Hazelnut-Nutella-Cake

Ingredients:

Springform (9 inch or 24 cm in diameter)

Parchment paper

Sponge Cake:

3 eggs

100 g sugar

30 g flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

100 g ground hazelnuts

Filling:

Nutella

500 ml milk

1 package vanilla pudding powder or 1 package JELL-O vanilla pie filling

200 g whipping cream

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line springform bottom with parchment paper.

2. Using an electric hand mixer beat eggs until fluffy. Add sugar and beat until eggs start to stiffen. In a separate bowl mix flour and baking powder, add flour mixture to eggs and mix. Lastly, mix in ground hazelnuts, then pour batter into springform.

3. Bake sponge cake batter for about 25 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove cake from oven, let briefly cool, then remove springform edge. Let cake cool down entirely.

4. In the meantime, prepare pie filling or vanilla pudding/custard according to the instructions. If using cook-and-serve variety, let filling cool down.

5. Whip whipping cream and powdered sugar until whipping cream is stiff (you should be able to put the bowl upside down without the cream running out).

6. For the creme filling: Carefully fold whipped cream under 1/2 of the pie filling or pudding.

7. Cut the sponge cake once horizontally. Spread a thin layer of Nutella on the cut edge of the bottom piece. Add 1/2 of the prepared filling on top of the layer of Nutella. Put the top half of the sponge cake with the cut edge facing down on top. Spread the remaining amount of the creme filling (optional: set aside some for the cake decoration) on top of the cake. Decorate and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight, so the sponge cake becomes a little soft.

Comments:

1. If you use potato starch instead of wheat flour the sponge cake will be gluten-free.

Apple-Wine-Cake (Apfelweinkuchen)

This is a fall favorite. No further comment needed.

Ingredients:

Baking sheet or one 9x11 inch (30x40 cm) Pyrex form

Some grease

Baking frame or aluminum foil when using a baking sheet

Pie crust:

300 g wheat flour

50 g potato starch

1 leveled teaspoon baking powder

150 g sugar

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

1 pinch of salt

2 eggs (optional, can be exchanged for 60 ml or two tablespoons milk)

150 g (1 stick) butter or margarine

Topping:

2 kg or 4 lb apples

Juice from one lemon

4.6 oz package vanilla cook and serve JELL-O

(or alternatively: 3 packages Dr. Oetker vanilla pudding powder and 150 g of sugar)

2 packages vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

500 ml apple juice (2 cups)

375 ml white wine (1/2 bottle)

Glaze:

375 ml white wine (1/2 bottle)

300 ml apple juice

50 g sugar

50 g potato starch

3 tablespoons arrowroot starch

(or instead of the starches: 3 packages Tortenguss klar/cake glaze clear)

Preparation:

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

2. Prepare pie crust: Mix flour, starch and baking powder in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and use the knead hooks of an electric hand mixer to form a dough. Shape into a rod. Roll dough flat on baking sheet or Pyrex form. Pierce pie crust with a fork multiple times. If using a baking sheet put a baking frame of the size of the sheet around or use aluminum foil to build a frame.

3. Pre-bake pie crust for 15 min at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

4. Prepare apple topping: Peel and core apples, cut into small pieces, and cover with lemon juice to prevent the apples from turning brown.

5. In a stovetop pot, mix apple juice, wine and pudding powder. Bring mixture to a boil while constantly stirring. When liquid thickens, remove pot from stove, and stir in apples. Pour apple mix on top of pre-baked pie crust, level, then bake for another 40 min.

6. Remove cake from oven and let cool down.

7. Prepare glaze: In a stovetop pot, mix apple juice and wine. Remove three tablespoons of that liquid and stir in the starches. Bring wine-juice mixture to a boil while constantly stirring. Remove from heat and stir in the dissolved starches. When liquid thickens, pour over apple layer and level. Let glaze cool down the refrigerate cake.

8. Before serving, carefully remove baking frame from cake, cut into pieces and serve.

Comments:

1. Pie crust: I used milk instead of the eggs because the crust is less crumbly and doesn't need to be refrigerated before rolled out. However, I think that next time I would not pre-bake the crust, or if then only for 5 minutes, because it got very hard over the remaining baking time.

Well, a day later, the pie crust was nice and soft, so or wasn't bad at all, just needed an extra day.

2. Apple topping: Because the vanilla cook and serve JELL-O I used already contains sugar I left out the additional sugar asked for in the recipe. I used Gala apples because they are my favorite kind, but the original recipe calls for apples that are a little on the tart side (e.g. Elstar).

3. Glaze: Tortenguss mainly contains starch and sugar, so it can easily be made using potato starch and/or arrowroot starch. Cornstarch can be used, too, but the glaze will appear milky and not clear.

4. Garnish the cake with chopped almond pieces or some whipped cream.

5. To make an alcohol-free version of this cake, exchange the wine for apple juice, and leave out the additional sugar.

Katzenzungen (cat tongue cookies)

Katzenzungen have a particular shape, similar to cat tongues, hence their name. I've only had them from solid chocolate, never as cookies. However, because the recipe does not require any eggs I decided to try it out.

Ingredients:

Baking sheet

Parchment paper

Some grease

For the cake batter:

50 g Nutella or some other hazelnut-nougat creme

125 g butter or margarine (1 stick)

60 g powdered sugar

Some vanilla aroma

A pinch of salt

130 g flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 package caramel pudding powder (Dr. Oetker Gala Karamell or butterscotch JELL-O)

1 tablespoon milk

For the decoration:

100 g semisweet chocolate

1 tablespoon sunflower or coconut oil

Preparation:

1. Grease baking sheet and line with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius (375 F).

2. Using an electric hand mixer blend Nutella and butter or margarine. Sift powdered sugar and add to batter. Add vanilla aroma and salt to batter.

3. Mix flour, baking powder and pudding powder, and add in two portions to batter. Mix in milk last.

4. Add batter to a piping bag with a flat hole opening about 1/3 inch in diameter (Ø 8 mm). Squeeze batter an stripes of about 2-3 inches long "Katzenzungenform" (Länge etwa 6 cm) on baking sheet.

5. Bake at 200 degrees Celsius (375 F) for about 8 min. Remove cookies from oven, and let fully cool on baking sheet.

6. Melt semisweet chocolate and oil at low heat in microwave or in a bowl over hot water. Dip one half of the cookies into chocolate, and put on parchment paper until chocolate is dry.

Comments:

1. I didn't have the correct flat hole opening adaptor for the piping back, so I used a star-shaped one of the correct size. With this one, though, the cat tongues looked just wrong, so I decided to make S-shaped cookies instead.

2. In contrast to Dr. Oetker Gala Karamell pudding the butterscotch JELL-O contains sugar, so you might want to decrease the amount of powdered sugar by 1/3 or 1/2.

Gluten-free German Style Cheesecake

At the beginning of the year I made a crustless German style cheesecake. However, because that recipe calls for semolina flour the previously posted cheesecake wasn't gluten-free. To accommodate people with gluten sensitivity or Zeliacs disease I altered the recipe. Instead of the semolina flour I used ricotta cheese, and because I used full-fat ricotta cheese I left out the stick of butter. The ricotta cheese gives this cake the grainy texture the semolina flour usually adds. The raisins are optional, and can be exchanged for canned mandarin oranges - just make sure they are drained very well.

Ingredients:

Springform (12 inches or 28 cm in diameter)

Some grease

4 eggs

200 g sugar

Juice of a lemon

300 g or 2/3 lb ricotta cheese (I used regular, not fat-free)

700 g Greek Yoghurt (Fage or Chobani brand) or 500 g yoghurt and 200 g sour cream for a richer cake

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons gluten-free flour

Some raisins (to taste)

Preparation:

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

2. Separate eggs. Beat egg whites until fully stiff.

3. In a separate bowl mix egg yolks, sugar and lemon juice. Add gluten-free flour and baking powder. Lastly, stir in ricotta cheese, Greek Yoghurt, and raisins.

4. Carefully fold in egg whites. Pour batter into springform and bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

Comments:

This cake turned out very soft, and doesn't look as good as the previous one because the surface cracked while cooling down, so this recipe might need some more tweaking. It could be that the additional fat contributed by the stick of butter is essential to prevent the cake surface from cracking during the cooling process. Adding another tablespoon potato starch or gluten-free flour might also help.

Nutty Triangles (Nussecken)

This is another treat you can find in many German bakeries. Nutty triangles come in many variations, e.g. nut flour or with whole hazelnuts on top, with all corners dipped in chocolate or all edges covered with chocolate.

The recipe presented here today is a recipe by a family friend. It is easy and quick to prepare. Because of the richness from the nuts, nutty triangles are a great afternoon treat in the fall.

Ingredients:

Baking sheet

Some grease

Some extra flour

Parchment paper

Pastry dough

125 g soft butter or margarine or 1 stick

125 g sugar

250 g flour

1 egg

2 packages vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

1 leveled teaspoon baking powder

Topping:

400 g nut flour

4 eggs

200 g sugar

Decoration:

Baking chocolate that melts

Preparation:

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

2. Prepare pastry dough: Combine flour and baking powder in a bowl. Add butter or margarine, sugar, vanilla sugar or vanilla aroma and egg. Using the knead hooks of an electric hand mixer to form a dough. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill for about 30 min in refrigerator.

3. Prepare topping: In another bowl mix eggs and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in nut flour.

4. Grease a baking sheet. Remove pastry dough from refrigerator, place on baking sheet and roll out flat using a rolling pin. If the dough is sticky sprinkle some extra flour on top while rolling it out flat.

5. Pour nut mixture on top of pastry dough, and spread evenly.

6. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) for about 25 min. The surface of the nut mixture should be light golden in color.

7. Remove from oven and let cool a bit. While the pastry is still warm, cut squares of equal size, the cut the squares in half, so you have two triangles from each square. Let pastry fully cool down.

8. Melt chocolate in a microwave or in a bowl over hot water. Dip the edges of the long side of the triangle into the chocolate, let extra chocolate drip of and place on parchment paper. When the chocolate has dried the nutty triangles are ready to be served.

Comments:

1. Nuts: Nutty triangles are traditionally made with hazelnuts because these are the cheapest nuts in Germany. However, because my parents have a walnut tree in the garden we've been making them from walnuts instead. It's a different nut flavor. I've never tried making them from peanuts or pecan nuts, but I don't see why it shouldn't work. The flavor will be different, though. Since I am a big fan of almonds I am wondering what they'd taste like made with almonds. Another thing I need to try out in the future.

2. Nutty triangles can be prepared ahead of time. They can be stored in a cookie box for weeks, well. If they last that long...

3. I cut the squares about 6 x 6 cm (a little more than 2 x 2 inches), then cut them in half for the triangles. I like this smaller size a lot. They look like little pralines, very decorative on a buffet table or when you're having a party, and it's a great size for kids. In German bakeries these are more than twice the size than mine, so that is more a full meal than a snack.

4. As I had pointed out there are many variations of this. Here are some:

For people who have an egg allergy: Exchange the egg in the pastry dough for a 1-2 tablespoons of milk or water. Instead of using eggs in the topping, use butter.

Some recipes put a thin layer (3 tablespoons) of jam (apricot) on top of the pastry dough before putting down the nut mixture. This will make the triangles a little more moist, but alters the flavor.

Instead of using nut flour you can use shredded coconut, and make coconut triangles.

Apple Cake (Apfelkuchen sehr fein)

This is yet another traditional German Apple cake. It can easily be prepared ahead of time. Elstar apples are most often used for this cake, but they are a little difficult to find in the US. However, any crisp apple on the sweeter side (e.g. Gala, Golden Delicious) works great at well.

Ingredients:

Springform (26 cm or 11 inches in diameter)

Some grease

Topping:

750 g apples (about four medium-sized)

25 g (1/2 tablespoon) butter

40 g raisins

Glaze:

2 tablespoons apricot jam

1 tablespoon water

Cake Batter:

125 g (1 stick) butter or margarine

125 g (113 g) sugar

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

1 pinch of salt

3 eggs

200 g flour

2 leveled teaspoons baking powder

1-2 tablespoons milk

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease bottom of springform.

2. Peel apples, cut into quarters and remove core. Cut outside of apples lengthwise several times without fully cutting through!

3. Using an electric hand mixer beat butter or margarine until soft. Add sugar, vanilla sugar or vanilla aroma, and salt while stirring until well mixed.

4. Add one egg at a time, and mix each egg into batter for about 1/2 minute. In a separate bowl mix 

flour and baking powder, then add flour mixture in two portions to cake batter, alternating with milk. Pour cake batter into springform and level. Put apples in circles on top of batter. Melt 1/2 tablespoon butter in microwave or stovetop pot, brush butter on top of apples. Sprinkle raisins over cake.

5. Bake cake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

6. Squeeze apricot jam through a fine mesh, mix with water, and while stirring bring to a boil. Brush apricot-water mix over cake immediately after baking.

7. Remove springform edge, and let cake cool on springform bottom on a cooling rack.

Comments:

1. This cake can be prepared 1-2 days ahead of time, and even better, this cake can also be frozen, so you can always have a cake ready in minutes when guests unexpectedly make a visit.

2. You don't have to add raisins, this cake also works really well without.

3. Some people like to sprinkle some cinnamon over the apples before baking.

4. I used Gala apples, but other apples work well, too. I would use a crisp and sweet apple, though, nothing tart like Granny Smith. If you use sour apples it'll alter the taste of this cake, certainly possible, but not necessarily along the German tradition of this cake.

Chocolate-Cherry Cake

This cake is a very easy and quick bread-like cake (only the baking time is longer). The cherries give it some nice taste, and what can go wrong with the combination of chocolate and cherries? Just don't use Marachino cherries for this cake! They are candied, and too sweet, not good for this recipe!

In contrast to many breads, this one uses oil and buttermilk/milk, and is an all-in-batter. An all-in-batter is more liquid, and doesn't have to be stirred as much as a traditional sweet bread batter. It's more like a muffin batter. Although the recipe says to use an electric hand mixer to mix the ingredients, oil and milk make it liquid enough, so you could just stir it by hand.

Ingredients:

One baking pan (8 x 8 Pyrex form) or 10 x 5 (25 x 11 cm, Kastenform) baking pan

Some grease and flour for the pan

For the batter:

One jar sour cherries (Morello Cherries, Trader Joe's)

200 g flour

2 packages chocolate pudding (Dr. Oetker) or JELL-O cook and serve (1.5 oz)

2 leveled teaspoons baking powder

100 g sugar

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

5 eggs

150 ml oil

125 ml buttermilk (I used regular milk)

100 g chocolate, finely ground

For the topping:

100 g chocolate

1 teaspoon oil

Or

150 g powdered sugar

2 tablespoons of the cherry juice

Or

Powdered sugar

Preparation:

1. Grease baking pan, coat with some flour. Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius (350 F).

2. Drain cherries well, collect juice. Mix flour, pudding powder and baking powder in a bowl. Add sugar, vanilla sugar or vanilla aroma, eggs, oil, and milk and beat with an electric hand mixer until mixed. 

3. Carefully fold in sour cherries and ground chocolate. Pour batter into pan and bake in preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius (350 F) for about one hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

4. Remove cake from oven and let cool for about 10 min, remove from pan and put on a cooling rack.

5. For the topping: Melt chocolate with oil on top of a stovetop pot filled with water while constantly stirring or melt chocolate in microwave, then stir in oil. Coat cake with chocolate, let cool then serve. Alternatively, mix powdered sugar with two tablespoons of cherry juice, then coat cake or just sift some powdered sugar on top of cake.

Comments:

1. I recently tried a brownie made with coconut flour, which I didn't even know could be used for baking. The coconut and chocolate flavor went very well together, and I think it might work well with this recipe, too. Since coconut flour is gluten-free, one might very well make a gluten-free version of this cake, something I will certainly try in the near future.

2. I made this cake recently and used 20% of coconut flour. Exchanging that amount of wheat for coconut flour is easy and doesn't require any adjustments to the recipe. I found the modified cake to be very moist, but the coconut flavor was not as strong as I was hoping for, so I need to try the cake with more coconut flour, but then the recipe will need to be adjusted to make up for the loss of gluten.