LUMBERJACK CAKE

Recipe: My dear friend Gail’s Johnson
Photo:  Rina Kleinhans
2nd Recipe:  Annatjie Heydenrych
This is only a single layer cake, very course but lovely moist.

• 180 g dates, chopped
• 250 ml boiling water
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 125 g butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 200 g cake flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 30 g coconut
• 3 medium tart apples, peeled and coarsely chopped
• Cream cheese frosting:
• 125 g cream cheese room, temperature
• 60 g butter room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1.5 cups icing sugar
• ⅓ cup toasted coconut (for outside of cake)
• Place dates, boiling water, bicarbonate of soda and butter in bowl to soak for about 5 minutes or until butter is melted.
• Beat egg, sugar and vanilla until smooth.
• Add the in flour, baking powder and coconut and mix.
• Stir in date mixture and chopped apples by hand.
• Spoon into a 23 cm prepared pan.
• Bake for 50 to 60 minutes at 180º C.
• Let the cake cool completely.
• Icing:
• Cream the butter, add the cream cheese little by little and mix till smooth, add the vanilla.
• Add the icing sugar, little by little, and mix in BY HAND until smooth.
• Spread the icing on top of the cake, and sprinkle with toasted coconut.
• If prefered, serve with whipped cream.

VARIASIE SONDER ROOMKAAS
LUMBERJACK CAKE WITH COCONUT TOPPING
Hier is myne – en ek moet sê, ek dink die klapper bo-op is lekkerder as die roomkaas.

• 1½ cups apple – approximately 2 apples peeled, cored and chopped (I used Granny Smiths)
• 1 cup/135 g pitted dates, chopped
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup caster sugar
• ½ cup oil (a vegetable or lightly flavoured oil is best, olive oils can be quite strong)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1½ cups plain all-purpose flour
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• For topping:
• 70 g/2.5 ozs butter
• 4 tablespoons cream
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• ⅓ cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
• 1½ cups shredded coconut or moist coconut flakes
• Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF. Line a round 9 inch springform tin with butter and baking parchment.
• In a bowl, place the chopped apple, dates, bicarb and boiling water and the bicarb should fizz. Allow to stand for 10 minutes making sure that the fruit sits in the water.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer with a beater attachment, beat the eggs, sugar and oil for 3 minutes.
• Add the apple and date mixture, water and all, to this mix and fold to combine.
• Then fold into the salt, flour and baking powder folding gently, ensuring that it is completely mixed. The batter is quite wet at this stage so I always put the springform tin on another baking tray as I don’t want it to drip onto the bottom of the oven.
• Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
• Meanwhile while the cake is baking, make the topping.
• In a small saucepan on low heat, melt the butter along with the cream, brown sugar, maple syrup and vanilla.
• Once melted and it becomes a rich butterscotchy maple sauce, add in the coconut. No need to toast the coconut as it will go into the oven where it will get toasted.
• When the cake is done, take the tin out of the oven and then spread over the topping reaching to all of the sides.
• Place cake in the oven on the same temperature and bake for another 20 minutes until the topping is golden.
• Serve to your lumberjack of choice.