We had a bit of a windy day here the other day and some of our pears and apples got knocked off of the trees. Too small to eat right out of hand just yet, but I hated to see them go to waste, so I picked them up and brought them into the house. I didn't know what I was going to do with them.
This morning I thought about using them to make a delicious cake At first I thought to grate them and then just fold them into a loaf type of cake, but then as I thought about it a little bit more, I came up with an even better idea.
A tasty cake that would go well with hot drinks . . . perfect for breaktime . . . with a buttery crumb . . . not too sweet . . . topped with the chopped fruits . . . and then with a moreish oaty sweet and buttery crumble topping baked on top.
Kind of like a fruit crumble except it's not a fruit crumble. It's a cake. I added lots of spice to the crumble topping . . . ground ginger, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. A bit of sweet from the brown sugar . . . and some nuttiness from old fashioned oats. A bit of butter and sugar and tis the perfect crumble.
You would be happy eating this one plain, with a hot cuppa . . . or warm from the oven with a nice scoop of cold vanilla ice cream melting down over the top, tucking itself into all that buttery crumble topping . . . dripping down the sides of that warm and buttery cake . . . highlighting the flavours of that lovely fruit.
Mind you, a spot of cream would go down a real treat with it as well. That's quite British actually. They like a bit of cream with their puddings . . . or warm custard. It's quite a nice idea really, for what is vanilla icecream actually . . . but a bit of frozen vanilla custard . . .
This was the perfect thing to do with our windfalls . . . kind of turned them into a gift instead of a loss. I like that idea. Don't you? Then again, you don't need windfalls to make this, just apples and pears. I like that idea too . . .
*Windfall Crumble Cake*Makes one 9 inch cakePrintable Recipe
A delicious cake, with a buttery moreish texture, topped with chopped pear and apple and a spicy crumble topping. Fabulous!
For the cake:125g unsalted butter, softened (8 1/2 TBS)125g caster sugar (2/3 cup)2 large free range eggs, at room temperature125g plain flour (1 1/4 cup)2 tsp baking powder1 firm pear, peeled and chopped1 firm apple, peeled and chopped1 TBS freshly squeezed lemon juice
For the crumble topping:60g plain flour (10 TBS)1/4 tsp powdered ginger1/4 tsp ground cardamom1/4 tsp ground cinnamon1/4 tsp ground nutmeg3 TBS soft light brown suar50g chilled butter, cut into cubes (3 1/2 TBS)2 TBS old fashioned oats
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9 inch spring form pan and line the bottom with baking paper. Set aside.
Mix the chopped fruit with the lemon juice and set aside.
Stir together the flour, spices and sugar for the topping. Drop in the butter and rub it in until you get a crumbly mixture. Stir in the oats. Set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar for the cake together until pale and creamy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift together the flour and baking powder. Stir this in, beating until smooth. Spread in the prepared pan, making a slight dip in the center. Top with the cut up fruit. Sprinkle the crumble topping over all.