Autumn Baking - for National Cake Week

Oh for a slice of cake


A mug of tea, slice of cake, curtains closed, a bowl of shiny conkers on the table and The Navy Lark on Radio 4 Extra - welcome to Autumn.

Tomorrow is Macmillan's - 'World's Biggest Coffee Morning' -  and we will be having coffee, cakes and cookies in the office at Stokes.

For cake baking and loving, Lynn Hill founded the Clandestine Cake Club and started National Cake Week in 2011. This year it runs from 1st to 7th October - what a good excuse to get baking.

Well, who wouldn't celebrate a gooey chocolate cake, fresh fall apple bake and 'oh so lemony' lemon drizzle cake?

We're going to celebrate them right now and bake them this weekend.


Autumn Baking

Autumn Fall Apple Cake

You'll need:

• 225 g of self raising flour
• 175 g of butter
• 175 g of golden caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp of Cinnamon
• 3 tbsp of Stokes Bramley Apple Sauce
• 3 apples, peeled and cored

Here's how:

Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/Gas mark 5

Beat the butter and sugar then add the apple sauce and the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Sieve the flour and cinnamon into the wet mixture, stirring it in. Cut one of the apples in half and save it for dressing.

Roughly chop the rest of the apples and stir them into the mixture.

Spoon the batter into a greased 2lb loaf tin, slice the reserved apple and press the slices into the top of the cake mixture before baking for 40 to 45 minutes.

Oozing  Chocolate Cake

You'll need:

• 135 g of butter
• 55 g of cocoa powder
• Icing sugar, for dusting
• 350 g of sugar
• 110 g of plain flour
• 1 tbsp of Stokes Blackcurrant Extra Jam
• 1 tsp of Stokes Chilli Jam
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 3 eggs

Here's how:

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 5.

Melt the butter and set the pan aside. Add the cocoa, sugar, flour and vanilla to the butter and stir it all together.

Lightly whisk the eggs and fold them into the mixture. Add the jam and chilli jam and combine the mixture well.

(The deeply sweet blackcurrant jam with its tart finish works so well balanced with the chilli jam and the gooey chocolate loves them both - so will you.)

Spoon it into a lined, buttered 7 - 8 inch springform cake pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

The top should just crack to a gentle touch. The inside should be truly runny, so be careful when removing and cooling it then dust with icing sugar. 

Lemon Drizzle Cake anyone?

You'll need:

• 225 g of butter
• 225 g of caster sugar
• 225 g of self-raising flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 lemon, finely zested
• 3 tbsp of Stokes Lemon Curd
• 2 lemons, juice of
• 85 g of caster sugar

Here's how:

Pre-heat the oven to 160°C/Gas mark 4.

Beat the sugar and butter together then add the eggs one at a time beating each in well before adding the next.

Stir in the flour, lemon zest and lemon curd. Once the mixture is well combined, spoon it into a lined, greased loaf tin and bake it for 45 to 50 minutes.

For the drizzle: Mix the juice of 2 lemons into 85 g of caster sugar.

When it has cooled, prick the top of the cake with a fork and drizzle the glorious icing all over it.

Awesome Autumn - just add Stokes

More foodie thoughts for the week:







Fish Friday - try these simple, tasty fish suppers here.












Love British Food - delicious vegetables, fruits and fungi here.











Family Flavourites - enter our foodie sharing competition here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150