Wake-me-up Cake or the True Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

9x11 inch (30x40 cm) Pyrex dish or deep baking sheet

Some grease

A bowl with a lid

Batter:

100 g (1 stick) butter or margarine

150 g all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

100 g powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

100 g hazelnut flour

2 eggs

125 ml very strong coffee

Decoration:

50 g powdered sugar

50 g semi-sweet chocolate

Preparation:

1. Prepare a very strong coffee.

2. Grease Pyrex dish. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

3. Melt butter or margarine in a microwave-safe dish or stovetop pot. Pour melted fat into a bowl and let cool down a bit.

4. Add all remaining ingredients into the bowl, close the lid and shake the bowl until all ingredients are well blended. Alternatively, you can mix the ingredients with a wooden cooking spoon.

5. Pour batter into Pyrex dish or deep baking sheet and bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

6. Remove cake from oven and let cool down. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top of cake, and decorate with melted chocolate.

Comments:

1. Coffee: I prepared a strong drip coffee, but you can certainly use instant coffee.

2. The original recipe calls for hazelnut flour. I didn't have hazelnut flour, and used almond flour instead. Walnut flour will be another good substitute for the hazelnut flour.

3. The coffee flavor is surprisingly weak. Next time, I might add some instant coffee to the batter to increase the coffee flavor.

Madeleines

This is a French specialty, but I love these sweet, little treats, so I couldn't resist making them.

Ingredients:

Madeleine pan

Some grease

125 g (1 stick) butter

100 g sugar

4 eggs

Zest from one lemon

125 g all-purpose flour

1 leveled teaspoon baking powder

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F). Melt butter at low heat in a stovetop pot. Remove from heat to cool down.

2. Whisk eggs until foaming lightly. Add sugar and lemon zest and whisk further.

3. While whisking slowly pour in melted butter.

4. Lastly, mix flour and baking powder and sift on top of batter. Whisk until flour has been taken up into the mixture.

5. Grease Madeleine pan, add batter into wells (1-2 teaspoons depending on the size, each well should be filled to about 2/3).

6. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) until done and golden on top (about 15 minutes)

Quick Beesting Cake

I've prepared a Beesting cake in 2013, but this version is easier and faster. While the original Beesting cake is a yeast dough filled with a custard-buttercream, this one is prepared from a yellow cake catter and filled with a quick custard.

Ingredients:

One springform (26 - 28 cm or 10 - 11 inches in diameter)

Some grease

A small stovetop pot

Cake batter:

150 g all-purpose flour

2 leveled teaspoons baking powder

125 g sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 package vanilla sugar

150 g (1.5 sticks) butter or margarine

4 eggs

Topping:

50 g (1/2 stick) butter

40 g sugar

3 tablespoons whipping cream (remove from cream for filling)

1 teaspoon honey

100 g slivered almonds

Filling:

1 small package JELL-O vanilla (no cook) or 1 package Paradiescreme vanilla

400 g (1 pint) whipping cream 

Preparation:

1. Grease springform bottom. Preheat oven to 180°C (350 F).

2. Prepare topping: Melt butter, sugar, honey and whipping cream in a small stovetop pot. Bring to a brief boil, then stir in the almond slices. Let mixture cool down stirring occasionally.

3. Prepare batter: Mix flour and baking powder in a bowl. Add all remaining ingredients and whisk with an electric hand mixer for about 2 minutes until batter is smooth. Pour batter into springform and spread evenly.

4. Bake cake for about 20 minutes at 180°C (350 F). Remove cake from oven, then spread almond topping evenly on top of the cake. Bake for another 15 minutes.

5. Remove cake from oven, take off springform edge. Let cake cool down. Cut cake horizontally in half. Cut top half into 12-16 slices.

6. Prepare filling: instead of using milk prepare filling with a little less than 400 g whipping cream. Spread cream evenly on bottom half of the cake. Put almond slices on top and slightly push into the cream filling. Chill cake until ready to be served.

Chocolate Granola Squares

Ingredients:

9x13 inch (30x40 cm) Pyrex dish or deep baking sheet

Some grease

For the batter:

125 g (1stick) butter or margarine

75 g sour cream or creme fraiche

100 g sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 package vanilla sugar

1 pinch salt

3 eggs

180 g all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

20 g cocoa powder, unsweetened

For the topping:

75 g all-purpose flour

50 g sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 package vanilla sugar

75 g sour cream or creme fraiche

150 g granola

Preparation:

1. Add butter or margarine and sour cream to a bowl and whisk until soft and smooth. Whisk in sugar, vanilla extract or sugar and salt. Add one egg at a time and mix for about 30s per egg.

2. Mix flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and sift into batter. Whisk until ingredients are well blended.

3. Pour batter into Pyrex dish and spread evenly. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

4. Prepare topping: Mix flour, sugar, vanilla and sour cream and whisk briefly. Stir in granola and spread topping evenly on top of cake batter.

5. Bake cake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) for about 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

6. Remove cake from oven, let cool before serving.

Sour Cream Cookies

These cookies are very fast to prepare, and one can either make them sweet or savory. Just make sure to read the comments because I'd tweak the recipe next time!

Ingredients:

Baking sheet

Parchment paper

150 g all-purpose flour

100 g (1 stick) butter

75 g Creme fraiche or sour cream

Some cinnamon sugar

Topping:

2 tablespoon milk

25 g cinnamon sugar

Preparation:

1. Sift flour into a bowl, add butter and sour cream. Using an electric hand mixer whisk ingredients until well combined.

2. Flour a surface, the knead dough quickly and shape two long rods (1 inch or 2.5 cm diameter). Roll rods in cinnamon sugar, wrap into plastic wrap, and chill overnight in refrigerator.

3. Cut 1/2 cm or 1/5 inch slices and put on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush cookies with milk, then sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top.

4. Bake cookies at 200 degrees Celsius (375 F) for about 12 minutes.

5. Remove cookies from oven, let cool and serve.

Comments:

1. These cookies are not sweet at all. To make them sweet I'd add 50 g sugar to the batter. I decided to glaze them with powdered sugar to give them some taste.

2. For a savory version I'd add some herbs and salt (optional) to the batter and sprinkle cheese on top.