Wholemeal Apple Cake

At the Kindergarten we attend, a big fuss is made over birthdays.  Part of the special day includes baking a birthday cake in the Kindy.  Up until now, I had not wanted to interfere with the sacred ritual of birthday cake, so had accepted the non-vegan cake as an exception to our usual rules... anyway I finally had a chat to our teacher about what our options might be, and she asked me to give her a good cake recipe that they could try out... and here is the recipe I put together for her!

2 cups SR Wholemeal Flour
1 cup Coconut Palm Sugar
1 cup Rice (or other non-dairy) Milk
3 tbsp Linseed Meal, soaked in 9 tbsp filtered water
3 small Granny Smith Apples, cooked, pureed and allowed to cool
1 small Granny Smith Apple, cut into small pieces
1 small Granny Smith Apple, cut into slices for decoration

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
Grease / line a 9 inch round cake tin.(approx)
Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl.
Make a well in the centre and add the wet ingredients.
Stir until well combined, then add apple chunks and mix them in.
Pour mix into cake tin, and decorate the top with the apple slices.
I had a little fun and trimmed two of the slices to make a heart shape for the center of the cake :)
Bake 35-45 minutes, until cooked through.

Enjoy!!!

Apple Crumble Yummm

This is a common weekend breakfast treat in our house, or even afternoon tea on a cold wintery day when Mummy has had the time to do it before school pick-up :)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius.

Peel, core and chop 8 Granny Smith Apples, place into saucepan.
Add 4 curls of Lemon Peel (zest!) depending on taste preference.
[Optional addition of 4 Rhubarb Stalks cut into 1 inch chunks; or Stone Fruit such as nectarines, peaches, apricots, plums.  Whatever might be seasonal!]
Cover fruit with water.
Add 1 Tbsp Coconut Palm Sugar or other sweetener, stir to combine.
Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer covered, stirring occasionally, until all fruit pieces are well softened.

While fruit is stewing, get out a mixing bowl and put together:
1/2 cup Wholemeal (Spelt) Flour
1 cup Rolled Oats
1 cup Almonds, partially crushed/ground
1/2 cup Coconut Palm Sugar
1/2 cup shredded / dessicated Coconut
1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds

Take approximately 1 cup of cooked apple flesh from the stewing pan and puree.
Mix dry ingredients together, then add the apple sauce into the dry mix, stirring until it clumps nicely together. If extra liquid is necessary a dash of non-dairy milk will do the trick, even water would do in a pinch.

Use a slotted spoon or similar kitchen tool to move the remaining fruit mix from the saucepan to a pie dish, leaving the water behind.  It is up to you whether you want to pick out the lemon peel or let it remain for the full cooking process :)

Spread the crust mix evenly over the top of the fruit, place into the pre-heated oven and cook for 20 minutes.

Serve warm, accompanied by:

Coconut Cream!
Into a high powered blender place:
1 cup raw cashews
The juice and zest of 1 lemon
2-3 Medjool Dates
Water, enough to cover, with some on standby in case extra is needed for the desired consistency.