Local Recipes

Gâche Melée is another traditional Guernsey recipe dating back for hundreds of years.

It may share a similar name with Gâche, but is completely different! Gâche Melée is more like a very heavy sort of apple cake.

This stodgy pudding is another traditional recipe with plenty of variations. There is also plenty of debate about whether the apples should be chopped or sliced!

The most common recipe for Gâche Melée uses suet, although there is another version without it!

Traditional Guernsey Gâche Melée

1lb cooking apples (weighed after peeling and coring)
5oz self raising flour
5oz sugar
3 fl.oz milk
2½oz suet (beef of vegetable)
pinch of salt

1. Chop the apples into small pieces (or slice thinly)
2. Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until combined.
3. Put into a greased seven inch by nine inch baking tin.
4. Cook the mixture at 150°C (gas 2) for one and a half to one and three quarter hours until the top is golden and the apples are cooked.
5. Serve cut into squares with fresh Guernsey cream or ice-cream.

The suet free version!

1lb wholemeal flour
1lb cooking apples (peeled and cored)
1tsp cinnamon
rind of 1 lemon
8oz butter
1lb demerara sugar
3 eggs
1tsp grated nutmeg

1. Slice the apples and mix with the flour, grated lemon rind and spices.
2. Leave for 2-3 hours so the apple juices begin to seep out.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar and fold in the eggs.
4. Add the egg mix to the flour and apples and stir well.
5. Place the mixture in a well greased baking tin and put in a moderate oven 170°C (gas 3) for about an hour and a half until the top is well browned.
6. Serve cut into squares with fresh Guernsey cream or ice-cream.

The award winning version!

We have also had an award winning Gâche Melée recipe sent in by Liz Walton. She tells us this one has been winning gold in the Eisteddfod for several years.

The trick is all in the tin apparently. Liz says pyrex or ceramic dishes make the bottom of the Gâche Melée go soggy.

1½ lb cooking apples
3 oz granulated sugar
2 oz vegetable suet
4 oz Self Raising flour
1 egg, beaten
½ tsp cinnamon powder

1. Heat oven to 350°F, 180°C or gas mark 4.
2. Grease a shallow baking tin 6 - 7 ins square. (Don't use Pyrex or ceramic - the bottom will go soggy.)
3. Peel, core and chop apples into a large mixing bowl, leaving them in quite large chunks.
4. Sprinkle sugar over, then chop the apples into the sugar with a sharp knife until the juices run and the sugar has dissolved.
5. Add suet, flour and cinnamon, and mix with a wooden spoon until no dry ingredients can be seen.
6. Mix in beaten egg thoroughly. The mixture should form a softish batter.
7. Pour into prepared tin. Level the top and sprinkle with a little more sugar and cinnamon if liked.
8. Bake in preheated oven until the top is a deep golden brown- about 30 to 40 minutes depending on the depth of the mixture.
9. Eat hot or cold. Delicious (but not traditional) hot with cinnamon ice cream.