Saturday, February 26, 2011

Marmalade and Coconut Crumble Cake






Another super-quick cake.. although this takes 20 minutes and not 12.

I had been hearing things like "apple crumble", "raspberry crumble", "blueberry crumble", "pear crumble" and.... well you get the picture. Anyways I think I must have had something crumbled somewhere but never consciously knew what it entailed. That was until I made some raspberry crumble muffins. I never knew how easy it was to achieve such a crust. All you do is throw together some ingredients, rub them together with your fingers, pile them on top of your cake, and you're done!

So today as I was lazing around and flipping through cookbooks (my way to destress & unwind), I came across a recipe called "marmalade and coconut crumble cake". The cookbook in which it's written dates back to 1994 when I was barely four years old and perhaps that drew me even more into making this. (It also helped that we had every ingredient at home.. major plus point for lazy-me.)

This is a very fun cake to make, perhaps because it's a "melt and mix" cake... which means you melt the butter and then stir all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon.. no mixer needed. I always make a beeline for recipes that don't call for a mixer.. partly because its whisks are such a hassle to clean and also because I'd rather do without the noise pollution.

Just one question though, whenever a recipe calls for soft brown sugar it always says "firmly packed". How important is that? Because I always keep my sugars, flours, etc in airtight containers once I purchase them... and so their "firmly packed" quality is somewhat nonexistent.

Ingredients:
1 and 3/4 cups self raising flour
125g unsalted butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup marmalade
1/4 cup plain yogurt
>For coconut crumble:
1/2 soft brown sugar
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
90g unsalted butter

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 180C. Grease 20cm cake tin and line with paper. Grease paper. Sift flour into large bowl and make a well.
Melt butter and sugar in small pan over low heat until sugar dissolved and butter melted. Remove from heat. Combine eggs, marmalade, and yogurt in a small mixing bowl, whisk until combined. Add butter and egg mixtures to flour. Using a wooden spoon, stir until combined; do not overbeat. Spoon mixture into prepared tin; smooth surface. To make coconut crumble, combine sugar, flour, and coconut in a medium bowl. Add butter. Using fingertips, rub butter into mixture until well combined. Sprinkle over cake batter in tin.
Bake 40 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when inserted in centre of cake. Leave cake in tin 5 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool.







4 comments:

  1. I'm a die-hard fan of crumble cake. Can never decide what I love more - the buttery crumble on top or the soft dense cake below. Had posted up last year about my favorite raspberry crumble cake that sits miles away in NYC (http://bit.ly/gte4q1), so its great to have your recipe as a reminder to attempt my own at home!

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  2. wow, crumble cakes. i made blueberry crumble cake for my birthday. yum. as you say they're so easy specially the crumble to make and taste good.
    i agree with you on the no whisks recipes...hassle-free.
    firmly packed is to press the sugar and measure it out to avoid air pockets...that is pack firmly into the measuring spoon or cup and take out...the finer points which i normally ignore :P
    for cooking queries do get in touch with chef dennis here: http://www.morethanamountfull.com/
    he's a doll and an absolutely attitude free person prompt in responding.

    good day
    enjoy the cake!!

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  3. I've been sitting with the idea of making a fruit crumble for a while now and you tempt me with this post! Just love the deliciously sweet and crunchy topping- who could resist a sweet treat so good huh?!! Thanks for the beautiful reminder ...:)

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  4. Your question about 'firmly packed' is exactly why I prefer weights to bake with rather than measures (e.g. cups). Lovely cake.

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