Autumn cakes and salad

I made these little apple cakes in the weekend. I had intended to make them for hospice, but they didn’t really look pretty enough to give away. I used a recipe from Allyson Gofton’s book Bake for apple and walnut cake. I left out the walnuts and just made little apple cakes. The recipe is a very simple one – no creaming of butter etc. It is meant to be made into a large square cake, but I halved the recipe to make 6 little cupcakes. I have put the cakes in the freezer for my husband to take in his lunch. They are good every day cakes, but I guess you could dress them up with icing sugar and a dollop of whipped cream and serve them warm for a pudding. I havent given the recipe because I am not sure that I would make these again.



I love pumpkin and of course this is the time of year when they are in season and abundant. I particularly like roast pumpkin salads. Last night we had fish for dinner which I oven roasted with a crumb made from panko crumbs, capers, pine nuts and parmesan. To go with it I made a pumpkin and feta salad, simply by roasting pieces of pumpkin until tender, cooling a little and then tossing with crumbled feta and baby spinach leaves. I tossed the salad with a very lemony dressing made with the juice of half a lemon, 1 tbsp good olive oil and the chopped flesh of a ¼ of a preserved lemon. The preserved lemon went really well with the sweetness of the pumpkin and saltiness of the feta. It also gave good texture.