My Cooking and My Garden: INDULGENCE

Monday 18 May 2015

INDULGENCE

Now and then we can have an indulgence, as we deserve. Sweets for us from time to time. This time of the year, we love our fresh fruits from our backyard, especially the apples. I made some candied apple for our chocolate cake topping. Chocolate cake with candied apple, sweet fig topping and garnished with shredded orange peels in syrup is indeed our indulgence for this year. No, we are not feeling guilty to enjoy it. The last brown turkey fig from our garden was found, and it's so perfect for dressing the cake.

The Chocolate Cake Indulgence

Homemade fresh candied apple is so pretty and shiny. What you have to do is peel the apple and dice. Braise with sugar and red wine until soft. Take the cooked apple and transfer to a baking tray. Put in a moderately hot oven at 145 degrees C for 11 minutes. When the candied apple is cold, transfer to a jar, place a lid on and refrigerate until the time when it is needed.

Fresh Apple

Apple Candied

Using pink lady apple to candy, as it keeps the shape very well.

You can shape the fruit as you wish, I did a batch to make round apple candies. Use a melon scooper to make the small round shape.

The Process

Braising the apple with red wine and sugar over
low heat

Thirteen minutes of braising

The finished braised off look.

The last process is straining the syrup, transfer the cooked round apples to a baking tray, and bake on a very low heat for 11 minutes to get them dry and the shiny.

Indulgence for Mother's Day
It is time to share the special day with family and friends, enjoy the pampering, love and the gift. It was a lovely morning tea together with Rayner. Thank you.

Freshly brewed tea with mini sponge caked dressed
with passion fruit icing, filled with layers of a cream patissier.

Every year I make a cake for Rayner's birthday, and for this year his cake is a sponge rose cake with candied apple. I am sure he likes to indulge himself with home-baked sweet on his birthday.

The Cake