April 23-25, 2010: Quince & Huckleberry Crumble Cake

There've been a duad of recent incidents of edible generosity at my workplace, 1 inward the flat of free-for-all quinces.  I waited a polite few hours for others to assist themselves but keenly took 3 of them habitation that night.

For recipe ideas, I headed to every time it's come into season.  We had a weekend trip amongst a few friends planned too I decided to hit dorsum to the 2006 archives too brand the quince too huckleberry crumble cake to percentage around.

The offset stride is poaching the quinces.  There's plenty of alarm online that y'all require to larn cutting quince flesh into acid H2O every bit rapidly every bit possible to avoid discolouration.  And thence there's the to a greater extent than desirable colouration you're meant to earn after the fruit's cooked.  It's all a petty intimidating!  Thankfully these segments poached upwards nicely, amongst the flesh acquiring a pear-like tenderness, rosy tinge too lovely fragrance.  (A quince-savvy friend suggested later on that upping the acid powerfulness accept ramped upwards the colouring further.)

Constructing the cake itself was much to a greater extent than inside my experience, though I'm non certain it turned out quite every bit nicely every bit Haalo's. I don't shout out upwards my baking pan was large enough. (Actually, touchstone it straight off I come across that it was larger than Haalo's 23cm foursquare tin dismiss - weird.) The cake rose unexpectedly high inward the middle too I couldn't fit nearly every bit much fruit on it every bit Haalo did. (This was non ultimately a occupation - the leftover fruit was delicious amongst manifestly yoghurt. Oh, too I also mixed the leftover poaching syrup amongst apple tree juice for only about rather squeamish mocktails.)

What amongst all the size mismatching my cake didn't require quite thence long to bake too ended upwards a petty dry.  No dubiety the higher proportion of fruit it was supposed to back upwards would accept helped amongst only about moistness, too every bit it was I packed only about cream to serve on the side.  I didn't take away heed whatsoever complaints from the crew, amongst only about going dorsum for 2d (and fifty-fifty third!) slices.

Quince too huckleberry crumble cake
(based on a recipe at Cook Almost Anything)

poached quinces
750mL water
110g castor sugar
juice of 1 lemon
750g quinces
1 cinnamon stick

cake
185g butter, softened
165g castor sugar
two eggs
335g manifestly flour
v teaspoons baking powder
180mL milk
250g fresh blueberries

crumble
110g manifestly flour
two tablespoons castor sugar
110g brownish sugar
100g butter, diced
1 teaspoon reason cinnamon

Start amongst poaching the quinces. In a real large saucepan stir together the water, saccharide too lemon juice. Peel too substance the quinces, slicing them into segments too dropping the segments into the saucepan (ASAP, to foreclose browning). When they're all done, top upwards the H2O if the quinces are non only submerged too add together the cinnamon stick. Bring them to the boil thence plough downwardly the heat, encompass the saucepan too let the quinces to simmer until tender (up to ninety minutes). Allow the quinces too syrup to cool to room temperature. Drain the quinces too reserve the syrup for other uses.

Next, the cake. Preheat the oven to 180°C too business a 22cm x 33cm baking tin dismiss amongst paper. In a medium-large bowl, vanquish together the butter too saccharide until fluffy, thence vanquish inward the eggs 1 at a time. Sift the flour too baking pulverization in, beating gently every bit y'all go, thence vanquish inward the milk until it's all only combined. Spread the cake batter evenly into the baking pan too bake the cake until it's only set, nigh xx minutes.

Finally, laid upwards the crumble. All this requires is putting the ingredients inward a nutrient processor too blending until combined.

When the cake is cooked, adjust the quince slices too blueberries over the top, thence sprinkle over the crumble mixture. Return the cake to the oven until the crumble is browned too crunchy, 15-20 minutes.