I am not sure why nowadays, my cake seems to have uneven tone, some part brown faster than the other. As far as I know I clean my oven every time I finished baking. Think my oven is getting old. Like human oven also can become worn out, rusty and had to push hard to make do with life cycle.

I know it’s not presentable, as you can see it is dark brown at the top as well as the side. In this cake, I have something borrowed: green apples from my sister’s tree, something dry and long life: craisin from my pantry and something cold in the fridge: tarragon.

I thought I have sour cream, but instead I have ricotta cheese. So, I said to myself why not use ricotta cheese rather than going to the supermarket for one box of sour cream. Got to be creative, experiment and explore where the journey of baking is taking me.

The cake is moist, crunchy and not to sweet. The texture is smooth and fragrant with tarragon. The outcome is the taste and deliciousness have been the main thing about baking cake. Close my eyes to the dark brown part and enjoyed the cake. I might need to get the oven doctor to check or perhaps gives it another extra cleaning before my next cake goes into the oven. Happy Baking!!!!

Ingredients

280 g plain flour, sifted
2 Tsp baking powder
1/2 Tsp salt
200 g yogurt
375 ml ricotta cheese
215 g castor sugar
3 extra-large eggs
1/2 lemon, grated zest
1 Tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup olive oil
3 green apple, cored and sliced wedges
255 g craisin
3-4 sprigs tarragon, cut thinly
4 Tbs Apricot jam mix in 2 Tbs hot water, spread on top of cake

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Grease and lined 9″ spring form pan. Then set aside. Next sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. In another bowl, using electric blender, blend together yogurt, ricotta cheese, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla, and oil until incorporated.

Then slowly blend the dry ingredients in 3 batches into the wet ingredients. Add 200 g craisin, and tarragon in the batter; fold them very gently into the batter. Make sure they are coated and mixed well.

Now scatter the remaining craisin on to the pan. Next spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan and gently press apple wedges all around in the batter. Then spoon remaining batter on top of apple.

Tilt pan a bit to try even out batter. Then smooth the top and give a gentle knock on the bench top. Bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center comes out clean.

When the cake is done, switch off oven leave in the oven with door close for 35 minutes. Then removed from oven and allow it to cool further in the pan for 10 minutes before removing the pan. Carefully place on a plate. Spread apricot jam on top of cake and let it set and cool.

Note: You may need less or more time. Oven temperature vary. If its brown too fast cover with foil. I had to cover mine after 45 minutes as the top and side start to brown quickly. You may put any fruits you like. You may use sour cream instead of ricotta cheese.

https://helenscchin.com/2019/05/20/craisin-apple-olive-oil-cake/

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