Gooseberry Crumble

When it comes to the crunch, nothing gives more comfort nor more satisfaction than eating a crumble made from fresh local fruit. Whether that's with gooseberries from the garden, or the newly harvested apples that are in the shops now, the humble crumble offers delicious rewards for a tiny fraction of one's time. I cooked this gooseberry crumble with our sharply sweet home grown pink gooseberries, but the recipe would work as well with tangy apples this autumn, you'll just need to stew the apples in a little water or apple juice before adding the crumble topping. You can add oats or nuts to the topping if you like, but I prefer to keep it simple.

 

 

 

Recipe

 

Adapted from Nigel Slater's one in Real Cooking, buy the book from Amazon here.

 Serves 6-8

  

75g caster sugar (or more or less to taste, depending on the sharpness of the fruit)

approx. 800-900g gooseberries

170g plain flour

170g unsalted butter, cold and chopped into small pieces

170g light muscovado sugar

 

 

1. Place the berries in an oven proof dish and sprinkle with the caster sugar. Leave for half an hour.

 

2. Turn the oven to 200C (180C fan).

  

3. To make the crumble topping, rub together the flour and cold butter using your hands until it resembles breadcrumbs.

 

4. Gently stir in the muscovado sugar.   

5. Spoon the crumble topping over the fruit, and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until golden brown on top, the beautiful juice oozing out of the sides of the topping.

6. Serve warm, with cream.

 

 

 

 

This crumble was idly baked while listening to Bach's Cello Suites

 

 

Gluten Free Rhubarb, Ginger & Coconut Crumble Cake

Without hesitation, let me say this is one of the best cakes I've ever made. It tastes sublime, an idle baking must-do for all you crumble and cakeaholics out there. Made with gluten free flours and the first home grown rhubarb of the year, it has a crunchy crumble topping, sweetly tart gingered rhubarb and a soft fluffy base. If you need the cake to be nut as well as gluten free, then simply take out the coconut and replace with more gf flour and sugar. It will be scrumptious either way.

Recipe
My own recipe

Serves 8-10


for the crumble:
85g gluten free plain flour mix (Dove's Farm or M&S recommended)
60g dessicated coconut
85g unsalted butter, cold
85g caster sugar


1. Turn the oven to 180C (160C fan ovens), and grease and line a deep 20/23cm springform cake tin. To make the crumble, cut the butter into small chunks and using your hands rub it in to the flour, coconut, and sugar in a large bowl until resembling crumbs. Put the crumble to one side.



for the rhubarb:
500-600g rhubarb
1 teaspoon ground or fresh finely chopped ginger
1 or 2 tablespoons caster sugar


2. Cut the rhubarb also into small chunks. Taste it for bitterness, before tossing it in another bowl with the ginger and sugar. If the rhubarb is quite sweet only 1 tablespoon of sugar is needed, but add an extra tablespoon if the fruit is a little bitter.

for the cake base:
170g unsalted butter, room temperature
170g caster sugar
3 eggs
170g gluten free self raising flour mix (Dove's Farm or M&S recommended)
1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder (Barkart recommended)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon milk


3. To make the batter, cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl for at least 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.

4. Add the eggs one by one, followed by a tablespoon of the flour after each addition. Beat well.

5. Next stir in the rest of the flour, baking powder and the ginger.

6. Then add the milk and stir gently until the batter is smooth and well combined.

7. Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin, then spoon the rhubarb in its ginger sugar evenly over the top.

8. Finally, tip the crumble topping over the rhubarb until it has covered the top of the cake, and level off. It should come to the top of the baking tin.

9. Place in the oven and bake for approx 1 hour, checking after 50 minutes. You'll know it's done when a skewer comes out clean except for a little rhubarb juice.

10. When done, take out of the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes, before placing on a wire rack or plate to cool further.

11. Serve warm, with a dollop of cream.

This cake was idly baked while listening to BBC Radio 4's programme The Listening Project

Wholemeal Apple Crumble Cake

What do you get if you cross a crumble with a cake? Why crumble cake of course! This is a subtly spiced dark winter version of your classic apple crumble, made with sweet woody cinnamon, treacly dark muscovado sugar and a healthy wholemeal crumb. If you'd like to make a sweeter summer version of this cake which would rise more, then just swop the wholemeal flour with plain flour, and the muscovado with caster sugar. It's one of those cakes that helps me work through our glut of autumnal garden apples and smells incredible as it bakes in the oven. I've made this crumble cake in advance to take to some friends who we'll be supping with this weekend, so there are no photos of the cut cake or cake slices, sorry.

Recipe
Serves 8-10
Inspired by a recipe given on the Waitrose website. See their recipe here.

for the base:
3 eggs, room temperature
170g dark muscovado sugar
150g wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
50g raisins
170g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon runny honey
1 tablespoon milk, optional

for the apples:
3 eating apples, not too sweet
1 or 2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
for the crumble topping:
85g caster sugar and/or dark muscovado sugar,
85g wholemeal or plain flour
60g rolled oats
85g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Turn the oven to 180C (160C fan oven). Grease and line a 20cm/23cm round spring form cake tin. Get out 2 small bowls and 1 large mixing bowl.

2. Peel, and slice the apples thinly, then scatter them with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and set to one side in the first small bowl.

3. In the second bowl, mix together the crumble ingredients by hand, until the mixture has the consistency of breadcrumbs. Put to one side.

4.  In the third, largest bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together thoroughly for approx 10-15 minutes.
You need to get it to the point where the eggs and sugar have paled and leave a trail when you lift the whisk.

5. While the eggs and sugar are whisking, melt the butter over a low heat. Let the butter cool slightly before gently folding it into the pale frothy eggs and sugar with a wooden spoon. If you stir too violently at this point you'll prevent the batter from rising in the oven, so gentleness is the key.

6. Next sieve the wholemeal flour and baking powder into the batter, again stirring very gently with a wooden spoon. Add the raisins and honey, and stir until just combined.

7. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin. Carefully place the apple slices over the batter, and finish off by scattering the crumble mixture over the top of the cake.

8. Bake in the oven for approx 50-55 minutes. Check it after 45 minutes, and if the crumble is browning too quickly then cover the top of the cake with a sheet of kitchen foil before putting in the oven to continue baking.

9. You 'll know the cake is baked when a skewer comes out clean. Leave it to cool in the cake for 15 minutes before placing onto a wire rack or plate. Serve warm with vanilla icecream or cold with some cream.

This cake was idly baked while listening to Peter Pears singing Winter Words by Benjamin Britten

Rhubarb Crumble

The fruit patch is really taking off. Not only have we had gluts of blackcurrants and wild strawberries, we've also seen the first of our rhubarb doing rather well. The arrival of some dear crumble-loving friends gave me the perfect excuse to create the first crumble made with our own fruit.

It's a testament to the freshness of the rhubarb, and the deliciousness of Nigella's recipe, that we fell on it when it came out of the oven, and it was only after we'd started helping ourselves to the dish that I remembered to take a photograph for this blog!

Recipe
Serves 4-6

When giving this recipe Nigella states that it serves 10 people, most uncharacteristically assuming very small portions. In my experience this serves 4 with very big appetites and many second helpings, or 6 people with a little more self control.

Adapted from Nigella Lawson's recipe in Feast. Buy the book on Amazon
As she states in her brilliant book, this is the best crumble you may ever taste. Not wanting to mess with perfection, all I've done is add some oats to the topping to make it even crunchier.

for the rhubarb base:
750g/900g rhubarb chopped into small pieces
(shop bought rhubarb will be bright pink; home grown tends to be a much paler pink and green)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cornflour
50g caster sugar

1. Turn the oven to 190C (170C fan oven). Find a good sized pie dish.

2. In a saucepan, heat the chopped rhubarb over a medium heat with the butter, vanilla extract, cornflour and sugar, stirring every so often for five minutes, or until the rhubarb has softened into the melted butter.

3. Spoon the rhubarb mixture into the pie dish, making sure all the buttery juices from the pan are poured in too. If you are preparing this crumble in advance, now is the time to cover the dish and place it somewhere cool until you're ready to make the topping and bung it in the oven.

for the crumble topping:
110g unsalted butter, chopped into pieces
110g self raising flour
40g rolled oats
3 tablespoons demerara sugar

4. To make the crumble topping, put the flour and butter in a large mixing bowl and rub the two together with your clean hands, until the mixture is the consistency of breadcrumbs. Add the oats and demarara sugar and stir gently until well combined.

5. Then spoon the crumble ontop of the rhubarb, covering all the fruit well and pressing the topping down with the back of the spoon. It's worth placing this dish over a baking tray before placing it in the oven, as this catches the crumble juices that drip down when it bakes.

6. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes. If it hasn't browned enought for you after 40 minutes, then you can place it under the medium heat of the grill, but only for a minute as it will burn very easily.

7. Serve straight out of the oven, with some cream and/or ice cream.

This crumble was idly baked while chatting to our mates Sean and Jules in the kitchen.