Festive Foodie Treats

Spiced Apple Cake - Isaac Cameron

So the Christmas season is in full swing once again and along with the cheer and good will comes the mince pies, Christmas pudding and all the other raisin-laden treats. For me this is as good as it gets, but after force-feeding my housemates with cut price mince pies for the past three weeks I realised that not everybody likes the classic Christmas grub as much as I think they do. To please both camps here are some alternative (but no less festive) recipes to try out over the holidays.

Spiced apple cake

Ingredients:
300g dessert apples
155g soft light brown sugar
150ml vegetable oil
1tsp vanilla extract
2 small eggs
335g self-raising flour
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp ground allspice
1tsp ground nutmeg
1tbsp Demerara sugar
a pinch of salt

Method:

1. Grease the sides of a cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.
2. Heat oven to 180°C/ Gas Mark 4.
3. Skin, core and grate apples into a large mixing bowl and stir in the soft light brown sugar, oil, vanilla extract and eggs.
4. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice then stir into the apple mixture along with the salt.
5. Pour the mix into the greased tin, smooth the top and sprinkle the Demerara sugar equally over the cake to create a crunchy top
6. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer (or sharp knife) poked into the middle comes out clean.
7. Remove from the oven, cool for 15 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack.
8. Tasty both hot and cold. Goes well with crème fraîche.

Clementine drizzle cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:
225g unsalted butter
225g caster sugar
grated zest of 2 large clementines
3 medium eggs beaten
310g self-raising flour
225ml natural yoghurt

For the syrup:
juice of 3 large clementines
115g caster sugar

Method:

1. Grease the sides of a cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.
2. Heat oven to 180°C/ Gas Mark 4.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl with an electric whisk, or a wooden spoon until pale fluffy then add the clementine zest.
4. Gradually beat the eggs into the butter and sugar mixture adding one at a time to avoid curdling.
5. Sift the flour and mix to a smooth, even consistency.
6. Add the natural yoghurt and mix in.
7. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 1-1¼ hours, or until a skewer (or sharp knife) poked into the middle comes out clean. If the top starts to get too dark then cover with tin foil.
8. While the cake is baking make the syrup by pouring the Clementine juice and sugar into a saucepan. Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved then bring to the boil and simmer for two minutes.
9. Stab holes into the top of the cake and pour the hot syrup over the hot cake. Allow to cool then turn out onto a plate.