Christmas Yule Log (Bûche de Noël)

It is the time of the year for Christmas baking again!

Besides the 2-tiered cake which I have backed for my ex-colleagues for early Christmas celebration, these are the rest of my festive baking:

Cranberry Scones

Animal Cookies (Recipe here)

Last but not least, a Yule Log Cake to end the year with a smile :)

I followed the recipes of my first yule log cake  closely, except the yoghurt fillings which I replaced plain yoghurt with mango flavoured yoghurt:


Swiss Roll Cake:
(adapted from dessertfirst)

• 5 large eggs, separated
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup cake flour
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 200 degree C. Oil a Swiss roll baking pan with butter and line with baking paper. Oil the baking paper with butter too.
2. Whip egg whites in a stand mixer bowl until they hold soft peaks.
3. Add 1/3 cup of the sugar in a steady stream and whip until white hold medium firm peaks.
4. In a clean mixer bowl, whip the egg yolks, vanilla extract, and remaining 1/3 cup sugar on high until mixture is thick and pale, about 5 minutes, scraping sides of bowl down as needed.
5. Add in flour and salt and whip on low speed just until incorporated.
6. Using a spatula, carefully fold one-third of the egg whites into egg yolk mixture to lighten it. Then fold in the rest of the egg whites until combined.
7. Turn out mixture into prepared pan and spread out evenly with an offset spatula.
8. Bake in oven for about 8 minutes, until the top is pale golden and the center springs back when you touch lightly. It should not get very dark.
9. Remove from oven and place on wire rack. Place a tea towel over the top and let rest for 10 minutes.
10. Run a thin knife around the border of the cake to loosen it. Using a strainer, dust the top lightly with confectioners' sugar.
11. Re-cover the cake with the towel, and place a  baking paper on top. Invert the pans together so the cake turns out onto the towel, on top of the baking sheet. Peel off the baking paper and let the cake finish cooling.

Mango yoghurt filling:
(adapted from pengskitchen)

• 250g mango flavoured yoghurt
• 4 tsp gelatin
• 3 tbsp warm water

1. Dissolve gelatin with water. Mix yoghurt and gelatin together. Chill in fridge until needed.
2. Spread the filling evenly over the surface of the cake, leaving an inch border on the long sides and a narrower one on the short sides. 
3. Starting with the shorter side closest to you, roll up the cake into a Swiss roll
4. Wrap the roll with a plastic wrap tightly, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to let the cream set a bit.

Mocha buttercream frosting :
(adapted from allrecipes)

• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup baking cocoa
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 tbsp brewed coffee
• 2 tbsp milk

1. Beat all frosting ingredients together until smooth.
2. Remove the plastic wrap from the Swiss roll, cut a portion of the roll out, and further cut it diagonally to attached it above the bigger piece of the roll, to form the log cake shape. I used tooth pick to ensure the 2 pieces are attached to each other firmly.
3. Frost the Swiss roll with the buttercream all over the log cake.
4. Use a fork to scratch the surface of the frosting to create the tree bark effect. Decorate with Christmas ornament.
5. Sprinkle some shredded white chocolate to form the snowy effect before serving.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #14 - Creative Christmas, hosted by Hankerie.

Have a Merry Christmas and a good year ahead.


I will be back next year with more baking and cooking posts. :)

Cranberry-Yoghurt Cupcakes

After 2 weeks of continuous baking for my ex-colleagues last month, I have not done any baking in December until tonight. There is a cup of plain yoghurt in the fridge which will be expiring in month end. Since I am going to be away for holiday in the last 2 weeks of Christmas, I thought I had better use up the yoghurt soon. The recipe I have selected was a French Yoghurt Cake but I had made some variations based on the ingredients that are available at home. At the end, what came out from my oven are 12 aromatic Cranberry-Yoghurt Cupcakes.

I am very happy with the result - these cupcakes are very moist, smell and taste wonderfully good. They are easy to make and light for the weight-conscious too. :)

Cranberry-Yoghurt Cupcakes

(Adapted from Cookbook Addiction with modification)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup ground hazelnut
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup plain yogurt (low fat)
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup of dried cranberries

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degree C. Line 12-hole muffin tray with cupcake liners.
2. Whisk together the flour, ground hazelnut, baking powder and salt.
3. Put the sugar, yogurt, eggs and vanilla in a bowl and whisking vigorously until the mixture is very well blended. Still whisking, add the dry ingredients, then fold in the oil and dried cranberries with rubber spatula. Fill the cupcake liners with the batter, not more than 3/4 full.
4. Bake for 18 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and transfer the cupcakes to a rack to cool down.

Blueberry Buckle In A Cup

Besides apple, blueberry is the other fruit that appears very frequently in my baking ingredient list. Among the many blueberry cakes that I have tried, my favorite is none other than this Blueberry Buckle Cupcake that I have adapted from Joy of Baking and baked countless times.

The crispy toppings coupled with moist and soft cake-texture, it is well-liked by many of my colleagues who have tried it.

The recipe below can be used for individual cupcakes or one round cake. I usually baked into individual sized cupcake as it will be quite messy to cut and serve it by slices because of the streusel toppings.

 

Blueberry Buckle In A Cup

(Yield 6 large cupcakes or 8 inch (20 cm) round cake) 

Streusel Topping:

• 45g all purpose flour
• 65g granulated white sugar (I used golden castor sugar)
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 56g cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Cake Batter:

• 130g all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 56g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 100g granulated white sugar (I used 60g golden castor sugar)
• 1 large egg
• ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
• 80 ml milk
• 2 cups fresh blueberries (I used only 1 cup)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C.
2. For streusel topping: mix together the flour, sugar, and ground cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until it resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4. With a hand mixer, beat the butter in a separate bowl until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Add the flour mixture, alternately with the milk, over 3 times. Beat until just combined.
5. Divide the batter equally into 6 cupcakes. Scatter the blueberries on top of each cup of cake batter and then cover them with the streusel topping.
6. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a small knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly.

Note: I over-filled the cups and thus resulted in these over-flown, extra large cup cakes :(

A Cake for the Season of Sharing

Even though Christmas is still few weeks away, but I baked and brought this cake to the office for a surprise early Christmas celebration last week before my last day with the company that I've worked for more than a decade.

  

 

I borrowed the idea from this Swimming Pool cake and created this 2-layer cake, with “green grass” on the 1^st layer and “snow flake plus a pond” on the 2^nd layer. Instead of baking the usual sponge cake, I baked 2 cakes – a big blueberry yoghurt cake for the 1^st layer and another small matcha-flavoured sponge cake for the top.

Here is the recipe and steps:

Blueberry-Yoghurt Cake

Recipe taken from my earlier post here. Instead of a ring pan, I used a 20-cm round cake pan and baked for 50 mins at 170 degree C, when a knife inserted in come out clean.

Matcha-Sponge Cake

For the 2nd layer Matcha Sponge Cake, I used the same sponge cake recipe which I had used for in Sep for my Strawberry Yoghurt Jelly Cake. I reduced the flour to 95g and added 5g of matcha powder. I poured half of the batter into a 9-cm round cake pan and the remaining batter in 5 muffin cups. They came out from the oven in perfect spongy texture in 20 mins at 170 degree C.

Leave both cakes to cool completely before assemble.

Chocolate Butter cream

Beat together the following ingredient until smooth:

70g unsalted butter, 1/2 cups icing sugar, 30g melted chocolate and 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder.

Other ingredients needed:

1 packet of pocky stick biscuit

2 boxes of chocolate-coated Biscuit sticks

Shredded white chocolate

Green/blue-colored agar-agar

Christmas ornaments for decoration

To assemble:

1. Trim the top of the bigger cake to get a flat base.
2. Position the smaller cake on top centre of the bigger cake (I used 3 tooth-picks inserted to the middle of the cakes to hold them together). Using a small fruit knife, carefully scrap out a small and round shallow well at the top of the 2^nd layer (I used the cap of a bottle as a guide).
3. Using your fingers, lightly rub the green cake crumble that was scrapped down from the matcha-cake for later use as the green grass.
4. Spread a thin layer of chocolate butter-cream all over the surface and side of the 2-layered cake, except the round shallow well on the top which is reserved for the pond.
5. Break the poky sticks into small pieces (about 3-4 parts), pin them around the top layer cake to form a fence of equal height. Next, do the same for the bottom layer cake, using the chocolate-coated sticks.
6. Using the bottle cap as a guide, cut out the agar-agar into a round shape of the the same size as the well for the pond. Carefully place the agar-agar onto the well, cover it with the cap to prevent the shredded chocolate from spilling over to the pond.
7. Carefully sprinkle the green cake crumble onto the top surface of the bottom layer to form the green grass. Next, carefully sprinkle shredded white chocolate on the surface of the top layer cake.
8. Surround the circumference of the bottom layer with a ribbon to hold the chocolate sticks and also to add a festive touch to the cake. Decorate it with Christmas ornaments.
9. Keep chilled in the fridge. Remove the cap cover to unveil the pond when ready to serve.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #14 - Creative Christmas, hosted by Hankerie.

Apple Crumble Bars

I was inspired to make this Apple Crumble Bars over the weekend, after reading Alice's Apple Crumble post. Alice's "bottomless" Apple Crumble (without the bottom cookie base) looks good. I knew I would bake this pretty soon as I love to bake with apples.

For this Apple Crumble Bars, I used the recipe from Annie's Eats which I've used several times.

Apple Crumble Bars

Ingredients:

For the base:

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 113g unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the filling:

• 4 medium-sized apples, peeled, cored and coarsely diced
• 5 tbsp sugar ( I cut down to 3 tbsp)
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp lemon juice (I cut down to 1.5tbsp)
• ¼ cup fruit jam (I used blueberry jam)

For the topping:

• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 55g unsalted butter, softened

Directions:

1. To prepare the filling, cook the apples, sugar, and cinnamon over medium heat in a pot. Stir  occasionally, for 5-7 minutes, until apples are tender but still firm. In a small cup, whisk together cornstarch and lemon juice. Add to the apple mixture and continue cooking, stir constantly for 3 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 176°C. Line an 8×8” baking dish with foil, leaving overhang on both sides for easy removal later. Grease foil.
3. To make the base, mix flour, sugar and salt in mixing bowl. Cut the butter into it using a pastry blender, until it resembles breadcrumbs. Press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges. Remove from the oven. Spread the fruit jam evenly on the base while it is still hot. Top with the cooked apple mixture.
4. In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients for the topping. Mix well with fingers or pastry blender until combined and crumbly. Sprinkle over the apple layer. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Using the foil, lift the apple crumble bars out of pan. Cut into squares and serve.

(This tip from Annie is very useful - refrigerate before cutting to firm up a bit for easier slicing.)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chips Cookies

Tomorrow is an important day for my elder daughter. It's PSLE (Primary School Leaving Exam) result release day. She will be collecting her result from her school at noon tomorrow. As her parents, hubby and I are equally nervous as we know that she has put in effort from the beginning of her Primary 6 to prepare for the exam.

As tomorrow will be her last time seeing all her classmates at her primary school, she asked for me to bake her peanut butter cookies for her to share with her classmates tomorrow.

I took this fuss free cookies recipe from JIF but made some variations. The cookies did not disappoint both the girls who are peanut butter fans.

 

 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chips Cookies

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Chunky Peanut Butter
• 1/2 cup Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 3/4 cups All Purpose Flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tbsp corn flour
• 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Baking Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Combine peanut butter, shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add egg. Beat just until blended.
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in separate bowl. Add to creamed mixture. Add in chocolate chips and beat at low speed until just blended.
3. Roll the dough into 1 inch ball and flatten it slightly with you hand. Place the flattened cookie dough on the baking tray at 2-inches apart.
4. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes, or until set and just beginning to brown. Cool 2 minutes on baking try. Remove cookies to cooling racks to cool completely.

This recipe yields about 36-40 cookies, depending on the size of your cookies.

Apple Muffins with Walnut Streusel

This is another baking recipe using apples. J

It is my second time baking these muffins. They are moist in the inside and crunchy on the outside, fitting all the criteria for a yummy muffin.

I adapted the recipe from Baking Bites but made some variations.

Apple Muffins with Walnut Streusel

Streusel Topping:

• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup walnuts (crushed with rolling pin to little pieces)

Batter:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2/3 cup brown sugar ( I reduced to 1/2 cup)
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (I used plain yogurts)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup grated apple (I used 3 apples, peeled and diced them. Yield about 1 cup)
• 1/2 tsp salt
  

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degree C. Line 12 muffin cups in the muffin tin.
2. For the topping: Mix all ingredients to resemble coarse crumbs. Set aside.
3. For the batter: Mix together all dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
4. Whisk together all wet ingredients in a large bowl, including the diced apples. I kept about ¼ cup for later use.
5. Fold flour mixture into wet ingredients until just combined.
6. Divide batter evenly into tins and top with the remaining apples and sprinkle with the streusel mixture.
7. Bake for 18 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.
8. Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Funfetti Cupcakes

Funfetti Cupcakes are cupcakes with colorful sprinkles added into the batter. I came across several Funfetti Cupcakes posts several months ago when surfing in Foodgawker site for nice cupcake recipes for my girl's birthday party. Even though I did not make any of these cupcakes for her party eventually, I did bookmark several of them in my KIV list.

I finally baked these cute and colorful little cakes for the first time last week and regretted for not making them earlier as they are not only pretty looking, they are so soft and tasty. My kids and colleague's children all loved them.  The big kids in my office adored them for brightening up their work day too. Their appreciations make my day too! It's so true that "Little Things Make Us Happy". 

A plus point of this Funfetti Cupcakes recipe from Tracey's Culinary Adventures is that only egg whites instead of whole eggs are used for the cakes which make them healthier and lighter for those who need to be conscious of their cholesterol intake.

Funfetti Cupcakes

(Tracey's Culinary Adventures)

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• ½ cup milk, at room temperature
• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (I increased to 1.5tsp)
• ¼ tsp almond extract (I omitted this)
• 1¼ cups all purpose flour (I used cake flour)
• 1 cup sugar (I cut down to ½ cup)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature (equivalent to 85g)
• 3 tbsp rainbow sprinkles
  

Baking Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degree C. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
2. Whisk the milk, egg whites, vanilla extract together in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
3. Place the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in another large mixing bowl and mix to combine with a fork. Cut the butter into 6 pieces and add them to the dry ingredients. Using hand mixer, mix on low speed until the mixture is coarse and sandy. Add in the liquid mixture and beat at medium speed for 1½ minutes. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the sprinkles.
4. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners to not more than 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pan and allow them to cool completely before storage.

Note: I’ve omitted the frosting but you may visit Tracey's post for her vanilla frosting recipe.

I am linking this post to Aspiring Bakers #13 – Enjoy Cupcakes hosted by Min.

Matcha Sablés (Green Tea Shortbread Cookies)

This is a very late post which has been sitting in my blog as "draft" for a few months which I did not realise until now. Blur me!

These Matcha Sablés (Green Tea Shortbread Cookies) were baked sometime in September as a birthday gift for the best friend of my elder daughter who loves green tea a lot. These cookies are crunchy and full of green tea flavor. If you love green tea like me, you will sure love this.

The recipe is adapted from here (text in Chinese) but I halved the quantity and had also made some slight adjustment as below.

Matcha Sablé Recipe

• 112g unsalted butter
• 80g powdered sugar
• 1 egg
• 200g cake flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1g baking soda
• 12g green tea powder
• Some white chocolate chips

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and green tea powder. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add in beaten egg over 2 times.
3. Fold in the flour mixture and mix till combine into a dough.
4. Transfer the dough out of the mixing bowl, place it on a plastic wrap and wrap it in the shape of a disc.
5. Chill the dough in the fridge for around 2 hours till firm.
6. Remove the dough from the fridge, roll it flat (slightly less than 1 cm in thickness), use cookie cutter to cut out the desire shape, place the sables over baking paper. Lightly press chocolate chips on top of each sable.
7. Bake in preheated oven at 150 degree C for 20 minutes. Keep a close watch during the baking process to prevent over-baking. Over-baking will cause the sables to turn from green to ugly brown.

Note: Instead of using cookie cutter to cut out the sables, sables are usually prepared by rolling the dough into cylinder shaped log and keep in the fridge to film up before being sliced into pieces of sables for baking. But I personally prefer to flatten the dough and use a cookie cutter to cut out nicely.

Cinnamon Walnut Swirl Cake

This simple, nutty and aromatic Cinnamon Walnut Swirl Cake was baked in mid October for a colleague who loves cinnamon as well as walnut. She was so delighted with this cake - a combination of her 2  favourites into one cake :)

Cinnamon Walnut Swirl Cake
(Source: Double Batch)

Ingredients:

* 1/3 cup sugar (I used golden castor sugar)

* 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted (I used walnut)

* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

* 1 cup sugar (I used only 1/2 cup golden castor sugar)

* 2 cups all-purpose flour

* 1 teaspoon baking powder

* 1/2 teaspoon salt

* 1 egg

* 1 cup milk

* 1 teaspoon vanilla

* 1/3 cup cooking oil

Baking Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degree C. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 5 loaf pan.
2. Combine 1/3 cup of sugar, walnut, and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. Combine 1/2 cup of sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat egg. Then, stir in milk, vanilla and oil. Make a well in the flour mixture and add the egg mixture. Stir just until mixed. Do not over mix.
4. Pour half of the batter into loaf pan. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon walnut mixture. Pour the remaining half of the batter on top, followed by the rest of the cinnamon walnut mixture. Use a fork or knife, swirl the batter & cinnamon-walnut mixtures together with a zip-zap and and circular motion.
5. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until done. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes. Then, cool completely on a wire rack.

Cute Little Doggie Cookies

 

Do you find them adorable and wish you can take one home? :)

I baked these cute little doggie cookies in end October together with my two girls. My younger girl gave them out to her friends and teachers as farewell goodies on her last day with her last student care centre.

These cookies are pretty easy to make and I urge you to bake some on your own / with your little ones at home during the school holiday.

Doggie Cookies Recipe

(Source: ohbin)

Ingredients:

• 180g unsalted butter
• 20g castor sugar
• 80g Horlicks powder
• 25g corn flour
• 25g milk powder
• 200g cake flour
• Nestle's Cocoa Crunch
• Chocolate rice
• Mini Chocolate chips

The above yield about 50 cookies

Baking Steps:

1. Sieve corn flour, milk powder and cake flour together. Set aside)
2. Beat butter, sugar and horlicks powder till creamy
3. Add in flour mixture, and mix well until it come together as a dough (don't over do)
4. Weight dough 10g each and shape into small round ball and decorate with

          Ear- Cocoa Crunch

          Nose- chocolate chips

          Eyes- chocolate rice

     5. Bake at pre-heat oven for 25mins at 150c

An ideal gifit/treat for the little ones.

Huat Kuih (Pinky Little Steamed Cakes)

I made these cute little pink cakes to satisfy my younger girl's craving for Huat Kuih, her favourite. I am very happy with the results - all the little cakes were smiling at me when I lifted up the lid of the steamer. They made me smile too :)

 

 

 

 

Steamed Huat Kuih (蒸发糕)

Ingredients

(Yield 7 muffin-sized little pink cakes)

• 80g Fine Rice Flour （粘米粉）
• 320g Cake Flour
• 8g Baking Powder
• 210g caster sugar
• 320g water
• 2 tiny drops of pink coloring

 

Methods

1. Combine the sugar and water together, stir till sugar melted.
2. Sieve the flours and baking powder together. Add the liquid and coloring into the dry ingredients. Stir till well combined.
3. Spoon the mixture into muffin cups, till 80% full.
4. Place the cake in steamer and steam over high heat for 12 minutes.
5. Off the fire and let the cakes stay in the steamer for another 8 minutes.

 

 

I am submitting this kuih kuih for Oct 2011's Aspiring Bakers - Make Traditional Kuih.

This pink little cakes are also in support of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month - The Power of Pink Challenge started by Beantownbaker,

Applesauce Cake with Home-made Applesauce

Here in Singapore we don't grow apples but we get a wide variety of apples from all parts of the world. It is now apple harvesting season in many countries as they enter into autumn. There are so many food blogs featuring home-made applesauce, apple pies, apple tarts and all kinds of bakes featuring their fresh apple produce. I always like to bake with fruit, especially apples. Seeing so many apple related posts enticed me to make my own applesauce and this light and tasty Applesauce Cake.

Home-made Applesauce
(yield about 2 cups of applesauce)

•  6 apples, peeled cored, diced into fairly large chunks
• 1 cup of water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1-2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• sugar or honey to taste, if required (I added about 2 tablespoons of honey)

 Method:

1. Add the apples, water and cinnamon sticks to a saucepan, bring to a boil, then add lid, lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes until tender.
2. Add in lemon juice and sugar or honey to taste. Remove from heat.
3. Remove the cinnamon sticks and put the mixture in the blender and blend into smooth puree.

I made the applesauce a night ahead and kept it in the fridge. The next night, I used the applesauce and baked this applesauce cake, a healthy cake that is low in fat and sugar.

Applesauce Cake
(Source: Healthy Seasonal Recipes)

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• Zest from 1 orange or lemon
• 2 cups applesauce
• ½ cup honey (I used slightly less than 1/2 cup)
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2 cups brown rice flour (I used plain flour)
• 1½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees C. Coat a large bundt pan with cooking spray.
2. Mixed eggs, zest, applesauce, honey and oil in a blender or food processor (I used hand whisk to beat them).
3. Whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.
4. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Gradually stir the dry into the wet and stir until combined.
5. Immediately spread out into the prepared pan and transfer to the oven. Bake until golden brown and the cake springs back when lightly touched, 50 to 55 minutes.
6. Let cool in pan 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.