A piece of cake

As you might have noticed, things have happened to the website in the past two days or so. First I changed the design to a new one, and made a big banner featuring the Royal Palace of Stockholm for the top of the site. I do hope everyone can see the new layout properly, no matter what browser or operating system you are using. After that I’ve started to fiddle with the pages, as you can see there’s a new Bernadotte Guide and a separate directory for the royal profiles (were I’ve also added a longer biography for the King’s page, more info on the other profiles and more profiles of other royals will come with time). Things will continue to develop with the site as time passes, but please remember that you’re always welcome to email me or post a comment regarding any suggestions, questions or comments you have about it.

Now royals are not all there is to life. Even though it sometimes feels like our passion for history and royals take up such a big part of our lives, and especially mine and other posters out there, most of us do also have other interests. As you can read about my other interests on the About page, cooking and baking is one of those other interests that I have. Here in Uppsala County, Sweden, autumn has just reached it peek recently and the beautiful leaves are falling to the ground, leaving bald trees and shrubs behind. The air is just as rich and earthy as only it can be on cold autumn days, and the darkness is coming earlier and earlier with every day now. Today the temperatures were below 10 °C during the day and I had to wear gloves while walking home.

On a cold autumn day, what better can warm the soul then a hearty helping of a delicious soup and some apple cake/pie for dessert? This was my thought yesterday as I made a favourite soup of mine, fish and fennel soup with potatoes and a dash of freshly squeezed orange, and served a freshly baked apple cake with vanilla sauce for dessert. I don’t know about you but I love apples, and autumn always gives a good excuse to bake apple cake often because it’s all so seasonal. There are probably thousands of different recipes for apple pies and cakes out there, but I thought I’d share one of the easiest and yummiest ones in my collections - it’s so easy that this is a cake you can do on a whim as long as you have the ingredients stocked. You don’t have to have much baking experience really, so even if you’re not an avid baker, do give it a try! To like this cake, the only requirements is that you like sticky cakes (sort of like brownie texture). Bon appétit

Sticky Apple Cake

* 2 eggs (medium size)
* 3 dl sugar (I use granulated white or brown)
* 150 g melted butter (real butter, not fake margarine etc)
* 3 dl wheat flour
* 2 dl sesame seeds
* 5-8 apples
* Circa 1 tablespoon cinnamon (or as much as you feel is enough)
* Circa 2 tablespoons sugar (or as much as you feel is enough)

- Put the oven on 175°
- Line a large oven dish (I use this kind and size) with butter and the sesame seeds.
- Whip together eggs and sugar until airy. Stir in the melted butter. Whip in the flour.
- Peel and chop the apples into medium thin/thick wedges.
- Pour the batter into the oven dish.
- Press the apple wedges into the batter.
- Mix the cinnamon and sugar together, sprinkle on top.
- Bake in the oven for about 30-35 minutes, feel with a stick how ready it is. The cake should be quite sticky but not too unbaked when taken out of the oven.
- Serve with vanilla sauce/custard.