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Apple Sponge

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There are only so many days in a month and when you have over half a cookbook flagged with recipes to try, the struggle becomes real. Plus kids, activities, events to attend, life in general! But I’m determined and so I made my way through a good handful of recipes from Olia Hercule’s cookbook Mamushka.

The monthly cookbook club I belong to allows you to try any recipe you want and share it to Instagram. There are no other requirements besides check out what others in the club are making. I have found through this process this year there are several recipes I would make again. This being one of them.

This Apple Sponge contains no rising agent. You create height by beating air into the eggs. The cake was moist and using Fall apples harvested at their peak makes it the perfect Autumn dessert. I added salt to the recipe to enhance the flavour but that’s entirely your choice.

Olia’s mom would make this whenever they had a craving for something sweet, calling it biskvit (“a sponge”).

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Apple Sponge
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • Butter for greasing pan
  • 5 eggs
  • ¾ cup + 2 tbsp superfine sugar
  • 1⅓ cups flour
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 4 green apples, cored and thinly sliced
  • icing sugar for dusting
  • pinch of salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8x12 inch cake pan with butter.
  2. Beat the eggs and sugar together in a bowl with a handheld mixer for at least 5 minutes (use a timer if necessary) until very thick, pale, and foamy. The amount of air you beat in is essential.
  3. Gently fold the flour and a good pinch of salt into the egg mixture.
  4. Mix the cinnamon with the apples, then tip the apples into the prepared cake pan and pour the cake batter evenly over the apples. Bake until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean, 35 minutes.
  5. Let it cool in the pan. Dust with some icing sugar, cut into squares and serve.

 

 

Cinnamon Butter Cake

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Lately I’ve been going through old small town cookbooks where my mom inspired myself and so many of her family members to submit recipes to the annual cookbook collaboration. I have two of them dating back to the 90’s and as I go through these books carefully page by page, I can’t help but smile when I see an Aunt or a friend with a recipe I so fondly remember. I also have several recipes posted from my Vancouver days where I dabbled with cooking constantly.

Who also has these kinds of books? Please share in the comments!

I often wonder the history of some of these retro recipes. So many of them where taken from early early cookbooks and changed up a bit to become Grandma’s or Mom’s recipe. I recall being at a food blogger conference once where a representative from Random House Publishing said exactly the same thing. Every recipe starts from a book somewhere. While I don’t believe “every” recipe does starts from a book since I’ve whipped up my own from scratch, I’m sure there are many that had a helping hand.

This is one of those retro recipes I took from the book and changed up to suit my tastes. I’ve never heard of it before so I was excited to give it a go. It’s a butter cake but I added a ton of cinnamon into the glaze because why not? Cinnamon has health benefits so I needed something to make me feel better after all the, well, butter!

 

Cinnamon Butter Cake
Cinnamon Butter Cake

It’s moist and perfect with tea or coffee.

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Cinnamon Butter Cake
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter (softened)
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1⅓ cup buttermilk
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ⅓ cup butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3 tbsp water
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease and flour bundt pan.
  2. In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla followed by buttermilk.
  3. Add in flour, salt, baking powder and soda mixing until well combined.
  4. Bake in preheated oven 50 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside.
  5. Melt sugar, butter, vanilla, water, salt and cinnamon in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Do not boil. This is your sauce.
  6. With a large skewer, poke holes all over the cake while still warm. Pour syrup all over cake, waiting until it is absorbed before you add more. Use it all.
  7. Let cake cool completely in pan. Remove to wire rack. Serve or cover until ready to serve.

 

 

Cinnamon Butter Cake
Cinnamon Butter Cake

 

Brownie Cake

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Recently I received some samples (cooking sauces and marinade) from Pulo Philippine Cuisine. I started browsing their pamphlets to see how they have used the products themselves. While everything looked tasty, I wasn’t getting inspired and couldn’t get past the basics. So they sat a for a few days. And then like Snow in Calgary in September, it hit me….forget savory…go for sweet.

The Tinaga Island Coconut Adobo Cooking Sauce is so far one of my favourites (ok only got through 2 of 6 so far). It’s both tasty and the great thing about coconut is you can take it to savory or sweet. Plus it had vinegar in it and my mom used to make a chocolate cake recipe with vinegar. I knew I was onto something, so I decided to make Brownies. With the Pulo Coconut Adobo Cooking Sauce you say? Why the heck not. Nobody puts Baby in a Corner….(little Dirty Dancing reference there). Besides isn’t this how all the great recipes are born…trial & error?!

Brownie Cake
Brownie Cake

This recipe started off as a Brownie recipe. As I was making it I went looking for my 9 x 11 baking dish to pour the brownies into. Discovered it was in use and so I substituted the 9×9 instead. And without further ado, this recipe went from Brownies, to Brownie Cake. A substitution gone right.

One minion advised she could taste a hint of coconut in the brownie. Husband mentioned a tiny hint of heat. The flavours were there and I have to say these Brownie Cakes tasted equally delicious with freshly whipped cream and vanilla ice cream.

Tinaga Island is part of the Bicol region of the Phillipines, an area renowned for hot chili and coconut milk dishes. And it’s now on my list of places I want to visit.

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Brownie Cake
Author: 
Recipe type: snack, dessert
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • ¾ cup cocoa
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 1½ cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ¾ cup Pulo Coconut Adobo Cooking Sauce
  • Cooking spray
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. In a pot on medium heat add butter and melt. Turn heat down and pour in brown sugar and white sugar. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Do not boil. Whisk in cocoa and remove from heat.
  3. To the pot add a pinch of salt, vanilla, and 1 egg at a time, whisking quickly after each addition to avoid cooking the eggs.
  4. Stir in flour and baking powder.
  5. Add a piece of parchment to a 9x9 baking dish. Give a quick spray with cooking spray to ensure all sides have been coated in case like me, your parchment doesn't cover all the way up the sides.
  6. Pour in your batter spreading it around. Give a little shake shake to ensure even distribution.
  7. Place in oven for 30-40 minutes. Test with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean.
  8. Let rest in pan for about 10 minutes and remove to rack. Let cool off completely before serving.