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.

Rhubarb Merengue

This cake is one of my all time favorites! I couldn't wait for the first rhubarb to be available, and dreaded the end of the season, which always came too soon. Rhubarb plants require a long recovery period, so the last day of harvest is June 24, the same day the season for white asparagus ends in Germany (also known as Saint John The Baptist day). Depending on the length of the previous winter the rhubarb season can be as short as four weeks, so this cake was rare and a special treat. I particularly loved the little golden sugar pearls that form on top of the merengue. They give this cake an unique appearance.

Ingredients:

baking sheet

some grease

100 g butter or margarine

3 eggs, separated

100 g sugar

125 g confectioner's sugar

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

250 g flour

3 leveled teaspoons baking powder

1/8 Ltr. milk

1 kg (2 pounds) rhubarb

1. Preheat oven. Beat butter or margarine with an electric hand mixer until creamy. Alternating with the 3 egg yolks add 100 g of sugar.

2. In a bowl mix flour and baking powder. Add flour mixture to batter alternating with milk.

3. Grease baking sheet well, add batter and spread evenly onto baking sheet.

4. Peel rhubarb, cut it into smaller pieces (about 1 cm or 1/4 inch) and layer on top of batter.

5. Bake cake on middle rack at 180 degrees Celsius (350F) for about 35 min.

6. In the meantime beat egg whites with an electric hand mixer until they start to stiffen. Add conectioner's sugar and vanilla sugar or vanilla aroma and beat well.

7. Remove cake from oven, spread egg white merengue evenly on top and bake briefly until the surface of the merengue turns light golden in color.

Fantasquares (Fantaschnitten)

This again is a very easy and quick cake that doesn't take more than 45 min total time to prepare. It's a refreshing and light cake. It contains soda (Fanta in Europe, but I prefer Orangina, which comes close to German Fanta in color, taste and sweetness, in the US). Because of the carbon dioxide in the soda the batter is very fluffy. A layer of yoghurt, whipped cream and canned peaches is layered on top making this a perfect summer cake.

Ingredients:

1 greased baking sheet

4 eggs

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

125 g sugar

125 ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil such as canola or sunflower

150 ml (2/3 cup) Fanta or Orangina soda

3 leveled teaspoons baking powder

250 g flour

For the topping:

2 cans sliced peaches

600 ml (1 pint) heavy whipping cream

500 g Greek Yoghurt (Fage or Chobani brand)

2x25 g sugar or 6 packages vanilla sugar

Some vanilla aroma

ground cinnamon

1. With an electric hand mixer beat eggs, sugar and vanilla sugar or aroma until creamy. Add in oil and soda. Mix flour and baking powder in a bowl. Add a tablespoon at a time to batter and mix well. Pour batter onto greased baking sheet, level and bake in oven (not preheated) at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) for about 20 to 25 min (until surface is golden brown or toothpick comes out clean). Let cake cool on baking sheet.

2. Drain peaches, and dice into smaller pieces.

3. Whip cream with 25 g sugar (3 packages vanilla sugar) and some vanilla aroma until stiff.

4. Mix Greek yoghurt with 25 g of sugar and some vanilla aroma or 3 packages vanilla sugar). Add in peach dices. Now fold whipped cream under the yoghurt-peach mixture and layer topping on cold cake. Sprinkle some ground cinnamon before serving.

Donauwellen (Danube Waves)

This is another traditional German sheet cake. It's most often prepared at home, and not so frequently found it bakeries.

The cake contains five layers altogether. On the bottom is a white cake layer, which is topped off with a cocoa-containing layer. The batters used for those two layers are very similar to the batter used in marble bread. Sour cherries (I love using them for baking) are layered on top, and all three layers are baked together. Because the cherries sink into the batters during the baking process, the two layers of batter are disturbed forming the characteristic waves in the cake's interior.
Once the cake has cooled off a buttercream is added, and the cake is topped off with a thin layer of chocolate, in which waves are drawn with a fork.
Because of the waves in the cake's interior and on top, this cake is widely known as "Danube waves". However, this is not its only name; some people know this cake as Snow-White-Cake (Schneewittchenkuchen) referring to the famous quote from the fairy tale: "white as snow, as red as blood, and with hair as black as ebony".

Ingredients:

one baking sheet (deep)
some grease
Aluminum foil

For the cake batter:
250 g butter or margarine (2 sticks)
200 g sugar (180 g)
1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma
1 pinch of salt
5 eggs
375 g all-purpose flour (350 g)
3 leveled teaspoons baking powder
20 g cocoa powder
1 tablespoon milk

2 jars of sour cherries (Trader Joe's sells them in glass jars, they are called "dark Morello cherries)

For the buttercream:
1 package Vanilla pudding powder (e.g. Dr. Oetker or cook-and-serve JELL-O brand)
100 g sugar
500 ml milk (2 cups)
250 g soft butter (2 sticks)

For the topping:
200 g semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (e.g. sunflower seed or coconut)

1. Grease baking sheet. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).
2. Drain cherries well using a strainer.
3. For the batter beat butter or margarine with an electric hand mixer until creamy. Add sugar, vanilla sugar or aroma, and salt. Beat in eggs, one at a time for about 1/2 min per egg.
3. In a bowl mix flour and baking powder, add to batter in two portions and mix at medium speed until batter is smooth. Take 2/3 of batter and evenly spread on baking sheet. Sift cocoa powder and add with milk to remaining 1/3 of cake batter. Spread dark batter evenly on top of white batter.
4. Take well-drained cherries and spread on dark batter. Push cherries a little into the cake batter with a spoon.
5. Bake cake in lower third if oven for about 40 min (until toothpick comes out clean). Let cake cool on baking sheet.
6. Prepare pudding as directed (add more or less sugar depending on personal taste and pudding ingredients). Let pudding cool, stirring it once in a while (don't refrigerate!).
7. For the buttercream make sure butter and pudding have the same temperature or the buttercream will curdle! Beat soft butter with an electric hand mixer until creamy. To remove any pudding clumps, press pudding through a mesh. Blend pudding with butter adding a tablespoon of pudding at a time. Spread buttercream on top of cake and chill for at least 1h in the refrigerator.
8. Melt chocolate and oil in microwave on low heat. Alternatively, one can bring heat water in a small saucepan, then melt the chocolate and oil in a heat-resistant bowl over the warm water. Stir frequently.
9. Spread chocolate on top of buttercream. Using a fork or a knife, gently draw wavy patterns in the chocolate.
10. Let chocolate cool and serve cake.

Comments:
1. If no deep baking sheet is available, one can build a higher edge around the entire baking sheet with aluminum foil. This will prevent the cake from rising too much and spilling in the oven.
2. To prevent the pudding from forming a milk skin put clear plastic wrap directly on top of the pudding. Frequent stirring is not necessary in this case.
3. If the buttercream curdles during preparation try the following:
Heat water in a large bowl. Put bowl with buttercream into warm water and stir until it becomes smooth again. If that fails melt some coconut oil in the microwave. Make sure the coconut oil is not too hot, otherwise the rescue attempt will fail. Using an electric hand mixer slowly add the coconut oil to the buttercream until it is smooth again. If this attempt fails there is one more possibility that can be tried: Confectioner's sugar is sifted and mixed in equal parts with potato starch. 1 tablespoon of this mixture is added to the buttercream and blended with electric mixer. If necessary a second tablespoon can be added without greatly altering the texture and taste if the buttercream.
4. I prepared this cake with buttercream, but after tasting it I find it quite heavy. I don't remember it being that heavy, and after searching the internet for a bit I found German recipes that use "Paradiescreme" by Dr. Oetker instead of a buttercream. I am wondering if I ever had this cake with real buttercream. "Paradiescreme" is a cold stirred custard similar to regular Vanilla JELL-O. If it turns out that spreading the chocolate topping is difficult because the custard cream doesn't solidify well, one can sift a thin layer of cocoa powder on top and draw the waves into the cocoa powder.