apple cinnamon cup cakes, gluten free

I have just upped sticks and moved north away from family and friends to study.  In doing so, I have left behind the family home and swapped my shiny new (and almost perfect) kitchen for a rented and shared 2 bed back-to-back terrace with a 9'x5' kitchen.  Gone too are almost all my cookbooks, baking equipment and ingredients.  I have kept what I hoped was the right few bits, the bare minimum of working. multi-purpose items.  So far, I am not impressed with my selection!
On this damp, grey, very autumnal day I have just been exploring the 7 miles of walking tracks and trails that pass my front door. In one direction, a woodland trail to the city centre, my daily walk to uni. In the other, parkland and trails head north out of the city to the moors and farmland beyond.  Perfect for walking, running and lazing (come next summer).
Basking in a warm glow of self-congratulatory praise on this choice of location, I pulled out my baking kit with an urge to bake apple cake.   My pleasure at my selection of 'essential' items is not so warm.  But I have managed to knock these up after a quick trip to Waitrose (finally, one of those within walking distance too!).

These are super easy to make.  I used the blend of flour in the recipe simply because I have run out of rice flour, this blend does taste very nice but can equally be made with 110g each of rice flour + 110g buckwheat flour or 110g sorghum flour or 110g millet flour, or even another 110g rice flour - though this may be slightly gritty.  If you want to make these with wheat flour, use 220g Self Raising wheat flour with an additional 1.5tsp baking powder, and omit the xanthan gum.
The recipe made 18 cupcakes.

Ingredients

• 300g apples (either dessert or cooking apples are fine)
• 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• 80g dark muscavado sugar

• 120g rice flour
• 35g millet flour
• 35g sorghum flour
• 35g buckwheat flour
• 4.5 tsp baking powder
• 0.5 tsp xanthan gum

• 180g soft butter
• 180g light muscavado sugar
• 3 large eggs 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Line muffin tins with cup cake liners and preheat the oven (fan) to 165°C.
2. Core and grate the apples (don't bother to peel them unless you really want to).
3. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a medium sized bowl then add the apple and combine thoroughly, before setting aside.
4. Sieve all the dry flour ingredients together and set aside.
5. Beat the butter and sugar together using a hand or stand mixer until they are soft, pale and creamy.
6. Add the vanilla extract and beat to blend thoroughly.
7. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly before adding the next one.  If the mix begins to curdle add a tablespoon of the flour mix and beat again.
8. Now add the flour mix to the creamed mix and beat again until just combined.
9. Put a spoonful of cake batter into each cupcake liner spread and levelling the mix across the base of each liner, which should be just less than half full (I found a heaped dessertspoon worked for me).
10. Give the apple and sugar mix a good stir to mix the juices back in, then grab a teaspoon and put a heaped spoonful of mix on top of the cake batter in each liner.
11. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 mins, then rotate the tray(s) and bake for a further 5 minutes before removing from the oven.
12. Leave the cupcakes to cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from the trays and placing on a cooling rack until cold.
13. Dust with icing sugar once cold.
14. These cupcakes can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days but can't be frozen (due to the fresh fruit).

orange & cardamom marmalade bars

UMME5EB3TG5E

Now that I have made marmalade, I am constantly thinking of recipes to include it.  I really don't want to find any jars stuffed at the back of a cupboard two years down the line.
I have been working in the bakery at work for the past couple of weeks.  We are busy with new customers so the orders are coming in fast and furiously and it is all hands on deck.  At present though, we just don't have enough hands so we are all flat out all day trying to get enough baked and packed to fill the pallets quickly enough.  It is always good to be back doing the hands on work but the collapsed discs in my back are screaming out by the end of every day and it is all I can do to swallow some food, painkillers and collapse.  It is almost unheardof for me, but twice this week I haven't even had the energy to turn my computer on at home!
I spend my days thinking of healthy sensible recipes that I can make at home which will sustain me during each working day and ensure that I finish the day feeling healthy rather than drained.  However, having made marmalade this week, everything I make this week is going to contain this rich bitter jam and so will not rank too highly on the health scales!

This bar is (yet!) another variation on Nanaimo bars, but the filling is a blend of bittersweet marmalade and custardy cream.  With a crushed chocolate biscuit base and a chocolate topping, it is also a more substantial take on jaffa cakes.  I have changed the recipe a bit, to lower the sugar content and take out the raw egg in the base.  I am really looking forward to the bitter note of the marmalade cutting through the sweetness of the custardy layer and the chocolate on top.  A little piece mid-afternoon should give me just enough ooomph to get me through till the end of the day & see me home with a smile, I hope, and that will definitely make me more popular in my house!

orange & cardamom marmalade bars
base layer

• 100g butter
• 10g ground flax with 30g water
• 300g gluten free chocolate shortbread crumbs
• 50g ground almonds
• 25g icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Line an 8" square baking tin
2. Melt the butter
3. Mix flax and water & leave to stand for 5 minutes.
4. Add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract then stir it all into the butter.
5. Stir the butter mix in to the crumb then pour into the prepared tin.
6. Press in to create a firm even base, chill until the middle layer is ready.

middle layer

• 100g softened butter
• 100g marmalade (I used my orange and cardamom recipe here)
• 25g custard powder
• 125g icing sugar

1. beat butter and marmalade together until smooth and creamy
2. sieve the icing sugar and custard powder together then add to the butter
3. beat with a hand beater until well combined and smooth
4. spread over the biscuit base and chill
   

top layer

• 55g milk chocolate
• 60g (70%) dark chocolate
  
• 25g butter
  

1. melt chocolates and butter together over a low heat or in microwave
2. allow to cool (but still liquid)
3. pour over the middle layer and chill until set