Attempts at baking

I didn't want to brave the outside on Saturday, so I stocked up on supplies and decided to tackle some easy baking recipes. My friend and cookbook author, Kerry Dunnington, had given me her latest book called This Book Cooks, so I dog-eared a few good pages, popped in "Love Actually", and got to town. 

We had a large bowl full of "seconds" apples from the market (the tasty-but-not-so-pretty apples), which are great for using in recipes. My brother was arriving in town on Saturday, so I thought I could make some sort of coffee cake for us. I used these apples to bake an Autumn Apple Crisp, which turned out ok. I went a little heavy on the crisp instead of the apples, so it tasted more like a dessert than a breakfast cake.

I also made Kerry's Mango Cake with Cardamom. Yum! I fell in love with cardamom as a child when my mom would bake this beautiful braided cardamom bread. It's a seasoning that tastes like no other!

The mango cake called for fresh mangos and raspberry cherry juice, which I forgot to pick up. I used leftover Pom juice instead, and it worked just fine! Once again though, little heavy on the dough instead of the fruit.

I made these both on Saturday, and I still have leftovers in the fridge despite having two hungry guys in the house this weekend. Lesson learned. Baking is only necessary in my house if I plan to give it away, because otherwise it doesn't get eaten. Or should I take it as a sign that my baking wasn't as good as I thought?!