Margarita Cake

Summertime is cocktail time, don't you agree? Why always drink the cocktail if you can also eat it (on top of drinking it)?

Ingredients:
1 9x13 inch (30x40cm) Pyrex dish or deep baking dish
Some grease
Bowl with lid

For the batter:
250 g all-purpose wheat flour
3 leveled teaspoons baking powder
150 g sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest from one (organic) lemon or 1/2 teaspoon dried lemon zest
4 eggs
125 ml vegetable oil
125 ml sparkling lemonade

For the topping:
500 g Greek Yoghurt (I prefer the Fage brand)
250 g Greek Yoghurt lemon
125 ml (1/2 cup) Tequila
100 g powdered sugar
300 g whipping cream
1 package gelatin

For decorating the cake:
200 g whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar (or powdered sugar and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1-2 tablespoons Cointreau (optional)
1 can mandarin oranges
Some leaves of lemon mint (optional)

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350F). Grease Pyrex dish or deep baking dish.
2. Mix flour and baking powder and sift into a bowl. Add sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest and mix, then add eggs, oil and lemonade. Close the bowl with the lid, and shake the bowl for about 30 seconds, so all ingredients are mixed. Using a wooden cooking spoon or a whisk mix the batter again, making sure that dry ingredients collected around the edges of the bowl are mixed in, too.
3. Spread batter evenly in baking dish, and bake cake for about 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (350F). Remove cake from oven and let cool down.
4.  Add gelatin with a tablespoon of whipping cream to a stovetop pot. Let sit for 10 min, then gently heat up and stir until gelatin has dissolved.
5. Stir Greek yoghurt, lemon yoghurt, tequila and sugar in a bowl, add gelatin and stir into yoghurt mixture. Chill yoghurt mixture.
6. When the yoghurt mixture starts to form a gel, whip cream until stiff, and carefully fold cream into the yoghurt mixture. Spread topping over the cooled cake and chill for at least 2 hours.
7. Decorate the cake: Drain mandarin oranges. Whip cream with sugar, vanilla stiff. Briefly mix in Cointreau. Fill piping bag with cream and decorate cake with it. Add a slice of mandarin orange and a mint leave to each piece.

Comments:
1. I didn't have Cointreau, so I left it out. I also didn't have any lemon mint leaves, but I am sure they will add a nice color to the cake.
2. I thought this cake was great, especially the cream on top! While the tequila taste was quite strong in the freshly prepared cream and became more subtle when served the day after.

Hazelnut Cake with a Granola Topping

This cake is a  fairly healthy cake, loaded with hazelnuts and applesauce, and easy to prepare.

Ingredients:
1 9x13 inch (30x40 cm) Pyrex dish or deep baking dish
Some grease

For the batter:
250 g all-purpose flour
3 leveled teaspoons baking powder
125 g sugar
200 g ground hazelnuts
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
250 g soft butter or margarine
4 eggs
50 ml milk

For the topping:
350 g applesauce
200 g granola

For the glaze:
100 g apple jelly
1 tablespoon water

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350F). Grease Pyrex dish or deep baking dish.
2. Mix flour and baking powder, then sift into a bowl. Add remaining ingredients for the batter and using an electric hand mixer whisk everything until the batter is smooth (about 2 minutes).
3. Spread batter evenly into baking dish, then cover batter evenly with applesauce. Sprinkle granola on top, and bake cake at 180 degrees Celsius (350F) for about 25 minutes.
4. Remove cake from oven, and let cool down. Briefly bring apple jelly and water to a boil, and apply liquid glaze with a cake brush.

Serving suggestions:
Serve cake with freshly whipped cream.

Comments:
1. The cake is very nutty. If you like hazelnuts, you'll love this cake. If you don't like hazelnuts, stay away.
2. A suggestion made in the recipe book is to make the batter with rum instead of milk.

Redwine-Chocolate Brownies

Ever craved chocolate and red wine? Then this cake might be the perfect combination for you.
 
Ingredients:
9x13 inch (40x30 cm) Pyrex or other deep baking dish
some grease
 
100 g semisweet chocolate
250 g (2 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
250 g all-purpose wheat flour
10 g unsweetened cocoa powder
3 leveled teaspoons baking powder
125 g sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
100 ml red wine
150 g semisweet chocolate chips

to soak the cake:
125 ml (1/2 cup) red wine

for the glaze
200 g semisweet chocolate
1 tablepoon heavy whipping cream, half and half or vegetable oil

Preparation:
1. Grease baking dish and preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350F).
2. Melt butter or margarine in a bowl. Melt chocolate over a water bath.
3. Sift flour into a bowl. Add cocoa, baking powder, sugar, vanilla extract, eggs, red wine, melted butter and melted chocolate. Using an electric hand mixer whisk all ingredients until a smooth batter has formed. Fold in chocolate chips, then pour batter into greased baking dish.
4. Bake cake for about 20-25 min at 180 degrees Celsius (350F) or until toothpick comes out clean.
5. Remove cake from oven, then soak cake evenly with red wine, let cake fully cool down.
6. Melt chocolate over a water bath at low heat. Add 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream or half and half (I prefer those over oil), spread chocolate evenly over cake.
7. Using a baking comb decorate cake by making a pattern in the chocolate cake. Serve when chocolate has fully cooled down.

Classic Yoghurt Cream Cake

Ingredients:

One springform (28 cm or 11 inches in diameter)

Parchment paper 

Stovetop pot

Batter

100 g all-purpose flour 

25 g starch

3 leveled teaspoons baking powder 

125 g sugar 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 pinch of salt 

3 eggs

125 g (1 stick) butter or margarine 

Filling

1 can mandarine oranges or sliced peaches

500 g Greek yogurt (Fage or Chobani brands)

400 g whipping cream

1 satchel gelatine 

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350F). Line springform bottom with parchment paper.

2. In a bowl mix flour, starch, baking powder, then add all remaining ingredients for the batter. Whisk everything with an electric hand mixer until a smooth batter has formed.

3. Spread batter evenly in springform and bake for about 25 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (350F).

4. Remove cake from oven, carefully remove springform edge (use a knife if necessary), and let cake cool down on parchment paper on a rack.

5. In the meantime, drain mandarine oranges, collect the juice. Set aside 12-16 slices of mandarine oranges (for as many pieces as you want).

6. Take 100 ml (1/3 cup) of the mandarine oranges' juice, put in a stovetop pot and add Gelatine powder. Carefully heat the juice and stir until gelatine has dissolved. Add 2 tablespoons of Greek yogurt and stir. Then add the mixture into the remaining Greek yogurt and briefly blend.

7. Pour the whipping cream into a bowl and whisk cream until stiff.

8. Add mandarine oranges to Greek yogurt, then carefully fold in the whipped cream.

9. Flip cooled cake upside down, remove parchment paper, and cut cake once horizontally.

10. Add filling on top of one cake half, spread evenly, then carefully place the second cake half on top.

11. Chill cake for about 3 h or overnight prior to serving. Sprinkle cake with powdered sugar just before serving. Decorate with slices of mandarine oranges.

Lemon Cake with strawberries

Ingredients:

Deep baking dish or Pyrex dish (30x40 cm or 9x13 inches)

Some grease

For the batter:

100 g (1 stick) butter or margarine 

100 g sugar 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 pinch of salt 

4 eggs 

300 g flour 

3 leveld teaspoons baking powder 

Juice and peel from one lemon

75 ml (1/4 cup) milk

1 pound strawberries

Some powdered sugar

Preparation:

1. Wash strawberries, drain excess water (e.g. put them on a paper towel), remove core, then cut them into halves or quarters depending on their size.

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

3. Using an electric hand mixer blend butter until smooth, add sugar, vanilla extract and salt and whisk until sugar isn't crunchy any longer. Add eggs, one at a time, and whisk for about 1/2 minute per egg.

4. Mix flour and baking powder, sift, and add in two portions to the batter. Alternate with milk if the batter gets too heavy.

5. Add lemon juice and lemon peel, then spread batter into greased baking form. Add strawberries on top of the batter.

6. Bake cake at 180 degrees Celsius (350F) for about 1 h or until toothpick comes out clean.

7. Remove cake from oven let cool, the sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Chocolate Cake

This cake uses semisweet chocolate and a little instant coffee giving it a nice balanced, not to sweet chocolate taste.

Ingredients:

Springform (26 or 28 cm in diameter, 10 or 11 inches)

Some grease

For the batter:

300 g semisweet chocolate 

4 egg whites 

1 pinch of salt 

250 g (2 sticks) very soft butter

100 g sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 package vanilla sugar 

4 egg yolks

1 teaspoon instant coffee powder 

125 g all-purpose flour

Preparation:

1. Melt chocolate in a bowl over hot water. Grease springform. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius (340 F).

2. Separate eggs. Using an electric hand mixer who's egg whites and salt until very stiff peaks appear.

3. Whisk butter until smooth, add the sugar and keep whisking until you can no longer hear the crunch from the sugar. Add vanilla extract or vanilla sugar. Mix in egg yolks, one at a time.add coffee powder and melted chocolate, and whisk until batter is smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl. Soft flour into batter and mix. Lastly, carefully fold in egg whites.

4. Pour batter into greased springform, then bake cake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean at 170 degrees Celsius (340 F).

5. Remove cake from oven, let cool down before serving.

Comments:

1. This cake is terrific when lukewarm and served with freshly whipped cream.

2. You can also serve this cake with warm cherries and freshly whipped cream.

Eggnogg Cake

This cake doesn't have to made around Christmas time, it's great all year round. For this cake I buy alcoholic eggnogg like Verpoorten, a famous Dutch eggnogg, but a cheaper one such as Pennsylvania Dutch will work, too. I've never made this cake with alcohol-free eggnog, but I don't think it will make a difference.

Ingredients:

Gugelhupfform 

Grease

Some flour 

For the batter:

125 g all-purpose flour

125 g starch

4 leveled teaspoon baking powder

200 g powdered sugar 

2 packages vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

250 ml vegetable oil 

250 ml eggnogg 

5 eggs 

1. Grease and flour Gugelhupfform. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350F).

2. Mix flour and starch in a large bowl. Add all remaining ingredients and mix everything using an electric hand mixer for at least 1 minute. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl during mixing the batter.

3. Pour batter into Gugelhupfform and bake cake for about 1 h at 180 degrees Celsius (350F) or until toothpick comes out clean.

4. Remove cake from oven, let cake cool down in Gugelhupfform for about 10 minutes. Flip form upside down, the cake should readily slide out. Dust cake with powdered sugar before serving.

Comments:

1. If you don't own a Gugelhupfform you can use a 9x13 inch Pyrex dish or 28 cm Springform. ( I haven't tried that, so you may have to test whether those sizes wor or if the cake rises too high and the amount used for the recipe needs to be scaled down or split into two baking forms).

2. If you don't want to use alcoholic eggnogg you can use alcohol-free eggnogg, again something I haven't tried yet, but I don't see why it shouldn't work.

Apricot-Cashew Cake

Ingredients:

For the batter:

250 g (2 sticks) of butter

150 g sugar 

5 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 package vanilla sugar 

1 pinch of salt 

350 g all-purpose flour

2 leveled teaspoons baking powder 

100 g cashew nuts 

500 g (1 pound) fresh apricots or 1 can apricots

For the topping:

100 ml apricot liquor 

200 ml whipping cream

1 Greek yogurt vanilla 

50 ml apricot liquor 

Preparation:

1. Prepare apricots: Cut fresh apricots in half, remove pit, the dice apricot halves. For canned apricots, drain the juice, the dice apricot halves.

2. Remove 24 cashews, then chop the remaining cashews. Grease baking form and preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

3. Using an electric hand mixer whisk butter until smooth. Add sugar, vanilla extract or sugar and salt. Whisk until sugar does no longer crunch. Add eggs, one at a time, and whisk for at least 1/2 minute per egg.

4. Mix all-purpose flour and baking powder. Sift mixture into a new bowl, then add flour in two portions into batter.

5. Spread batter evenly in baking dish. Sprinkle apricot and cashew pieces over the batter. Bake cake for about 30 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

6. Remove cake from oven. Brush the hot cake with apricot liquor, then let cake cool down and cut into pieces.

7. Whip cream until fully stiff. Mix yoghurt and apricot liquor. Fold whipped cream into yoghurt. Fill piping bag with yoghurt mixture and decorate each piece of the cake with some cream, then add a cashew on top.

Comments:

1. I didn't have any apricot liquor, so I mixed a little apricot jam with vodka. Since vodka is very neutral it takes on the taste of the apricots. Alternatively, if you use canned apricots you can use the apricot juice.

2. Make sure to use a very dry Greek yogurt. Any additional liquid will turn the whipped cream liquid. Also, avoid overmixing the yoghurt when adding the liquor or when folding in the whipped cream.

Orange-Almond Cake

Ingredients:

Springform (8 inch in diameter) or 8x8 inches Pyrex dish

Some grease

Stovetop pot

For the batter:

75 g (1/2 cup or 125 ml) plain breadcrumbs

110 g (1 cup or 250 ml) powdered sugar

110 g (1 cup or 250 ml) almond flour 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

190 ml (3/4 cup) vegetable oil 

4 eggs

1 orange (organic and unwaxed)

1 lemon (organic and unwaxed)

For the citrus syrup:

Juice of 1 orange

Juice of 1 lemon

30 g (1/3 cup or 80 ml) powdered sugar 

1 cinnamon stick

2 cloves

2 cardamom pods 

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F). Grease bottom of springform or Pyrex dish.

2. Zest the lemon and the orange.

3. In a bowl combine breadcrumbs, powdered sugar, almond flour and baking powder, then mix.

4. In a separate bowl combine eggs and oil and whisk.

5. Pour the egg-oil mixture into the bowl containing the dry ingredients. Add orange and lemon zest and briefly mix everything together with a wooden spoon. Pour batter into the springform or Pyrex dish and bake for about 30 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

6. In the meantime, combine the juice from the orange and lemon, the powdered sugar, cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamom pods in a stovetop pot. Briefly bring to a boil, then let simmer for 3 minutes. Remove the spices from the syrup.

7. Remove cake from oven when done (toothpick comes out clean). Spoon the hot syrup over the hot cake, repeat until the cake has absorbed all of the syrup.

8. Let cake fully cool down, remove from springform. Serve cake with a spoon of Greek yogurt.

Chocolate-Peppermint Cream Roll

Ingredients:

Deep baking sheet 

Parchment paper

For the sponge cake batter:

3 eggs

3 tablespoons hot water

150 g sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla sugar or 1 package vanilla sugar 

100 g all-purpose wheat flour 

25 g starch (potato)

25 g cocoa powder 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

For the filling:

400 g (1 pint) heavy whipping cream

1 package Andes peppermint chocolate mints

Decoration:

1-2 chocolate mints or some chocolate shavings 

Some mint leaves

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius (375 F).

2. Whisk eggs and hot water on highest setting for about 1 minute using an electric hand mixer. Add vanilla sugar or extract, then slowly pour in sugar while whisking. After adding the sugar keep whisking for another 2 minutes. Mix flour, starch, baking powder and cocoa; sift mixtures and add in three portions to batter, briefly mix in on lowest setting.

3. Line baking sheet with parchment paper, fold parchment paper around edges if necessary. Spread batter on parchment paper. Bake batter at 200 degrees Celsius (375 F) for about 10 minutes.

4. In the meantime, sprinkle some sugar on top of a kitchen towel. Immediately after removing sponge cake from oven place cake upside down on kitchen towel, remove parchment paper from back and roll up the sponge cake starting from the longer side. Let cool down rolled up.

5. Prepare filling: in a stovetop pot warm up the whipping cream and melt the peppermint chocolate mints in it. When chocolate is fully melted chill cream in refrigerator until cold.

6. Whip cream until stiff (you should be able to tilt the bowl or even put it upside down without the cream to slide out).

7. Carefully open the chocolate sponge roll. Use 2/3 of the cream to fill the chocolate sponge, then roll up again. Put about 3 tablespoons of the cream and set aside. Spread the remaining cream over the top of the sponge roll. Decorate the roll with the remaining cream using a piping bag. Sprinkle some chocolate shavings over top, decorate with some mint leaves.

8. Chill cream roll for at least three hours prior to serving.

Comments:

1. Traditionally one would use "After Eight" thin mints. Since I had a hard time finding this I used Andes thin mints instead.

2. I usually use potato starch for baking, but this time I used corn starch. I'm not sure if I hesitated for too long after removing the cake from the oven, if the oven wasn't at the right temperature, or if it was the cornstarch, but the roll broke twice when I was rolling it up. That hasn't happened to me so far, so I'm not yet sure what caused it.

Snowcake (Schneetorte or Kirschbaiser)

The original recipe for this cake uses a filling of gooseberries; however, I've never seen gooseberries in the US, so I used sour cherries instead. Although I don't know where the name comes from I can imagine the following explanation: The cake contains a yellow cake batter, which is overlayed with an airy and light meringue layer. The meringue is fluffy and crunchy like snow, so I could imagine that this is why the cake is named snowcake.

Ingredients:

2 Springformboden

Some grease

For the meringue:

3 egg whites

150 g sugar 

For the cake batter:

75 g (3/4 stick) butter or margarine 

75 g sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 package vanilla sugar 

1 pinch of salt 

3 egg yolks

100 g all-purpose wheat flour

1/2 leveled teaspoon baking powder

Topping:

75 g slivered almonds 

Filling:

1 jar sour cherries (Morello cherries from Trader Joe's)

1 package Vanilla JELL-O cook and serve or 1 package vanilla pudding powder

400 g whipping cream 

2 tablespoons sugar

Preparation:

1. Grease the bottom of the springform baking pans. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (or 350 F).

2. Prepare meringue: Whisk egg whites until stiff peaks appear. In portions, slowly whisk in sugar. You have to go so slowly that you're not destroying the structure of the egg whites.

3. Prepare batter: Whisk butter or margarine until smooth and soft. Add sugar and vanilla extract or vanilla sugar and salt and whisk until sugar has dissolved (no crunch noise). Whisk in egg yolks, one at a time. Mix flour and baking powder, sift and add in two portions to cake batter.

4. Divide cake batter in half and spread on springform bottoms. Now divide meringue and spread on top of cake batter, sprinkle almonds on top. Enclose springform bottoms with edge and bake each cake layer for about 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (or 350 F).

5. After removing cakes from oven immediately remove springform edge and let's cake layers cool down.

6. Prepare filling: Add cherries and juice to a stovetop pot. Add vanilla JELL-O cook and serve or vanilla pudding. While stirring bring to a boil, the remove from heat and let cool down. Whip cream with sugar until stiff.

7. Spread cooled cherry mixture on top of one cake layer, the spread whipped cream on top of cherries.

8. Cut the second cake layer into as many pieces as you want (usually 12-16). Put the pieces on top of the whipped cream. Chill cake for at least 1 h prior to serving.

Comments:

1. I only have a springform set with three different sizes. I used the large and the middle one for the cake layers. I spread the cherries and cream on top of the large sized bottom because whenever you try to assemble a cut layer on top of a cake you can never get the pieces so close together as an intact layer. So it turns out perfect with two different sized cake pans.

2. For a non traditional version you can certainly prepare this cake with other berries (raspberries or blueberries might go nicely).

Berliner (jelly-filled donuts)

This is a typical treat for Karneval (Mardi Gras) and Silvester (New Years Eve). But beware, if you buy a dozen Berliner one of them might be filled with mustard instead of jelly!

Ingredients:

For the yeast dough:

125 ml milk

100 g (3/4 stick) butter or margarine 

500 g all-purpose wheat flour 

1 package dry yeast

30 g sugar

1 package vanilla sugar or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 teaspoon rum or 1/4 teaspoon rum extract 

1 leveled teaspoon salt 

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

3 quarts of vegetable oil for frying 

A pot for frying 

For the filling:

300 g jam

For the glaze:

100 g powdered sugar

2 tablespoons eggnogg 

Preparation:

1. Heat milk in a small pot, dissolve butter or margarine in milk.

2. Mix flour and dry yeast in a large bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients for the dough including the milk-butter mixture. Using the knead hooks of an electric hand mixer whisk until a smooth dough has formed. Cover the bowl with the dough and let the yeast rise until the dough has visibly increased in size.

3. Dust dough with some flour, then briefly knead dough with hands. Roll dough out until about 2 cm (3/4 inch) thick. Using a round cookie cutter or a glass with a diameter of 7 cm (2.5 inches) for normal sized or 5 cm (2 inches) for bite-sized Berliner cut out round dough pieces.

4. Let dough pieces rise again: dust a towel with some flour, put the dough piece on floure surface, dust with flour, cover with a second towel. When dough has visibly increased in size, Berliner are ready to be fried.

5. Heat frying oil in a pot. To test whether the oil is hot enough put the end of a wooden cooking spoon into the oil. If the oil is hot bubbles will form around the end of the spoon. You can also use a thermometer to check that the temperature is 175 Celsius (350 F).

6. Fry dough from both sides until golden. It takes less than 2 minutes for each side. Remove Berliner from oil, put on paper towels to drain excess oil. Let cool down

7. Squeeze jam through a fine mesh to remove any chunks or pits. Using a piping bag with a long and narrow extension punch a hole into the side of the Berliner (if done correctly they have a lighter colored rim around the middle through which it is filled) squeeze a little jam into the middle of each Berliner.

8. Mix powdered sugar and eggnogg. Glaze each Berliner on top. Let glaze dry before serving.

Comments:

1. I like to prepare my yeast doughs the night before and let them slowly rise overnight. When you get up in the morning the dough is ready for the next step.

2. There are many variations on the glaze: You can dip the Berliner into regular sugar when they are still hot, you can prepare an alcohol-free glaze using water or lemon juice, and you can add food coloring to the glaze. Instead of using eggnogg with alcohol you can prepare the glaze with whiskey or bourbon. Decorate the Berliner with colored sprinkles or chocolate shavings. Be creative and have fun!

3. I used raspberry jam for the filling, but you can use any kind of jam. Strawberry and mixed fruits work well, but even plum jam or apple sauce can be used. Every variation will turn the rather boring basic dough into a new experience for your tastebuds!

Raisin Snail Buns

This is a very traditional baked goodie found in every German bakery. I remember having them for our afternoon coffee when my dad came home from work.

Ingredients:

Baking sheet 

Parchment paper 

For the yeast dough:

125 ml milk

100 g (3/4 stick) butter or margarine

500 g all-purpose flour

1 package dry yeast

50 g sugar

1 package vanilla sugar or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

2 eggs

For the filling:

125 g raisins

Rum

100 g marzipan (optional)

For the topping:

4 tablespoons apricot jam 

2 tablespoons water

100 g (1 cup) powdered sugar

1-2 tablespoons lemon juice 

Preparation:

1. A day ahead, cover raisins with rum. Soak them until the dough is ready.

2. Cut or grate marzipan. Heat milk in a small pot, dissolve butter or margarine in milk.

3. Mix flour and dry yeast in a large bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients for the dough including the milk-butter mixture. Using the knead hooks of an electric hand mixer whisk until a smooth dough has formed. Cover the bowl with the dough and let the yeast rise until the dough has visibly increased in size.

4. Drain raisins. Roll out the yeast dough to a rectangle about 60x40 cm (24x16 inches). Spread raisins and grated marzipan over dough. Starting from the long edge roll the dough up. Cut slices of about 2 cm (1/2-3/4) inches wide. Put the slices on parchment paper. Cover the slices with a towel and let buns rise again until increased in size.

5. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F). Bake yeast buns for about 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F). 

6. In the meantime prepare the topping: Squeeze apricot jam through a fine mesh. Add water to jam and heat until a syrup has formed.

7. Remove buns from oven. Glaze the hot buns with the apricot syrup. Let buns cool down.

8. Mix powdered sugar with lemon juice. Whisk with a fork until smooth and no clumps of powdered sugar remain. Using a fork drizzle some of the powdered sugar mix onto the glazed buns. 

Comments: 

1. I used more raisins, too much, bakeries have become quite stingy, but if you like raisins you can use more for the filling.

2. I prefer to prepare my yeast dough the night before, then let it slowly rise overnight. The next day you can immediately roll it out, fill it, make the buns, and let those rise again. Giving the yeast a long time to rise makes the dough light and fluffy.

Peach Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

A deep baking dish (40x30 cm or 9x13 inches)

Some grease

For the cake batter:

100 g semisweet chocolate

250 g (2 sticks) butter or margarine 

100 g sugar

6 egg yolks

300 g all-purpose wheat flour

3 leveled teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder 

6 egg yolks

For the topping:

2 cans peaches

Some powdered sugar

Preparation:

1. Chop the chocolate into pieces. Drain the peaches. Grease the baking dish. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350F).

2. Using an electric hand mixer until smooth. Add sugar and whisk until sugar has dissolved (no crunchy noise).

3. Separate eggs. Add one egg yolk at a time to the batter and whisk for 1/2 minute per egg. Mix flour and baking powder, sift, and add in three portions to batter. Add chocolate and cocoa powder to batter.

4. Whisk eggs until fully stiff. Fold stiff egg whites under batter. Pout batter into greased baking dish, level batter. Put peaches on top of batter.

5. Bake cake at 180 degrees Celsius (350F) for about 40 minutes.

6. Remove cake from oven, let cool down. Dust with powdered sugar prior to serving.

Comments:

1. In the original recipe the chocolate is melted, then stirred into the batter. No cocoa is added in the original recipe, but I wanted to enhance the chocolate flavor without adding more sweetness.

2. I used sliced peaches because I had them in my pantry. If you use peach halves it makes the cake look really pretty.

3. You can also use fresh peaches when they are in season: Put peaches for a couple of minutes into hot, but not boiling water, then cool down with cold water. Now the peaches can be easily skinned, cut in half and pitted. Now they are ready to be used.

Poppy Seed Yeast Bread (Mohnstriezel)

Ingredients:
Baking sheet
Parchment paper

For the yeast dough:
200 ml water
125 g (1 stick) butter or margarine
500 g all-purpose wheat flour
1 package active dry yeast
75 g sugar
1 package vanilla sugar or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling:
200 g poppy seeds
400 ml milk
1 package vanilla pudding or cook&serve JELL-O vanilla
100 ml milk
2 eggs (optional, I didn't use any)
75 g sugar (don't add when using JELL-O)
75 g Zwieback (I used unseasoned bread crumbs)

For the topping:
100 g all-purpose wheat flour
100 g sliced almonds
75 g sugar
100 g (1 stick) soft butter

4 tablespoons apricot jam
1 tablespoon water

100 g powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons water

Preparation:
1. Prepare the yeast dough: Heat water in a stove-top pot. Melt butter or margarine in hot water.
2. Mix flour and yeast in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and the water-butter mix. Using the knead hooks of an electric hand mixer mix the batter for about 5 minutes until a smooth dough has formed. Cover the bowl and let stand until the dough has visibly increased in size.
3. Prepare the filling: Heat poppy seeds in 400 ml milk until boiling, then remove pot from stove and let stand for 10 minutes. Mix vanilla pudding or JELL-O in 100 ml milk, add with eggs, and sugar to poppy seed and bring to a boil. Let mixture cool down, then add in the Zwieback or bread crumbs.
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).
5. Sprinkle yeast dough with flour, then knead on a lightly floured surface. Roll dough out to a rectangle of 16x12 inches (40x30cm).
6. Spread poppy seed filling onto flattened yeast dough, leave 1/2 inch (1 cm) room to the edge of the yeast dough. Roll dough up starting from one long edge, put roll with the seam facing up on parchment paper.
7. Prepare topping: Whisk flour, sugar, almonds and softened butter until crumbles of desired size have formed.
8. Brush some water over the yeast bread, then coat with crumbles. Make sure to press crumbles on.
9. Let yeast bread sit until it has again increased in size, the bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) for about 60 minutes.
10. Mix apricot jam with water, reduce on low heat until a little syrupy. Remove yeast bread from oven, and coat immediately with the apricot syrup. Let yeast bread cool down.
11. Mix powdered sugar and water. Only use as much water as needed to make a thick syrup. Drizzle mixture over yeast bread before serving.

Comments:
1. I prepared the yeast dough in the evening the night before, and left it at room temperature overnight, which worked great.
2. I didn't use any eggs in the mixture for the filling, and because I used JELL-O I didn't add any sugar because JELL-O is already sweetened.
3. I put a bowl with water in the oven, which increases the moisture and temperature in the oven. This cut the baking time to about 45 minutes.

Orange Fingers

Ingredients:

Baking sheet 

Parchment paper 

For the batter:

300 g soft butter

150 powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 package vanilla sugar 

1 pinch of salt 

1 teaspoon ground orange peel 

4 egg yolks 

300 g all-purpose flour 

3-4 tablespoons orange juice 

Filling:

100 g Nutella

and/or orange or apricot jam

100 g semisweet chocolate 

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350F). Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Using an electric hand mixer whisk butter until smooth. Add sugar, vanilla extract or vanilla sugar, salt, and orange peel. Whisk until batter is smooth.

3. Add egg yolks, one at a time. Whisk each egg yolk in for 30 seconds. Sift flour and add in two portions, alternating with the orange juice.

4. Add batter to a piping bag and squeeze fingers of 5 cm (2 inches) onto parchment paper. Bake cookies for about 8-10 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (350F).

5. Remove cookies from oven, remove with parchment paper from hot baking sheet, and let cool down.

6. Spread Nutella or jam on the flat side on one cookie, then add a second cookie with the flat side on top.

7. Melt semisweet chocolate, and dip cookies with one end into chocolate. Let cookies dry on parchment paper.

Coconut Mountains

These coconut cookies very much remind me of store bought coconut macaroons. Tasty, and very easy to make.

Ingredients:

Baking sheet

Parchment paper 

For the batter:

2 eggs

1 teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, ground coriander and ground cardamom (optional)

150 g sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 package vanilla sugar 

300 g shredded coconut 

Optional:

Semisweet chocolate for decorating 

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

2. Whisk eggs, spices, sugar and vanilla extract or vanilla sugar for 2 minutes on high with an electric hand mixer. Stir in shredded coconut on lower setting.

3. Using two teaspoons form little coconut mountains on parchment paper. Bake cookies for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

4. Remove cookies from oven, remove with parchment paper from baking sheet, and let cool on parchment paper.

5. Melt some semisweet chocolate and sprinkle some over the coconut mountains or glaze the bottom 1/3 with chocolate.

Cranberry Bar

I came across this recipe and was intrigued by its simplicity. So what could be better to start of 2015 with an easy recipe that uses seasonal cranberry sauce.

A Pyrex dish or deep baking dish (40x30 cm or 9x13 inches)

Some grease

Yeast dough:

125 ml milk

1 package dry yeast 

40 g sugar

Some vanilla extract 

A pinch of salt 

250 g all-purpose flour

Filling:

1 can of cranberry sauce (whole cranberries)

Custard:

500 ml milk

2 tablespoons sugar (don't add when using JELL-O)

1 package vanilla pudding powder or cook&serve JELL-O

100 g marzipan, finely grated

100 g slivered almonds 

Preparation:

1. Prepare yeast dough: Sift flour into a bowl. Heat milk until lukewarm, stir in sugar, salt, vanilla extract and yeast. Add milk to flour and stir until a dough has formed. Cover bowl and let sit in a warm place until dough has visibly risen.

2. Prepare custard: Prepare custard according to the manufacturer's instructions. Remove custard from oven, then stir in grated marzipan. Let custard cool down stirring occasionally to prevent a milk skin from forming.

3. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F). Grease baking dish. On a floured surface roll out yeast dough, then transfer to greased baking dish. Stretch dough into corners until the entire surface of the baking dish is covered.

4. Spread cranberry sauce on top of yeast dough. Then spread vanilla custard on top of cranberry sauce. Lastly, spread slivered almonds on top. Let cake rest for 15-20 minutes.

5. Bake cake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) for about 30 min. Remove cake from oven, cut into bars and serve.

Comments:

1. The original recipe uses "Preiselbeermarmelade", a kind of lingonberry jam. I've been substituting it in all recipes for cranberry because both are tart and sweet.

2. The original recipe adds an egg to the yeast dough and two eggs to the custard (stirred in after removing it from heat). To make this recipe suitable for people with allergies to eggs I did not use any eggs.

3. Don't get me wrong, it's tasty, but I think that I'd prefer it with a pastry dough instead of a yeast dough. It'll be more delicate.