Sticky maple apple tray bake

Here is a yummy tray bake from The Great British Bake off book, 'How to Bake'. I needed something non chocolatey that would quell my cake craving, this little lovely does just that, and with all the apple in it I can  feel a little virtuous when eating it.

I made a few tweaks, the main being to the frosting. The book says to use cream cheese, I had no cream cheese but had mascarpone, which is just Italian cream cheese, right? The result is luscious and I am going to find a way to put this frosting on a cupcake so I can get more of it in each bite. I suspect that if conventional cream cheese were used to frosting would be tangier and perhaps a tad looser.

Sticky maple apple traybake (Adapted from the Great British Bake off)

For the cake

400g (prepared weight) bramley apples, peeled, cored and chopped into 1cm cubes
1tsp mixed spice
2 tsp maple syrup
150ml groundnut oil
125g light brown sugar
2 large eggs
275g plain flour
2 large egg whites

For the frosting

75g butter
50g light brown sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup
175g mascarpone cheese

Grease and line a traybake tin. I used my brownie tin and it worked just fine. Preheat the oven to  180C/160C FAN.

Prepare the apple and mix with the mixed spice and maple syrup, set aside. Whisk the ground nut oil, sugar and whole eggs until thick and mousse-like. Add the apple and combine. Add the flour and fold in with a metal spoon. 

Whisk the two egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add a third of the whisked egg whites to the cake batter bowl and fold in with a metal spoon. Add the remaining egg white a third at a time and gently fold in. 

Tip the batter into the prepared tin and level with a spatula. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 30 minutes then, using the lining paper to help, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Add the mascarpone cheese and maple syrup and beat to combine. Spread over the cooled cake and cut into generous chunks.