Unfortunately by the time I got home and realised I didn't have any apples the only retail outlet that could have obliged was the local Tesco metro. I thought about bundling up and heading out to buy some but was stopped by the near certainty that all I would find were some slightly bruised gala apples. Maybe a golden delicious. Neither being apples that excite me it seemed like the perfect time to use up some of last weeks baked quinces instead.
I have two recipes for Apple cakes, one uses 700g of sugar which basically rules it out unless it's going to be eaten by a lot of people (it's good, but that's So Much Sugar) and a River Cottage one for Apple pudding cake (I'm writing this in my iPad which automatically capitalises Apple, and I'm writing it for the second time because I accidentally deleted the first draft, and I've rather lost the will to correct it) which is brilliant.
It's This Recipe here, it doesn't use almost a kilo of sugar, and does help me use up some of the huge pile of ground almonds I seem to have collected. It's also really quick to throw together which is another bonus. I used orange flower water instead of almond extract as I'd already baked the quinces with orange flower water.
The result smells great, and tastes just as good, but I think it's the end of my experiments with quinces. I love the smell and flavour of them, but remain unconvinced by the slightly grainy texture (I feel the same way about pears, which would also be good in this cake). From now on its just quince jelly for me - which is more than enough to be going on with.
Pears are plentiful around here right now (quinces, not so much) but I have the same problem with the texture that you do. To be honest, I have just left them for others to eat and have not tried them in baking.
ReplyDeleteI leave them too, I've made the effort with quinces because I love the idea of them - and the jelly is excellent - but nothing else I've made with them has appealed to anyone in my immediate circle (we all love the jelly) so no more experiments. I don't bother with pears for the same reason you don't - there are plenty of people who love them, they can have them.
ReplyDeleteI had a quince tarte tatin for dessert the other day, in a French restaurant. It was delicious, the quinces were beautifully soft and tender. I often see quinces in French supermarkets, but have never seen them on sale in British supermarkets.
ReplyDeleteWaitrose sells them, and farmers markets often turn them up, so I have no problem finding them (in Leicestershire). I like the flavour, but even when I baked them to a soft melting squidginess they still had that slightly grainy texture that I don't enjoy. It's me, not the quinces.
ReplyDelete