Blended Apple Cake

'Cookers Not Eaters' sign is to warn the kids :)

My friend John brought cooking apples from his sister's house in Clare; I immediately wanted an apple cake. I was planning one with apple pieces but then saw this recipe for a blended one at All Recipes and changed my mind.

I added cinnamon and put in spelt flour because I love its dense texture. This resulted in a fairly flat cake (despite my adding baking powder). But it made a very sweet and tasty cake, perfect for the time of year. Really delicious warm!

117 calories per slice (I cut mine into nine pieces)

Blended Apple Cake

INGREDIENTS:

50g margarine
50g caster sugar
2 eggs
60g self-raising flour
50g wholemeal spelt flour
140g cooking apples (2 medium apples)
2 tablespoons water
1tsp baking powder
1tsp ground cinnamon

METHOD:

Grease a square 8" tin. Line the bottom.

Preheat the oven to 180 C / Gas 4.

Core and peel the apples, chop finely.

Cream the marg and sugar.

Add both eggs to the mixture.
Fold half the sieved flour, cinnamon and baking powder into the mixture.
Put the apples and water in a blender and blend for a few minutes.
Add the apple mixture to the cake mixture, and fold in the remaining flour.

Pour into the greased tin.
Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes.

Leave to cool for 30 minutes.

GREAT IRISH BAKE FOR TEMPLE STREET - LO CAL BANANA BREAD

 It's Temple Street Bake time again!

Low calorie banana bread

I'm a sucker for banana bread. I'd love a soda bread type one (I think I will have to invent it) but, in the absence of that, I made a low calorie one today based on this recipe. How she got 24 pieces out of this is beyond me - maybe her guests were mice. My loaf yields about 10 slices.

Apple sauce is not a staple here in Ireland, so I made my own (ahem!) out of a peeled, finely diced apple. I cooked it on a medium heat with a little water until softened and then blended it, which didn't make it very sauce-like. But, in it went anyway.

This makes a moist, very sweet, low-sized loaf so the slices are more like bars. 106 kcals per bar. Yum!

Ingredients

2 mashed bananas

1 tablespoon unsweetened applesauce/or one apple made into poor applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 dash salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 large egg

2 tablespoons nonfat milk (I used soya milk)

3/4 cup spelt flour

Method

• Preheat oven to 180°/350°F and lightly grease a 2lb loaf tin
• Place all ingredients but flour & baking powder in a large bowl and mix
• Sieve in flour and baking powder to wet ingredients
• Pour into loaf tin
• Cook for about 35 minutes - or until golden brown.
• Allow to cool before slicing

LO-CAL LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE

Like most people in January, I am trying to eat less sugar/fat/calories etc. I had a lonely lemon in the fridge and, as my usual lemon cake is sugar-packed, I went looking for a less calorific one to make. I adapted this Rosemary Conley recipe to include spelt flour, less egg and to make a smaller loaf.

If you make 12 slices of the cake, it is 100 calories per slice, which is pretty great.

I used a 2lb loaf tin which resulted in a squat enough cake, I was too lazy to line a 1lb tin (I have readymade liners for the 2lber). You could make double this recipe for a 2lb tin (bake for 1 hour), or this amount for a 1lb tin.

INGREDIENTS
90g low-fat marg
90g caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
90g wholegrain spelt flour (or plain flour)
2 tbsp of porridge oats
1 tbsp milk
half tsp baking powder
1 lemon, zested

TOPPING
juice of the lemon
1 tsp demerara sugar

METHOD
- Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas Mark 2
- Line your loaf tin
- Zest the lemon
- Juice the lemon
- Beat the marg with the caster sugar, gradually adding the egg
- Sieve in the flour and baking powder and beat again
- Add the lemon zest, porridge oats and milk and mix through
- Pour into lined loaf tin
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the thickest part comes out clean.
- Pour over the lemon juice and sprinkle with sugar, allow to cool in tin
- Serve cold