i found the idea for this chocolate cake at chili and ciabatta. it is very rich but goes perfect with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. i made 3/5 of the original recipe (without the raspberries), which was enough for a baking pan of 22cm diameter. the chocolate i used was 63% cocoa – so the cake was very chocolatey. but since it can never be chocolatey enough i also glazed it with a little bit ganache made from cream, chocolate and butter before topping it with strawberries.
these cheesecakes are a favourite ever since i first made them. very easy (and quick!) – whenever i don’t know what to bring to a party i just bring them along. the recipe is adapted from the raspberry swirl cheesecakes at taste.com.au. (but i finally stopped calling them swirl cheesecakes since i never do the swirl part.)
ingredients:
- 10 finely ground oreo biscuits (including filling. any other biscuit will do as well, but it really tastes best with oreos)
- 20g butter, melted
- 50 g frozen raspberries, thawed
- 1 tsp icing sugar
- 375 g cream cheese
- 145 g sugar
- 3 eggs
- optional: lime zest, lime juice
preheat oven to 160°C. line a muffin pan with paper cases. mix ground oreos and butter, divide mixture among paper cases and press down well. bake for 5 minutes, then remove and cool.
mash the raspberries and strain through a sieve. discard seeds and stir in the icing sugar.
beat cream cheese until light and fluffy, then add sugar slowly, beating until combined. add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. (optionally add lime zest and lime juice – in this case adjust sugar to taste). pour cheese mixture over the biscuit bases, then place drops of the fruit puree on top of the cakes.
bake for 10-15 minutes until set. open oven door and allow cakes to cool completely in switched-off oven.
ps: i’m submitting these cheesecakes to the next round of cucina rapida.
pps: for the blueberry version, just use frozen blueberries instead of raspberry puree.
my favourite ways to eat strawberries: (1) as is (2) mashed with a bit sugar and sour cream. and now i have a third favourite (a bit similar to number two but with way more history):
ingredients:
- 140 ml whipping cream
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 350 g strawberries
- 20g meringues
wash and prepare strawberries, then cut in small pieces. sprinkle with sugar and set aside for a few minutes. crush meringues in little pieces, whip cream. fold strawberries and meringues carefully into the whipped cream. can be served immediately or chilled in the fridge until ready to use.
i have to admit that i first go.ogled “eaton mess”. but guess what? i am not nearly the only one. haha.
on our son’s birthday i wanted to make something to take to the kindergarden, and the constraint was to use no eggs – i don’t know if one of the kids is allergic, or if they fear salmonella infections… but banana muffins are a safe bet:
ingredients:
- 2 ripe bananas
- 200g flour
- 50g sliced almonds
- a pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 80 g sugar (brown)
- 200ml yoghurt
- 100ml sun flower oil
in one bowl, mix dry ingredients (except for the sugar). in another bowl, mash bananas, then mix in sugar, oil and yoghurt. stir flour mixture in banana mixture, then stir until the dry ingredients are moistened. spoon the batter into prepared muffin cups and bake at 175° for about 20 minutes.
i also sent along these cookies. i did not particularly like them, since i found them quite dry – which was the reason i decided to bake the muffins in the first place. but i was told that the kids really loved them. on the other hand, i guess they would eat just about anything as long as it is topped with m+m’s.
while making the cookies i noticed that i may have a light control-freak tendency: i ordered the m+m’s by color to make sure that the colors are evenly distributed on the cookies. and did you know that there are far more in green and brown than in any other color?
i jumped on the bandwagon and made Anikó’s kakaós csigák – hungarian chocolate rolls which were subject of numerous baking sessions (and almost as many enthusiastic praises) in german foodblogs. yeast pastry with chocolate is not common in germany – unfortunately, i have to say after trying these. i think the key to their deliciousness is to douse them with a lot of hot milk and butter during baking time, which makes them super soft and fluffy. i changed the recipe only a tiny little bit by using fresh yeast instead of dry yeast.
Ingredients:
dough
- 20g fresh yeast
- 500g flour
- 50g soft butter
- 300 ml lukewarm milk
- 1 egg yolk
- 4 tsp sugar plus a pinch
- 1 pinch of salt
filling
- 4 tsp cocoa powder
- 8 tsp powdered sugar
to douse
- 150 ml milk
- 50g butter
first pour flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl, make a well in the middle and cut butter around it. crumble yeast into the well, add a pinch of sugar and enough milk to cover the yeast. stir a few times, then cover it with a dish towel and let the sponge rise for about 15 minutes.
add remaining milk and the egg yolk, then knead the dough for a few minutes until it comes together (it is a bit sticky, you may want to use a bit less milk first, then add by the tablespoon). cover the dough again and let it rise until the volume is doubled – this took about an hour. in the meantime mix icing sugar and cocoa for the filling. preheat oven to 175°C.
knead again a few times, then roll it out to a large rectangle.
cover with the filling and roll it up, starting from the long edge.
then cut in slices, approximately 3cm wide.
transfer the slices into a baking pan and bake at 175°C for 15 minutes. meanwhile heat the extra 150ml milk and melt the butter in it. pour the mixture over the rolls and bake for another 15 minutes.
my baking pan was a bit large, ideally they should cuddle up closely together after baking. anyway, they were divine.
ps: the hungarians are really serious about their kakaós csigák – there is an entire web site devoted to testing them: We Love Kakaóscsiga
this tarte has almonds in the crust and almonds sprinkled on top of it. i’m undecided if i like the crust better than the last one, since it was a tad dry. but it worked very well with the lemon filling (which was not as tart this time).
Ingredients:
crust
- 75g flour
- 25g ground almonds
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 40g chilled butter, cut into pieces
- 1 teaspoon cold water, more if needed
filling
- 2 eggs
- 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp freshly grated lemon zest
- 80g sugar
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 20g sliced almonds
- icing sugar
mix together flour, almonds, sugar and salt. using a pastry cutter, cut the chilled butter into the flour until only a few pea-sized pieces of butter remain visible. sprinkle water over the mixture and toss until it holds together. press dough over bottom and up sides of a 18cm-diameter baking pan. freeze for about 20 minutes until the crust is firm.
combine eggs and sugar in a heavy saucepan and whisk. mix in lemon juice and zest. whisk over medium-high heat until the mixture becomes thick and almost boils (about 5-7 minutes). remove from heat and whisk in butter.
preheat oven to 200°C and bake crust for about 15 minutes, until golden. (you may want to do the complete blind-baking thing, but it worked for me also without the beans)
reduce oven temperature to 175°C. spread filling in the crust and sprinkle the almonds over. bake for about 20 minutes, until the almonds start turning golden brown and the filling is set. sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.
the tarte was made in a 18cm-diameter baking pan (to be more precise: in the 18cm-diameter lid of my glassware pot), and so i’m submitting it to the blog event kleine kuchen (small cakes) by low budget cooking.
we do eat muesli a lot, almost every morning. still i had never thought about making it on my own until i stumbled upon the toasted nutty cranberry granola from shutterbean. it’s very easy to make and the crunchy flakes are great. i will need to tweak it a bit though as i find it a tad salty, also the nuts may need a bit more toasting. looks like a second batch tonight…
i love rice pudding, but i don’t like stirring all the time to prevent the rice from sticking at the bottom of the pan, as it is often the case when you make the rice pudding with milk. here is a stick-free version:
Ingredients:
- 1 mango
- 1 tsp runny honey
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- lemon thyme
- 200g short-grain rice
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 15-20g vanilla sugar (to taste)
- one can (400ml) coconut milk
peal and cut the mango, marinate it in honey, lemon juice and a little bit of lemon thyme. cook rice and salt in water for 10 minutes. strain the rice, put it back into the pot. add cinnamon stick, vanilla sugar and coconut milk. cook over low heat for another 10-15 minutes (stirring only occasionally), until the rice reaches your desired consistency/creaminess – i like it if the grain is still a bit firm inside, as in risotto.
we eat this as a quick lunch, or as dessert, it can also add to any brunch buffet. actually, you can eat it at any time of the day. and by the way, can you spot our table decoration?
“i don’t have any eggs, but i want to bake cake!” – in such cases it is a good idea to check for cakes at vegan yum yum. i ended up with the apple pie coffee cake, modified it a bit here and there (added almonds and actually de-veganized it by using dairy products instead of soy milk …) and here is my version:
Ingredients:
apple filling
- 800g apples
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp butter
- 100ml orange juice + 3 tbsp
- 2 tsp corn starch
batter
- 200g flour
- 60g ground almonds
- 130g sugar
- 1.5 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 50ml plain yoghurt
- 70ml heavy cream
- 60ml milk
- 100ml sun flower oil
for sprinkling
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
to prepare the filling, peel, core and chop the apples. sprinkle with sugar and set aside for a few minutes. in a large pan melt butter and slowly cook the apples in it for about 10 minutes. lid should be covered. then add orange juice (i guess apple juice would be better, but i didn’t have any at hand) and boil for about 2 minutes. mix corn starch with 2-3 tbsp cold orange juice, stir in and boil again for 1-2 minutes. the filling should thicken now and can be set aside.
for the batter mix in a large bowl flour, ground almonds, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and sea salt. in another bowl mix plain yoghurt, heavy cream and milk (at whatever ratio of this ingredients your fridge allows, of course you may also want to switch to the vegan original by using soy milk) and sun flower oil. pour over the flour mix and stir a few times. spread a bit more than half of the batter in a greased sprinform tin (mine is 26cm in diameter), spread apple filling on top of it, then spoon remaining batter on top of the cake, the apple filling should still be visible though.
mix sugar and cinammon and sprinkle on the cake, bake at 175° for 30 minutes, reduce heat to 160° and bake for 10 minutes, then reduce to 150° and bake for another ten minutes. (this was how it worked for me, but check for instructions on baking time also the original recipe.)
the cake just vanished during one afternoon coffee… and of course it is always a good idea to visit vegan yum yum, also without lacking any ingredients.
these swirls/rolls are made like this: in a large bowl mix 300g flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 35g sugar. make a well in the middle. crumble 20g fresh yeast into the well, sprinkle a knife tip of sugar on it and disolve the yeast in 150ml lukewarm milk. let it stand for a few minutes, until the yeast-milk-mix becomes bubbly. add 70g cold butter, cut in smaller chunks. knead well until the dough comes together nicely. cover with a dish towel and let it rise on a warm place for at least 30 minutes. meanwhile prepare the filling: chop 30g of pistachios, grate one large apple. mix together with 3tbsp ground almonds, 2tbsp sugar and 3tbsp creme fraiche. when the dough is risen, knead again for a few minutes and then roll it out to a rectangle (approximately 25 x 45 cm). brush with 3tbsp of melted butter. then spread the filling on it. roll it up and cut in slices (about 3cm wide). put the rolls on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, cover again with a towel and let them rise for another 30 minutes. brush with 1tbsp melted butter mixed with 1 tbsp milk (which i used) or 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tbsp milk. bake at 180° for 20 minutes or until golden brown. i like these rolls especially because they are very fluffy, and the filling is moist and not to sweet.
this is a sumbission to bread baking day, an event created by zorra and hosted this month at tangerine’s kitchen.