Poppy Seed Waves

This cake is a variation on the Danube Wave I made in 2013. It also is made with a German buttercreme, which is much lighter and less sweet than the American version.

Ingredients:

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

Some grease

For the batter:

150 g poppy seeds

250 ml milk

250 g all-purpose flour

3 leveled teaspoons baking powder

150 g sugar

4 eggs

150 g butter or margarine

150 g sour cream

For the topping:

3 tablespoons rum

1 package vanilla puddings (or JELL-O Cook and Serve)

4 tablespoons sugar (only for German pudding powder, JELL-O already contains sugar!)

500 ml milk

150 g soft butter (at room temperature)

150 g sour cream

Glaze:

200 g chocolate

1 tablespoon coconut or other vegetable oil

Preparation:

1. Add poppy seeds and milk to a stovetop pot. Bring to a boil while stirring, then let simmer or remove from heat until seeds have softened and the milk has evaporated.

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

3. Mix flour and baking powder, then sift into a bowl. Add all remaining ingredients except for the poppy seeds and using an electric hand mixer whisk until a smooth batter has formed. Lastly, stir in the poppy seeds.

4. Pour batter into Pyrex dish or baking sheet and bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) for about 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. While cake is still hot, soak cake with rum.

5. Prepare vanilla pudding according to the manufacturer's instructions. To prevent a milk skin from forming, put a sheet of plastic wrap directly on top of the pudding's surface. Do not refrigerate!

6. To prepare the buttercream make sure that butter and pudding are both at room temperature. If one of the two is too cold the butter will curdle, Whisk butter until soft. Slowly add pudding to butter, one tablespoon at a time. Make sure the pudding has been mixed in before adding another tablespoon. Lastly, stir in sour cream. Spread buttercream evenly on cake and chill for at least 30 minutes.

7. Chop chocolate, add oil and slowly melt chocolate in a bowl on top of boiling water. Spread chocolate on top of buttercream. Refrigerate cake until ready to be served.

Comments:

1. I use semisweet chocolate for the glaze. Preheat the knife with hot water to prevent the chocolate glaze from cracking!

Plumcake with a Cream Top

Plums are in season! Here's one twist on a plum cake.

9x13 inch Pyrex dish or deep baking sheet

Some grease

Cake batter:

4 eggs

200 g sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 package vanilla sugar

125 ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil

150 ml Orangina or some other sparkling lemony drink

250 g all-purpose flour

3 leveled teaspoons baking powder

Topping:

2 pounds of plums

1 pint whipping cream

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 pound Greek yoghurt (Fage or Chobani brand)

Some cinnamon-sugar for decoration

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F). Grease Pyrex dish or baking sheet.

2. Add eggs, sugar and vanilla extract or vanilla sugar into a bowl and whisk with an electric hand mixer for about 1 minute until fluffy. Stir in oil and Orangina.

3. Mix baking powder and flour, then sift into the batter and whisk until blended. Pour batter into Pyrex dish or baking sheet and bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) for about 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

4. Remove cake from oven and let cool down.

5. Prepare plums: Wash and pit plums, cut into pieces and add to a stovetop pot. Bring to a boil and let simmer until the plums are very soft. If the plums are not very juicy you may have to add some water. Also, add sugar and cinnamon to taste. When plums are soft, remove from stove and let cool down.

6. Whip cream with powdered sugar until stiff peaks appear. Fold the stiff cream into the Greek yoghurt.

7. Spread the plum mixture on top of the cake, then spread the cream layer on top. Chill overnight in refrigerator. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar before serving.

 

Comments:

1. To cut a little bit of sugar I used lemon-flavored sparkling water instead of Orangina.

2. I cooked the plums with a little water, but didn't add any extra sugar as they were very sweet.

Strawberry-Rice Pudding Cake

Great cake to use up some leftover rice pudding!

Ingredients:

9x13 inch (40x30 cm) Pyrex form or deep baking dish

Some grease

Pie Crust:

125 g all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

50 g almond flour

75 g sugar

2 tablespoons cold water

75 g butter or margarine

Topping:

500 g (1 pound) strawberries

Glaze:

250 ml (1 cup) water or apple juice

1 tablespoon sugar (if using water)

1 teaspoon arrowroot starch

Rice pudding topping:

225 g arborio rice

3-3.5 cups milk (750-825 ml)

25 g sugar

1/2 - 1 pint (400 g) whipping cream

Some powdered sugar

Decoration:

Extra strawberries

Chocolate shavings

Mint leaves

Preparation:

1. Prepare rice pudding: Add arborio rice, milk and sugar to a stovetop pot. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and let simmer until the milk has been completely absorbed by the rice, stirring occasionally.

2. Prepare pie crust: Preheat oven to 325 F (200 degrees Celsius). Mix flour and baking powder, then sift into a bowl. Add all remaining ingredients and using the knead hooks of an electric hand mixer blend until a smooth dough has formed. Add more flour if dough is sticky. Grease Pyrex form or deep baking dish. Flatten pie crust in baking dish. Using a fork punch several holes into the pie crust, then bake at 325 F (200 degrees Celsius) for 15 minutes.

3. Remove cake from oven, let cool down. Wash and clean strawberries, then cut in half and put on top of pie crust.

4. Prepare glaze: In a stovetop put bring water and sugar or apple juice, and arrowroot starch to a boil while stirring constantly. Remove liquid from stove, and brush strawberries with glaze.

5. Whip cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks are visible. Carefully fold rice pudding into the whipping cream, then spread on top of the strawberries. Refrigerate cake overnight.

6. Decorate cake with strawberries, chocolate and/or mint leaves before serving.

Comments:

1. For a vegetarian-friendly version I didn't use gelatin. To make the rice pudding topping thicker, dissolve gelatin in 2 tablespoons of water in a stovetop pot, let sit for 5 min, gently heat up to dissolve gelatin, then add two tablespoons whipping cream, pour gelatin-cream mix slowly into whipping cream and whip stiff.

2. I used arrowroot starch to prepare the glaze. You can also use "Tortenguss", a (in Germany) commercially available powder and prepare it according to the instructions.

Mocha-Cream filled hazelnut cake

A bundt cake (Gugelhupfform (Ø 18 cm)) form or a 9x13 inch Pyrex bread pan (Kastenform)

Some grease

Some all-purpose flour

Mocha Cream filling:

200 g whipping cream

50 g semisweet chocolate

2 TL Instant-Espressopowder, unsweetened

Cake batter:

100 g ground hazelnuts

100 g (1 stick) soft butter or margarine

100 g brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 package vanilla sugar

3 eggs

75 g all-purpose flour

2 leveled teaspoons baking powder

Decoration

100 g semisweet chocolate or

1/2 teaspoon Dutch processed cocoa powder

Preparation:

1. Mocha-Cream: Chop chocolate into pieces; in a stovetop pot melt chocolate pieces and Espressopowder in whipping cream. Chill chocolate cream at least 3 h, best overnight.

2. Roast ground hazelnuts in a coated pan without adding oil. Remove nuts from heat and let cool.

3. Grease bundt cake form, the coat with all-purpose flour. Preheat oven to 180°C (350 F).

4. Using an electric hand mixer whisk butter or margarine until smooth. Add sugar and vanilla extract or vanilla sugar and whisk until well blended. Whisk in eggs, one egg at a time, for about 1/2 minute per egg.

5. Mix flour and baking powder in a separate bowl; add flour mixture to cake batter and whisk until blended, then fold in nuts.

6. Pour batter into greased baking pan and bake at 180°C (350 F) for about 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

7. Remove cake from oven, let cool for 10 minutes in baking pan, then remove cake from pan and let cool down entirely.

8. Cut cakes twice: Cut the bundt cake diagonally or the bread-shaped cake horizontally. You need to have three cake pieces.

9. Whip mocha cream to stiff peaks. Spread 1/2 of mocha cream on bottom piece, then put middle cake layer on top of cream. Spread the remaining mocha cream on top of the middle cake layer, then put the top cake layer on top.

10. Dust cake with cocoa powder or coat with melted chocolate.

Comments:

1. Instead of hazelnuts toasted walnuts can also be used.