Three-Ginger Cake-Bread

[or, low-fat baking experiments can lead to interesting results]

In the search for low-fat cake options I came across a number of recipes that used applesauce instead of butter or oil, and since there was a 2013 jar of home-made Apfelmus still sitting on the top shelf of the pantry, I decided to give it a try. Ginger as a strong flavour covers a multitude of sins, so that seemed a good choice, plus there was some stem ginger left over from the strawberry and stem ginger jam I made in July. More ginger is always better, though, I thought, so I added both grated fresh(ish, from a tube) and ground as well.

 

 
No-Fat Applesauce-Based Three-Ginger Cake-Bread
2 large eggs
250-300g applesauce
120g treacle, slightly warmed
grated ginger

350g flour
optionally 50g brown sugar, depending on how sweet you would like it
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cloves, ground
1 tsp ginger, ground

The recipe is as easy as can be - whisk eggs slightly and mix together with all wet ingredients. Mix dry ingredients. Combine gently.

           

 Stick into baking tin and bake at 180° for c. 50 mins.

The result is really rather tasty, if somewhat more chewy than real cake, so a bit more gingerbread-like, but not completely...

Turns out, however, that the texture improves with resting, maybe bake it a day in advance. As usual, a bit of butter on your slice makes things even yummier - or if you want to stress the cake-ness of the loaf, maybe sprinkle some brown sugar over before baking, and dust with powdered sugar after.

After Christmas is before Christmas!

[who says you can have Christmas flavours only for Christmas?]

So I never got around to making that batch of Christmas biscotti, and the panettone somehow never happened in the end either, which means there was a quantity of leftover candied peel and dried fruit in the cupboard which were begging to be used. And use them I did, in a light light tea loaf which with only 40g butter and 40g sugar is even legal in Austerity January (unless of course you slather your slice with butter....).

The basic recipe is Paul Hollywood's tea loaf (I tend to go more and more to him for my basic recipes), though I spiced it up with some ground cardamom and cinnamon in the dough, a lot more dried fruit than he is using as well as some candied peel, did away with the icing (it is January after all!) and baked it in a tin since his doughs tend to be quite wet and thus a pain to shape and keep in shape.

Antje's Post-Christmas Version of Paul Hollywood's Tea Loaf

120ml warm milk

10g dried yeast

40g sugar (caster is fine, but demerara tastes nicer)

400g strong white flour

40g softened butter 

pinch of salt

half a teaspoon each of ground cardamom and cinnamon

a handful each of sultanas, chopped dried apricots, chopped dried figs, chopped candied peel

Warm milk with the sugar and add yeast, leave to stand for 10 minutes until foamy. Add salt and spices to the flour and combine with the yeasty milk into a dryish dough, then knead in the butter and work until smooth (I use a hand mixer with dough hooks). Leave to rest for an hour in a warm spot.
Grease and flour a loaf tin. Add the dried fruit to the dough and knead until well combined, form a rough log shape and put into the tin. Leave loaf to rise for another hour.
Preheat oven to 200°, and bake loaf for 30 minutes (cover with foil if the top starts to look too dark).
Slice and slather with butter (or not), and enjoy!