Equipment: cakes

Showing posts with label cakes. Show all posts

Showing posts with label cakes. Show all posts

Chocolate chip muffins

Start your day with them!

A classic recipe that still not so easy to find that works well...
So, here it is my favorite!

Ingredients (For 12 muffins)

250gr flour
baking powder (~ 3teaspoons)
a bit of salt
100gr (or more if you prefer :) of chocolate chips (I prefer dark chocolate)
1 egg
150gr sugar
vanilla
150ml milk
125gr of melted butter

Procedure

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees of Celsius and fan.
Butter a muffins tray or line with baking cups.
Combine in a bowl the following: flour, baking powder, vanilla, salt and the chocolate chips.
Mix well using a mixer the rest: sugar, butter, egg and milk.
Mix slowly using a spoon, the 2 parts.
Pour the final mixture equally in the 12 muffin tray.
Bake for about 20min.
Enjoy!

Oat flake and chocolate chips cookies

Great and healthy cookies full of oat flakes but also with chocolate!
Let your children play and make them for you, sooooo easy :)

Ingredients
120gr of oat flakes
100gr of chocolate chunks (or instead 220gr of a ready-made mixture of both as in my case)
240gr of all purpose flour
2 eggs
150gr brown sugar
120gr of butter
baking powder
vanilla flavor

Procedure

Preheat the oven at fan and 180 degrees of Celsius
Soften butter
Mix all ingredients together, but not too much
Shape small or big cookies with your hands
Bake for about 10min according to the size that you have chosen
Share them with your dear ones!
You can also join them by pairs using your favorite ice cream and make yummy sandwiches :)

Vanilla flan

Easy summer recipe discovered through my Spanish neighbor (thnx!) Really fast to prepare but needs to be prepared a day ahead!

Ingredients
1 can of concentrated Nestle milk (397gr)
1 1/3 of the above empty can of milk
3 eggs
vanilla
1/2 cup of sugar (for the caramel)

Procedure

Put in the oven and at 180 degrees of Celsius, a wide oven dish filled with water up to 1/3 of it and wait to warm enough.
Prepare the caramel by putting the sugar and a bit of water in a small casserole. Bring it to boil and wait for a couple of minutes until it turns to a nice caramel. Be careful though that it won't burn!
Pour the caramel in a cake mold and stir it to cover well the bottom and a bit the edges.
Beat well using a mixer the rest of the ingredients and pour the liquid mixture over the caramel.
Put the cake mold in the oven as in bain-marie and bake for about 30min.
take it out of the oven to cool down.
Refrigerate for several hours or better overnight.
Carefully un-mold the flan in a nice recipient, pour the rest of the caramel to drip on top and enjoy!

Moist coconut cake

I really love coconut and one of my favorite greek cakes is the coconut Ravani.
Given that it has a syrup, it makes it quite heavy in calories though. So, I was looking for a cake with coconut that is close to ravani but lighter.
Find today this version that I tried and I really liked a lot...

the moist coconut cake !

(In french we could call it "gateau moelleux au noix de coco")
If you like coconut, you have to try this easy but tasty version!

Ingredients
3 eggs
185gr of all purpose flour
250ml of milk
125gr butter (melted)
200gr sugar
75gr shredded coconut (and some extra for decoration)
1 baking powder

Procedure

You just mix well all the ingredients together for a few minutes and you empty in a buttered baking dish of 20cm of diameter. (Ok, if you want it fluffier, you can incorporate the ingredientd gradually)
You bake for 30min and air at 180 degrees of Celcius.
You can decorate with some extra coconut that you sprinkle on top.

Enjoy!

St. Valentine's day

Want to find an excuse to try this
triple chocolate mousse cake?

How about St. Valentine's day ? (Indeed, it is today, 14 of February :)

Otherwise, anything with nutella will do!

February 2 the day of crepes in France!

In France, February 2 (yesterday) is the day of crepes.
They call this day "Chandeleur" (Candlemas in english) and it is linked to religion (commemorate the purification of Virgin Mary and the presentation of baby Jesus)
but practically, people are making and consuming lots of crepes.
You won't believe the amount of Nutella, and rest of ingerdients that are consumed those days.
As this is the weekend the closest to the Chandeleur, here's a recipe reminder to succeed your crepes and here is one for pancakes if you are too lazy for crepes :)

Happy Chandeleur!!!

Kurtos Kalacs or chimney cakes

This romanian pastry that is called Kurtos Kalacs, is often called in english chimney cakes. It's a fluffy yeast dough (similar to brioche) that is sweetened rolling them to a sugar and cinnamon mix, sometimes even in ground walnuts, and at old times used to be served in weddings. Nowdays, we can find them in small street kiosks that bake them in coal grills.
Hubby tried them first in Prague on a trip for his work and came back telling that it was so soft and delicious that I would surely love it!
I searched for the recipe on the web and indeed I found how to make them at home but eventually never tried them. It took me a couple of years until I would taste them in Budapest (I liked them so much that there was no day passing without eating at least two!!!) But still coming back home, I did not dare to try making them... until one evening, coming back home from a busy day, hubby had made them for me!!! That was a nice surprise :)
So, here it is our homemade Kurtos based on the following 2 recipes found online (thank you both!):

http://honestcooking.com/kurtoskalacs-chimney-cake/ (Honest cooking)
http://pearlsofbaking.blogspot.fr/2013/11/chimney-cake-kurtos-kalacs.html?m=1 (Pearls of baking)

*** Beware, you have to find several carton moulds (from paper towels) before doing the recipe ***

Ingredients
240gr all purpose flour (of high quality)
7gr active dry yeast
30gr sugar
a bit of salt
1 egg
45gr melted butter
120ml lukewarm milk

For the topping:
melted butter, sugar, cinnamon

Procedure

Start by making the moulds. Use the cartons from paper towels or similar. Cover them completely with aluminium foil and brush the melted butter all over them.
Put in a small bowl the milk, some sugar and the yeast and allow around 10min to get foamy.
In the bowl of your mixer add all the ingredients and the above milk-yeast mixture. Knead to form a dough and continue for about 5min.
The result is a quite sticky dough. Do NOT add more flour, this is how it should be.
Cover and allow the dough to rise for an hour in a warm place. Often I cover it with a blanket :)
With a silicone spatula, cut parts of the dough and in a well floured surface shape thick sheets.
With a pizza cutter, divide in long ribbons of 1.5cm wide.
Start to wrap those ribbons around the homemade-buttered moulds like shown in the photos. When completely covered, brush them with butter and roll them in the sugar-cinnamon mix.
Arrange them in an oven tray like in the photos and bake at 190 degrees of Celsius for about 20min or until they get a nice golden color.
Tap them to get out of the moulds and allow a few minutes to rest if you can resist :)

Share only your dear ones !!!

Happy 2018 !

Happy New Year to all !
Cook more, less war in this world ...

How about starting the year by making this delicious french Epiphany cake (Galette des rois)?
I think that my 2018 version is the best that I have ever done :)

Jam roll

Old time classic recipe coming straight from our youth... jam rolls!
Here's a fast & easy recipe to keep track in my blog. Thanks Vilma for reminding it to me!
I use strawberry jam here, but my dear friend Vilma brought one in our place for a bbq, a tasty one filled with Nutella ... hmmmm just gorgeous!!!
The result here is a fast prototyping, as I am busy and do not have the luxury for better photos or decoration... the essential is here though :)

Ingredients
4 eggs
1 cup of sugar
vanilla
1 cup of self-raising flour
1 cup of strawberry jam
some powder sugar to decorate (missing today :)

Procedure

Mix for several minutes the eggs with the sugar and the vanilla to thicken.

Then add little by little the flour and mix it carefully by hand and a spatula in order to keep the air inside the mixture.

Empty to the biggest and swallow oven dish after covering it with a baking sheet.

Layer it with your spatula.

Bake at 175 degrees of Celsius and fan for about 20min or until golden.

When done, cover it for a few minutes with a humid towel and then cover the top with the jam or the nutella (warm for a few seconds in the microwave oven to soften a bit).
Roll carefully as in photos, decorate with some powder sugar or melted chocolate
and serve by cutting it in about 1cm slices. Enjoy!

Cherry clafoutis (clafoutis aux cerises in french)

Cherry clafoutis (clafoutis aux cerises in french) is a classic french dessert for summer that is pretty easy to make. It has actually fresh cherries in a rich custard that you can serve warm or at room temperature.
Traditional clafoutis is made with cherries that have still their pits that french say that make a difference in taste. I have used ready-made cherries that have already been pitted and preserved in a light syrup, though. It's so easy to make and so summerish that I could not resist to add it to my blog that time of the year! And if you are among the lucky ones that have a cherry tree, here's how to use your extra cherries :)

Happy & tasty summer !

Ingredients
150gr all-purpose flour
100gr sugar
3-4 eggs
50cl milk
pinch of salt
vanilla
50gr butter
700gr cherries

Procedure

Preheat the over at 170 degrees of Celsius and fan.
Beat eggs with sugar, add flour, salt, vanilla, milk and finally the soften butter.
Butter a round baking dish, add the cherries and pour the custard over the cherries.
Bake for about 50min or until it gets a nice golden color.

Note: If it starts to get burned too fast, cover it with aluminum and continue. It is normal also if it wiggles a bit when finished baking, let it cool and it will setup. It will also inflate a bit, do not worry, it will deflate when cooled.

King cake (Galette des rois in french)

Galette des rois is a traditional french cake that is made for Epiphany (6 of January). It celebrates the arrival of the Three Wise Men in Bethlehem to visit baby Jesus.
It is composed of a puff pastry cake, and a small charm in china, the fève, is hidden inside. The person who finds it becomes the king or the queen of the day. It is usually filled with frangipane, a cream made from sweet almonds, butter, eggs and sugar but there are several other derivatives as well at modern times.
I would like to thank Vanille, a girl of my son's class that put a recipe in their class blog and I could not resist and did it! It is so easy to make actually, check it for yourselves...

Ingredients
2 ready-made disks of puff pastry
125 gr softened butter
125 gr sugar
125 gr ground almond
1 vanilla
2 eggs
1 beaten egg for the top

Procedure

Preheat the oven at 220 degrees of Celsius and fan.
Prepare the "frangipane" cream by beating first butter with sugar to get fluffy and then add the rest and continue to beat until soften.
Put one of the puff pastry disk on a baking sheet and lay evenly the frangipane on it leaving 2cm of the edges.
Add the charm ("feve"). It is very important not to forget this part!!! Otherwise kids will be disappointed
Cover with the second disk. Press the edges with a small fork to seal well.
Using a knife, "draw" lightly patterns on the top.
Brush the last egg on top to get a nice color.
Bake for about 20min or until it gets crispy and a nice golden color.

Enjoy! And let me know what you think if you try it :)
Here's what was left a few hours later the same day ...

Gravity cake

Happy birthday!

My son just turned 10 and here's the best birthday cake that I decided to make that makes the buzz on the web and makes heads turn on it's sight... The GRAVITY cake!!!
My kids loved it, hubby thinks I'm a genius, friends were amazed and there were even people that took photos of it :))))
Special thanks to both of my children that helped me doing it, and my apologies to my daughter that I underestimated her capabilities as she has proved that often she is much better than me ! Kiss to hubby for the support, as always, to my crazy ideas.
So, let's get back to the cake. Procedure goes like this...

To start, you can use as a base, your favorite recipe for a cake. In my case, this was my chocolate cake recipe that I just love for birthday cakes.
You can cover it with melted chocolate that you have added some fresh cream in it.
Glue using chocolate, biscuits like the Cadbury fingers, almost all around it but leaving a small part uncovered. The most interesting part follows...
The magic is based on a hidden flexible straw that has m&m's on it, using melted chocolate as a glue. This is actually the most delicate part of the whole procedure. Start by covering one part of the straw, put it in the fridge (not the freezer!!! m&m's lose their color otherwise) and then repeat on the other side.
Glue the rest of the m&m's simulating the falling part and finish by adapting the straw in a wooden skewer that you have put before in the center of the cake.
Cover the straw ending with the empty bag of the m&m's and let all overnight to harden.

The next day, just admire the result and feel proud under the envy look of the children and even adults around you :) Isn't it great?

Xmas Swiss roll (buche de Noel) with mascarpone

Merry Xmas with a swiss roll!

Not a classic one, with mascarpone cheese that is my favorite.
Actually, tiramisu is the most popular recipe in this blog thanks to this cheese, so why not to try one?
I would like to thank Raphael who inspired me with his traditional swiss roll that was a smash!
Thanks also to my daughter that made the final touch with her decoration *kiss*

Time is not money but rest in this festive period, so I will cut short and give you the details :)

All the best to you and your dear ones! May this period is restful and calm...

Ingredients (for a BIG roll! split in half otherwise)

Base (30x40cm):
4 eggs
100gr sugar
30gr flour
60gr corn flour
50gr cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
a grain of salt

Syrup:
Some syrup of canned fruits or make a light syrup to moisten the base cake

Cream:
500gr mascarpone cheese
4 spoonfuls of icy sugar
vanilla flavor
100ml of cream for chantilly
2-3 spoonfuls of milk

Decoration:
100gr of dark chocolate (grated)

Procedure

Base: Separate egg whites and yolks. Beat yolks with sugar to whiten. Beat whites until thicken. Mix all with the rest of the ingredients for the base smoothly. Pour eveny in a swallow oven dish of 30x40cm that you have cover with parchment paper. Bake at 220 degrees of Celsius and fan for 6 minutes. Take it out of the oven, bush it slightly with the syrup, cover it with a wet cloth and let it cool down.

Cream filling: Mix well the ingredients for the cream and when done, spread 2/3 of it, on the base cake. Sprinkle with the grated dark chocolate and roll slowly.

Final touch: Cover the roll with the rest of the cream by spreading it on top and sprinkle again the chocolate on top. Let it stay overnight in the fridge and serve it cut in slices.
Enjoy!

Happy St Nicholas day!

My dear son, all the best !

This blog exists thanks to you and the interesting discussions with you and your sister :)

Now, there is no problem on how you can share my small bloc-notes with recipes, when life will drive you away from me ... as I keep telling you, cooking is quality in life.

Enjoy the recipe that you asked as a cake for today
semolina pudding (halvas) and
your favorite dish as a surprise chicken curry.
(Lots of spices that represent the warmth and generosity of your heart)

Made with lots, lots of love
*kiss* Mum

French pear tart (Tarte bourdaloue ou tarte aux poires et frangipane)

My husband's favorite dessert is a french tart with pears and almond paste that in french is called "tarte aux poires et frangipane" or "tarte bourdaloue" or "tarte aux poires normande" as it's origon is Normandy in north of France.
I just made a great version of it and all family got excited ! As always, I will note it down in my blog to never miss it again :) As one thing is sure: I am going to make it again soon !
Here it goes...

Ingredients
Base: (or just buy the french short pastry called "pate sablee")
100 gr butter cut in small cubes
1 spoonful of sugar
1 cup of flour
a bit of salt
1 egg

Frangipan cream (almond paste):
80 gr of ground almonds
80 gr of sugar
80 gr soften butter
1 egg
1 spoonful of flour
vanilla or few drops of almond extract

a big can with pears in syrop

Procedure

Mix well the ingredients for the base to make a small ball and leave it in the fridge for about an hour.

Take it out of the fridge and roll the pastry in a round dish for tarts to cover all the base and a bit the surroundings.

Preheat the oven at 175 degrees of Celsius and fan.

Beat well the ingredients for the frangipan cream and empty it on the pastry.

Put evenly the half pears on top and press a bit to the frangipan. Decorate if you wish with some sliced almonds.

Bake for 30min and let it cool down before serving.
Optionally, you can warm a bit of honey and jam and brush the pears to make them look shiny.

To hubby with love !!!

Chocolate cake with mascarpone & nutella filling

Recently, I went to an italian restaurant and tried a cake that had some kind of nutella filling and I just loved it! Who can resist to Nutella anyway? If I add that it had also mascarpone, the same cheese that we use for my favorite Tiramisu, then you can imagine the rest ;)
Useless to say, that I searched immediately to find such a recipe and reproduce it at home :)
You know me, I cannot resist to deserts...
I dedicate this recipe, that I chose from all the stuff that I have found on the web, to my son's class and their teacher who is fan of my blog (I am honored) as I imagine that they would like it a lot and it's easy to prepare. Here it goes:

Ingredients

For the chocolate cake:
3 eggs
150 gr sugar
150 gr flour
1 baking powder
3 spoon fulls of cocoa powder
100ml of warm milk
100ml of softened butter

For the filling
250gr mascarpone cheese
3-4 spoonfulls of Nutella

Procedure

Beat well all the ingredients for the cake for a few minutes and bake at 180 degrees of Celsius for about 30 min.

Let the cake cool, transfer to another dish and cut it horizontally in order to get 2 layers of cake.
Beat well the cheese with the Nutella to become fluffy and spread it in the bottom layer of the cake and cover with the second. Decorate with icing sugar and put it in the fridge.

Just try it and let me know what do you think about it! In any case, enjoy!

Brownies

Here's a classic recipe that was missing from my blog, so here it is the recipe for ...
... BROWNIES! or at least something similar to it :)
In France, that I live, they call it "pave au chocolat", btw.
Anyway, it is delicious and kids love it, so get ready for baking and let's start!

Ingredients
For the cake:
250gr sugar
3 eggs
some vanilla
3dl of milk
300g flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
200g of melted butter that has coolen down
2 spoons of cocoa powder

For the frosting:
50g melted butter
200g icy sugar (or less, even better)
2 spoons of cocoa powder
4-5 spoons of strong black coffee (or milk instead, that is my case)

Procedure

Mix all the ingredients for about 5 minutes to end up with a nice soft dough.
Empty it in a rectangular dish (20x30cm would do) that you have previously buttered and bake in air at 180 degrees of Celsius for 25min.
Let it cool and them prepare the frosting by mixing once again all the ingredients well to end up with a nice thick paste.
Spread it on the top of the cake and let it harden once again.
You can decorate either with some coconut or whatever else.

Let me know what you think, once you have tried it or share your own version!

Ribbon cake as Easter cake!

Happy greek Easter even with a delay!
All the best to you and your families...

Heres my inspiration for a cake that I came up with, as this year for several issues I did not want to make a more fancy cake, as this Easter coincided with a bad anniversary...
You want to know more about it?
Let's call it the Ribbon cake!

I made an almond cake, and covered it with a white frosting.
I have melted 200gr of black chocolate and spread it in a baking sheet and put it in the fridge for a while to harden.
Once done, I have cut using a knife, several wide bands of the chocolate and "stick" them around the cake.
Important finishing touch the big satin ribbon to hold the chocolate bars.

Isn't it lovely? We have fallen in love with it :) You?
P.S: Btw, I managed to do easter cookies though.

Mosaic, recipe reminder!

Remember the recipe for mosaic? I have done it this weekend for my daughter that it's her favorite summer cake and I cannot describe you how much we love this classic recipe...
You have definitely to try it!

Improvement this time is that I have used a cute silicone mold that is great for this cake. No doubt I will continue to make in this one from now on :)

Banoffee pie, finally! (the almost easy way;)

If I ever had to make a top ten list with my favorite desserts, I would include on top my Tiramisu ;) and somewhere in the middle I would add the cheesecake, cannoli a la siciliana and of course the banoffee pie.
While I am trying to decide for the order, let's discover together a pie that is very popular and if you have never tried before, this is the moment to go ...
Banoffee stands for banana+toffee (caramel cream) and it's a pie that was invented or better evolved (as all recipes do) in the 70's, the period that all marvels have been born (like me :))))
There is lot's of discussion about what is the best way to do it on the web, especially concerning the toffee part that is called also "dulce con leche" or "confiture de lait" in french and you can get it even ready made at the supermarket! This is my favorite article that discusses about it.
Have I persuade you ? Let's go then!

Ingredients
Base:
100gr butter
250gr digestive biscuits, crushed
2 bananas, sliced
Toffee/caramel: (you can instead buy the ready-made one!)
100gr butter
100gr dark brown sugar
397gr can condensed milk (e.g., Nestle)
Topping:
300ml carton whipping cream (whipped)
cocoa powder to sprinkle
bananas to decorate (optional)

Procedure

Prepare the base mixing the crushed biscuits with the melted butter and spoon it in a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin, greased making a layer like for a cheesecake.
Add a layer on top with the banana slices and put it in the fridge.

Prepare the toffee the easy way by melting the butter in a non-stick large saucepan, add the sugar and stir to melt too. Pour in the milk and let it boil for a minute stirring all the time to become a thick caramel.
Spread on the base, let it chill and fridge for an hour.

Whip the cream and add it on top. Put it back to the fridge for several hours. When you want to serve it, sprinkle some cocoa powder and optionally decorate with some extra bananas.

I am sure that you will die for it!