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.