Let them eat cake – delicious, home-made cake

You deserve cake, in fact you deserve cake made lovingly by you for your family to enjoy and revel in. So why not make it?

This spiced apple cake with cream cheese frosting and spiced candied nuts will make you the talk of the family and will have them thinking you are a closet baker!

Along with the ingredients you will need your stove top, and electric beater, a sauce pan, a pot and two mixing bowls. A baking sheet, cup measures, wooden spoon and rubber spatula and a piping bag will also be used. You will also have to preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius. It should take you about an hour 15 mins to prepare the dessert.

Here’s how you make this fantastic cake:

Ingredients

Apple Cake

• 210g cake flour (sifted)
• 2ml ground cloves
• 5ml nutmeg
• 2ml salt
• 150g white sugar (granulated)
• 125ml oil
• 2 large eggs
• 3 medium sized apples, cooked (add 5ml cinnamon,15ml sugar, 25ml water)

Cream cheese frosting

• 2x 230g Lancewood cream cheese
• 5ml vanilla extract/essence
• 500ml icing sugar

Spiced candied nuts

• 70g pecan nuts (crushed)
• 50g sugar
• 10g water
• 3g cinnamon
• 3g nutmeg
• 25g sugar, for dusting

Method

Apple cake

1. Add all dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix together.
2. Cook apples in a small pot until the apples are soft.
3. Add all wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix.
4. Fold in apples.
5. Place grease proof paper into the baking pan.
6. Place mixture into the baking pan and bake at 180 degrees celsius for 35 to 45 minutes. (use a cake tester or skewer to test, tester should come out clean when stabbed into the cake)
7. Allow to cool in the pan. Once cool, place on a cooling rack.

Cream cheese frosting

1. Place cream cheese and vanilla into a mixing bowl.. Then beat to loosen the cream cheese (don’t over beat at this stage)
2. Add icing sugar gradually, ¼ cup at a time. Once all icing is added, frosting should be quite thick and at a piping consistency.
3. Place in fridge.

Spiced candied nuts

1. Toast nuts in the oven for 8 minutes.
2. Place sugar (50g) and water in saucepan and heat, once golden in colour, add nuts.
3. Coat nuts in caramel, keep them on the heat for 2 min.
4. Place nuts on a baking sheet or grease proof paper and break up with spoon, coat with sugar (25g) and allow to cool. (Ensure that you keep your hands away from sugar to prevent burning)

To Assemble

1. Pipe on cream cheese frosting.
2. Sprinkle nuts over
3. Serve with coffee/tea or a cream liqueur or your choice
4. Enjoy!