Wishing my Dad a very Happy 60th Birthday today!
Look Dad, I made you this cake.. you’ll get to gobble it up tonight, after dinner… if you eat all your greens 
I made it with the very popular variety of apples that people are going gaga over, Jazz Apples.
♣ ♣ ♣
A few weeks ago I was invited to a Jazz Apples masterclass at RAW Materials with past MasterChef contestant, and my instagram buddy; Alana Lowes. Meeting Alana was like meeting and old friend. We had been gawking over each other’s instagram feeds for a while now, so it was nice to not only be able to cook with her, but also to ask and answer questions we never asked over social media…. like why am I always at the Grosvenor Hotel
When I say cook together… well Alana did all the cooking… all I did was brush a few sheets of filo pastry with some ghee. That was enough effort for a weeknight after having to cross town after work!
We had some amazing food that showcased Jazz Apples, including sticky, smokey, spicy pork ribs with Jazz Apple slaw; and the scrumptious dessert of a rhubarb and apple filo scrunch that was spiked nicely with ginger. All recipes are available on the Jazz Apple website: http://jazzapples.com/eat-me/recipes
I failed to bring my camera on the night, so to see photos of what we ate, head over to Thanh’s blog.
Jazz Apples retain their shape well when baking (provided you don’t grate them, like I did for this recipe), and they have a great crunch and sweetness for just general eating. They are probably one of my favourite varieties of apples, along with Fuji apples.
They are available from supermarkets, and all good fruit shops. For more info on Jazz Apples head to: jazzapples.com
This recipe says to make 12 mini bundts and cover them liberally in cinnamon sugar. I decided to make the one big bundt and just sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar instead. Any recipe that calls for melted butter rather than softened butter is a winner in my book, as I’m never organised enough to have butter out of the fridge before I want to start baking, and if I do soften it in the microwave I more prone to melting it anyway!
I haven’t tasted it yet, but will taste it tonight with the birthday boy 
- 2 1/2 cups (375g) self-raising flour, sifted
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 250g butter, melted
- 1 cup (175g) brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (175g) maple syrup
- 4 eggs
- 6 Jazz Apples, peeled and grated
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, extra
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- Preheat oven to 180C (355F). Place the flour and cinnamon in a bowl and mix to combine. Add the butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, eggs and apple and mix well to combine.
- Spoon into a 12 cup capacity Bundt tin. Bake for 40 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Turn out immediately.
- Place the extra cinnamon and sugar in a bowl and mix to combine. Sprinkle over the top of the cake and cool.