butter, cut up a bit
1/2 level tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
225g plain flour

Put the sugar, golden syrup, black treacle, water, spices and orange rind in a saucepan. Pop over a meduim heat and stir until it comes up to the boil.

Take off the heat and add the butter and bicarb of soda. Mix well until the butter melts - it can look a bit like its separating at this stage, but just keep on stirring and it will come together into a gorgeous, slick, gingery syrup in no time.

Gradually add the flour, stirring well, until it forms a smooth dough. You can add a little more flour if you think it's necessary but do bear in mind that when it's cooled down a bit, it will become much firmer and easier to manage. I normally find that this is the right amount of flour. It should come together nicely and leave the sides of the pan (fairly) clean.

Wrap the dough in cling film and pop in the fridge for about half an hour, or up to a couple of days if you're making it ahead.

When you're ready to bake the gingerbread, roll it out onto a lightly floured work surface to around 1/8th of an inch (3mm) thick (or thinner if, like me, you like thin, crispy gingerbread) and cut out whatever shapes you fancy. For trees decorations, make a hole using the tip of an icing nozzle or a skewer. I tend to avoid making men or angels for the tree as I'm not a fan of making holes in their heads! Place on a greased baking sheet, spaced well apart as they spread a bit on cooking.

Bake for 8-12 mins (this depends on thickness so do keep an eye on them) until they feel firm when pressed with a finger tip. Leave to cool and go nuts with the decorations!

Rosy xx