Crochet and Apple Cake

17th February

I may have moved over to the other side in the last week or two I have been knitting day in and day out on dpn and loving it and have been very neglectful of my current crochet blanket.   To make up for it, I  crocheted into the wee hours of the night so I would not disgrace myself in front of the class this week.  I set them homework each week, it would not do if I reneged on it myself!  Although it was tough as I was tired and just did not seem to have my usual crojo mojo.

 

Since the last crochet and cake post, see previous cake recipes to accompany each weeks crochet class here:

 Week 1 Lemon and Blueberry Cake
 Week 2 Fruit Tarts
 Week 3 Chocolate and Cardamom Cake
 Week 4 Cinnamon and Cardamom Yeast Bake

 

We have had a smattering of snow, so it was only right I rushed outside and photograph the said blanket.  The reds made a striking contrast to the crisp white snow.  What do you think? 

 

We had a smattering of snow

  

The deep and vibrant reds of the crocheted blanket stand out against the snow

The only problem was that it became somewhat wet from the snow. Luckily we have underfloor heating in the kitchen and there I left it to dry and no sooner had my back turned than the cat (Pip) decided it was meant for her. 

The cat took the first opportunity to lie on the blanket

As this is the penultimate week of the crochet course, we turned our attention to edging and borders, not everyone is ready yet and that is fine as we all have different life schedules and paces that we work to.  But the course would not be complete without explaining and showing how to finish off our blankets. 

 

One very keen crocheter had a play with edges even before the Thursday night session, see what a difference colour combinations and stitches can make to a finished article.  There is a whole blog post just waiting to be written about this :)

 

A rainbow blanket extravaganza

 

This weeks sweet treat is another family favourite and I was lucky enough to have mamma Kari herself over  from Norway so she was able to make it.  My lucky ladies were able to taste her version of the baking and not mine.  It's a quick easy make and great to use up apples when in season.  Just stew them before hand, leave them in the freezer in portions enough for a cake and you can make one at the drop of a hat.  Go on, I dare you, it's so tasty.

A slice of apple heaven

Mamma Kari's Apple Cake

You will need:

4 medium apples

125g butter

250g plain flour

125g sugar

1  egg

2 tsp baking powder

Peel and chop apples into medium sized chunks. Add to pan and add approximately 2 tbsp sugar and a dash of water to avoid tha apples drying out. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until the apples are soft with a few chunks remaining semi solid, this adds good texture to the end cake. Put to one side to cool.

Meanwhile add the butter, flour and baking powder into a mixer until it resembles breadcrumbs. 

Add the beaten egg and sugar and mix until the dough is smooth. 

Divide into two thirds and one third. Take the larger section and press it down in the bottom of the cake tin as the base layer. 

Add the cooled apple mixture on top. 

With the remaining one third of dough, divide this into three equal parts. Put one section to one side. With the remaining two thirds make into six sausage shapes and then flatten each sausage slightly with your finger to have flattened strips. Add three strips on top of the apples equidistant apart and the remaining three stripes perpendicular also equidistant apart. It should look like a woven lattice effect, see photograph for clarification!

Lattice covered apple cake

With the last section of dough make a long sausage shape and again flatten it. Place this on the outside edge of the cake tin to create a neat finished look. 

Place in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for half an hour. 

Enjoy hot or cold. It is absolutely delicious and is a firm family favourite from Scandinavia with all the generations in our family. 

We may have an apple cake addiction in our house!

 

Four of the blankets from the crochet course and this weeks cake!

♥  Do let me know if you make this cake, don't forget to call it Mamma Kari's apple cake  ♥