Our September event kicked off the Winter season for Cake Eaters Anonymous (aka. Cake Club Nottingham) and we had some amazing bakes this month! If you'd like to come along to an event you can find all the info at http://www.cakeeaters.co.uk/ or search for us on Facebook.
At our events only one person can be crowned Star Baker!! So with the votes for the Gem 106 Cake of the Month really only pointing to one winner we are pleased to announce that Fran's Sticky Apple and Gingerbread Loaf wow'ed our attendees this month!
Here's the recipe if you'd like to give it a whirl..
INGREDIENTS
150g unsalted butter, plus extra to grease
150g soft dark brown sugar
150g golden syrup
200ml milk
250g plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1½ tsp baking powder
2 large free-range eggs, beaten
75g pecans, roughly chopped or as I used, a packet of
Whitworths Whitworths Morning Munch Maple Pecan - I roughly chopped all the nuts and dried fruits
3 pieces of stem ginger, chopped
2 crisp eating apples, peeled, cored and chopped into chunks (245g peeled and cored)
Icing
75g icing sugar
A couple of tablespoons of warm water
METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. Grease and line a 2 litre loaf tin. I melted the butter, sugar and syrup in a small saucepan. Once melted, stir through the milk and set aside to cool.
2. As the sugar and syrup mixture was cooling, I sift the flour with the dry spices and baking powder into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the cooled sugar mixture. With a wooden spoon, slowly mix the flour mixture using a circular motion. Fold through the beaten eggs, chopped pack of maple pecans, stem ginger and apples.
3.Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake in the oven for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes away clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then remove to a wire rack.
4. When cooled, I sifted 75g of icing sugar and the added warm water to the sugar until I was happy with the consistency. I then filled the icing sugar into a piping bag and created a simple zig-zag pattern on the top of the loaf cake.
5. Put the loaf back in the fridge to set the icing sugar and bring out of the fridge when you are ready to serve with a cuppa of tea!