Free From Apple Crumble Cake

This week was free from week on the Bake Off. I actually struggled with this one (believe it or not!) There were sugar free cakes (okay, refined sugar free cakes!) gluten free breads and a dairy free ice cream cake. I'm having to try and go with the bake that would be the cheapest on our food budget and this week proved hard. I couldn't afford the alternatives for the sugar I always put in cakes. I tried honey but I thought, yuck! I shoved in the sugar and made a sponge instead!

So this week I went with gluten and dairy free sponge cake with a topping of gluten free oats and crumble mix.

Recipe

Free From Apple Crumble Cake

A gluten and dairy free sponge cake with apples and a crumble topping. Perfect for autumn! (And when you can't chose between cake and crumble!)

Ingredients

• 150g Dairy free spread
• 150g Caster sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla essence
• 2 Eggs
• 150g Doves Farm Self Raising Flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• Doves Farm Plain Flour
• Gluten Free Oats
• Dairy free spread
• Apples (enough for your chosen dish)

Instructions

First make a sponge cake how you normally would by mixing all your ingredients together making sure there are no lumps

Pour the sponge mix into your chosen dish (I used a long dish for pies!)

Slice your apples and place them on top of the sponge mix

In another bowl, add some flour and butter. Using your hands, make a crumble. I didn't measure this bit, I just judged how big my dish was. Make sure there's not more spread than flour.

Scatter your crumble mix over the apples and sponge, covering entirely just like you would an ordinary apple crumble

I used 2 handfuls of gluten free oats and some more sugar on top of the crumble to give it that crunch.

Cook time: 35 mins at 180'C 

Hobbycraft Chocolate Moulds Perfect for Valentines!*

Now I know how a lot of people feel about Valentines Day but sadly I'm not one of them. I love the big heart balloons and making a meal for Hubby complete with anything else I can find in store!

Something I really wanted to try this year was making my own chocolates. As if it were meant to be, an email dropped into my inbox from HobbyCraft to review this great little chocolate making set with the little ones.

The set includes:

1 plastic mould with assorted heart shapes

3 large chocolate coins 2 milk chocolate and 1 white

1 Plastic piping bag

1 pack of hearts *these contain peanut oil*

Set of Instructions

We donned our aprons and got out a bowl suitable for microwave use. This was just to speed things up and as a responsible adult supervising, I felt it was fine. It's worth noting though that we melted a small amount of the white chocolate in the piping bag provided. I was surprised to see that you could just pop the bag with the chocolate into some warm water and allow it to melt. As this set is aimed at age 7+ this does allow more independence which is great. I however, have a 6 and 2 year old so I was opting for the quickest approach!

Midge broke up the chocolate and we watched for the timer to go on the microwave. We heated the chocolate bit by bit so as to not burn it and ruin the activity!

After melting the chocolate we began filling our moulds. I took over using the piping bag because Midge found it difficult to not overfill the bottom of the mould. She did however use a spoon to fill the mould up to the top and this was very easy to do, if a little messy! We had more chocolate than we would've done if we used the bag because you always get some stuck to the sides of the bag, same as icing a cake really, except when it's chocolate I hate wasting any amount!

After licking out the bowls (yes that is necessary!) I popped the mould set to one side whilst I did some washing up. After 15/20 minutes the chocolate was set! I didn't even need the fridge! Obviously popping it into the fridge you will wait even less time, I just got side tracked. Here's our two toned chocolates in their setting process:

Chocolate art?

Here they are ready to eat!

Everyone said the chocolate tasted great (no surprises there) and they looked great (they will be so good for my valentines idea!)

It was a great activity to share with Midge and an older child can be left to do most of the activity alone which is obviously fantastic.

It's worth noting that I didn't have any problems cleaning the moulds which are reusable.

Midge wants to try colouring the white chocolates next time which should be interesting!

*Hobbycraft sent us 1 chocolate making set free of charge for the purpose of this review. Thank you Hobbycraft!

Cupcake Mumma

Dark Chocolate Cake - Free From

I can't believe this week was the final of the Great British Bake Off but it was and so it brings me to my bake for the week: a single tier wedding cake.

The final saw 3 hopefuls battle it out to win the Bake Off title and one of these battles included a three tier wedding cake. Now, going for three tiers in this challenge would be wasteful on so many levels which is why I decided to stick with the theme but be sensible with the amount. Here's what I came up with:

A dark chocolate chip sponge cake which is, as usual, both gluten and dairy free.

This sponge is completely straight forward in that you use:

• 6oz doves farm self raising flour
• 6oz Caster sugar
• 6oz soft dairy free butter
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3-4 tablespoons coco powder
• 1 packet of dark chocolate chips

I added all my ingredients together and stirred until I had a good, runny consistency. I placed my cake in two separate, greased sandwich tins for 20 minutes on 180 degrees.

To decorate, I used most of a packet of fondant icing to include my attempt at two little bird cake toppers! I used white icing to finish off the bottom of the cake and write 'Mr & Mrs' sadly not in the best handwriting I've ever done on a cake but it's not bad.

I've really enjoyed joining in with Jenny and Helen and I think there may be more baking on my horizon! I'll leave you with a photo of the cake after it got 'Little A'd!'

CupcakeMumma

Walkers Hoops and Crosses: Yum!

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I was told as a child to never play with my food. It's something I have even said to my children in the past but now that Walkers Crisps have brought out their new Hoops and Crosses range, I think I'll probably be eating my words..

A tasty box of golden crisps Mmm

These tasty crisps come in 3 flavours: roast beef, prawn cocktail and salt and vinegar (which are all suitable for vegetarians). Unlike most crisps that are made from potato, Hoops and Crosses are made from corn. This is something I actually really like because it's different, the crisps are lighter and as far as crisps go, they're healthier too. 

Little A loved the roast beef flavour and I thought they smelt delicious! Midge had a try but didn't like the flavour we had. We've since seen some of the other flavours which she can't wait to try!

Little A offering my a 'cross'

Hoops and Crosses contain wholegrain (which 27% of young people do not get!) and are preservative and additive free. I can feel a little better about packing Midge off to school with Walkers' new range of crisps as opposed to our current brand.

A very cheeky monkey!

CupcakeMumma

The Gallery: Easter

I spent Easter with other Halves' family. My sister in law (to be) cooked an amazing roast. It totally defeated me but it was delicious! 

Link up here with Tara from StickyFingers for this Gallery theme.

Cupcake Mumma

Free From Vegan Cheesecake- You Have To Try!

Even if you're not vegan or free from anything that might make your tummy a bit grumpy (or pretty ill in my case) I still recommend you give this really easy cheesecake a go. It's super quick, super tasty and really good for you!