Apple Bread

I really love this recipe, even though it still needs some tweaking. It is a real bread, and is wonderful for breakfast with butter and/or jam.

Ingredients:

1 9x5 inch bread loaf pan

some grease

some breadcrumbs or flour

750 g apples (coarsely grated)

150 g brown sugar

600 g flour (see comments)

3 leveled teaspoons of baking powder

100 g raisins

100 g hazelnuts 

Preparation:

1. Grease a cake pan, sprinkle with breadcrumbs or flour.

2. Mix flour, baking powder and brown sugar, then stir in the apples.

2. Add raisins and hazelnuts.

3. Bake at 375F for about 75 min or until the toothpick comes out clean.

Comments:

1. The recipe calls for peeled apples, I used both peeled and unpeeled apples, and it not any different to me.

2. I am still tweaking the amount of flour, which I think depends on the moisture in the apples. The original recipe calls for 500 g; that was clearly not enough, the cake was too moist. So I've increased the amount of flour last time, which worked better. I didn't measure the amount, though. I’d say one needs so much flour in it that it takes some stirring to coat the flour with the moist apples.

3. You can certainly increase the amount of raisins and hazelnuts; last time  I didn’t even measure, I just poured them in. You can also exchange the dried fruits and nuts for others (e.g. cranberries and walnuts).

4. The dough is very heavy. If you don't have a loaf pan you can probably just bake it as a loaf on a baking sheet.

5. I also tried the recipe with Trader Joe's gluten-free flour, which worked surprisingly well!

Photo to follow later

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

some grease for the baking pan (I used a bundt cake pan for this)
some flour or breadcrumbs for the baking pan

Batter:
300 g carrots
300 g wheat flour
1 pinch of salt
2 leveled teaspoons baking powder
1 leveled teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
175 g brown sugar
200 g oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 pinch ground cloves
150 g chopped walnuts
100 g raisins

Frosting:
200 g powdered sugar
30 g sour cream

Preparation:
1. Peel and grate carrots.
2. Preheat oven to 180°C (350 F). Grease baking pan, then cover baking pan with flour or breadcrumbs to make it easier to remove cake after baking
3. Mix flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl, then add eggs, vanilla, spices, brown sugar and oil and mix into a smooth batter. Add grated carrots, chopped walnuts and raisins. Pour batter into the greased pan and bake at 180°C (350 F) for 60 min or until a toothpick comes out clean.
4. Remove cake from oven, let cool down for 10 minutes, then remove cake from pan and let cool down fully.
5. Prepare frosting: mix powdered sugar and sour cream until frosting is very stiff. Glaze cake with the frosting.

Comments:
1. I used pumpkin spice mix instead, which worked great.
2. You don't have to use a fancy mixer for this cake, just stir it with a wooden spoon, the batter is rather liquid.

 

 

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.