This Sticky Maple Apple Traybake has been a firm favourite in my house since I first discovered this recipe over a year ago.  It originally comes from the second Great British Bake Off recipe book which was published last year to coincide with Series 2.  It also features on the App that you can download for your iPhone or iPad.  I have made this recipe a few times now for Sunday lunch pudding (it’s delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream) or sliced up to sell at a coffee morning or fundraiser.

The recipe is a simple one and is fantastic for using up spare Bramley apples if you fancy a change from putting them in a crumble or a pie.  You need about 2 large Bramleys for the recipe which are peeled, cored and sliced into 1 cm chunks. I liked the idea of maple syrup added to the mixture and to the topping, it gives the cake a scrumptious autumnal flavour, along with the traditional spicy aroma of cinnamon.

This morning I decided not to cook our usual Sunday roast as I had completely forgotten to buy a joint of meat.  I had some minced beef and all the ingredients to make lasagne so I thought why not do that instead? We do love our Sunday roasts in our house though, so it felt strange to be eating something that I normally cook on a Saturday night for supper!  The traybake was great in that it could be baked beforehand and then I could add the topping while the lasagne was baking.

It has been a gorgeous Autumn day today. I had been out walking my dog, came in, got changed and decided to crack on with my baking before 11.00am so that I could observe the two minutes silence for Remembrance Day.  My son had told me my mum had phoned (we always have a catch up on a Sunday morning), so I rang her back just as she was eating her breakfast.  I decided to get on with the baking and wait for her to call me back. She did, just as I had finished chopping the apples. The apples were then put in a bowl with some maple syrup and some cinnamon.

Chopped, cubed apples soaking in maple syrup and sprinkled with ground cinnamon.

After I had chatted to my mum, I got on with the baking.  The fat content in the traybake is down to sunflower oil and this was poured into a jug along with some sugar and some vanilla extract. I was also meant to add the zest of half a lemon but I realised I hadn’t got any so I had to use orange zest instead! This was whisked up for a bit, then eggs were added to the mixture.  Now this is where I changed the recipe slightly.  In the original recipe you add two whole eggs to the oil mixture, then later whisk two egg whites in.  I decided not to do this and added four whole eggs at once.  Then I sifted in flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.

The wet ingredients: sunflower oil, caster sugar, orange zest waiting for the eggs to be added and whisked together.

Once this was done, I folded in the flour until it was combined. Finally the apple was added along with some chopped walnuts.  I have also used pecan nuts in place of walnuts in the past if I don’t have any walnuts spare.

It was ready to go into the oven.  I greased my Silverwood traybake tin with some Dr Oetker cake release and preheated the oven.  The traybake went in the oven for about 30 minutes and came out a lovely golden colour.  It smelled gorgeous, perfect autumnal cooking smells.

As the cake was coming out of the oven it was about 10.30am which meant I was in good time for the two minutes silence.  It also gave me ample time to clear up.

This is what the traybake looked like when it had just come out of the oven!

At 11.30am as I was cooking the lasagne I made up the frosting for the traybake.  This is made by mixing butter, sugar, maple syrup and cream cheese together.  I have learned that you should only use full fat cream cheese and better still to use Philadelphia as you get a better and creamier result with it.  There was only just enough cream cheese left to put in the frosting, wonder what had happened to the other bit?  I think the food fairies have been in my fridge again!

After our lasagne out came the apple traybake. It slices up into 16 good size rectangles, although the recipe says it serves 20 I like to be generous!  It keeps for about 4 days in a cool place in a tin, if the food fairies don’t get to it first!

The finished Maple Apple Traybake with a Cream cheese and Maple Frosting being cut up for Sunday lunch dessert.

Happy Baking!
Love Sam xx