Autumn windfalls and other bits – part one

Autumn windfalls and other bits – part one

Having been away for a while I knew I’d be coming home to a garden full of fruit. The blackberry’s had produced another round, the apples were falling off the trees and there was a crop of rhubarb. A perfect reason to get baking! I haven’t done much recently so I am actually quite excited about it. It is also a pleasure to share the baking around and bring a smile to peoples faces. First up…

Traditional Tea Cake with an Autumn twist

  1. Rub 8oz of butter (use it cold from the fridge and chop into cubes first) into 8oz of gluten free plain flour, 2tsp xanthin gum and 3tsp gluten free baking powder.
  2. When the butter is thorouly rubbed in add 6oz castor sugar, 4oz currants/sultanas, 2oz chopped walnuts and 6oz grated apple. I used the windfalls from the garden and cut out the bad bits. It is best to prepare the grated apples when you need them otherwise they’ll go brown.
  3. Mix in 2tsp cinnamon.

4. Whisk two eggs add to the mixture with enough milk to make a thick batter that drops off the spoon.

5. Spread out in a shallow baking tin lined with greaseproof paper and grate nutmeg over the top.

6. Bake at 200c for 15 to 20 mins.

When cooked leave to cool before you try to cut it or remove from the tin. It is a very moist sticky cake which would work well as a pudding with custard or ice-cream or simply with a cup of tea. Since I’ve been gluten free I have found on the most part that cake I have bought tends to be dry and extremely sweet neither of those are qualities I want in a cake! I am really pleased with this recipe as it seems to work well and is popular with everyone gluten free or not.