Apple Crumb Cake

I found this wonderful website The Purple Foodie few days back and when i revisited it today i came across this yummilicious recipe of Apple Crumb Cake. And i wanted to make it right away. I had all the ingredients at home except for baking powder. So i waited till evening to go out with my kids to our near by NTUC Fairprice to buy it.

We had a nice walk and i explained to my kiddos about the cake on the way! My daughter was all excited about it especially when i explained about the topping!!! She had seen only the frosting as a topping on the cake but not something like this which has to be baked with the cake! My son on the other hand was not at all interested about it!! LOL!! i guess its hard to impress a almost 3 yr old without a chocolate ingredient! :D

This cake is for my dear daughter and my DH who loves anything with apples and cinnamon. And DS... chocolate chip cookies are coming ur way soon honey! :)

here goes the original recipe..

Crumb topping:

5 tbsp butter, cold

¼ cup sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar

½ cup flour

¼ tsp salt

½ cup walnut, chopped

For the cake:

1 large apple, peeled, cored and diced

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp cinnamon, ground

2/3 cup sugar

8 tbsp butter (100g)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup yogurt

Making the crumb topping:

Mix together all the ingredients except the walnuts. You could do this either manually (using a fork or a pastry blender) or pulse it in a food processor. Next, stir in the nuts. Refrigerate until needed.

Making the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C. Butter an 8 inch square or circular pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, beat the sugar and the butter with a hand mixer until light and airy, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition.

Reduce the speed now and add the flour in 3 parts and yogurt in 2 parts alternately; starting and ending with flour.

You will have a very thick batter. Stir in the chopped apples.

Transfer the batter in the buttered pan and even out the top with a spatula.

Get the crumb topping out of the fridge and break it apart using a fork. Then sprinkle it over the batter.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the crumbs are golden and a skewer comes out clean.

I made some changes in the original recipe

For the crumb toping i reduced the white sugar to 2 tbsp. And for the cake i added 1/3 brown sugar and 1/3 white sugar.

Zebra cake

When i saw this cake for the first time in Farida's blog i already fell in love with it!! :) it was something so different and unique!!! If i saw this in a bakery or somewhr else i wouldnt even imagine that i can also bake something like this!

Luckily i had all the ingredients at home and everything came out wonderful.. I followed the recipe exactly with no changes. Its really a big cake. I made this in Silicon round cakepan that i just brought. im slowly trying to replace all my baking pans to Silicon.

I took this to a kitty party and evertbody raved about it.

Please note that.. i made this in an electric oven.. one of my friend made the same thing in a microwave/convection oven and it didnt come out as the same pattern, it turned out to be a Marble cake!

Carrot (& Zucchini) cake

I made this carrot cake 3 times before and it really turned yummy.. the only thing i changed in the recipe was reduced the sugar to 1 cup.. And i added the apple sauce too.

Then one day i came across this recipe of Carrot-Zucchini Cake

I was in the middle of the first Carrot cake recipe when i got the second one! So i just grated 1/2 cup skinned zucchini and reduced the carrot to 2 cups. Also reduced the sugar to 1 cup. Also i didnt add apple sauce this time because i thought Zucchinis have a high water content and it will help to keep the cake moist.

At the end.. both the recipies were delicious! 

I made the cake in 2 loaf pans and took one to my friend Shebi's house where we were having a girls party! Everyone loved it!!

The other loaf was almost finished by my kids and DH! Luckily i had one slice left to take a pic!! LOLs!

Marble cakes and cupcakes!

I have been baking and grilling a lot now a days but unfortunately my camera is dead and my camera phone is not so good in taking pics.. By the time i wait for my hubby to come home to take a pic from his iPhone half of the thing is eaten by mu kids and then i think ok may be i'll post this next time... i have a lot of drafts and im wondering when im going to post all of this!!!

today my daughter told me lets make a cake together! Its really hard to resist a almost 5 yr old! :D

So i decided to make my first marble cake from scratch! i have been baking a lot from www.Allrecipes.com so i decided to go there and search for this recipe. And i think this is the perfect recipe

then she said she wants cup cakes.. So with 3/4th of the batter i made a marble pound cake and the rest i made marble cup cakes.. i even mixed a little more cocoa pwdr in one or 2 cupcakes to make it chocolate cup cakes and some into plain white cup cake. 

I followed the recipe exactly but reduced the flour by 1/2 cup as some of the reviewers suggested but kept everything else the same.