Apple Cake for a Birthday?

It's my partner Cormac's birthday. He's turning 21, again, of course ;). He requested an "apple pie or cake thingy whatever". So, I figured as long as I used up the apples in the kitchen I'd be fine.

Apple Cake with Oatmeal Crumble
adapted from The Knead for Bread Apple Tart Bread

Ingredients

Cake
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup apple sauce (or any extra large apple or 2 small ones, I just happen to have some applesauce already in the fridge to use up).
3 large or large apples or 4 smaller ones sliced or cubed

Oatmeal crumble
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup oats
3 tbsp sugar (I like brown sugar, but white is fine)
1/4 tsp cinnamon (or more if you like it, I'd have 1 tsp for myself but Cormac isn't a cinnamon fan)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C

Grease a 9" or 10" round pan... I used a springform pan to make my life easier and lined it with baking paper. You could probably use a ~10" square pan.

Peel and slice your apples (if you really care, you can soak them in cold water with a few squirts of lemon juice to prevent browning but it really doesn't matter since you're just tossing them in the cake in the end).

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together.

Melt butter and leave it to cool.

In a another bowl or your mixer the eggs and sugar. Mix on high until its nearly syrupy and a bit pale colored. ~3 minutes.

Add the cool melted butter and the vanilla to the egg/sugar mix.

Add the applesauce and mix (if you have it).

Add the sliced apple pieces, mix gently until they are coated.

Add in the flour mix and mix until its well combined.

Start your crumble topping in a separate bowl. Use room temperature butter, and toss the oats, butter, sugar and cinnamon together. Squeeze it together until it forms pebbles of crumble topping.

Pour into your greased pan, sprinkle on the crumble topping, stick it in your oven for 50 minutes.

Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter Oat Blondies

Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter Oat Blondies made with Applesauce
Ingredients
3/4 cup Peanut Butter
2/3 cup Applesauce (if you want to be naughty, and make these chewier, use butter one for one)
3/4 cup loosely packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar (I used splenda)

2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup oats
1/4 cup wheatgerm (optional)
1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup milk

~ 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

-Cream together your peanut butter, applesauce and sugars.
-Add eggs one at a time.
-Add vanilla.

-Mix dry ingredients together.
-Slowly add dry ingredients to wet, alternating with milk.

-Fold in chocolate chips.

Bake for 30-40 minutes at 325F/160C


And they are healthy, too! I'm on this low fat kick at the moment to help reduce my chances of getting a bad case of a condition I had with my first pregnancy called Cholestasis.

Blueberry Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

So I've got a bad habit of making food items outside of their desired season. First I'm hitting you with pumpkin cinnamon rolls, now I'm on about muffins. I even made the applesauce from scratch (just boil them up with a touch of cinnamon, lemon juice and vanilla!) and the house smelled like autumn. In Ireland, its easy to forget its not truly summer, its just, a little warmer than the rest of the year.

Blueberry Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients
10 ounces or 2.5 cups cake flour (or -2 tbsp for each cup using all-purpose flour)
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup wheatgerm (optional)
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4-1/2 tsp cinnamon (depends on how much you like cinnamon, my applesauce had some cinnamon already so I stuck with 1/4 tsp and it was just enough of a pinch).

1 cup sugar or 3/4 cup Splenda (yes, I used Splenda-- I'm going to get cancer but hey, I'll look good!)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup yogurt
1/2 cup applesauce (if you don't have applesauce, you can use a vegetable/sunflower/canola oil here instead, but it won't be as healthy!)

1-2 cups blueberries

Demerera sugar for sprinkling on top

Directions
- Mix sugar, vanilla, egg, yogurt and applesauce well.
- Sift flour
- Combine dry ingredients
- Add wet to dry, and fold together until the whole mixture is wet. The key will fluffy muffins is not to overmix.
- Fold in blueberries.

Now, I use a handy dandy ice cream scoop/large cookie dough scoop to fill my cups. After you fill your cups, sprinkle a bit of demerera or vanilla sugar on top of the muffins. This will melt down and make a bit of a crunchy, shiny, sweet



Bake for 20 minutes at 350F/180C. Smear with butter while warm and enjoy! See that pan with all the staining? Well used! These silicon muffin cups are the business, just to let you all know. I'm happy to make my cupcakes for the family in them as well!