Quick Plum Cake

This plum cake recipe is one of many. The most traditional plum cake is a yeast dough with plum topping, but this one with the cake batter is very juicy and moist. It goes well with plums that contain not too much juice.

Ingredients:

One deep baking sheet

Some grease

Cake batter:

150 g butter or margarine (1 stick)

150 g sugar (113 g)

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

1 pinch of salt

3 eggs

300 g flour (225 g)

2 leveled teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons milk

Filling:

1.5 kg (3 pounds) plums

Topping:

100 g butter (1stick)

100 g sugar (113 g)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

150 g flour (175 g)

Preparation:

1. Wash plums, remove pit and cut into quarters or eights. Grease baking sheet. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350F).

2. Using an electric hand mixer beat butter and sugar until foamy. Add vanilla sugar or vanilla aroma and salt. Add one egg at a time mixing each egg into 30s per egg. In a separate bowl mix flour and baking powder. Add flour mixture to cake batter alternating with milk.

3. Spread cake batter evenly on greased baking sheet. Put plums on top.

4. For the topping, beat all ingredients until crumbles have formed. Spread crumbles on tp of cake.

5. Bake cake at 180 degrees Celsius (350F) for about 50 min or until toothpick comes out clean.

6. Remove cake from oven, let cool, then serve.

Egg sunny-side up Cake (Spiegeleierkuchen)

This cake is another children's favorite. It usually uses canned apricots halves, but I am trying out fresh apricots on one half of the cake because they are currently in season. This cake has four layers: a regular cake batter on the bottom, a cheesecake-like layer with vanilla custard or pudding, sour cream and yoghurt, apricot halves and a clear glaze. Because of its appearance as an egg sunny-side up this cake is known as Spiegeleierkuchen (fried egg cake).

Ingredients:

Baking sheet (deep) or two 9x13" Pyrex dishes

Some grease

Cake batter:

150 g butter or margarine (1 stick)

150 g sugar (113 g)

3 eggs

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

1 pinch of salt

300 g flour (225 g)

2 leveled teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons milk

Cheesecake topping:

2 packages 'cook and serve' JELL-O vanilla flavor (or 2 packages Dr. Oetker Vanilla Pudding powder) - (enough for 1 quart or 1 liter milk)

750 ml milk (3 cups)

80 g sugar (when using Dr. Oetker Vanilla Pudding powder, JELL-O is sweetened already)

2 cans apricot halves (or one can and about 15 fresh apricots)

250 g Crème fraîche or sour cream

250 g fat free Greek Yoghurt (Fage or Chobani brand)

For the glaze:

250 ml (2 cups) liquid (liquid from canned apricots filled up with water)

50 g sugar (optional, when using water, not syrup or juice)

1 package Dr. Oetker clear cake glaze (see comments how to make it)

1. For the cheesecake topping cook vanilla pudding according to the instructions using 80 g of sugar when pudding mix is unsweetened and only 750 ml milk (instead of 1 liter or 4 cups) to make it a little thicker. Let pudding cool, stirring occasionally to prevent a milk skin to form.

2. Grease baking sheet and preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

3. Drain canned apricots and collect juice. If using fresh fruit, wash apricots, cut them in half and remove pit.

4. Fold Crème fraîche or sour cream and yoghurt under pudding. Don't stir the mixture too much or it'll become too liquid.

5. Using an electric hand mixer beat butter or margarine until fluffy. Mix in sugar, vanilla sugar or aroma and salt. Add 1 egg at a time and mix on for about 1/2 minute per egg.

6. In a separate bowl mix flour and baking powder. Add flour mixture in two portions to batter alternating with milk.

7. Spread batter on baking sheet. Add cheesecake topping and spread evenly. Put apricot halves with the round side facing up on top leaving some space between the apricots.

8. Bake cake for about 35 min or until toothpick comes out clean at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

9. Remove cake from oven and let cool.

10. For the glaze, heat up 500 ml liquid (juice from canned apricots filled up to 500 ml with water) until boiling. Stir in clear cake glaze mix and coat cooled cake. Let glazed cake cool until glaze has solidified, then cut a d serve cake.

Comments:

1. To prevent a milk skin on the pudding/custard place some plastic wrap directly on top of the surface.

2. I used light sour cream instead of Crème fraîche and fat-free Greek Yoghurt. The original recipe uses 500 g Crème fraîche. Exchanging some of the Crème fraîche for fat-free yoghurt makes this cake a lot lighter, less greasy. Sour cream is also less fatty compared to Crème fraîche, but bears a risk of curdling when baking.

3. The fresh apricots worked great. I was concerned they might become too tart during baking, but not at all!

4. To make your own glaze use the following recipe:

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon potato starch
2 tablespoons sugar
250 ml water, fruit juice or water mixed with some fruit syrup
Preparation:
Mix 1 tablespoon potato starch with 2 tablespoons sugar and a few tablespoons water until no clumps remain and sugar is dissolved. Boil remaining water or juice. While stirring slowly add starch mixture. Let boil for another 1/2 minute while stirring. Immediately pour glaze over cake. Let cool until glaze has solidified.
The glaze becomes clear when potato starch is used, with corn starch the glaze isn't clear. Using fruit juice or the syrup canned or jarred fruits are stored in will add some color and taste to the glaze. 

Giraffe Cake

This cake makes a great and healthier birthday cake for a child. Because it uses buttermilk in the batter and the filling it is also a refreshing summer cake. The original recipe uses buttermilk with lemon flavor, which is a German thing, so I modified that recipe using regular buttermilk and lemon juice in the cake batter and JELL-O instant pudding and pie filling with lemon flavor and regular buttermilk for the filling.

Ingredients:

Springform (26 cm or 10 inches in diameter)

Parchment paper

Grease

Cake batter:

4 eggs

150 g sugar

125 ml (1/2 cup) buttermilk (lemon flavor if available)

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

150 ml (3/5 cup) vegetable oil (sunflower or canola)

Juice from one lemon

250 g flour

3 leveled teaspoons baking powder

1 leveled teaspoon baking soda

3 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

1 drop food coloring yellow (optional)

Filling:

375 ml (1.5 cups) buttermilk (lemon flavor if available)

75 g sugar (JELL-O mix contains sugar, so I left it out)

200 g (1/2 pint) cold whipping cream

1 package (3.5 oz) JELL-O instant pudding and pie filling lemon flavor (alternativ: Paradiescreme Zitrone or 1/2 package gelatin and juice of a lemon, see comments below)

Preparation:

1. Grease springform bottom and put down parchment paper. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350F).

2. Whisk eggs until foamy, add sugar and beat until sugar is dissolved. Add buttermilk, vanilla sugar or aroma, vegetable oil and beat batter for additional 2 minutes. If using regular buttermilk and lemon juice, add the lemon juice last, so the buttermilk won't curdle.

3. In a medium bowl mix flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add to flour mixture to batter and mix well.

4. Divide batter in half (I divided it into 2/3 and 1/3). Add a drop of yellow food coloring to one half (2/3) and the sifted cocoa powder to the other half (1/3).

5. Pour yellow cake batter into springform, and level. With a spoon put down brown batter in large splotches.

6. Bake cake at 180 degrees Celsius (350F) for 35 min or until toothpick come out clean. Remove cake from oven and let cool for 10 min on a rack. Remove springform edge, and flip cake upside down onto another piece of parchment paper. Remove springform bottom, flip cake back on rack and let fully cool.

7. Cut cake once horizontally in half. Transfer top half onto a plate. Flip bottom half and remove parchment paper from bottom. Flip bottom half again and put onto springform bottom. Assemble springform edge.

8. Prepare the filling: Whip whipping cream until stiff (you should be able to hold the bowl upside down without the cream sliding out). Whisk buttermilk and JELL-O instant pudding and pie filling lemon flavor  for about 2 min. Fold whipped cream under lemon filling, and pour filling on top of cake bottom half, level filling, then add the top cake half. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Comments:

1. Instead of using buttermilk with lemon flavor I used plain buttermilk and the juice of one lemon. Make sure to add the lemon juice after the vegetable oil, so the buttermilk won't curdle.

2. Because my stomach revolts when I see artificial colors I left out the yellow food coloring. I don't think it is necessary to get the image across although for a kid's birthday it might be a good idea to add the coloring to make the cake more giraffe-like in resemblance.

3. The original recipe uses 4 leveled teaspoons baking powder. From muffin baking I've learned that acidic ingredients like lemon juice and buttermilk require baking soda to properly rise. Hence, I used 3 teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon baking soda.

4. The original filling uses lemon buttermilk and gelatin. I used the instant pudding and pie filling with lemon flavor instead. This contains starch instead of gelatin and is suitable for vegetarians. Paradiescreme Zitrone can be used as an alternative for this mix. If neither is available and use of gelatin is not a problem I'd do the following: Add 1/2 package of gelatin, one tablespoon of water and juice of one lemon to stove-top pot. Let sit for 5 min. Slowly heat gelatin and stir until fully dissolved. Mix two tablespoons of buttermilk with gelatin, then pour gelatin mixture into buttermilk and whisk for about 2 min until stiffening. Fold in whipped cream.

5. This cake can easily be varied: If you use plain buttermilk and no lemon you could easily fill the cake with a chocolate or vanilla cream, or really any flavor you and your kid like.

Buttermilk-Blueberry Bread

I really like baking muffins with buttermilk for a low-fat, low calorie snack, but muffins are small, and breads that I baked with buttermilk have never turned out very well. But I didn't want to give up, and decided to try this recipe. The original recipe uses apricots (see comments), but I love blueberry muffins and tried this recipe with fresh blueberries instead. I am sure one can use any type of fresh fruit with this cake.

Ingredients:

Bread baking pan

Some grease

2 eggs

100 ml buttermilk

75 g sugar

grated zest of one lemon

200 g flour

1 package vanilla pudding powder (cook and serve)

1 pinch of salt

1 tablespoon potato starch

2 leveled teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda (Natron)

200 g fresh fruit (blueberries)

50 g confectioner's sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preparation

1. Grease baking pan and preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350F).

2. Whisk eggs, buttermilk, lemon zest and sugar until foamy.

3. In a separate bowl combine flour, vanilla pudding powder, starch, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add liquid mixture to flour bowl and briefly mix until all dry components are moist.

4. Lastly, briefly stir in fresh fruit. Pour batter into greased pan and bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350F). After 10 min of baking cut cake in the middle about 1/2 inch or 1 cm deep. This will help the cake to rise properly and to form a nice crust. Bake cake for about another 40 min (total baking time should be around 50 min). Test if cake is done with a toothpick. If toothpick comes out clean, remove cake from oven, let stand for 5 min, then put baking pan upside down on a baking rack.

5. Mix powdered sugar with lemon juice and coat top of cake while still warm.

Comments:

1. Instead of pudding mix one can add a few drops of vanilla aroma and 30 g starch.

2. Buttermilk is quite sour. Thus, in addition of baking powder baking soda is added. The baking soda is important when baking with acidic ingredients such as buttermilk and lemon juice because baking powder is not working well with these agents.

3. The original recipe used 200 g fresh apricots and some leaves of lemon mint. The washed, padded dry and cut mint is added as the final ingredient to the egg mixture.

4. Cutting the cake after the initial 10 min of baking is important. Only then will the bread rise properly and form a nice crust.

Baileys-Coffee Bread

I really enjoy any type of sweet bread (Trockenkuchen), marble bread, lemon bread, hazelnut bread - you name it. Actually, my favorite birthday cake has always been marble bread, and I can recall the recipe from memory.

For most breads I use a basic recipe that gets just a little altered and adjusted for some of the additions. The core of the recipe is a 1:1:2 ratio of butter:sugar:flour, 3 eggs, 1 teaspoon baking powder and some milk. With this basic recipe you can make anything, the only limitation being your creativity.

When I was recently asked to bring a cake to a drink potluck I had the idea to use Baileys Irish Cream liquor in that cake as my "drink contribution". I had made Baileys muffins in the past, but never a bread, so I wasn't quite sure how it would turn out. However, it was so good I decided to make it again for this blog. In addition to Baileys I also added instant coffee, ground walnuts and chocolate chips. All these ingredients blend very well, the chocolate cuts a little of the coffee taste, and the walnuts and Baileys contribute to a well-rounded aroma.

Ingredients:

one Pyrex form (9x5 inches) (Kastenform 22x13 cm)

some grease

100 g butter or margarine

100 g sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons instant coffee

50 g ground nuts (walnuts or hazelnuts)

200 g flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons Baileys Irish liquor (or milk)

some chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Topping

some confectioner's sugar

Preparation

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

2. Beat butter or margarine with an electric hand mixer until soft and creamy. In three portions add sugar, mixing until the sugar is well blended. Mix in eggs, one at a time, for about 1/2 minute per egg. Add instant coffee and ground nuts, and mix well.

3. In a separate bowl mix flour and baking powder. In four portions add flour-baking powder mixture to batter and mix well, add Baileys or milk. The dough has to fall heavily from a spoon. If the dough is too moist, it'll run off the spoon, if the dough is not moist enough, it won't fall down at all. Two tablespoons of liquid should be just right, but depending on the type of flour used more or less liquid might be needed.

4. Lastly, add chocolate chips, mix briefly, and pour batter into greased baking pan.

5. Bake at 350 F until toothpick comes out clean (about 50 min). Remove cake from oven, let cool for a few minutes, then remove cake from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

6. Sift some confectioner's sugar on top and serve.

Apricot-Cream-Merengue

So, this week is another merengue cake. The original recipe uses rhubarb, but because I very recently made a cake with the combination of rhubarb and merengue, I decided to try fresh apricots instead.

Ingredients:

28 cm or 11- inch springform

Some grease

Crust:

200 g wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

100 g butter (1 stick)

75 g sugar

1-2 tablespoons milk

Optional: 1 egg

Filling:

500 g - 1 kg fruit (1-2 pounds)

3 egg yolks

50 g sugar

40 g potato starch

200 g whipping cream

Topping:

3 egg whites

120 g confectioner's sugar

Preparation:

1. In a medium bowl mix flour and baking powder. Add remaining ingredients for crust and knead with the knead hooks of an electric mixer until a dough has formed. Using your hands quickly shape dough into a ball and refrigerate covered with plastic wrap for about 30 min.

2. Prepare fruit:

Canned fruits: Drain well

Fresh fruit: Wash and drain well, core and/or cut into smaller pieces

For this recipe I used fresh apricots. I poured boiling water over them, then skinned and halved them.

3. Grease bottom of springform, preheat oven to about 175 degrees Celsius (330 F). Take about one half of the dough and roll on bottom of springform. Take the second half of the crust dough and form a long roll. Line the edge of the springform with the roll of dough and using you fingers form an edge about 3 cm (1.5 inches) high.

4. Lay fruit on top of crust dough on springform bottom.

5. Prepare filling: Using an electric mixer briefly mix all ingredients, then pour over fruit.

6. Bake cake for about 45 min or until cream mixture has been properly baked.

7. In the meantime prepare the topping: Beat egg whites with an electric hand mixer until stiff. Slowly add confectioner's sugar and keep beating until the merengue is almost stiff. Add merengue on top of cake and bake until merengue has turned light golden in color.

Comments:

1. Again, I prepared the crust without an egg, but used two rather than 1 tablespoon milk. It works well without the egg, the dough doesn't crumble as easily, and can be used immediately, no chilling required.

2. The original recipe uses rhubarb, but because I very recently made a rhubarb merengue I used fresh apricots in this recipe. I am sure any type of fruit can be used, but for canned fruit make sure to drain them well. Because the merengue topping is rather sweet tart fruits like rhubarb, gooseberries, red currants and others will work well.

Poppy Seed Tart

This is a very classical German tart, but was never made in my family because my dad, the baker in our family, doesn't like poppy seeds. So I thought I'd give it a try.

Ingredients:

9 inch (26 cm) springform

Some grease

Parchment paper

Crust:

200 g wheat flour

1 leveled teaspoon baking powder

100 g sugar

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

1 pinch of salt

1 egg (optional)

1 tablespoon milk

100 g butter or margarine (1 stick)

Filling:

750 ml (3 cups) milk

125 g butter

150 g semolina flour

150 g poppy seeds

150 g sugar

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

125 g Quark or Greek yoghurt (Fage or Chobani brand)

1 egg (optional)

50 g almond flour

50 g raisins

2 tablespoons rum

Decoration:

Some confectioner's sugar

1. For the crust: Mix flour and baking powder in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients for crust and mix with an electric hand mixer (knead hooks) until a dough has formed. Shape into a ball with hands, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 min.

2. In the meantime prepare the filling: Bring milk and butter in a stovetop pot to a boil. Mix semolina flour and poppy seeds in a bowl. Remove pot with milk from stovetop and stir in semolina-poppy seed mixture. Let cool for 10 min.

3. Grease bottom of springform. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

4. Roll one half of the dough onto springform bottom. Take the remaining half of dough, form a long rod, and line the edge of the springform. Flatten rod and form an edge of about 3 cm (1.5 inches).

5. Mix sugar, vanilla sugar or aroma, yoghurt, egg, almond flour, raisins and rum with poppy seed mixture. Add mixture to springform and bake for about 1 h. (Put springform on parchment paper because sometimes fat can leak out from the springform).

6. Let cake cool on a rack, remove the springform edge, and sprinkle some confectioner's sugar on top.

Comments:

1. With some people suffering from egg allergies I stopped using eggs in these types of pie crusts. Also, without the egg no chilling of the dough is necessary.

2. Regular or ground poppy seeds can be used in this recipe.

3. To add a little twist, a pear can be added to the filling: Peel and core pear, use a cheese grater to grate pear, then add to poppy seed mixture after boiling.

4. I only used half of the butter the recipe requests for the filling, and I consider leaving it out entirely next time.