Hello all!
I've been meaning to get this blog post up for while, but as usual, life got in my way!
The past two weeks have been a busy one! I've had orders, inspections and birthdays all in the space of a fortnight.
A few weeks back the Environment Health visited to inspect my premises, where I bake all my orders for my business, which was a great experience! It is really self assuring and wonderful when what you've been doing as a business; paperwork, spreadsheets, orders and deliveries is then checked and passes. Reassuring me that what I'm doing and how I'm running my business is exactly how and what I should be doing! The Food Hygiene Rating is based on a scale of 1-5. 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest- Very Good. I got a 5, and then proceeded to high-five myself, I was so elated!!
I had an order the previous day and it was chilling in its box in the fridge. Then it was being collected. I love it when new customers want to use CVL Bakes for the baking for their special occasion, it means my business is getting out there. Little by little, things will happen and my business will grow. I really enjoy working at something I am passionate about and building it up. So if you need any baked goods, or know anyone who does, for any occasion and live in and around Northern Ireland, then please consider using CVL Bakes for the catering!?
But now I am finding the time to post about this wonderful little dessert, that is fun and delicious.
Why fun, you ask? Because you can eat it with your hands and it comes cut in these lovely little squares, I answer.
Why delicious, you ask? Well, I'm hardly going to say they are revolting am I?... Plus they are in fact, delicious!
These are my Apple and Cinnamon Tray Bake Squares with cinnamon buttercream and they are heavenly. Honestly, coming from someone, who isn't the biggest fan of fruit in cakes, this is a pretty high compliment. I don't know, it's something about the apple, slightly firm, providing a very satisfying bite to the little cakes, bursting with lovely apple goodness!
The aroma of this cake is just beezer, to say the least. The smell of the apples cooking within the wonderfully indulgent cake and the gentle spice of the cinnamon, makes for an all-round delicious cake. The buttercream adds another dimension too- slightly creaming and sweet.
In one bite, you get the creamy, soft, cushioned texture, as you first bite into the cake. Then the crumbliness of the cake, closely followed by the crunch of the apple. The burst of the sweet, tangy apples, flood your tongue with saliva. They fill your senses with a happy tingle. You can't help but smile when eating these little nibbles. They're just so simple, but beautifully flavorful.
The ingredients for these are ingredients that you are going to have in the kitchen.
They're staples within the everyday larder.
- 220g Self Raising Flour
- 220g Caster Sugar
- 4 Eggs
- 220g Butter, soft
- 5g Cinnamon, or a sprinkling of how much you like
- 3 Apples
- 1 Lemon
- 400g Butter, unsalted
- 900g Icing Sugar
- A dribble of milk
- 5g Cinnamon, or again, however much you like and want
- Cinnamon to decorate
The equipment you'll use is pretty basic too;
- 1 x 20cm Rectangular cake tin, non stick. This should be buttered and lined with baking paper.
- 1 Mixer or just a bowl, spoon and whisk
- 1 Spatula
- 1 Cake skewer, or a chopstick or knife
- Scales to weight out your ingredients
- Cooling rack
- Piping bag and star tipped nozzles.
If you don't have these, you could snip the corner of a lunch bag and fill with the buttercream and pipe that way. You won't get the pattern you would from using a star nozzle, but it will still look nice.
These little cakes will keep for up to a few days in the fridge, but my general opinion is that whenever something has fresh fruit baked into it, it won't last as long, but does add an extra flavour to whatever you are baking which is always lovely!
This is a lovely cake to make, as it is full of taste and texture! When baking for an order, I change into my cooking wear; hairnet and all, I steam clean the kitchen and then put on some music. Baking isn't baking without music. It's like drinking a Gin and Tonic, minus the lemon- something just sin't right...
Method:
So, the music was playing and I was all ready. I started by pre-heating the oven to 170 C and greased and lined my cake tins. So far, so good.
I then started on the batter. Put the softened butter into a bowl and give it a whisk until the butter is softened and lighter. Then add in the sugar and beat this for 2 minutes to allow the mixture to become aerated and fluffy.
Then one-by-one or all at once, depending on my patience level on the day, add the eggs in. Even if they look all curdled when put into the batter- they're not. This can easily be fixed by adding in a little flour to bring it all together. Don't ask me why the eggs curdle like that sometimes, they aren't bad, I buy everything fresh the day before I bake, and there is nothing wrong with them, it's probably that they just haven't had the time to blend and incorporate completely; due to mixing too quickly.
It's like when you are making choux pastry and you are at the stage when you've made the paste; of butter, water and flour, salt, and sugar. You're about to add the eggs and you have to beat them in vigorously as they separate and cause the paste to form little islands almost in a see of golden egg.
So, you've got the butter, sugar and eggs in the batter for the apple and cinnamon cake. Add in the flour and give it a brief mix, don't mix until completely smooth though, as the apples are still to go in and you don't want to over- mix the batter.
Peel the apples and zest a lemon over them, this will stop the apples from going brown when they are peeled and exposed to the air. Then chop them into small chunks and add them to the batter and give it a final mix. Add the cinnamon and you are good to go.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin, even out with a pallet knife and pop into the oven for around 30-40 minutes until, risen, golden brown and smelling gloriously full of sweet apples and cinnamon. Put a skewer into the middle of the cake and if it comes out clean, it is done. Take it out of the oven, wearing oven gloves- you know, if you don't want your hands to get all burned up and scarred.
Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes to cool down and stabilise more and then tip out onto a cloth on a cooling rack. This way... sorry, had to pause there. I'm watching 'You've Got Mail' and it is the end scene. To completely conform with the cliche , yes, I'm gushing. It is such a wonderful wee film and typing is becoming increasingly more difficult. Anyway, I'm back now, by cooling the cake on a cloth and cooling rack, the cooling rack won't indent the cake and mark it.
Once the cake has cooled and isn't going to tear apart and crumble when you are trying to cut it, cut the cake into 12 little squares and leave to cool completely.
To make the buttercream;
Put the softened butter into a bowl and mix until smooth, light and fluffy. Tip in the icing sugar and whisk slowly until thick crumbs form and then pick up the speed slightly, little by little. Once the mixture has come together and is light and fluffy, add the cinnamon and mix in until it is a very light, golden colour.
Once the cakes have cooled completely and aren't warm, start piping on the buttercream. You want to make sure that these cakes are completely cooled though, as the buttercream will melt on them if they are the slightest bit warm and that doesn't end well. It basically ends up, by the cake being a little soggy on the surface as the buttercream has melted. Yuck.
Fill a piping bag or sandwich bag with the buttercream and squish it all down. Twist the open end of the piping to seal and stop the buttercream from spilling out and hold firmly. Holding it directly over the cakes, pipe little rows of stars onto each cakes until the tops are completely covered.
Sprinkle a little cinnamon on the top of the icing for decoration and they are done! I really enjoyed making these little treats, as much as I hope you enjoyed reading about it?
I have a few Valentine's Day orders coming up, so will have blog post and photos up to follow when they are delivered. Probably around next week or the following.
Thanks again and have a lovely day all!
Back soon,
Ciara
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