Delicious apple cake

I recently saw this recipe on KimC's blog, Life in a Shoe. It sounded delicious, and also had few steps, making it perfect for a cooking project to do with a 2 year old.

I am pleased to report that the results were just as good as it sounded, and it was indeed a good kids project - plenty of measuring, tipping and stirring, and then just straight into the oven.

So the recipe is:

German apple cake

2 eggs

1 cup oil

2 cups sugar (I used brown sugar)

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsps cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

4 cups of peeled, sliced apples (I used 1 large can of pie apples instead)

Beat the eggs and oil together in a large bowl, until well mixed. Add all other dry ingredients, except the apples. Mix together well - the mixture will be very thick at this stage. Stir in the apples - mixture will soften up nicely now. Pour into a 9 x 13 cake pan, and bake for 45 - 50 mins at 170 deg C (350 Fahrenheit). This does make a large size cake - halve the ingredients for a regular round or square cake.

Serve warm with cream or icecream. Or cold, straight from the fridge (as I am eating it at this very moment!)

Totally Decadent Mars Bar Cheesecake

With the only other adult in our house being Type 1 diabetic, it's not often that I make the effort to bake sweet things. But this one, I just couldn't resist. I have not tried making cheesecake before, but this one was so easy that I am now afraid that I might become addicted.... at least I have an excuse, while I am pregnant!

Mars Bar Cheesecake

Ingredients

2 cups chocolate biscuit crumbs (approx 15 chocolate cookies)

5 tablespoons butter, melted

500 grams cream cheese

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup thickened cream

3 level teaspoons gelatine, dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water

2 large Mars bars, chopped as fine as you want

Method - Base

Place 15 chocolate cookies in a large zip-lock bag and seal. Crush the biscuits with a rolling pin or anything that will whack them down firmly (feel the stress relief already!). Measure to make sure you have 2 cups of crumbs and place in a mixing bowl. Add melted butter and mix well. Press crumb mixture into the base of a greased springform pan. I found this quantity just covered my large pan - if you have a smaller pan, it will make a thick base and you may want to adjust quantity accordingly. Or you may like thick layers of crumbled choc cookies... mmmmm. Put the pan in the fridge while you mix the filling.

Method - Filling

Chop Mars bars and set aside. Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add caster sugar and cream, beat all together and set aside. Sprinkle gelatine onto hot water and stir gently until almost dissolved. Stir gelatine mix into cream cheese mix, making sure all ingredients are thoroughly combined (no lumps). Gently stir in the chopped Mars bars. Pour the filling onto the crumb crust, in the springform pan. Refrigerate at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.

When set, run a knife around edge of the tine and unclip the springform tin. Decorate with whipped cream, or grated Mars bars/choc biscuits. Anything you want, really!

Of course, you can change it up by substituting honeycomb, cherry ripe, or your favourite fruit, instead of the Mars bars.