TWD : Tourtely Apple Tart

Jeanette of The Whimsical Cupcake chose the recipe this week, we loved this tarte or pie, I'm the least entitled to say what it is, but I can tell you the all building had its share and it was very welcomed !

I only had three apples but had made an unsweetened apple sauce few weeks ago so I added a few tablespoon of it to the apples when cooking and I had enough filling.

Please visit the LYL post and find out how many different versions there can be !

TWD : Apple-Coconut Family Cake and I am finally back !!!

Ciao a tutti my dear friends ! I feel really guilty having abandoned my blog for so long and even if I baked almost all our recipes I wished to come back with some wonderful and stunning post.. but it is almost midnight and I'm dyeing some fabric I need tomorrow and maybe I'll just post my Apple- Coconut Family Muffins hoping in your friendship as always ...

This recipe was chosen by Amber of Cobbler du Monde and it was a very pleasant surprise for me as it is simple and fast but also healthy and super delicious ! Please visit Amber for the recipe.

I toasted the coconut and made it as directed even if I really did't understand how i should have cut the decoration apple !

I made it in this small form as I can share it easily and I must say everybody loved it as much as I did !

I added a photo of a part of one of the two mitre I had been working in the last month. It is from the Duomo of Orvieto dating from the 1700 century. I hope to be able to show some more pictures soon !

Double Apple Bundt Cake

This week Lynne of Honey Muffin chose Double Apple Bundt Cake

I usually follow the recipes as closely as I can but lately with the new job I have very little time and no time for making apple butter ( that isn't available in Italy) so I substituted with a cup of blended peaches, as I was changing the recipe I omitted the nuts and substituted dried strawberries for raisins... the result was a wonderfully moist ad flavourful cake that will appear often on our table ! Please visit Lynne for the recipe and the other bakers here

The Cake Slice : Fresh Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Icing

This is the last recipe from Nancie McDermott's Southern Cakes and it is a very low cholesterol, fast, easy and delicious cake to bake. I made the glaze which makes it more special but it would be much faster but still good without it.

It isn't the most beautiful cake but I think is great for an afternoon snack with a glass of milk.

From the next month we will bake from a new book, if you wish to join the group please send an email to Katie with name, blog name and URL to ‘appleandspice[AT]hotmail.co.uk’ with ‘Cake Slice Member’ in the object before Oct.20th.

Fresh Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze

(Recipe from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)

Fresh Apple Cake

3 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

1½ cups vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups finely chopped apples

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts

Brown Sugar Glaze

1 cup tightly packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp evaporated milk, half-and-half or cream

Method – Fresh Apple Cake

Heat the oven to 350F. Grease a 13 by 9 inch pan or two 8-9 inch cake pans.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir with a fork to mix everything together well.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a wooden spoon or a mixer at low speed until pale yellow and foamy. Add the oil and vanilla and beat well. Stir in the flour mixture with a wooden spoon and continue stirring the batter just until the flour disappears. Add the apples and nuts, stir to mix them into the batter until fairly uniform. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the cake is golden brown, springs back when touched lightly near the centre and is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Place the cake (still in the pans) on a wire rack and spoon over the glaze while still hot.

Method - Brown Sugar Glaze

Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture comes to a gentle boil. Then cook for 3-5 minutes.

To Finish

Spoon the hot glaze all over the hot-from-the-oven cake. Let the glazed cake cool completely before serving straight from the pan.