The Shopping Mantra

I don’t consider myself an impulse buyer but I do have friends, family and a boyfriend that may beg to differ. I like to think that I weigh up the cost and the need before making a purchase but every now and then my Mum’s mantra of “If you really love something, you should buy it” takes over.

Years ago I was shopping in Plenty, my favourite home wares shop here in Sydney (they don’t seem to have a website), when I spotted a miniature Bundt cake tin. I had no idea what I was going to make in the tin and it cost a fortune but all I knew was that I really loved that tin. With that magic “If you love it...” mantra in my head, I purchased the tin. I truly am a woman after my mothers’ heart because when I showed her the tin she decided to buy TWO, even though they weigh a ton and she had to cart them all the way back to Ireland.

To be honest I haven’t used this tin to its full potential. If the truth be known, I have only used it twice. The size of the cakes it produces is a little unusual in that they are about twice the size of an average muffin. I made chocolate muffins in it last year and after eating one (by myself) I felt like a stuffed little piggy so that kind of turned me off using it for a while.

Recently I was reading about the Rum Cake Fairy and it looks like this fairy uses Bundt tins too. This got me thinking about my dust gathering tin and a rum cake sounded like a great idea. I got a little sidetracked while looking for a good recipe for rum cake and before I knew it I was all set to make Apple & Cinnamon cakes.

It’s all about your frame of reference. I have now switched from thinking this tin makes individual muffins to thinking it makes little mini cakes and now I’m much happier because you share mini cakes, you don’t try to scoff them all by yourself.

I made the cakes last night and then headed down to my friends house to share the first one with her to make sure they were ok. Then I had to share one with J to see if he liked them. The remainder I shared with the guys in work. You see, it’s all about sharing. It doesn’t matter that you have just consumed half the cakes in total. The main thing is you shared them.

GERMAN APPLE BUNDT CAKE

2 cups sugar
¼ cup orange juice
1 cup oil
2 ½ tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup chopped nuts
Powdered sugar for topping

FILLING:
2 cups apples, peeled and diced
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. sugar

Beat first 5 ingredients at high speed. Sift dry ingredients, then blend with first mixture. Fold in nuts. Place 1/3 of batter in a greased bundt pan. Combine filling ingredients; put some of the filling on top and alternate mixtures, ending with butter. Bake at 55 to 60 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from pan while hot. Cool cake and sprinkle with powdered sugar