November baking notes: a windfall apple cake, curling up with a winter classic and how to get ahead for Christmas.
Apple and hazelnut cake
This spiced apple cake is delicious with morning coffee, as an afternoon pick-me-up or gently warmed and served with a dollop of double cream for the perfect pud. It also happens to include one of your five a day! Make sure you toast the nuts to get the most flavour, then coarsely grind.
Serves 6
Prep 20 minutes
Bake 35-45 mins
STREUSEL
90g wholemeal flour
50g light brown sugar
1 tsp sweet spice mix*
1/4 tsp baking powder
60g unsalted butter, melted
80g hazelnuts, toasted then ground
1/4 tsp sea salt
FRUIT LAYER
4 tasty eating apples
CAKE
2 eggs
90g light brown sugar
60g wholemeal flour
3/4tsp baking powder
2 tsp sweet spice mix*
240g hazelnuts, toasted then ground
180g sour cream
SWEET SPICE MIX
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground clove
1 tsp ground nutmeg
Make the streusel and apple mix a couple of hours before you start the cake.
To make the streusel combine all the ingredients and press the mix together. Wrap in paper and chill in the fridge for a couple of hours before using. Chop the apples into 1cm cubes (leave the skin on) and place in a lidded pan. Gently cook over a low heat until the apples soften slightly but hold their shape (approximately 5 minutes) then leave to cool.
When you're ready to make the cake preheat the oven to 175 degrees C.
Grease and line a 8 inch loose bottom cake tin. Beat the eggs and sugar together in your stand mixer until pale and thick. In a separate bowl combine the toasted ground nuts, flour, baking powder, salt and spice mix. Fold into the egg mix in three additions. Fold in the sour cream until mixed thoroughly.
Place the cake mix in the tin and level. Spread the apple mix on top. Crumble the streusel over the surface in irregular chunks then push some of the streusel mix down through the apple into the cake mix.
Bake the cake for 30-45 minutes until a knife inserted in the cake layer comes out clean. You may need to cover the cake towards the end of the bake to stop it getting too dark. Dust with icing sugar to serve.
A good read: November
Cooking in the colder month's has its own particular pleasures. I love the steamy fug of a warm kitchen when it's dark outside, the smell of sweet spices and the promise of roasted root vegetables and lashings of gravy! Just flicking through the pages of Diana Henry’s classic winter cookbook “Roast figs, sugar snow: Food to warm the soul” is enough to get me dreaming up shared suppers with friends, lazy Sunday lunches and relaxing by a roaring fire cradling a glass of mulled wine. Originally published in 2005, this beautifully photographed cookbook was revised and republished in 2023 and thoroughly deserves a place on the (winter cookbook) section of my bookshelves.
Baking know-how
Warm cinnamon buns for Christmas morning and home-baked bread for those turkey sandwiches may be the dream but, despite those best laid plans, we all know things can get a bit hectic in December! Preparation is key, as in most things baking, so here are a few ideas to help.
Get baking those special breads and sweet treats a few weeks (and up to 3 month's) before Christmas reaches peak crazy. Ensure everything is cooled completely and slice bread that you will be using for toasting.
Make some room in your freezer. All bread freezes well, including sourdough bread and sweet buns. The trick is to remove as much air from the freezer bag as possible because air causes water crystals to form creating potentially soggy defrosted bread and freezer burn.
Sliced bread can just go straight in the toaster from frozen For a loaf of bread or tray of buns, remove from the freezer the night before. The next morning preheat your oven to 180°c, placing a heavy metal tray inside. Holding your bread in both hands, move it quickly under a running tap ( or a generous spritz of water over buns) before placing on the hot tray and baking for 5-10 minutes depending on size.
If you want to make your bread and bun dough from scratch the night before, then shorten your proving time by at least one hour. Shape your bread/ buns as usual and place in the tin/ banneton/tray they will be baked in. Cover lightly with greased plastic and store in your fridge overnight. Approximately 2 hours before you want to bake your bread/buns remove from the fridge, keeping it covered, and place somewhere warm for a final prove. Bake as usual and bask in the domestic god/goddess vibes!
Written by the founder Rebecca Bishop and drawing on her experience of teaching baking classes, this covers all of your favourite breads, pastries and pizzas - everything from sourdough to scones, and from croissants to cardamom buns. There’s recipes for celebration cakes, and many more bakes and bars (including the famous Adnams Broadside bread pudding and lemon shortbread slice).
With over 100 recipes for every level of baker, this is a book to curl up with, to cook from and to treasure until your next visit to the East Anglian coast.
Add water and flour (supplied) and follow the instructions to revive this dehydrated Sourdough Culture. Within a couple of days you’ll have an active culture of wild yeasts ready to raise your dough! Includes a 10g sachet of sourdough culture, rye and wheat flour and detailed instructions.
A Next Loaf gift voucher is redeemable at checkout using a unique gift code of a value of your choosing. The perfect present for the baker in your life - choose from sourdough bread, pastries or sweet treats. Suitable for beginners or more advanced bakers looking for a challenge. A lovely day out for a special treat
