My View

When Erich has left for work and the boys have left for school in the morning, I open the windows to let in the new day and this is what I see.

Chocolate Cake Recipe

Here´s a cake recipe where I´ve replaced vegetable oil with apple sauce.

Ingredients: 4 free-range eggs, 1&1/2 cups brown sugar, 50g melted or grated chocolate, 1 cup applesauce, 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder.

Preheat your oven to medium. Beat the eggs, sugar and chocolate with a mixer until thick and creamy(about 3 minutes) then add the applesauce a little at a time while beating on high. Combine the flour and baking powder, reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour a little at a time until just mixed through. Bake at medium heat for about 45minutes. My kids love this cake and I make it atleast twice a week. You can add a chocolate glaze and whipped cream for special occasions.

Apple Harvest

We are so lucky to live in an area where apples grow in abundance. I have a few friends who call me around this time of year and offer me baskets of apples. My favourite thing to do with them is eat them fresh ofcourse but I also like to make apple sauce...it´s so easy. I make it in batches over a few days while I cook dinner so it doesn´t use up a lot of extra time. Here´s how: give the apples a quick rinse, quarter and deseed them and put them in a large pot with a little water. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer for about 45minutes. Purée with a blender or bamix. Place some clean jars in a shallow dish of hot water and pour the apple sauce into the jars while hot. Use a potholder to put the lids on tightly. After the jars have cooled down and "popped" they keep in a cool place for atleast half a year. I use apple sauce in all cake and muffin recipes in place of butter or oil - a lot healthier and cheaper and tastier too.