Nutty as a fruit cake?

I found this recipe in a back issue of a Julie le Clerc magazine, and thought it would be an ideal morning tea or after school snack for the kids. It's cake afterall - so should satisfy the kids, and is full of fruit and uses oil not butter, so healthy enough to satisfy Mum!
The recipe in the magazine called for walnut - but I didn't have any. So I made a substitution of chopped apricots. Not entirely similar, but I much prefer apricots anyway, so no matter! It's also very easy to measure out, as no weighing required.

Caramel apple cake
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 unpeeled apples, cored and cut into 1cm cubes
1/2 cup chopped apricots
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 170C.
Beat together sugar, oil and eggs. Add flour, spices, salt and soda. Then add the chopped apple and dried fruit.
Spoon batter into a 23cm spring form round tin. Bake for 1 and 3/4 hours, or until skewer comes out clean.
Cool on a cake wrack. Ice with cream cheese icing and drizzle with caramel sauce when cake is completely cold.

Cream cheese icing
250g cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
30g melted butter

Place all ingredients in a bowl and beat until fluffy.

Caramel sauce
50g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cream

Melt butter in pan over moderate heat. Add sugar, and cream, and bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Turn down heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes until mixture is syrupy. Remove to cool.

Peanut butter blondies

Now the kids are back at school after the Easter holidays I seem to be baking every other day to provide a sufficient supply for lunch box treats, and an afternoon snack when they get home from school.

One of our favourite recipes is Rachel Allen's peanut butter and white chocolate blondies. I was halfway through making this this evening, only to realise that I hadn't got a couple of the ingredients. Two small adjustments were made, and voila:

Peanut Butter and Apricot Blondies
100g butter/marg
150g crunchy peanut butter
175g sugar
1 egg
125g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
75g chopped apricots

Preheat oven to 170 C. Line a square 20cm brownie tin with baking paper.
Cream together butter and peanut butter. Add sugar, and then the egg.
Mix in flour and baking powder.
Finally, add chopped apricots and mix well.

Transfer to brownie tin, and bake for 25 mins.

Remove from oven, and cool on rack completely before turning out from tin. Cut into 16 squares.