APPLE CRANBERRY CAKE WITH CINNAMON FROSTING

APPLE CRANBERRY CAKEApple – Cranberry – Clementine – Cinnamon… These are the necessary key words to make you want to bake this elegant Christmas cake.

Nothing beats a smoothly frosted cake semi-naked look, I promise you it’s so easy to prepare anyone should give it a chance.

I couldn’t resist, but taking photos from different angles and post them on all of my social medias accounts.

I have tried many recipes for the festive season. I hope I’ll get the chance to share them all, since all of my spare time lately has been spent on Christmas shopping hearing Georges Michael and Mariah Carrey songs on repeat.

APPLE CRANBERRY CAKE WITH CINNAMON FROSTING FLAVOR

Ingredients

  • 1 cup whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 200g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
  • 1 ½ cup sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1tsp vanilla
  • 4 cups flour, sifted
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ cup Clementine juice
  • ¼ cup dried cranberries
  • 1-2 red apples, cored and sliced (skin on)
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • 1tbsp limoncello

Preparation

  1. To make the frosting, add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the whipping cream and whisk on high speed for 3 minutes or until fluffy. Refrigerate.
  2. Preheat oven to 175° C. Butter and flour a cake pan.
  3. Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, add eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  4. Pour Clementine juice gradually while mixing and scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go. Turn off the mixer and fold in the cranberries.
  5. Pour the batter in the cake pan and decorate with the apple slices arranging them close together and overlapping on top of the batter.
  6. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle this over the apples. Drizzle with limoncello liqueur (or lemon juice).
  7. Bake for 45-55 minutes. Cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  8. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack.
  9. Frost the cake with your chilled cinnamon icing. Sprinkle with icing sugar. Decorate with cinnamon sticks, kumquat and fresh cranberries, if desired.
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Baked Whole Chicken with Potatoes and Rosemary

Thank you all for your wonderful emails and messages,  I made sure to reply to each and every one of you. I absolutely love that you cook my recipes!

My year ended on a wonderful note where I participated to a couple of TV shows (I’ll notify you when it’s due to airing) and loved the experience. December was a very busy month for me, I had a shoot almost every day, such a shame I had no time for blogging, but please don’t give me that look, blame my Food Styling career instead:)

I love the start of the new year and ready with a list of resolutions to tackle 2012.

Happy New Year to all!

Baked Whole Chicken with Potatoes and Rosemary

I realize that many people don’t like to make a whole chicken thinking it’s difficult and time consuming while it’s even simpler than any other dish and the preparation should take seriously less than 10 minutes.

Ingredients

  • 1 Chicken, whole /1.5 to 1.9kgs, neck and giblets removed
  • 4 Tbs Olive oil
  • 1Tbs Dried Oregano
  • 1tsp Cinnamon
  •  Kosher Salt and freshly ground Pepper, to taste
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 Rosemary sprigs, washed
  • ½ kg Baby Potatoes

Preparation

1. Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 400°F/220°C.

2. Wash the chicken inside and out and pat dry with paper towels. Mix together the oil, oregano, cinnamon, salt and pepper and use this mixture to brush the skin of the bird. Place the onion inside the cavity

3. Place the bird in the oven dish and arrange around it the rosemary and whole baby potatoes (or quartered potatoes). Bake for 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

4. When cooked cover with aluminum foil and let stand for 10-15 minutes before carving. If desired, decorate with canned or fresh clementine wedges and serve.