Name: Utterly Scrummy’s Fruit Bowl Cake (Adapted)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 500g of fruit, chopped (I used nectarines, pears and plums); 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 200g plain flour; 1 tsp baking powder; 200g soft, light brown sugar; 3 free range eggs, beaten; 100ml vegetable oil, or mild, light olive oil

The summer holidays with a newborn and two primary-aged children were always going to be busy. In fact, I completely underestimated just how busy we would all be and suddenly, somehow, we are now in September. We enjoyed some time away; a short trip to Cheshire, a couple of weeks in North Wales and a visit to Somerset. I discovered that if you put me in a farmhouse with a farm shop within walking distance I am a very happy girl. I managed to write one blog post – June’s Simple and in Season round up, which captured the very best of what the summertime had to offer us in terms of seasonal produce and just about kept up with a few summer features and recipes for JamieOliver.com.

I’m so grateful to my blogging friends for helping me out and for keeping me awake during night feeds – the perfect time to play catch up with some of my favourite blogs. Simple and in Season went for a little holiday, too. Sally at My Custard Pie collected some tasty recipes throughout July and then Elizabeth at Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary put together a stunning collection of even more brilliant recipes to round off August. Nazima is currently hosting a new round for September – I hope you’ll be able to pop over.

One of the recipes I stumbled across earlier on in the summer and immediately set about making was a simple and tasty Fruit Bowl Cake by fellow blogger Michelle at Utterly Scrummy Food For Families. Early days with a newborn hasn’t afforded me much time for baking, but this is a recipe I’ve rustled up with ease a couple of times now and it really is a lovely way to use up any fruit in your fruit bowl that is perhaps softening or passed its best. I’ve also made it with Victoria plums more recently and damsons from a neighbour’s garden, along with anything left in the fruit bowl to use up. Michelle is also very close to welcoming her little baby boy to the world – if I lived a little closer to her I’d be baking her this cake and taking it round. Good luck, Michelle!

Some other fruity/plummy recipes you might like to try in September –

Kavey’s Sunshine in a Jar Plum Jelly
Jo’s Plenty of Plums Plum Cake
Jen’s Plum and Nectarine Frangipane Tart
Nazima’s Sweetly Spiced Plum Crumble Tart
Sally’s Spiced Apple Cake
Jeanne’s Mirabelle Plum and Cognac Clafoutis

There are also some lovely food blog challenges going on at the moment.

1. As mentioned above, Nazima is hosting Simple and in Season September so I’ll be linking this up to her as I used British pears, nectarines and plums in this particular cake.

2. Michelle originally made the Fruit Bowl Cake for Elizabeth’s No Waste Food Challenge , so I’m entering mine to this month’s event hosted by Chef Mireille.

3. Sarah is hosting Credit Crunch Munch this month for Helen and Camilla – I love the fact that you could make this cake at pretty much any time with whatever you have to hand to use up in the fruit bowl.

Utterly Scrummy’s Fruit Bowl Cake (Adapted)

Prep 15 mins

Cook 45 mins

Total 60 mins

Author Ren Behan

A simple Fruit Bowl Cake (adapted from a recipe by Michelle at Utterly Scrummy Food for Families) made with leftover fruit from the fruit bowl.

Ingredients

500g of fruit, chopped (I used nectarines, pears and plums)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
200g soft, light brown sugar
3 free range eggs, beaten
100ml vegetable oil, or mild, light olive oil

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 180C/160C Fan.
Grease and line (with baking paper) a 23cm round cake tin.
Remove any stones from the fruit, roughly chop into small chunks.
In a separate bowl, sift the flour and cinnamon and add the sugar. Pour in the beaten eggs and the oil and mix together well.
Stir the fruit into the cake batter and pour into the prepared tin.
Bake for 45-50 minutes, until a cake tester or skewer comes out clean.
Serve with a little dusting of icing sugar, or store in a tin and serve with warm custard the next day.

Now that the children have gone back to school, I hope I’ll be able to get back to blogging a little more regularly – in as much as my napping newborn allows!

There was more than a little cloud of icing sugar in my kitchen this weekend as I busily baked and decorated cakes for the school Christmas fair. Luckily, I’d already had a warm-up, creating some Christmas recipes for the Good Food Channel earlier in November, which provided me with the perfect template for the cake stall and a spot of Christmas baking.

If you’re looking for a festive twist on Christmas cupcakes, then you might enjoy my Mince Pie Cupcakes – made with a vanilla sponge, mincemeat and a luxurious brandy butter icing. You can decorate them with sprinkles, coloured sugar or some retro-picks, as seen here.

Mince Pie Cupcakes for the Good Food Channel – {Recipe here}

A tiny bit more of a challenge, but not much, are these Profiterole Cupcakes. If you’re not quite up for a ‘Bake Off’ style choux pastry challenge – you could cheat by leaving out the choux pastry step and buying some profiteroles to go on the top. Although I have to say, even though I’ve only made choux pastry once before, it is much easier than you might think, so I’d say have a go at the whole recipe.

Profiterole Cupcakes for the Good Food Channel – {Recipe here}

Finally, if you are up for a spot of Christmas baking and are looking for a Christmas showstopper, this White Chocolate Malteser Cake is actually a simple sponge cake, covered in white chocolate butter cream and topped with white chocolate Maltesers, which makes an impressive centrepiece or star prize for the Christmas raffle! For a little twist, you can also spread a little raspberry jam or lemon curd in between the layers before icing. Then all you need to do is have fun eating the little Malteser balls as they roll off!