Rich and spicy cake for any occasion!

2 21/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
4 tsb cocoa powder (more if you want it richer chocolatey)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 c butter
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 c water
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups soft brown sugar
2 cups apple (peeled and grated)
1 cup chocolate chips, chunks (dark!)


heat oven to 160C
cream butter and sugar in a mixer (or beating), then add eggs, then oil and water and vanilla (it''l be really liquid
sieve together: flour, cocoa, baking ...
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3 eggs
7 apples (or pears)
1 ¼ c vegetable oil
1 ½ c sugar
2 ½ c flour
pinch salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp
cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 c raisins

Turn oven to 350 deg F.

Peel and cut apples (or pears). Put aside. Put flour in a small bowl. Mix in cinnamon and baking soda.

Mix oil and sugar together in another bowl. Add 1 egg at a time to bowl, then vanilla. When mixed in add apples, raisins and flour mixture.

Pour into a 20cm ring tin and cake tin. Bake for 1 Â...

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Mama Chan used Annabel Langbein's crumble topping from her Free Range Cook book.

Line pie dish with store-bought puff pastry. Blind bake at 170C for 20-30 mins.
Mix tin stewed apples or stew 3 apples yourself. Add a cup or so of fresh or frozen berries, 1/2 c sugar and 2 Tbs cornflour. Pour into pie dish.
Make crumble topping by mixing:

2 c flour
1 c ground almonds
1 1/2 c brown sugar
2 c rolled oats
1 c almonds, chopped or slivered
2 tsp mixed spice
together with 250 g melted butter
Put the topping on ...
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Don’t get me wrong – I’ve got nothing against Annabel Langbein’s recipes as featured on her TV programme The Free Range Cook. I just wish this obviously bright and successful woman could add a few more adjectives to her vocabulary! Her superfluous gushing of ‘so good’, ‘so delicious’, ‘so easy’ and ‘so yum’ send me into a groaning fit. On the other side of the culinary coin, Nigella finds ways to promote food porn unlike any other TV chef: everythin...

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A cake from Chile with German origins which involves drenching apples in cream. Yeah!
Ginny also provided clotted cream for this drunken affair.

Filling
1lb 7oz tart apples, prepared weight (about 5)
2¾ oz/generous ⅓ cup granulated sugar (I used dark brown sugar)
3½ fl oz/½ cup heavy cream
(I added half a nutmeg, grated)

Cake
10½ oz/2 cups all-purpose flour
2½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt (heaping, for me)
5½ oz/scant 1½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs, lightly beaten
5 tbsp ...
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This cake was so popular at work, by the time I got to photograph it most of it was gone! Birg also makes a gluten-free version with riceflour and almond meal. Most excellent.

3 eggs
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup rice bran or grape seed oil
440g can crushed pineapple, drained of juice (Birg used pineapple chunks, very nice)
2 mashed bananas
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1 1/3 cups self-raising flour
Pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Cream cheese icing
250g cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cu...

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Elodie enjoys her first muffin!

an easy muffin recipe for tired mums and dads ...
makes 6 large, or 12 small

place baby in highchair with plastic baking things to play with 
have a coffee
THEN
in one bowl combine:
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 cup rice flour
half tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
half tsp salt

in another bowl combine:
half tsp grated lemon rind
a quarter cup raw sugar
4 tsp melted butter (or oil)
3/4 cup milk (or ricemilk or soy)
1 egg
3 TBS lemon juice
chopped hazlenuts
small slices/chunks apple, b...

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