Apple Traybake With Cream Cheese Icing

A delightful apple traybake made with white chocolate and lightly flavoured with rose. Chunky pieces of white chocolate caramelise as the cake bakes and create a delicious toffee apple flavour. The cream cheese icing is totally lush and raises the bake up to a higher level than just a simple traybake.

When I was asked if I’d like to bake some cakes as samples for Liskeard’s Fine Food event a couple of weeks ago, how could I refuse? I had to come up with something tasty and quick to bake that I could easily cut into smallish pieces. Most importantly of all I needed to include chocolate. As apples were in season, I felt honour bound to include these too.

Eat Your Books came up trumps again and gave me sticky maple-apple traybake from Linda Collister’s How to Bake. This is from the 2nd series of The Great British Bake Off. I didn’t have any maple syrup, but I did have rose syrup and this I thought would go exceedingly well with apples.

Apple & White Chocolate Traybake

Because of the rose syrup, I omitted some of the flavourings that were used in the original recipe. I really didn’t want to overwhelm the rose. In addition to making my usual adjustments with flour etc, I substituted white chocolate chips for the walnut pieces and omitted the additional egg whites.

In other words, this apple, rose and white chocolate cake is a completely different traybake to the one that inspired it.

As it happened I’d got a bag of Somerset windfall apples at home – one of the spoils from our recent Glastonbury trip. I’m not sure what type of apple they were, but they made a most delicious cake.

Feel free to swap the rose syrup for maple syrup. I haven’t tried it, but I’m sure it’s just as good.

Because this traybake had to go around as many people as possible, I cut it into small bitesize squares. I realised they’d be the perfect size for a buffet style party too.

The apple squares got a lot of positive feedback from the good folk of Liskeard. This was, of course, very gratifying. It was very appley with a just a hint of rose. It had a nice soft texture and was very light. The chunky bits of white chocolate had caramelised slightly giving a delicious toffee apple flavour – all the fun of the fair.

The cream cheese topping with its hint of rose and slight saltiness from the cheese gave a lushness to the cake which raised it to a higher plain than a simple traybake.

Waste Not

Waste is one of my pet hates. I have always tried to avoid wasting anything. These days I get particularly cross at the amount of electrical equipment that we have to send to land fill because we no longer have repair shops.

When it comes to food, I really can’t bear the thought of throwing anything away. One of my main drivers for having an allotment is so we can make compost, thus turning anything we can’t actually eat into food for the soil.

With this in mind and to support the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, Kate of Turquoise Lemons started a monthly No Waste Food Challenge. This month the theme is apples and as the apples I used were windfalls which would otherwise have gone to waste, I am submitting my cake to this month’s host, Elizabeth’s Kitchen.

Other Apple Cakes You Might Like

• Almond apple cider cake
• Apple crumble & custard cakes
• Irish apple cake
• Kale apple cake
• Toffee apple hazelnut cake
• Upside down apple cake

Keep in Touch

Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this apple traybake, with or without the rose, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.

For more delicious and nutritious recipes follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard or Pinterest. And don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to my weekly newsletter. Or why not join the conversation in our Healthy Vegetarian Whole Food Recipes Facebook Group?

If you’d like more traybake recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.

Choclette x

Apple Rose Traybake. PIN IT.

Apple Traybake – The Recipe

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5 from 1 vote

Apple Traybake

A delightful apple cake made with white chocolate and lightly flavoured with rose. Chunky pieces of white chocolate caramelise as the cake bakes and create a delicious toffee apple flavour. The cream cheese icing is totally lush and raises the bake up to a higher level than just a simple traybake.

Cook ModeToggle to keep screen awake

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Course: Afternoon Tea

Cuisine: British

Keyword: apples, cake, rose, traybake, white chocolate

Servings: 36 pieces

Calories: 142kcal

Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

Ingredients

• 275 g flour (I used half wholemeal, half plain white)
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 400 g apples windfalls, Bramley's or other cooking apples are best
• 150 g light muscovado sugar
• 125 ml sunflower oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 tbsp rose syrup
• 2 large eggs separated (I used duck eggs)
• 50 g white chocolate chopped into small chunks

Cream Cheese Icing

• 75 g unsalted butter softened
• 75 g light muscovado sugar
• 175 g full fat cream cheese
• 3 tbsp rose syrup

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4)
• Sift the flours into a bowl with the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
  275 g flour, ½ tsp baking powder, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), 1 pinch sea salt
• Peel, core and finely chop the apples. Then stir them through the flour to stop them browning.
  400 g apples
• In another bowl whisk the sugar and oil together.
  150 g light muscovado sugar, 125 ml sunflower oil
• Add the vanilla extract and rose syrup then whisk some more.
  1 tsp vanilla extract, 4 tbsp rose syrup
• Whisk the egg yolks, keeping the whites separate in a third bowl.
  2 large eggs
• Make a well in the flour and pour the egg mixture in. Stir gently from the middle outwards to mix the ingredients together.
• Stir in the chocolate chunks
  50 g white chocolate
• Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold them carefully into the batter, trying not to lose too much air.
• Scrape the batter  into a 20 cm (9″) square silicone cake mould or lined tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes or until firm to the touch and golden in colour.
• Leave in the mould to cool for ten minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Icing

• Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy in texture.
  75 g unsalted butter, 75 g light muscovado sugar
• Beat in the cream cheese until just incorporated.
  175 g full fat cream cheese
• Stir in the rose syrup.
  3 tbsp rose syrup
• Spread onto the cooled cake.
• Cut into 36 small squares or 16 larger ones.

Notes

Swap the rose syrup for maple syrup if you prefer.

Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on exact ingredients used.

Nutrition Estimate

Calories: 142kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 19mg | Sodium: 56mg | Potassium: 43mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 137IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below letting us know how you got on and do share a photo on Instagram. Tag @choclette8 or use hashtag #tinandthyme.

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It’s birthday time. Tea Time Treats is one year old and we’re helping Karen of Lavander and Lovage and Kate of What Kate Baked to celebrate. With cake. This apple traybake with cream cheese icing is my contribution. It’s simple but scrumptious and well worthy of a birthday celebration, especially if you stick a candle in each square.

As apples are very much in season now, I’m submitting my apple rose cake to Simple and in Season. This is a monthly challenge from Ren Behan that I try to enter when I can.

I’m also submitting the traybake to Javelin Warrior’s Made with Love. After all, I made everything from scratch, including the rose syrup.