Hey, it’s my blog’s birthday: three years ago today I started It’s not easy being greedy with this introductory post, and I am still here. I think I have only missed one week of blogging, so you poor sods my dear readers have been hearing from me loads. Aren’t you the lucky ones? (don’t answer that).
People ask me how I find the time to write my blog posts. Well, it’s hard to fit it in around my job and personal life, but I really enjoy taking the time to write about what I have been cooking, eating or reading about. Unfortunately some of the best things I have ever written have only been in my head: I’ll be walking to the train station, thinking up some hilarious anecdote to share on the blog, and by the time I get to sit down in front of my laptop I have forgotten my brilliant story and so you end up with stuff like this instead.
I have met a great community of fellow food bloggers over the past year, and also had some amazing foodie experiences. Let’s hope the next year proves to be even better.
To celebrate It’s not easy being greedy‘s birthday I wanted to make a cake, but after my recent Great British Bake Off challenge I think (know) I have gained several pounds in weight, so I wanted it to be a cake which Andrew would also share with me.
Andrew only really likes puddings with apple in, but he’ll eat pretty much anything if it includes a decent slug of booze, so I combined the two and made this spiced apple and rum cake. And this one gets better after a couple of days of sitting around in the kitchen, so you don’t have to feel obliged to eat it all in one go.
I originally found a squidgy apple cake recipe on the BBC Good Food website, but they have now deleted it. I found something similar by googling squidgy apple cake, so have used this recipe as my inspiration.
This cake is beautifully moist and sticky, and is not too sweet: the spices are warming and Autumnal, and the rum adds a celebratory note. You can eat it on it’s own with your morning coffee, or with a splodge of thick cream for pudding (or cream whisked up with rum if you are Andrew).
Of course if you really don’t want a boozy cake feel free to leave out the rum, or you could replace it with brandy or calvados. I like to use honey rum which Andrew’s folks often bring us back from their holidays: it’s got quite a delicate and sweet flavour. Morgan spiced rum would also work well in this recipe.
Spiced apple and rum cake – serves 8
225g dark brown sugar plus 2tbsp for the topping, 125g butter, 2 eggs, 225g plain flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 2 tsp mixed spice, some freshly grated nutmeg, 4 eating apples, 100mls rum or liquor of choice, 1tbsp honey
Pre-heat your oven to 160 degrees and line the base of a silicon cake tin (the one I use is 23cm diameter).
Cream the 225g dark brown sugar with the butter in a freestanding food mixer, then add the eggs and mix until completely combined.
Add the plain flour, baking powder and spices to the mixture and stir well (I use the freestanding mixer).
Grate the apples (I don’t bother peeling them) and add them to the cake mix, then add 40 mls of rum to the cake batter and mix well (if you don’t want to add alcohol to the cake then add a little milk to loosen the mixture).
Pour the batter into a cake tin and bake for 45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Use the skewer to make some tiny holes in the cake – this will help the rum distribute evenly in the cooked sponge when you complete the next step of the recipe.
Gently heat 60ml of rum with the honey and extra two tbsp of sugar until the sugar has melted. Pour this mixture evenly over the hot cake so that it lightly soaks the sponge, then allow the cake to cool completely in the tin. If you don’t want to use alcohol, just use double the amount of honey and mix that with the sugar – it won’t be as wet and you’ll need to spread it rather than pour it over the cake, but it makes a lovely crunchy topping for the cake.
Once the cake is cold, remove it from the tin and serve. The cake will keep for 5 days and gets stickier and squidgier every day – lovely!
This looks lovely – the apples are perfect at the moment, so I’ll be adding this to my to-do list for sure.
Aw thanks – let me know how you get on if you do give it a try.
Happy blog birthday! Great looking cake too. I love apples and booze so perfect for me!
Thank you! Let me know if you give it a try – it’s very tasty 🙂
Happy blogiversary and so lovely meeting you yesterday! A boozy cake sounds like the way to go (although after last night I need to abstain for a few days!). Here’s to many more blogging birhtdays to come : )
Thanks Lucy – lovely to meet you too – yes, I felt pretty ropey for a couple of days … maybe I need to try a gin cake next … 🙂
Well done on your blog 3 year birthday, that’s great! It must take dedication to keep going like that. I think the cake sounds delicious, the honey rum must add a wonderful flavour and a bit of a kick!b
Thanks – there’s definitely a kick (depending on how much you use!) – it’s a lovely tasty one 🙂
Sounds delicious. Could I use Bramleys (cooking apples) instead? Thank you for your advice and happy birthday.
Hi Lucy, yes you can use Bramley apples – in the original recipe that’s exactly what they do (peeled and chopped rather than grated) – if you give it a try then please let me know how you get on. Thanks for commenting, Tracy
Ooh well done, three years is quite something. This cake is right up my street – I do love a good apple cake, especially a squidgy rum soaked one. You did make me laugh with “not obliged to eat it all in one go”. Was having visions of a heroic effort to force down the very last crumb of a gigantic cake.
Normally I do stuff myself to make sure it’s all eaten before it goes off, but this one tastes nicer after a few days so no pressure 🙂
Happy blog birthday! Yum, I like the look of this cake, so lovely and autumnal! Love the idea of rum in a cake as well!
Thanks so much! It was very nice and perfect for this time of year – warming 🙂
Happy blog birthday Tracy! I’ll have a large slice of that lovely cake please