Thursday 15 September 2011

Spiced Apple and Ginger-wine Loaf

I had planned to spend a quiet afternoon working on my entry for this month's We Should Cocoa challenge, but the internet was down and I couldn't get to the recipe I'd picked out - I hope now that I have enough time before the deadline to have another go - a whole afternoon free is a rarity these days!

Fortunately I had saved this Diana Henry recipe, published recently in the Telegraph, as a .pdf file, so had a fall-back position to make sure there was actually something to eat. It's a fairly straightforward recipe, and I didn't have any problems following it. The loaf tin size specified is a standard 2lb loaf tin. I didn't have a Cox apple so used a Jazz apple for the decoration as they have a lovely coloured skin.

The recipe makes a moist but not too heavy cake, subtly flavoured with the ginger wine and spices. We all enjoyed eating the cake but didn't really like the fresh fruit topping - not sure why really, as it looked very pretty. Perhaps that was the problem - it looked nice but didn't add anything to the enjoymernt of eating the cake - we're more concerned with flavour than looks, most of the time. I think it might have made a nicer cake if the eating apple was finely chopped and mixed into the cake batter, or the slices put on top of the raw batter and baked into the cake.

One other potential problem with the fresh apple slices on top is that they may not keep as well as the cake, so I think it's probably best to use them only if you expect the cake to be eaten all at once. I took the slices off after I'd cut the first slices of cake, so that they did not spoil the leftovers. If you do try the decoration, make sure the apple slices are really dry before you drizzle over the icing, or the moisture will soon dissolve the icing sugar and spoil the appearance.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Suelle, I agree with you completely on flavour over appearance, but boy, that cake certainly looks impressive! :)

Kate@whatkatebaked said...

This sounds a really delicious cake Suelle (as always with all your posts!). A perfect cake for these cooler Autumnal nights, curled up with a hot cuppa tea. I agree- its all very well cakes looking fancy but they have to taste great!

Katie said...

This looks a lovely textured loaf and I love the flavours. I agree with you about the fresh apple topping though, too much of a contrast, although it looks very pretty.

Alicia Foodycat said...

I think apple chopped up into it sounds really good! I might try it that way.

Chele said...

What a great bake, looks so yummy and moist and just perfect for a cuppa on this blustery autumn afternoon! Hope you get time to bake your WSC entry too, the virtual party won't be the same without you! (No pressure intended by the way!)
;0)

Caroline said...

It looks gorgeous - really moist. I think I would forgo the topping too - it seems a pity to spoil the keeping qualities of the rest of the cake for the sake of the topping, although it is very pretty!

Lovely autumn baking! I suppose this is the silver lining of autumn!