Apple Crumble Loaf

I bet you all thought I was kidding about the recipe part.

Hah.  Joke's on you!  I actually bake.  I enjoy it.  It's like. . . effort with visible, potentially delicious results.  Better yet, no one has died as a result of my experimentation!  But to be clear, I tend to do a recipe generally the way it tells me to and, if I like it okay, then I'll modify it a bit.  

But I am also a girl and I'm prone to changing my mind about this rule.  It's not really a rule so much as a basic template that I choose to follow in baking.  Conversely?  Cooking scares me.  Bit of a shame, considering I'm a death knell to people's diets and waistlines.  One of my co-workers says that I'm slowly killing him.

He also seems to think it's a delicious death, so I suppose that's okay.

For reference, I'll post to you what I did and also post the place where I got the recipe!  That way I'm not taking credit from anyone who seriously deserves it and I don't muddle the recipe up with a bunch of confusing talk.

Apple Crumble Loaf

Ingredients:

• 140g of butter, cut into small pieces, plus extra for the tin
• 250g self raising whole wheat flour (don't worry, my fellow Americans.  I'll give you a recipe for self-raising flour!)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 70g light brown sugar
• 70g raw sugar
• 100g raisins
• 3 large eggs
• 3 apples, peeled, cored and shopped
• 4 tablespoons milk (US tablespoons.  In Australian tablespoons, this is 5 tablespoons)

For the crumble topping:

• 2 rounded tablespoons plain flour (2.5-3 Tablespoons Australian)
• 50g butter
• 50g brown sugar

Loaf method:

1. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan-forced (this is 320F/285F fan-forced).  Line the base of a loaf tin with baking paper.
2. Tip the flower and spice into a food processor and add the butter.  Pulse until you have fine crumbs and then mix in the sugar.  
3. Pour mixture into a large mixing bowl and then stir in raisins, eggs, apples and milk.  Mix well until combined.
4. Pour into tin and then smooth top.

Crumble method:

1. To make the topping, rub the flour, butter and sugar through your fingers to make a rough crumble.  Feel free to add more flour until it reaches a consistency you're happy with here, I tinkered a bit because I had no nuts.  I may have added more flour than this, but I wanted to err on the side of caution for recipe notation.
2. Sprinkle evenly over the cake mixture and bake for 50-55 minutes, until firm to the touch and a fine skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
3. Cool in tin for 15 minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack.
4. Attempt in vain to not devour the entire lot.

Original recipe source: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2198652/apple-crumble-loaf

I fully intend to wander their site and see what other little delicious gems I can find!

Bonus:  Self-Raising Flour

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

And just like that, you have a cup of self-raising flour!  It's useful to make a bunch at once if you're a bakeaholic and then use it as you need it.