The recipe book describes this cake as a “Frankenstenian” melding of a cobbler, a Brown Betty pudding, and a Streussel, so I was intrigued!

Its a chocolate batter with chopped apple in it topped with roasted sugar tossed peanuts!! If you’re a fan of cake without icing, this little monster may be perfect for you.

Here it is after it came out of its baking tin!

And here it is cut so you can see the apple on the inside! Its quite dense so the apple doesn’t all sink to the bottom of the tin while its baking.

Seize the Chocolate beta tested it for me so you can pop over and see what she thought. When she collected it we had a cup of coffee and a slice of cake each… You know, to test the quality! She even froze it and thawed it successfully!

On Saturday night we went to a Christmas party and gift exchange with some friends, and as it was a bring-and-share I made cupcakes for dessert.

In fact, ALL the guests took dessert!

The chocolate cupcakes are stuffed with chocolate ganache and topped with white vanilla butter icing and a little glitter, and the red velvet cupcakes are topped with white vanilla butter icing. All the cupcakes were decorated with fresh cherries that I had dipped in melted chocolate!

Oh lawdy just look at these fruit tart cupcakes!!

Okay.

I confess.

I have a bit of a “thing” for custard, especially when its combined with pastry. One of my favourite desserts, or tea time snacks is a flaky pastry topped with custard and glazed fruit slices! This beta test is a cupcake version of that pastry!!

Hhmmm… perhaps I should tell Cara I flopped them and she can’t have them anymore…

This fresh pear pie was absolutely delicious!

Everyone enjoyed it! Its got a lovely pear taste without being overpoweringly sweet, and served with a little fresh cream, everyone wanted seconds!

Chocolate cupcake with a Nutella stuffing topped with chocolate butter icing.

Strawberry cheesecake cupcake.

Chocolate cupcake with Lindt ball secret centres topped with chocolate butter icing and chopped nuts.

Vanilla cupcake with a lemon flavoured Turkish delight secret centre topped with vanilla butter icing.

Chocolate cupcake with a fresh cherry secret centre topped with chocolate butter icing and a fresh cherry.

Chocolate cupcake with a coconut ice secret centre topped with chocolate butter icing and dessicated coconut.

Red velvet cupcake with cream cheese icing.

Chocolate cupcake with a toffee secret centre topped with chocolate butter icing.