Apple, Raspberry and White Chocolate Crumble Cake

The mainland states and capital cities of Australia claim fame to many things. Melbourne, Victoria, calls itself the fashion capital and often jostles with Sydney for  the arts and sporting title. South Australia is proud of its wine country and Adelaide in particular claims fame for being the city of churches. Western Australia and Queensland are renowned for their beaches and other natural beauties. But what about Tasmania? Often our southern most neighbours are forgotten, especially with an ocean between.

You no doubt know the recipe now for how we like to spend our weekend: run, coffee, bake…relax. However this time the weekend recipe called for extra chilling time when we ventured down to Hobart, Alex’s native roots, where the temperature hovered just over single digits.

That being said, the cooler weather allowed for a wonderful weekend road trip and allowed me to (legitimately) hopfoot around in my Hunter Wellington’s.  We started with a refreshing early morning run to Shag Bay (yes that’s its name!) and  then headed to Salamanca Markets where we browsed the bustling stalls full of homemade jam, sourdoughs (and authentic sheepskin ugg boots) after which we stopped at  Machine for Breakfast. After ordering the free range bacon, then recalling the waitress to tell her I changed my mind and then stealing the bacon off Alex’s plate when our dishes arrived, we jumped back in the car and headed to Russell Falls with a picnic lunch of chicken wraps with organic hummus and homemade caramel slice on the way home.

Sunday morning saw us venture into Hobart to have a look at the Tasmanian Farm Gate Farmers Market. I was amazed to find a stall dedicated to my favourite Elgaar Farm yogurt. This yogurt is like gold in Victoria, shipped over  on the Spirit of Tasmania in limited quantities and for a pretty hefty price. To be able to buy this yogurt from the source was a real treat.

Having come to the Apple Isle we also couldn’t go home without a trip to Huonville to pick up some apples from the many orchard stands along the road. We came home with 3 bags and instantly decided on combining the apples with some of our favourite ingredients (raspberries and white chocolate) to produce an apple, raspberry and white chocolate crumble cake.

Alex’s mum suggested we make the cake using her brand new stand alone mixer as oppose to my normal handheld beaters. At first I was hesitant because the mixer had never been used (and Alex’s mum was trusting me with it!)  and I was sceptical that the cake would turn our perfectly. Having never used a standalone mixer before, I was unsure how to control the beating to avoid over mixing. I began to anticipate a flat, over beaten cake after transferring the batter a few times to different cake tins, that all appeared to be slightly too big.  However when we cut a slice, to say I was speechless is not being over dramatic. The cake looked beautiful. It was light, moist, and fluffy with the prefect crumb (I am now one step closer to not feeling  guilty if I were to splash some cash and purchase a Kitchen Aid).

To serve the cake, we made a raspberry coulis and drizzled this on top for an extra zing of flavour. This cake makes a wonderful dessert when gently heated in the microwave or served warm straight from the oven with custard or a vanilla ice cream.

Like all good things, our trip to Hobart had to come to an end and we finished with a delicious thai dinner back in Salamanca. I was treated to a seafood buffet of prawns, scallops, ling and calamari all sizzling on my plate and Alex enjoyed a delicious Thai green curry, a fantastic way to end our trip.  Our weekend trip away , probably proved the obvious, that Hobart takes the cake when it comes to fresh, delicious produce.

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