The Dessert Nook

Blackberry mascarpone mousse domes

2011-08-28T16:35:00.006+03:00

The blackberry bush in the garden is just hanging full of ripe blackberries. So off I went with my bowl to pick em´ before the wasps got the all. There are a thousand things that you can do with blackberries and I didn't know what I was going to make. Searching through my recipe book I decided to make a blackberry dessert. I always find great inspiration and recipes from my newest book "Törtchen, Törtchen". The book is really great and the recipe work every time. I decided to switch a few of the components of recipes with one another and came up with this creation. A delicious combination of mascarpone vanille mousse with a blackberry gelee filling and a blackberry glaze. As for the decoration a nut-cinnamon Streusel and fresh blackberries. Wonderful combination.

the recipe: (in German)

Mandelbiskuit:

75 g Marzipanrohmass

25 g gemahlene, geschälte Mandeln

100 g Zucker

2 Eigelb

1 Ei

4 Eiweiss

65 g Mehl

1. Das Marzipan mit den Mandeln und der 1/2 des Zuckers glatt arbeiten.

2. Das Eigelb wie das Ei nach und nach unterruehren und die Masse dick cremig aufschlagen

3. Die Eiweisse mit dem restlichen Zucker zur steifem Schnee schlagen. etwa 1/3 des Eischnees unter die Marzipanmasse unterruehren, dann denn restlichen Eischnee unterheben.

4. Das Mehl daruebersieben und vorsichtig unterheben.

5. Auf ein Blech mit Backpapier ausgelegt aufstreichen und bei ca. 190 C, 8-10 Minuten goldbraun backen.

Brombeerfuellung:

100 g Brombeeren (oder TK-Brombeeren)

20 g Zucker

1 Blatt Gelatine

100 G Brombeeren, frisch

1. Die Brombeeren mit dem Zucker vermischen und leicht erwärmen. Die ausgedrueckte Gelatine darin auflösen. Die frischen Brombeeren untermischen und in Portionsförmchen uebernacht kalt stellen.

Mascarpone vanille mousse:

2 Eigelb

150 g Mascarpone

30 g Zucker

3 Blatt Gelatine, eingeweicht

250 g Sahne, Cremig geschlagen

1. Die Eigelbe mit der 1/2 des Zuckers ueber einem heissen Wasserbad ruehren, bis sich der Zucker aufgelöst hat. Von der Hitze nehmen und cremig aufschlagen.

2. Den Mascarpone mit dem restlichen Zucker glatt ruehren und die Eigelbmasse unterruehren

3. Die ausgedrueckte Gelatine schmelzen lassen, 1/3 der Mascarponemischung dazu geben und ebenfalls leicht anwärmen. Zur restlichen Masse geben und die unterheben.

4. Die Mascarponecreme in halbkugelförmchen fuellen und die ausgestochenen Biskuitboden leicht andruecken. Förmchen einfrieren.

Glasur:

Brombeerpueree:

300 g Brombeeren

50 g Puderzucker

Brombeerspiegel:

10 ml Zitronensaft

40 ml Weisswein

80 g Brombeerpueree

60 g Gelierzucker (2:!)

1. Die Brombeeren mit dem Puderzucker zu einem Brei mixen. Den Brei durch einem Sieb streichen.

2. Fuer den Speigel alle Zutaten vermischen und kurz aufkochen lassen. Abgedeckt abkuehlen lassen.

Mandelstreusel:

45 g Butter

30 g Zucker

1 Msp. Backpulver

60 g Mehl

45 g Mandeln, gemahlen

1/2 TL. Zimt

1. Alle Zutaten in der Kuechenmaschine verruehren, bis sich gleichmässige Streusel bilden.

2. Die Streusel auf ein Backblech mit Backpapier ausgelegt bestreuen und bei 170 C, ca. 10-15 Minuten goldbraun backen. Auskuehlen lassen.

Die Mascarpone halbkugeln aus der Form druecken und auf ein Kuchengitter setzen. Den abgekuehlten Brombeerspiegel ueber giessen und kurz anziehen lassen. Vor dem servieren den Rand mit den Streusel garnieren und mit frischen Brombeeren.

German Teegebäck

2011-04-10T20:02:00.006+03:00

We make these sorts of cookies often at work for orders and for the cafes. They're small, sweet and very time consuming, but a lot of fun to make and be creative with. This was my attempt at making them at home. It's even more time consuming than at work in the bakery where most of the ingredienst and components, such as the " Muerbeteig" and the Fondant are already prepared, but it was definitely worth the time. I love the fact that you can be really creative with the cookies, with the decorating and the color of the Fondant and the shape and size of the cookies, anything is possible, which lets your imagination and creativity run wild.

I hope to have the recipe posted soon.

Chocolate peanut butter mousse domes

2010-08-28T12:04:00.005+03:00

"Törtchen, Tötchen" by Matthias Ludwigs, is the best book for desserts! It has so many wonderful recipes that you just want to try. When I saw this book in the book store, I couldn't not buy it. I flipped through the first few pages and knew I had to have it. The author has another book of desserts, which I will defnitely buy once I get through with the first and have a but of practice. I love making mini individual desserts, with lots of different layers. It may be a bit time consuming with some recipes, but I just love putting it all together, the different layers of mousse and cream and coating it with a glaze an decorating them..thats the fun part!

Making these mousse domes was a lot of fun. I was happy I could finally use my dome moulds again. I'll be buying my next moulds soon, but i'm not sure yet what form.

This recipe is definitely one i'll be making again for sure! In a different shape next time.

The Recipe:

Mandelbiskuit: (almond sponge base)

75 g Marzipan paste

25 g ground almonds

100 g sugar

2 egg yolks

1 egg

4 egg whites

65 g flour

1. Mix the marzipan paste with the ground almonds and half of the sugar until you have a smooth mixture.

2. Mix in the egg yolks and the egg one after the other, mixing after each addition. Beat until thick and creamy.

3. Beat the egg whites with the other half of the sugar until stiff. carefully fold 1/3 of the egg white under the marzipan mixture, then fold in the rest. sift the flour over the mixture and carefully fold until everything is incorporated.

4. Pour the dough on a baking tray covered with baking paper and spread it evenly.

5. Bake about 8-10 minutes, until golden brown at 190 C (preheated).

Chocolate peanut butter mousse:

130 g bittersweet chocolate (70%)

65 g smooth peanut butter

2 egg yolks

50 g sugar

1 1/2 sheets gelatine (softened)

310 g heavy cream (whipped)

1. Chop the chocolate and place in a heatproof bowl with the peanut butter. melt over a water bath.

2. Mix the egg yolks with the sugar. place over a water bath and whisk lightly until the mixture is rather light and your finger "prickles" when you touch the mixture. add the softened gelatine and whisk until dissolved. beat the mixture with an electric mixer until it's luke-warm.

3. Fold in 1/4th of the whipped cream into the chocolate peanut butter mixture. when the mixture is smooth, add the egg yolk mixture and then the rest of the whipped cream. fold until you have a smooth mixture. (don't fold too long!)

4. Pour the mixture into your molds and place the cut out base from the sponge base. place in the freezer or the refrigerator for a few hours.

Chocolate mirror glaze:

70 g sugar

60 ml water

20 g cocoa powder

50 g cream

1. In a saucepan mix the sugar, water and cocoa powder. bring to a boil over medium heat. let it boil for 1 minute. add the cream and let it boil for 2-3 minutes until it thickens.

You can test the right consistency when you add a 1/2 tsp onto a plate and till it. It should flow like syrup or honey.

2. Remove the mousse domes from the freezer or fridge, place on a wire rack and cover with the glaze. let the glaze set for a while and the decorate.

Mini Hazelnut Bundt Cakes

2010-05-04T18:33:00.008+03:00

I was looking through a baking magazine a while back and I found this one recipe for an almond hazelnut bundt cake and it was just one of those recipes that you have to try. I love baking simple loaf cakes, they simple and easy to make and usually end up delicious. One of my favorites is the lemon loaf cake. It has the wonderful taste of fresh lemons and is perfect for the summer.

After work one day I went for a bit of shopping. I was in the city and I had missed my train and when that happens I usually go and have a look around in the stores...almost always the baking equipment area. I always go to have a look if they have something new, maybe new cake molds or new measuring jugs or spatulas, or just anything. And I always happen to find something. I then found these very neat mini bundt cake molds, which I told myself I have to have. They are really great for making mini cakes. I'll have to go and buy some more. 4 just aren't enough.

The cake is delicious! (my opinion..haven't gotten feedback yet.) It really tastes of hazelnuts. It has that real nutty flavor, even with the addition of the hazelnut syrup, it just adds flavor. You could even use this recipe to make hazelnut cupcakes. This is now my best recipe for nutty cake!

The Recipe:

250 gr butter

325 gr sugar

2 tsp vanilla sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

6 eggs

300 gr ground hazelnuts

100 gr chopped hazelnuts

3 tsp baking powder

250 gr flour

6 tbsp Hazelnut syrup ( Monin) (optional)

Glaze:

~50 gr white chocolate, melted (for drizzling)

Confectioners sugar (for dusting)

~20 gr sliced, roasted almonds or hazelnuts (for scattering)

Preheat the oven to 165 C.

Beat the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder and ground and chopped nuts. add the syrup to the egg-mixture and beat till incorporated. add the flour-nut mixture and mix till combined.

Add the mixture into a greased and floured cake tin or mini bundt cake forms.

Bake at 165 C for about 50-60 minutes, until golden brown. Let the cake cool in the form about 10 minutes then place on a wire rack to cool completely. once completely cool dust with icing sugar and drizzle with melted white chocolate.

Daring Baker's February: Tiramisu

2010-02-27T19:36:00.000+02:00

The classic Italian dessert Tiramisu. I'll think of a story to tell later.

The February 2010 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate about Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for this month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washinton Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

(Recipe source: Carminantonio's Tiramisu from The Washington Post, July 11 2007 )This recipe makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

For the zabaglione:

2 large egg yolks

3 tablespoons sugar/50gms

1/4 cup/60ml Marsala wine (or port or coffee)

1/4 teaspoon/ 1.25ml vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

For the vanilla pastry cream:

1/4 cup/55gms sugar

1 tablespoon/8gms all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract

1 large egg yolk

3/4 cup/175ml whole milk

For the whipped cream:

1 cup/235ml chilled heavy cream (we used 25%)

1/4 cup/55gms sugar

1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract

To assemble the tiramisu:

2 cups/470ml brewed espresso, warmed

1 teaspoon/5ml rum extract (optional)

1/2 cup/110gms sugar

1/3 cup/75gms mascarpone cheese

36 savoiardi/ ladyfinger biscuits (you may use less)

2 tablespoons/30gms unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:

For the zabaglione:

Heat water in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, place a pot with about an inch of water in it on the stove. Place a heat-proof bowl in the pot making sure the bottom does not touch the water.In a large mixing bowl (or stainless steel mixing bowl), mix together the egg yolks, sugar, the Marsala (or espresso/ coffee), vanilla extract and lemon zest. Whisk together until the yolks are fully blended and the mixture looks smooth.Transfer the mixture to the top of a double boiler or place your bowl over the pan/ pot with simmering water. Cook the egg mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 8 minutes or until it resembles thick custard. It may bubble a bit as it reaches that consistency.Let cool to room temperature and transfer the zabaglione to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the pastry cream:

Mix together the sugar, flour, lemon zest and vanilla extract in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. To this add the egg yolk and half the milk. Whisk until smooth.Now place the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from curdling.Add the remaining milk a little at a time, still stirring constantly. After about 12 minutes the mixture will be thick, free of lumps and beginning to bubble. (If you have a few lumps, don’t worry. You can push the cream through a fine-mesh strainer.)Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the whipped cream:

The cream, sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer or immersion blender until the mixture holds stiff peaks. Set aside.
To assemble the tiramisu: Have ready a rectangular serving dish (about 8" by 8" should do) or one of your choice.Mix together the warm espresso, rum extract and sugar in a shallow dish, whisking to mix well. Set aside to cool.In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese with a spoon to break down the lumps and make it smooth. This will make it easier to fold. Add the prepared and chilled zabaglione and pastry cream, blending until just combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Set this cream mixture aside.

Now to start assembling the tiramisu.

Workings quickly, dip 12 of the ladyfingers in the sweetened espresso, about 1 second per side. They should be moist but not soggy. Immediately transfer each ladyfinger to the platter, placing them side by side in a single row. You may break a lady finger into two, if necessary, to ensure the base of your dish is completely covered.Spoon one-third of the cream mixture on top of the ladyfingers, then use a rubber spatula or spreading knife to cover the top evenly, all the way to the edges.Repeat to create 2 more layers, using 12 ladyfingers and the cream mixture for each layer. Clean any spilled cream mixture; cover carefully with plastic wrap and refrigerate the tiramisu overnight.To serve, carefully remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle the tiramisu with cocoa powder using a fine-mesh strainer or decorate as you please. Cut into individual portions and serve.

Mascarpone Cheese:

(Source: Vera’s Recipe for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese)This recipe makes 12oz/ 340gm of mascarpone cheese

Ingredients:

474ml (approx. 500ml)/ 2 cups whipping (36 %) pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized), preferably organic cream (between 25% to 36% cream will do)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Method:

Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a wide skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low so the water is barely simmering. Pour the cream into a medium heat-resistant bowl, then place the bowl into the skillet. Heat the cream, stirring often, to 190 F. If you do not have a thermometer, wait until small bubbles keep trying to push up to the surface.It will take about 15 minutes of delicate heating. Add the lemon juice and continue heating the mixture, stirring gently, until the cream curdles. Do not expect the same action as you see during ricotta cheese making. All that the whipping cream will do is become thicker, like a well-done crème anglaise. It will cover a back of your wooden spoon thickly. You will see just a few clear whey streaks when you stir. Remove the bowl from the water and let cool for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line a sieve with four layers of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Transfer the mixture into the lined sieve. Do not squeeze the cheese in the cheesecloth or press on its surface (be patient, it will firm up after refrigeration time). Once cooled completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (in the sieve) overnight or up to 24 hours.Vera’s notes: The first time I made mascarpone I had all doubts if it’d been cooked enough, because of its custard-like texture. Have no fear, it will firm up beautifully in the fridge, and will yet remain lusciously creamy.Keep refrigerated and use within 3 to 4 days.

Ladyfingers/Savoiardi Biscuits:

(Source: Recipe from Cordon Bleu At Home)

This recipe makes approximately 24 big ladyfingers or 45 small (2 1/2" to 3" long) ladyfingers.

Ingredients:

3 eggs, separated

6 tablespoons /75gms granulated sugar

3/4 cup/95gms cake flour, sifted (or 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 2 tbsp corn starch)

6 tablespoons /50gms confectioner's sugar

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C) degrees, then lightly brush 2 baking sheets with oil or softened butter and line with parchment paper.Beat the egg whites using a hand held electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually add granulate sugar and continue beating until the egg whites become stiff again, glossy and smooth.In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly with a fork and fold them into the meringue, using a wooden spoon. Sift the flour over this mixture and fold gently until just mixed. It is important to fold very gently and not overdo the folding. Otherwise the batter would deflate and lose volume resulting in ladyfingers which are flat and not spongy.Fit a pastry bag with a plain tip (or just snip the end off; you could also use a Ziploc bag) and fill with the batter. Pipe the batter into 5" long and 3/4" wide strips leaving about 1" space in between the strips.Sprinkle half the confectioner's sugar over the ladyfingers and wait for 5 minutes. The sugar will pearl or look wet and glisten. Now sprinkle the remaining sugar.

This helps to give the ladyfingers their characteristic crispness.Hold the parchment paper in place with your thumb and lift one side of the baking sheet and gently tap it on the work surface to remove excess sprinkled sugar.Bake the ladyfingers for 10 minutes, then rotate the sheets and bake for another 5 minutes or so until the puff up, turn lightly golden brown and are still soft.Allow them to cool slightly on the sheets for about 5 minutes and then remove the ladyfingers from the baking sheet with a metal spatula while still hot, and cool on a rack.Store them in an airtight container till required. They will last 2-3 weeks.

Iron Cupcake Earth: Passionfruit Cupcakes

2010-02-21T18:38:00.007+02:00

For Iron Cupcake Earth February challenge the them was: Passion. It may seem a bit cheesy that I chose passionfruit cupcakes, but it suited the them, so why not right?!

I think that passionfruits aka. maracuajas are such a spring-summer flavor. I'm fed-up and tired of this cold, wet, snowy weather. I want spring and summer! I want to able to walk around in my summer dress and wear sandals and not have to worry about cold wet shoes. It sure isn't close to summer, but I wanted to have something summery.

I added passionfruit in almost everything. In the cupcake base, the filling and the frosting. Still not enough flavor. It's not so easy getting the intense passionfruit flavor, except the small dollop of cooked passionfruit puree on the top. The cake had a mild fruity flavor. The frosting had a bit more since I added the whole passiofruit flesh of one fruit, next time two.

I planned on baking a passionfruit buttercream frosting, but it turned out to be a bit of a disaster. I had a pastry cream base for the buttercream, but it just didn't work. I'm not sure where the mistake was. Instead I made a whipped cream and cream cheese frosting. Luckily I still had some whipping cream in the fridge and some cream cheese. It turned out to be a great frosting, probably better that the buttercream would have been. I also held back some of the passionfruit pastry cream (before turning it into a disaster) for the filling.

All in all I believe the cupcakes where quite successful, with room for improvement of course. Now I'm going to have to wait for a feedback and suggestions. (They will be eaten for dessert tonight.)

The prizes for ICE

The cupcakes:

Makes 12 cupcakes:

Ingredients:

200 g flour

2 tsp baking powder

3 egg yolks

3 egg whites

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp vanilla sugar

100 g butter

200 g cream cheese

170 g sugar (divided)

1 passionfruit (the flesh)

3 tbsp passiofruit juice

1. Beat the egg whites with the pinch of salt until stiff peaks. gradually add 1/2 of the sugar and vanilla sugar.

2. In another bowl beat the egg yolks, butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract and the other 1/2 of the sugar until smooth and creamy. In another bowl mix the flour and the baking powder. set aside.

3. Add the passionfruit flesh into the egg-butter mixture.

4. Add the flour mixture and the passionfruit juice. alternating.

5. Fold in the whipped egg whites in two portions, gently folding them into the batter. Fold until everything is well mixed. make sure not to fold too much, otherwise the egg whites loose too many air bubbles and they'll loose their volume while baking.

6. Bake at 150 Celcius for about 35 minutes. until golden brown. let them cool 10 minutes in the tin before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.

The Frosting:

200 g whipping cream

1 pck. sahnesteif (whipping cream stabilizer)

2 tbsp. sugar

1 passionfruit (pulp)

6 tbsp. passionfruit juice

1. whip the cream gradually sprinkling in the sahnesteif and sugar. whip until firm peaks. once whipped gently fold in the passiofruit pulp ( 2-3 strokes/folds).

2. Place into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip/nozzle (or another tip/nozzle) and pipe rosettes onto the cupcakes.

3. in a saucepan heat the passionfruit juice and pulp until it starts to thicken. Remove from heat and let it cool.

4. Pour a little bit of the reduced juice on the top of the cupcakes.

Enjoy!

Coconut mascarpone cream bombes

2010-01-23T17:27:00.006+02:00

I saw this recipe in one of the baking magazines "Laura" I bought months ago and I just really wanted to try it out. I'm a coconut addict...anything coconut I love. I also bought my silicone bombe molds a long time ago and I hadnt used them and I thought I could try them out now. I love their shape: simple and elegant. I think they are perfect for ice-creams and desserts and mini cakes...or just everything. I only had one little problem with the molds. They wouldn't release my cream bombes that easily. The heads or tops of the bombes slightly ripped off, but nothing worse. Next time I'll put foil or cling film into the molds so they will be easier to remove. The taste! Delicious! very creamy and coconutty...and rich..really rich. All the mascarpone cream, whipping cream and coconut cream....ohh...shouldnt eat too many! But delicious!

The Ingredients:
Makes: 8 mini bombes

The Base:

75 g butter

50 g sugar

pinch of salt

2 tsp vanilla sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

100 g flours

1 tsp baking powder

The cream filling:

4 gelatine leaves

150 g sugar

75 g coconut cream

125 g light quark

250 g mascarpone

110 g whipping cream

25 g coconut syrup (optional)

15 g chopped roasted almonds or hazelnuts (optional)

50 g shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

125 g whipping cream

1 tsp cocoa powder

The filling:

Place the gelatine leaves in a bowl with ice cold water. set aside and let them soften.

In another bowl mix the quark, coconut cream, mascarpone and sugar until mixed and has a smooth texture. (works well with a hand whisk). Whip the cream until firm and add a little bit of sugar while whipping. remove the gelatine from the water and squeeze out the excess water. place the gelatine leaves into a heat proof bowl and place above a pot of simmering water (water bath) and add the coconut syrup. mix until the gelatine dissolves. remove from the water bath.

Add 3 tbsp of the mascaropne to the gelatine, then pour the gelatine mix into the rest of the mascarpone cream. Add the cream and gently fold it into the cream until you have a well incorporate and smooth mixture. divide the cream into your molds, only 1/2 way. sprinkle some of the chopped nuts between the layers. then fill the molds until full and smooth the top with a knife. Place a cake base onto each and press gently so it fits. let them set in the fridge for a few hours ( 3 hours is enough).

Whip the 125 g of cream until firm and cover the unmolded desserts with the cream (I used a palette knife and it works great) but a regular butter knife works as well. the cover in shredded coconut. Dust them with a little bit of cocoa powder if desired.

The base:

Beat the butter, sugar ( and vanilla sugar) and salt until light and creamy. beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after adding each egg.

In a seperate bowl mix the flour and the baking powder. Mix the flour mixture into the butter-egg mixture until you have an even and smooth batter.

Pour the batter into an 18 cm cake ring (that has been buttered and floured). bake at 150 C for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

Let the cake cool about 10 minutes in it's form then remove it from its ring and let it cool completely on wire rack. Once the cake has completely cooled, cut it into 2 or 3 layers.

I took dessert rings which had approximately them same diameter as the bombe molds. cut out the base from the cake and set aside.

Enjoy!

I had another type of mold which I wanted to try as well...just a bit different.

Gingerbread House, The Sweet Shop

2009-12-26T18:53:00.005+02:00

The December 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.
I love making gingerbread houses. I make them almost every year. This year i decided that i wanted to try something different and not make a real traditional gingerbread houses. I wanted to try something funky and colorful, so I decided to make a Sweet Shop gingerbread house. I bought lots of different candies and chocolate from the store. I didn't quite get the "Sweet Shop" gingerbread house I had planned, but it still turned out colorful and oh-so-sweet with all the candy that I had glued onto it. But it still looks like a gingerbread house so it's all ok.

Equipment Needed:

Stand or handheld electric mixer (not required but it will make mixing the dough a lot easier and faster)

Plastic wrap

Rolling pin

Parchment paper

Baking sheets

Cardboard cake board or sheet of thick cardboard

Foil, if desired

Small saucepan

Small pastry brush (optional)

Piping bag with small round tip, or paper cornets if you're comfortable with them

Y's recipe:

Scandinavian Gingerbread (Pepparkakstuga) from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas

1 cup butter, room temperature (226g)

1 cup brown sugar, well packed (220g)

2 tablespoons cinnamon

4 teaspoons ground ginger

3 teaspoons ground cloves

2 teaspoons baking soda

½ cup boiling water

5 cups all-purpose flour (875g)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix the baking soda with the boiling water and add to the dough along with the flour. Mix to make a stiff dough. If necessary add more water, a tablespoon at a time. Chill 2 hours or overnight.

2. Cut patterns for the house, making patterns for the roof, front walls, gabled walls, chimney and door out of cardboard.

3. Roll the dough out on a large, ungreased baking sheet and place the patterns on the dough. Mark off the various pieces with a knife, but leave the pieces in place.

4. [I rolled out the dough on a floured bench, roughly 1/8 inch thick (which allows for fact that the dough puffs a little when baked), cut required shapes and transferred these to the baking sheet. Any scraps I saved and rerolled at the end.]

5. Preheat the oven to 375'F (190'C). Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookie dough feels firm. After baking, again place the pattern on top of the gingerbread and trim the shapes, cutting the edges with a straight-edged knife. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.

Royal Icing:

1 large egg white

3 cups (330g) powdered sugar

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon almond extract

Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. Pipe on pieces and allow to dry before assembling. If you aren't using it all at once you can keep it in a small bowl, loosely covered with a damp towel for a few hours until ready to use. You may have to beat it slightly to get it an even consistency if the top sets up a bit. Piped on the house, this will set up hard over time.

Simple Syrup:

2 cups (400g) sugar

Place in a small saucepan and heat until just boiling and the sugar dissolves. Dredge or brush the edges of the pieces to glue them together. If the syrup crystallizes, remake it.

Praline Course!

2009-11-20T18:42:00.005+02:00

Pralines or truffles are a crutial part of Christmas. Now that it's almost Christmas pralines are everywhere. We are busy making all sorts of pralines and truffles at work and also at school. I just finished my first pralinen course at school and it was awesome! We learned the basics of praline making and some great tricks and recipes. We made about 8 different sorts of pralines, some made with marzipan and others with a rich chocolate ganache filling. They were all absolutely delicious! I still need to improve on my decorating though...

I'm already planning the different praline flavors that I want to try next. Pralines are great to give as presents, especially for christmas and thats what i'm planning to give people this year. I'm also going to take a whole box full to Finland for christmas.
I'm in the phase now where i'm trying to create interesting and different flavors, but thats turning out to be a little more challenging. I only have a few flavor ideas, but I need more. I need to find inspiration.

I recently ordered a bit of equipment and ingredients for praline making. It's impossible to find some of the igredients and equipment in the normal store so I had to order some. The site that I ordered from has an unbelievable wide selection of equipment and ingredients for praline making. I could have ordered everything! The site also has a large selection of other baking equipment and ingredients, which is great. There's another site from which I want order some other stuff. I'm obviously in another one of my "obsessed" phases. I can't wait for my little package to arrive. Hopefully next week!

Daring Bakers October: French Macarons

2009-10-26T18:20:00.004+02:00

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

I was excited when I saw that the challenge for October was Macarons. I fell in love with these cookies a while ago and have tried numerous recipes. The recipe only calls for a few ingredients, but that doesn't mean that they are easy to make, quite the contrary. I've tried quite a few macaron recipes and 1 out of 4 tries have succeeded. You have to get everything just right to get perfect macarons and thats the difficult part and definitely a challenge.

Macarons:

Ingredients:

confectioners' (Icing) sugar: 225 g ( 8 oz, 2 1/4 cup)

almond flour: 190 g ( 6.7 oz, 2 cups)

granulated sugar: 25 g ( 2 Tbsp, .88 oz)

egg whites: 5 ( have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.

2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.

4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.

5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).

6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.

7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Yield: 10 dozen. Ami's note: My yield was much smaller than this. I produced about two dozen filled macaroons.

Blackberry mini mousse cakes

2009-10-11T19:55:00.004+03:00

I finally have a new post! It's been ages since i've posted anything on my blog. I now have a new camera so I can finally post again!

I'm slowly getting settled here in Germany, with work and school as well as with everything else, however I still really miss Finland...but I do find more time to bake.

I regularly buy german baking magazines, almost every week. I just love looking through all the different cakes and tarts and cookies. But I haven't found the time to try any of the recipes in them. This weekend I finally decided that it's time to try something. I was also lazily browsing through my baking book stash and I found the recipe of the lovely little cakes that I've wanted to try for months now and then I got planning on my little mousse cakes. My grandmother has a lot of frozen berries in her freezer, especially blackberries and I thought i'd make a little space for next years berries....

I took the recipe of a simple sponge base from one of the baking magazines and made the little mousse cakes.

Vanilla Sponge base:

from: Laura Backen

3 eggs
100g flour
90g sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

separate the eggs. beat the egg whites and the salt until stiff, add the sugar in little by little. In a separate bowl mix the flour and the baking powder. gently fold in the flour mixture into the egg whites. fold until incorporated and you have a smooth batter.
Pour the batter into a buttered and floured cake tin (26 cm) and bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes at 180 C. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and the top has a slight golden brown color. Let the cake cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes and then let it cool completely on a wire rack. Once the cake has cooled completely cut it into 2 and cut little circles with your ring molds.

Blackberry mousse:
recipe from Canelle et Vanille

100g blackberry puree
10g sugar
2g gelatine sheet
75g heavy cream, soft peaks

Warm half of the blackberry puree with the sugar. In the meantine soak the gelatine in ice water. add the rest of the puree and let it cool.
Whip the cream to soft peaks and gently fold it into the puree.

Making the mini mousse cakes is very simple. If you have your ring molds, just layer the base with the mousse. First I have a sponge base and then a layer of mousse. Before adding the next layer of sponge and mousse I put the cakes in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

Once you have all the layers, let the cakes rest in the fridge until firm. then cut the cakes gently from the sides of the rings and gently remove them from the rings.

Enjoy!

No time to post!

2009-08-22T14:45:00.004+03:00

It's been really quite busy the last couple of weeks. I have now officially moved to Germany to start Pastry school. Getting settled here will take some time, but it's slowly progressing.
It's an exciting start. Learning something that your passionate about and love to do is just really exciting...and something you have to put a bit of effort into. In Germany it works so that I have work 4 times a week and school 2 a week. I'm an apprentice and a wonderful pastry shop in Hannover, "Konditorei Kreipe". They have the wondeful classic german tortes, cakes, petit fours, pralines and so much more. I learn something new everyday, it's such a learning experience.
It's not that easy though, waking up at 04:30, starting work at 06:00 and ending in the afternoons some time (different times depending on what we have to make). Although it takes some time to get used to, it's been a lot of fun till now and have enjoyed it all.

Getting started here has taken time and a bit of energy so I haven't had time to post or bake anything...at home at is. Hopefully once everything is done, running water in the kitchen and organizing, etc...i'll be able to bake at home.
In Hannover we have wonderful fresh products that are in season now. I'm planning on going on a bike ride to the local farmer to buy some apples and pears...I only have to find..or guess the way. Getting lost is part of getting to know our area. I'm already think of a pear tart for my next post...hopefully i'll have everything ready soon.

Chocolate Mallows for the Daring Bakers

2009-07-20T10:46:00.005+03:00

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

I've never attempted making nmarshmallows before, although I have wanted to try it numerous times, but I, like many others, have thought it to be rather challenging and time consuming. Finally with the Daring Baker challenge I was able to finally attempt making it. I thought getting the consistency right would be the hardest part, but that was rather easy...just let 'Rosa' do it. ( my pink kitchen aid...my love!). Even getting the sugar syrup to the right stage wasn't that difficult. Mainly because I have a candy thermometer that reads "soft ball" stage. One little issue was with my pots. I couldn't find one which was deep enough, where the thermometer wouldn't touch the bottom. I found one at the very very back of the 'pots and pans cupboard', which I didn't even know excisted. It worked rather well, but still now well enough. Well, the syrup got to the required stage and from the process simply flowed..more or less anyway. I had another minor issue with the powdered gelatin...it wouldn't dissolve! I really do prefer the gelatine sheets. They are just so much easier for me to work with. Anyways...

The next step for the cookie was their "chocolate bath". Dunked into a bowl of warm melted chocolate...who wouldn't want that! This gave them a wonderful coating of glossy chocolate and then I only have to wait for the chocolate to harden.
I loved making these marshmallow cookies. I loved all the steps, from making the cookie dough to the marshmallow and the piping and dipping. I'll have to make these again and I'll probably try them with a flavored marshmallow. Definitely a must try cookie recipe.

Highly recommended!

Mallows ( Chocolate covered marshmallow cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from FoodNetwork website.
About 2 dozen cookies ( I ended having a little more)

Cookie dough:

3 cups (375grams/13.23oz) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter
3 eggs, whisked together

(Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows)
(Chocolate glaze, recipe follows)

In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy. Add the eggs and mix until combine. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.
Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

Homemade marshmallows:

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup (168.76 grams/5.95oz) sugar
1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
2 tablespoons cold water
2 egg whites , room temperature
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff. Transfer to a pastry bag.

Chocolate glaze:

12 ounces semisweet chocolate
2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.

I loved how when the syrup was added to the whipped egg whites it became extremely smooth and glossy..like sugary clouds. I couldn't help but stick my finger in there and have a little taste...delicious and very sweet, but that's how marshmallows are. Once the marshmallow was done, it went into the piping bag fitted with a simply circle nozzle. I love when I use my piping nozzles. Piping little round "kisses" onto the cookies was smooth and an easy process. Lots of fun!

Bakewell tart for the Daring Bakers

2009-07-12T21:47:00.003+03:00

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Sadly the crust fell off.

Bakewell Tart…er…pudding:

Makes one 23cm (9” tart).

(Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)Resting time: 15 minutesBaking time: 30 minutesEquipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin.)

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)Bench flour250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadabilityOne quantity frangipane (recipe follows)One handful blanched, flaked almonds.
Assembling the tart, place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.
Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.
The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.
When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Sweet shortcrust pastry:

225g (8oz) all purpose flour

30g (1oz) sugar

2.5ml (½ tsp) salt

110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)

2 egg yolks

2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)

15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.
Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.
Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Frangipane:

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened

125g (4.5oz) icing sugar

3 eggs

2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract

125g (4.5oz) ground almonds

30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.
Annemarie’s notes:• Add another five minutes or more if you're grinding your own almonds or if you're mixing by hand (Heaven help you).

Iron Cupcake Earth: Berries

2009-06-23T16:23:00.006+03:00

Here in Kyrgyzstan June is the best month to find all kinds of berries and fruits. Raspberries have just come into season and strawberries just keep on coming and getting sweeter. At the local market the babushka's (grandmothers) sell their jars of fresh raspberries picked from their own garden. You can buy kilo's of strawberries, cherries, apricots, peaches and numerous other fruit for incredibly cheap.

I've been eating so many fruits and berries lately that when I get back to Finland I won't even go look at the strawberry field or the raspberry bushes. But while i'm still here enjoying all the plentiful sweetness i'll be baking something every week or making ice-cream. Can't decided what ice-cream will be churning in my ice-cream machine next, peach, apricot, raspberry..??

I still had some strawberry ice-cream left in the freezer from when I made ice-cream and I decided that it would be a good opportunity to make room for the next batch of ice-cream. I hadn't made ice-cream cupcakes before and with the hot weather here I thought that they would be the perfect thing to enjoy on a blistering hot day.

Strawberry ice-cream: recipe below

Vanilla Cupcakes:

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

86 grams butter, room temperature

150 grams sugar

160 grams flour

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C.

2. In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt. set aside.

3. Cream the butter and the sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. beat in the egg and vanilla, mix until well incorporated. add the flour and milk, alternating and ending with the flour. Don't over beat.

4. Baked for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan 5 minutes before transfering to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. Once the cupcakes have cooled completely cut them horrizontally through the middle with a sharp knife. Place the cupcake bottom on the bottom of the cupcake pan and scoop in soft ice-cream. add the cupcake top and put in the freezer to set.

I just added a little lemon quark mix as the frosting. quark, lemon and strawberry go really wel together so this was a good pearing.

What you do with fresh strawberries...

2009-06-14T18:41:00.007+03:00

...make strawberry ice-cream! The best strawberry ice-cream, creamy, sweet and best of all full of strawberry flavor! I had just bought some fresh strawberries from the market here in Kyrgyzstan and they are at their best right now. I have been waiting for almost an entire year to use my ice-cream machine, which has been sitting here in Kyrgyzstan in its box. I've been making a list of all the ice-creams I want to try out this summer and it isn't short. First on the list are all of the classic ice-creams, such as strawberry, cherry, coconut, raspberry and blueberry. Next on the list are the more interesting and adventurous flavors, such as apricot strawberry and green tea and mint, although not as adventurous as for example, chocolate bacon ice-cream, which is something I would someday like to try.

In Kyrgyzstan you can find the best and freshest fruit, especially now when all the amazing fruits are in season. I've been eating strawberries and cherries everyday now and apricots and peaches are just arriving at the market. Next week is apricot strawberry ice-cream time!

There's nothing like a nice scoop (or three) of ice-cream when it's +35 degrees outside and so sunny to make you blind. I love it! I just like to sit outside on the terrace and eat my ice-cream with a book in hand and enjoy the afternoon.

Homemade ice-cream is so easy to make, doesn't take a lot of time and is simply delicous to eat. I'll be churning ice-cream in my ice-cream maker all summer long..!

Strawberry ice-cream:

adapted from Ice cream by Pippa Cuthbert and Lindsay Cameron Wilson

350 grams strawberries hulled

300 ml full cream milk

4 egg yolks

150 grams caster sugar

150 ml double cream

1. Put the strawberries in a food processors and blent to a puree. Pass the strawberries through a sieve if you wan to remove the seeds. I prefer the seeds for abit of crunch.

2. Pour the milk into a medium saucepan and heat to near-boiling point. while the milk is heating, beat the egg yolks and sugar in a heatproof bowl using an electric whish until thick and pale. Place over a pan of simmering water and stir in the warm milk. stir occasionally until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. remove from the heat, cover and allow to cool completely.

3. Add the cream and the strawberry puree to the cooled custard. Churn in an ice-cream maker, according to the manufacturer's instructions. Serve immediately or transfer to a freezer container.

Happy lemons

2009-05-04T15:23:00.008+03:00

I've started using a lot of lemons now that it's Spring. For me lemons are some of the many things that represent Spring, their sunshine yellow color and their bursting fresh acidic flavor. You can do so much with lemons; make a lemon curd for a tart filling or lemon sorbet or anything. Lemons are such a great ingredient for the creative mind, you can play with lemons and create great new and exciting recipes.

These cookies are great to go with a cup of coffee or for the british in you a nice cup of tea. These cookies are rather quite crumbly so you'll definitely get crumbs all over the place.
It's the first time I decided to try making a buttercream. I've always turned away from making buttercream because I feared it would taste of nothing but butter. Although this was a swiss lemon meringue buttercream I could still taste the butteriness and wasn't quite taking a liking to my taste buds. This however does not make me give up searching for the perfect buttercream recipe. I will have to go through a lot of butter to find the buttercream that i'm looking for.

Recipe coming soon!

Cake on a stick

2009-05-04T14:56:00.005+03:00

There's something about cake pops that got me really interested in them. I'd say it's their irresistible cuteness. I've been really interested in Bakerella's cake pops for a while now and decided that it was finally time to try them. I love how Bakerella has such creativity with her cake pops, there's a cake pop for every occasion.
My friend was having a little get together at her house and I decided that it was time to bring something other than cupcakes. These cake pops are great as presents or as simple little treats to give to friends or bring to parties.

I made the cake pops from a dark chocolate cake and cream cheese frosting and it was delicious! I really loved the whole " cake on a stick", "cake lollipops" idea, great! I'll definitely be making these again and i'll probably try making the sheep cake pops, since they just ooze cuteness.

Cheesecake by the Daring Baker's

2009-04-27T10:04:00.004+03:00

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's infamous cheesecake as this months challenge.

One of my favorite cakes is cheesecake. I could eat a whole cheesecake by myself....the whole thing. I've tried lots of different cheesecakes, the finnish cheesecakes, the german and now the american cheesecakes. I've never tried making a cheesecake with cream cheese is the filling, instead i've always used quark or ricotta, or something of the sort. I liked the texture of the filling, it had a wonderful smoothness and silkiness to it. The crust was great aswell and went perfectly with sweet filling. The cookies I used for the base were the slightest bit salty, which made the perfect combination with the filling.

I'm also a coconut lover and eat everything and anything with coconut. I had coconut mild in my pantry and had desiccated coconut aswell and thats all I needed to make this a coconut cheesecake. I loved the flavor of the coconut, although next time I'd add a little more so I'd get an even potent flavor. I don't have coconut extract and it seems impossible to find here in Finland, but I think it would have enhanced the flavor a lot more.
It's fun to play around and try new flavors with this cheesecake since you can add almost anything and try different flavors. Next I think I'll try a lavender cheesecake.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:
Ingredients:

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz coconut cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake ( I didn't add any, but coconut liqueur would have worked well.)
1/2 cup desiccated coconut for the sides

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Mini cheesecakes. I really wanted to try my new molds that I got in Germany

Enjoy!

The beginning of Spring!

2009-04-17T17:17:00.004+03:00

Spring seems to have finally arrived. The sun is finally coming out of hiding and the flowers are starting to bloom. Although the weather hasn't been the nicest these last couple of days, it seems to be improving day by day. I've really gotten into the feeling of spring and I have started planting all sorts of flowers, namely lavender, which is growing in several pots at the moment. Chilies, carrots and paprika are all starting to produce their first leaves. I've also embarked on a little experiment. I've planted a few maracuja or passion fruit seeds and I now have one very small, but living passion fruit plant. I know I won't be able to have a fruit producing tree, it being Finland and all, I suppose I'll be lucky if it survives the winter. But atleast I might have a baby tree and that enough for me.

To celebrate spring I decided to try a passion fruit tart. The flavor of this tart is perfect for spring. It has a creamy yet tart filling and a fresh passion fruit gelee on top. I love the fresh flavors of the passion fruit gelee topping and the citrus-y creamy filling.

Creamy Passion fruit tart:

Ingredients:

for the crust:

125 g cold butter, in cubes
60 g sugar
50 g ground almonds
1 egg
200 g flour
butter and flour for the molds/tins

for the filling:

5 dl creme fraiche
2 1/2 dl sour cream (kermaviili)
100 g sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
20 g vanilla pudding powder (vaniljavanukasjauhe)
the seeds of 1 vanilla pod
zest of 1 lemon

the passion fruit topping:

3 gelatin leaves
1 1/2 dl passion fruit juice + the seeds (about 4 fruits)
50 g sugar

Instructions:

1. Measure the butter, sugar, ground almonds, egg and flour in a bowl. Mix everything together until you have a smooth dough. You can do this by hand or with a standing mixer.
form the dough into a ball and wrap in cling film. Place in the fridge to set for atleast an hour.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. butter and flour the cake tins.
Once the dough has sat in the fridge for about an hour, take it out and roll it out big enough to fit the tins. press the dough to fit the tart tin snuggly. You have to blind bake the tart bases for 10-15 minutes. Once the tart bases have been baked, remove the bean and let them cool.
lower the oven temperature to 110 c.

3. Mix the ingredients for the filling. mix the creme fráiche and the sour cream. then add the sugar and the egg and egg yolk. Add the vanilla pudding powder and the vanilla seeds. last add the zest of the lemon. Pour the filling into the tart tins.
Bake the tarts in the middle of the oven for 30-40 minutes. They will have a slight wobble. take them out of the oven and let them cool completely.

4. Place the gelatin leaves in ice cold water to soften. for the passion fruit gelee topping scrape out the juice and seeds of the passion fruits. In a small saucepan warm the passion fruit juice and seeds or the passion fruit flesh with the sugar for about 4 minutes until the sugar has dissolved. add the gelatin and stir until the gelatin has dissolved.
spoon the passion fruit gelee on top of the tarts and let it set completely.

Enjoy!

Baking Week in Germany!

2009-03-29T15:42:00.004+03:00

Almost done with packing my suitcase. I'm leaving for Germany, Hannover tomorrow early in the morning, for my intership in Konditorei Kreipe. I'm so excited and a tad nervous too! Flying all the way to Hannover for my one week intership at the wonderful Konditorei Kreipe (Pastry shop), how could I not be excited and nervous! I applied for one of their positions as an apprenticeship at their Konditorei (Phase 2, as I like to think of it.) I had my Interview in February, which was phase 1, and now i'm moving into phase 2, which is the internship. I was overly thrilled, when I was asked to come back for the internship. I've been waiting for April anxiously for the last two months...and it's finally here...well almost!

I can't wait to get out of Finland for a while. Away from the snow and the slush and the greyness....I need spring. I need to see green and hear the birds sing. I hope that i'll be able to find this in Germany. The weather man promises +15 degrees Celcius and sunny days next week!

While i'm away in Germany I won't have the possibility to post anything, but I have a spring inspired lemon passionfruit tart waiting. Perfect for spring!

Iron Cupcake: Nuts & Seeds

2009-03-23T21:55:00.006+02:00

With all the choices of nuts and seeds that are available, I was mind-boggled with different choices and combinations. I am so thankful that I am not allergic to nuts. I couldn't live or bake without them. I use them for so many different things in baking and I always have a stash of hazelnut, walnuts, pistachios, cashews in my cupboard. And there are always a few packets of ground nuts for when I attemp making macarons. (The last two times were failures, but I'm not giving up.)

We had carrots lying around from which I wanted to make carrot cupcakes, but I went ahead and tried something different, making them extra special carrot cupcakes. Nuts and carrots are a classical pair, and I wanted to add a few things to make them more special, or in other words just try something different and experiment a little. The special mix turned into a Carrot cupcake with Hazelnuts, Poppy seeds and Lemon.

The cupcakes:

( 14 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

250 gr carrots, grated

100 gr ground hazelnuts

50 gr poppy seeds

2 tbsp lemon zest

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp almond extract

200 g flour

2 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

150 g sugar

100 ml oil

200 g milk (with a bit of creme fraiche mixed in)

1. Preheat oven to 180 C.

2. Peel and grate the carrots. Grind the hazelnuts, but not too fine so you also get a bit of crunch.

Mix the carrots, nuts, poppy seeds, lemon zest and juice.

3. Mix the flour, salt, cinnamon powder and baking powder. Set aside.

4. Beat the egg and the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the oil and the milk and mix until you have a smooth batter. Add in the almond extract. Mid until combined.

5. Mix the flour with the carrot nut mixture and then add in the liquid mixture (egg, sugar, oil..). Mix until everything is combined. Fill the cupcake liner 3/4 way full. Bake in the oven 20-25 minutes.

6. Let the cupcakes cool for 5 minutes before removing from the tins. Let the cupcakes cool completely before dusting with icing sugar.

I didn't want to make a thick creamy icing for these cupcakes. I wanted to keep it light and simple and simply dusted them with confectioners sugar. I cream cheese frosting would probably work well with these cupcakes.

Enjoy! please vote for me here. There are wonderful prizes to be won!

The Daring Baker's February: Flourless Chocolate Valentino cake

2009-02-28T13:01:00.004+02:00

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chew Wan, a Vanilla Ice-cream recipe by Dharm and a Vanilla Ice-creamr ecipe from Wendy as the challenge.

February's DB challenge was a deep dark Chocolate Valentino. This flourless chocolate cake is simply heavenly. So smooth and chocolatey. I paired the cake with a nougt ice-cream, which I still had sitting in the freezer. I was looking forward to trying the vanilla ice-cream recipes, but was unable to since my ice-cream machine is waiting in another country (Kyrgyzstan.) But it's coming back with me to Finland in the summer. Then i'll be churning ice-cream every week!

All I can say is that this recipe gives an amazingly chocolatey cake and that i'll be making this cake again soon.
Chocolate Valentino:

preparation time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

16 oz (1 pound) (454 grams) semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped

1/2 cup ( 1 stick + 2 tbsp) (146 grams total) unsalted butter

5 large eggs separated

1. Place the chocolate and the butter in a heat proof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water ( the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.

2. while your chocolate butter mixture is cooling, butter your pan and line with a parchment circle and then butter the parchment.

3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and place into two larage/medium bowls.

4. whip the egg whites in a grease proof medium/large bowl until stiff peaks are formed ( do not over whip of the cake will turn out dry).

5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.

6. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and followed by the remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflaiting the batter.

7. Pour the batter into prepaired pan. the batter should fill the pan 3/4 way full and bake at 375F/190 C.

8. Bake for 25 minutes or until an instant read thermometers shows 140 F/60 C.

Notes- if you don not have an instant read themometer the top of the cake should look similar to that of a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.

9. cool cake on a wire rake for 10 minutes then unmold.

Dharm's Vanilla Ice-cream ( Recipe comes from the Ice-cream book by Joanna farrow and Sara Lewis)

preparation time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 Vanilla Pod (or substitute with vanilla extract)

300 ml ( 1/2 pint, 1 1/4 cups semi skimmed milk- in the U.S. this is 2% fat ( or use fresh full fat milk tha is pasteurised and homogenised ( as opposed to canned or powdered). Dharm use whole milk.

4 large egg yolks

75 grams, 6 oz, 6 tbsp caster sugar

5 ml, 1 tsp corn flour (cornstarch)

300 ml, 1 pint, 1 1/4 cups double cream (48% butter fat) {in the U.S. heavy cream is 37% fat)(you can easily increase your cream's fat content by heating 1/4 cup of heavy cream with 3 Tbs of butter until melted - cool to room temperature and add to the heavy cream as soon as whisk marks appear in the cream, in a slow steady stream, with the mixer on low speed. Raise speed and continue whipping the cream) or use heavy cream the difference will be in the creaminess of the ice cream).

1. Using a small knife slit the vanilla pod lengthways. Pour the milk into a heavy based saucepan, add the vanilla pod and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and leave for 15 minutes to allow the flavours to infuseLift the vanilla pod up. Holding it over the pan, scrape the black seeds out of the pod with a small knife so that they fall back into the milk. SET the vanilla pod aside and bring the milk back to the boil.

2. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and corn-flour in a bowl until the mixture is thick and foamy.

3. Gradually pour in the hot milk, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over a gentle hear, stirring all the time

4. When the custard thickens and is smooth, pour it back into the bowl. Cool it then chill.

5. By Hand: Whip the cream until it has thickened but still falls from a spoon. Fold it into the custard and pour into a plastic tub or similar freeze-proof container. Freeze for 6 hours or until firm enough to scoop, beating it twice (during the freezing process – to get smoother ice cream or else the ice cream will be icy and coarse)By Using and Ice Cream Maker: Stir the cream into the custard and churn the mixture until thick (follow instructions on your ice cream maker).

Wendy's Ice Cream RecipeVanilla; Philadelphia Style Recipe

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups (473 ml) of half and half (1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of whole, full fat milk)

1 cup (237 ml) heavy cream

2/3 (128 grams) cup sugar

Dash of salt

1 (12 grams) tablespoon of vanilla

Mix all ingredients together (we do this in a plastic pitcher and mix with an emulsifier hand blender-whisking works too).Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longerMix in your ice cream maker as directed.

Strawberry Cloudberry mousse with a vanilla panna cotta

2009-02-24T23:29:00.004+02:00

I've been obsessed with layered desserts lately. It's my new phase. I can't wait for summer. I can't wait for the day when I can walk into the garden with my sandal and a bucket in hand and pick the strawberries from our little garden. I've had enough of snow and the cold, but it doesn't want to leave yet, sadly. We have -5 degress celcius here in Finland and it's snowing...

To get into the summery mood I had to defrost the strawberries and cloudberries that I had sitting in the freezer from the previous summer...besides I have to start making room for the new ones. Anyways....I was browsing through my commonly viewed blogs and came across a strawberry mousse dessert on Canelle-et-vanille. It was perfect...just the layered dessert I was looking to make! The recipe is simply fantastic, I loved how everything was velvety smooth, the vanilla panna cotta and the strawberry cloudberry mousse. It's the perfect dessert to start bringing along the summery feeling, eventhough it might still be a bit too early here...

Recipe ( Adapted from cannelle et vanille)

Ingredients:

Vanilla Panna cotta

200 grams heavy cream

45 grams sugar

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

3 grams sheet gelatin

100 grams plain yogurt

In a small saucepan, cook the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla bean until it come to a boil. In the meantime, soak the gelatine sheets in ice-water. When the cream has come to a boil, remove the pan from the heat and add the softened gelatin sheets. Whisk to dissolve. Pour this into a clean bowl and let it cool to about body temperature. Add the yogurt and whisk well.

Pour the panna cotta into your molds or jars and let it set in the refrigerator.

Strawberry cloudberry mousse

50 grams strawberries

50 grams cloudberries

10 grams sugar

1 tsp vanilla sugar

2 gram sheet gelatin

75 grams heavy cream, soft peaks

Puree the strawberries with the cloudberries. Warm half of the strawberry cloudberry puree with the sugars. In the meantime soak the sheet gelatin in ice cold water. Add the softened gelatin to the warm puree. Add the rest of the puree and let it cool.

Whip the heavy cream until soft peaks. Fold in the whipped cream into the puree base. Pour this mousse on top of the panna cotta and let it set in the refrigerator.

Strawberry gelee

150 grams strawberry puree

30 grams sugar

1 tsp vanilla sugar

2 gram shett gelatin

Warm half of the strawberry puree with the sugar. In the meantime soak the sheet gelatin in ice water. Add the softened gelatin into the warm puree and whisk until incorporated. Add the rest of the puree and let it cool.

Pour the gelee on top of the strawberry cloudberry mousse and let it set in the refrigerator.

Chocolate Coffee Cupcake with a Chocolate Orange Ganache Glaze

2009-02-21T16:43:00.005+02:00

Coffee was the theme Februarys Iron Cupcake Earth Challenge. Myself being a real coffee lover and drinken, found the theme ingredient perfect. I went with a simple chocolate base cake infused with strong fresh brewed coffee and topped with off with a melt-in-your-mouth chocolate orange ganache glaze. Orange and chocolate are a fantastic pair so they go really well together. I've had orange coffee drink before and loved it, so I thought that with the coffee in the cake it would also pair well with the orange in the glaze. I liked the combination, although I thought that the coffee flavor in the cake base was a bit too mild, next time i'll use espresso.

Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

1 cup (200 grams) flour

1 cup (240 g) sugar

1 egg

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup olive oil

1 cup (250 ml) strong coffee

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add in the olive oil and coffee. Give it a light stir to combine everything. Then add the egg and mix until everything is combined. Don't over mix.

Fill the cupcake papers 3/4 full and bake them in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing them and placing them on a wire rack to cool completely.

The chocolate orange glaze:

Ingredients:

170 grams (6 oz.) good dark chocolate

170 ml (3/4 cup) heavy cream

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp cointreau

1 tsp vanilla extract

Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place into a heat proof bowl.

Heat the cream and the honey in a sauce pan till a gentle simmer. Pour the hot cream slowly and carefully onto the chopped chocolate. Let it sit for about a minute. Gently stir the mixture starting from the center in small circles until everything comes together. Add the cointreau and the vanilla. Mix until you have a smooth and shiny glaze. Let the glaze cool a while before pouring on the cupcakes. If your cupcakes have a high dome then you can easily dip the cupakes in the glaze, works just as well.

The Daring Bakers make tuiles

2009-01-22T18:26:00.004+02:00

This months challenge is brought to us by Karen of Baking Soda and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitten aka Kochtopf.
They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angelique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate tuiles from Michel Roux.

The Daring Bakers decided that after a long December of indulging in the delicious christmas dishes and sweet of course, that it was time for something light. Tuiles are a wonderfully delicate buiscuit that when hot can be shaped into any desirable shape. I went for the basic. Curling it around a rolling pin. They didn't retain their shape completely, I might have spread them slightly too thick, but that didn't alter the taste one bit. These were absolutely delicious and delicate. They would pair up well with almost anything.

I paired my tuile "envelope" with a slice of nougat ice-cream and some strawberries (only had frozen ones, but I need the color).

Recipe:

Yields: 20 butterflies/6 large (butterflies are just an example)

Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time 5-10 minutes per batch.

65 grams/ 1/4 cup/ 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)

60 grams/1/4 cup/ 2.1 ounces sifted confectioners sugar

1 sachet vanilla sugar/ (7 grams or substiture with a dash of vanilla extract)

2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)

65 grams / 1/2 cup/ 2.3 ounces all purpose flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder/ or food coloring of choice
butter/spray to grease baking sheet, or baking sheet

Oven: 180C/350F

Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer with a paddle attachement (at low speed) cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the batter in small batches until you reach a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes to firm up. ( This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 mins. before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with butter and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help the batter spread more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the baking sheet and use an off side spatula to spread batter. Leave some space between the shape. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa powder and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wing and body of the butterfly.

Bake the butterflies in a medium oven (180/350) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape or bend the cookies to your desired shape. These cookies have to shaped while still warm so you might want to make a small amount at a time or put them in the oven to warm up again. (Haven't tried that). Or: place the bakingsheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.

If you don't want to do stencil then you may want to stranfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Bake the desired shape and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pink, handle of a broom stick, cone, cups...

Daring Bakers November: Caramels

2008-11-25T14:22:00.000+02:00

I was so thrilled to read that the challenge for November was Caramels. It was either chewy caramels or a caramel cake, either way....caramel! I've been wanting to try making caramels for a long time, but didn't have the right equipment and I simply couldn't find a recipe that I found right. I bought myself the candy thermometer than i've been looking at in the store and I finally decided that I need to get it...and so I did.

I love caramel and being able to make your own is just.....so ahh! great! It may be a bit of a tricky and bubbly process, but it really is all worth it in the end. (even if they do go a bit beyond golden brown). I had such an issue with these caramels, they got a bit overly golden, but that didn't change the flavor too much, it had just a richer taste I think. I blame it all on the candy thermometer...It didn't sit right in the pan and it didn't touch the caramel properly and therefore the temperature increased rather slowly. The pot I had used was a little bit too big. Next time i'll use a smaller one and place the thermometer in properly, then i'll probably get those lovely golden yellow brown caramels. Delicious!

The Recipe:

(make eight 1-inch caramels)

Recipe from Alice Medrich's Pure Desserts

1 cup golden syrup (vaaleaa siirappia)

2 cups sugar

3/8 tsp fine salt

2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 tsp pure ground vanilla beans, purchased or ground in a coffee or spice grinder, 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into chunks and softened

Equipment:

A candy thermometer

A 9-inch square baking pan

Procedure:

Line the sides and the bottom of the baking pan with aluminum foil and grease lightly.

Combine the golden syrup, sugar and salt in a heavy 3-quart saucepan and cook over medium heat stirring with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture begins to simmer around the edges. Wash the sugar and syrup around the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes. ( Meanwhile rinse the spatula or spoon, before using it again). Uncover the pan and wash down the sides onces more. Attach the candythermometer to the pan without letting it touch the bottom of the pan, and cook uncovere and without stirring until the mixture reached 305 F. In the meantime combine the cream and the ground vanilla beans (not the extract) in a saucepan and heat until tiny bubbles form around the edge of the pan. Turn off the heat and cover the pot to keep the cream hot.

When the mixture reaches 305 F turn of the heat and mix in the chunks of butter. Gradually stir in the hot cream. It will bubble and steam dramatically, so be careful. Turn the burner back on and adjust the heat so it boils energetically but not violently. Stir until any thicken syrup is dissolved at the bottom of the pan and the mixture is smooth. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches 245 F. The cook stirring constantly until it reaches 260 F for soft, chewy caramels, or 265 F for firmer chewy caramels.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, if using it. Pour into the prepared pan. Let it set for 4-5 hours until set or overnight.

Lift the pan liner from the pan and and invert the sheet of caramel onto a sheet of parchment paper. peel of the foil and cut the caramels with a oiled knife. wrap each caramel individually in wax paper or cellophane.

Variations:

You can add anything to your caramels to give them a new flavor, such as Fleur de Sel, cardamom, cinnamon, saffron or anything else.

ICE: Lappish cloudberries and cranberry cupcake with a caramel glaze

2008-11-21T11:59:00.000+02:00

This summer at our summer cottage in Lapland, as always, we go on cloudberry picking trips is the near by swaps or "jänkä" in finnish. It's not exactly a swap, but an open and wet part of a forest. This is something we do every year, it's quite labor intensive, but definitely worth it. Hours of bending down and walking in the marsh and having mosquitoes all around you isn't exactly super fun, but i'll do whatever to pick those berries. Thi year was a rather good year, we managed to fill a couple buckets or "Hillas" or cloudberries, which was great compared to last year.

When I read that the theme ingredient for the November challange was cranberry, I immediately knew that I wanted to pair cranberries with the cloubderries sitting in the freezer. Cranberries are very "friendly" berries so they can be paired up with almost anything, cloudberries work very well with these since they have that tangy sweetness, which goes well with cranberries. Because the cranberries are rather tangy I decided to go with something sweet for the icing and ended up making a caramel glaze. Caramel goes really well with cranberries as well as cloudberries, perfect accompaniment.

The cupcakes:

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup of milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup of cranberries, frozen or fresh
1/2 cup of cloudberries, frozen or fresh ( almost impossible to find elsewhere)

The caramel frosting:
(Recipe adapted from Rah Cha Chow)

3 tbsp butter
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
4-6 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 cups powdered sugar (depending on how thick you want the icing)

1. Preheat the oven to 177 C (350 F).

2. Cream the butter and the sugar and the vanilla sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl so everything gets incorporated.

3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides again to ensure even mixing.

4.Combine the dry ingredients in a seperate bowl. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix, then add 1/2 of the milk (wet ingredient). Alternate with the dry and wet ingredients. When everything has been incorpareted, fold in the berries with a spatula. Be careful to do this slowly otherwise the berries will break down.

5. Scoop the batter about 2/3 full and bake for about 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool for 5 minutes in the pan before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the Caramel Icing:

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the sugar and the milk. Bring the mixture to a boil and continue to boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla. Gradually mix in the powdered sugar until you get the consistency you like. Pour or drizzle over the cupcakes and let it set.
If the mixture gets too thick then add a bit more milk to thin it out.

Daring Bakers October: Pizza

2008-10-26T16:01:00.000+02:00

I've watched my sister make pizza before quite a few times, but haven't tried making it myself completely. I've helped with the "decorating" of the pizza. I choose the topping and arrange the salami and olives and sprinkle the cheese, but I haven't attempted making the dough...until nów of course.

Making pizza is really quite simple. It doesn't require many ingredients and not a lot of time. You mix the ingredients and knead it to a smooth dough and then let it sit for an hour or two. Then you roll it out, decorate it and in the oven it goes for about 20 minutes and after that short amount of time you'll have a perfect and lovelyyyy pizza...honestly, it's that simple!

Pizza Dough rising

Forming a ball to get a round pizza base

Rolling out of the pizza dough; trying to get a circle

Ingredients: Basic Pizza Dough
(I got two pizzas from this dough)

1 pck dry yeast (11 grams)
3 dl (300 ml) warm water
2 tsp sugar
400 grams flour
1 tsp salt
a glug -( 2 1/2 tbsp) oil;

Toppings:

1 can tuna (vedessä; in water) drained
sliced olives
sliced tomatoes
cheese ( I used Gouda and finnish Oltermanni)
capers
chilies sliced

Directions:

In a small bowl mix the yeast with the warm water and a bit of sugar to get it started. Let it sit for a bout 5-10 minutes until it gets foamy.
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl ( flour and salt). Mix the yeast mixture into the flour mixture and add the oil. Knead until you have a smooth ball of dough. Add more flour if necessary. Cover and let it sit for about 1-2 hours or until about double in size.
When the dough has risen, take half of it and roll it out on a floured surface until you get it to the thickness or thinness that you want.
Pread a think layer of the tomato sauce and add on anything you want. On the first one was a salami pizza with olives, tomatoes, cheese and chili. The second was a tuna pizza with of course tuna, and capers, olives, chilies and cheese.
Bake in the oven at 180 C for about 18-20 minutes or until golden brown from the edges and that the cheese has melted.

Piacere!......(Enjoy!)

ICE Challenge: Say cheeseee....

2008-10-19T15:43:00.000+03:00

Can't believe it's October already. Time goes by WAY too quickly! My week of fall break is slowly coming to an end. Soon it's back to school and back to studyig and stress. This means not a lot of baking time. Not nice...! But over the fall break I did manage to do quite a bit of baking. So I hope that will keep me going for a while.

Halloween is also approaching rather quickly. It isn't a tradition in Finland to celebrate halloween, but it is definitely becoming more popular. I'm now starting to see more and more halloween decorations in the stores and more halloween recipes in food magazine in Finland. The food magazine "Maku" that I ordered (came a few days ago) had a pumpkin shaped cake on the front cover! So halloween is really becoming quite a trend here.

My friend is planning on hosting a halloween party and I offered to be the one who brought all the goodies...a.k.a the baked goods. I'm slowly starting to put together my list of what to make. So far i've got halloween decorated sugar cookies, a real halloween classic I believe and also halloween cupcakes. Not sure how to decorate them yet. I have afew ideas, but still looking. For the rest of the goodies i'm still searching.

Well....right...ICE challenge...slipped my ming for a moment. So this months theme ingredient was cheese....interesting, exciting, cheesyyy. When I read that it was cheese I had all the cheese types( that I know) go arounf in my mind. I knew that I wanted a soft, creamy cheese, which then left me with three choices. Philadelphia, mascarpone and ricotta. Philadelphia is such a commonly used cheese so I left that one out. Mascarpone....nice, but didn't want to use that either. That left me with ricotta. I love ricotta and it's lovely smoothness.

I had the BEST ricotta (seriously the best) in Sicily. I got spoiled by that ricotta. No other ricotta will ever tastethat nice....ok...ricotta it was and delicious at that. I decided to make a Polenta lemon ricotta cupcake with sweet cognac soaked raisings and a ricotta topping. Sounds long, but easy and delicious.

The Cupcakes:

(recipe adapted from Slow like Honey)

1/2 cup polenta or yellow cornmeal (maissijauhoja)

1/4 cup plain flour (puolikarkea vehnäjauho)

1 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup cognac soaked raisins ( I had these in the cupboard soaking since forever, delicious!)

( you can also just use normal raisins. Let them soak in some water for a while)

1/8 cup tepid water

1/2 ricotta

grated zest of 1/2 lemon

57 grams butter, melted and cooled

1 eggs

The topping:

1 cup ricotta

1/4 cup confectioners sugar

a sqeeze of lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 165 C (325 F). Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.

1. Mix the polenta, flour, baking powder and salt together. set aside.

2. Whisk the ricotta and the water until smooth and creamy. Add in the sugar, honey and lemon zest and beat until light. Beat in the melted butter. Add the egg and mix until incorporated and smooth.

3. Add the dry ingredients and mix until fully incorporated. You should have a smooth, pourable batter. Add in the raisins and give a final mix.

4. Pour the batter into the cupcake papers. Don't over fill! Bake in the oven for 20-22 minutes. Check that they are done by inserting a toothpick in the center. If they are done the toothpick will come out clean. If not, give them couple more minutes in the oven.

Let the cupcakes cool completely, then frost.

For the Frosting:

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth and incorporated. Add more or less sugar to get the sweetness and consistency that you want. Top the cupcakes when they have cooled.

Enjoy!

Iron Cupcake Earth: My first challenge

2008-09-17T22:28:00.000+03:00

This is the second cupcake baking event that I have taken part in. First Cupcake Hero then Iron Cupcake Earth (a.k.a ICE). Both of these events are a cupcake crazy persons "must attend" baking events. Both of these events definitely ensure fun cupcake baking each month with an exciting ingredient. For example, take the theme ingredient for this month, September.....Basil. Creative isn't it!

Basil sure isn't used that often in baking sweet things. It's rather used in savory baked goods, such as muffins (with chilli and bacon or cheese.) Well.....this was definitely a fun challenge that had to get me thinking. "What would go well with basil?" that was the question I pondered upon for quite some time. I finally had an idea...basil and coconut, that had to be good right? Then I remembered that I had some strawberries stashed in the freezer that I had picked from our strawberry field in the garden this summer. So it turned out to be basil-coconut-strawberry cupcakes....let's see what happens! Well....basil-coconut-strawberry cupcake DO work together. These cupcakes turned out to be quite "spicy" and they had a christmasy taste...not a bad thing. The basil in the cupcakes added that lovely spiciness and the strawberries and coconut added the perfect sweetness and complimented the basil rather nicely. The coconut cream cheese frosting also went really well with the basil and the strawberries.

Basil-coconut-strawberry cupcakes with coconut cream cheese frosting:

The cupcakes:

Ingredients: ( Makes 12)

(The recipe here is for 24 cupcakes, but I halved it)

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cup sugar + 1 tsp. vanilla sugar

3 eggs, room temp.

1/4 cup of coconut milk, canned

1 cup pureed strawberries

1 Tbsp. chopped basil leaves ( puree with the strawberries to get them really fine)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup desiccated coconut, sweetened

Coconut cream cheese frosting:

Ingredients:

113 g unsalted butter, room temperature

200 g cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 - 1 cup confectioners/powdered sugar

1/4 cup desiccated coconut, sweetened

1. Preheat the oven to 177 C (350 F)

2. Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and cream till light and fluffy again. Scrape down the sides of the bowl halfway through so everything mixes well.

3. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix well after each addition. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl so everything mixes well.

4. In another bowl combine the flour, salt and baking powder. In another cup mix the 1 cup of canned coconut milk and the vanilla extract.

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix, then add 1/2 of the wet ingredients (coconut milk and the pureed strawberries with the basil leaves). Continue alternating with the wet and dry ingredients, ending with the dry. Don't overbeat. Stop mixing when everything has incorporated.

5. Fold in the desiccated coconut. Scoop into cupcake papers 1/2 to 3/4 full. Bake in the oven 20-25 minutes. Check that the cupcakes are done but sticking a toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean they're done.

Let them cool 5 minutes in the pan, then place them onto a wire rack to cool completely. Once the have completely cool you can start frosting them.

For the cream cheese frosting:

1. Cream the butter and the cream cheese together until light and fluffy (about 3 mins).

2. Add in the desiccated coconut and the powdered sugar. Add more or less powdered sugar to get the sweetness and consistency you desire.

3. Spread onto the cooled cupcakes and enjoy!

August Daring Bakers challenge: Chocolate eclairs

2008-08-30T16:59:00.000+03:00

The August challenge for the Daring Bakers was eclairs. I was again, very excited about this challenge since it gave me another chance to improve my skills at making these lovely french baked goods. I had tried them before and they turned out ok, not super, but not that bad either. So now with the challenge I was able to improve them and they sure did improve. The dough puffed up nicely and the chocolate pastry cream was 'eat-it-by-the-spoonful' good. It was really really lovely and smooth and just delicious. The chocolate glaze turned out a lot better this time. The chocolate glaze is not only perfect for coating eclairs, but also great for frosting, for example cupcakes.

The eclairs overall where really delicious. All of them dissappeared on the same day, and tells me that i'll be making them again soon.

Pierre Herme's Cream Puff dough ( Choux pastry)

Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme

(Makes 20-24 eclairs)

Cream Puff dough:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (125g) whole milk

1/2 cup (125g) water

1 stick ( 4 oz; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

1/4 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour

5 large eggs, room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust form at the bottom of the saucepan, it's supposed to. You need to carry one stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough, After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer with the paddle attachment, or using your handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg until the eggs have been incorporated into the dough.

You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, itn will come back all togehter again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and whe lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should still be warm. It is now ready to be used for the eclairs.

Chocolate Pastry Cream:

Ingredients:

2 cups ( 500g) whole milk

4 large egg yolks

6 tbsp (75g) sugar

3 tbsp cornstarch sifted

200 g bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted (I used Fazer dark chocolate)

2 1/2 tbsp (40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to the boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture. Continue whisking and slowly pouring the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucpan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stopping) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1-2 mins. ( still over medium heat). Stir in the melted chocolate and the remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set in an ice-water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temp. of 140 F remove from the ice bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice-water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it is completely cooled. The cream is now ready to be used or store in the fridge.

Chocolate Glaze:

(Makes 1 cup: 300g)

1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream

3 1/2 oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

4 tsp (20g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temp.

7 tbsp (110g) Chocolate sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temp.

1) In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2)Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce

Chocolate sauce:

( Makes 1 1/2 cups : 525g)

130 g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 cup (250ml) water

1/2 cup (125g) creme fraiche, or heavy cream

1/3 cup ( 70g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon or until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10-15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

To make the eclairs:

1)Preheat your oven to 190 c (375 F) . Dive the oven into thirds by positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking trays with parchment paper.

2)Fill a pastry bag with a plain nozzle tip (2/3 (2 cm))with the warm dough and pipe long 11 cm ( 4 inch) long tubes or chubby fingers onto the baking trays lined with parchment paper. Leave about 5 cm ( 2 inches) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff. The dough should give you to pipe 20-24 eclairs.

3) Slide both of the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep it ajar. When the eclairs have been in the ovgen for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheeps from top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the eclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Assembling the eclairs:

1) Slice the eclairs horrizontally, using a serrated knife and in a gently sawing motion. Set aside the bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should still be warm to the touch (35-40 C/ 95-104 F). Spread the glaze over the tops of the eclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set in the meantime fill the bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the eclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms enough to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:

If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water, stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you don't want to create bubbles.

The eclairs should be served as soon as the have been filled.

July Daring Bakers: Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream

2008-07-04T17:52:00.000+03:00

I am now officially a member of the Daring Bakers. I've been wanting to going The Daring Bakers for a long time now, but haven't gotten around to joining until now. For my first challenge this July, I had to bake a lovely looking Gateau. The first thing i thought was "Oh no....". Not because I couldn't get the ingredients or because I just didn't want to bake a cake, but simply because I thought I would have to miss my first Daring Bakers challenge, and this was not how I wanted to start. It was simply time that I was worried about. The thing was that we were supposed to leave for Lapland to go to our summer cottage. We have a very traditional, old summer cottage, which means no electricity and no running water. We do have a gas oven, but that's not always so promising. Anyways......the trip got postponed and I was able to bake the cake with a good-working oven.....and electricity.

When I first saw the recipe it seemed SO long and complex. I started tackling it bit by bit, which made it easier to follow and understand. The one thing which too the most time was converting the recipe into grams, since I do not have a cup measurement set (but I will own one soon).

The cake was delicious....definitely a recipe keeper. The cake was nice and moist...thanks to the lovely and sweet sugar syrup and the whipped cream filling added to right creamyness into the bite. The chocolate ganache coating was perfect for the cake, just the right stickyness and sweetness. Overall scrumptious!

Filbert Gateau:

Because of the amount of nuts in this recipe, this preparation is different from a classic genoise

Ingredients:

113 grams hazelnuts, toasted/skinned
43 grams cake flour
1 Tbsp cornstarch
3 egg yolks
101 grams sugar, divided into 25 g & 75 g
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp lemon zest
3 egg whites
29 grams warm, clarrified butter (100-110 degrees)

Position rack in the lower 3rd of the oven and preheat to 177 C (350 F). Grease and flour a 10" x 2" inch round cake pan ( I used a smaller cake pan...I should check the measurements).

Using a food processor, process nuts, cake flour and cornstarch for about 30 seconds. Then, pulse the mixture about 10 times to get a fine, powdery mixture. You'll know when the nuts are ready when they begin to gather together around the sides of the bowl. While you want to make sure there aren't any large pieces, don't over-process. Set aside.

Put the yolks in the bowl of an electric mixer, with the whisk attachment and beat until thick and light in color, about 3-4 minuteson med-high speed. Slowly add the 75 grams sugar tablespoon at a time, taking about 3 minutes of this step. When finished, the mixture should be ribbony. Blend in the vanilla and grated lemon zest.

Place egg whites in a large, clean bowl of the electric mixer with the whisk attachment and beat on medium speed, until soft peaks. Increase speed to med-high speed and slowly add the 25 grams of sugar, over 15-20 seconds or so. Continue to beat for another 1/2 minute.

Add the yolk mixture to the whites and whisk for 1 minute.
Pour the warm butter in a liquid measure cup ( or a spouted container) * It must be a deep bottom bowl and work must be fast* Put the nut meal in a mesh strainer ( or use your hand-working quickly..I used my hands) and sprinkle it in about 2 tbsp at a time-folding it carefully for about 40 folds. Be sure to exclude any large chunks/pieces of nuts. Again working quickly and carefully as to not deflate the mixture. When all but 2 tsbp of the nut meal remain, quickly and steadily pour the warm butter over the batter. Then, with the remaining nut meal, fold the batter to incorporate, about 13 folds.

With the rubber spatula, transfer the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the surface with the spatula or back of a spoon. ** If collected butter remains at the bottom of the bowl, do not add it to the batter! It will impede the cake rising while baking**

Tap the pan on the counter to remove air bubbles and bake in the preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes. You'll know the cake is done when it is springy to the touch and it separates itself from the side of the pan. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Invert onto a cake rack and allow to cool completely.

Sugar Syrup:

119 ml water
25 grams sugar
1 tbsp darnk rum or orange flavoured liqueur ( I used Contreau)

In a small, yet heavy saucepan, bring the water and the sugar to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add in the liqueur. Cool slightly before using on the cake.
*can be made in advance*

The filling:

Instead of the Swiss Buttercream for the filling I went for the whipped cream filling...more my kind of thing.

100 ml whipped cream
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Whipped the cream until slightly thick. Sprinkle in the sugar a little at a time. Add in the vanilla and beat until thick. Let sit in the fridge until time to use.

Praline paste:
I also used the chunky pralines as decoration on the cake

75 grams hazelnuts
67 grams sugar

Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper and lightly butter.

Put the sugar in a heavy skillet. Heat on low flame for about 10-20 minuts until the sugar melts around the edges. Do not stir the sugar!. Swirl the pan if necessary to prevent the melted sugar from burning.

Apricot Glaze:

2/3 cup thick apricot preserves
1 tbsp. water

In a small yet heavy saucepan, bring the water and the preserves to a slow boil and simmer for 2-3 mins. If the mixture begins to stick to the bottom of the saucepan, add water as needed.

Ganache Glaze:

85 grams semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, like Lindt ( I used Fazer)
90 ml cream
1/2 Tbsp honey/corn syrup
1/2 tbsp cointreau
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp hot water

Blend vanilla and liqueur together and set aside.

Break the chocolate into pieces and place into a medium sized bowl and set aside.
Heat the cream and the honey/ corn syrup in a saucepan on low until it reaches a gentle boil. Pour the gently boiled cream on the chopped chocolate and let it rest for one minute. Then slowly stir and mix the chocolate abd cream together until the chocolate is melted and incorporated into the cream. Carefully blend in the vanilla mixture. If the surface seems oily, add 1/2 tsp hot water. The glaze will thicken, but should still be pourable. If it doesn't thicken, refrigerate for about 5 minutes, but make sure it doesn't get too cold!

Assembling Cake:

Cut a cardboard disk smaller than the cake. Divide the cake into 2 layers and place the first layer top-side down on the disk. Usig a pastry brush, moisten the layer with 3-4 tbsp of warm sugar syrup. Spread on a layer of cream. Place the next layer on top and do the same (moisten and spread with cream.) Gently press the sides of the cake to align the layers. Refrigerate to chill for at least 30 mins.

Lift the cake by sliding your palm under the cardboard. Holding a serrated or very sharp knife trim the sides of the cake so they are straight. Cut a slight bevel at the top to help the glaze drip over the edges. Brush the top and the sides of the cake with warm apricot glaze, sealing the cut areas completely. Chill while preparing the chocolate ganache.

Place a rack over a large bowl or a covered baking tray to cath the ganache drippings. Remove the gateau from the refrigerator and place on the rack. With a metal spatula in hand, and holding the saucepan above the cake (about 10 inches) pour the ganache into the cake's center. Move the spatula over the top of the cake to get an even and smooth (mirro-like) appearance. The ganache should cover the top and run down the sides of the cake. Let the cake stand at least 15 minutes to set after glazing.'

Garnich the cake with piping cream in a fancy design or fruits or any other garnish you wish.
For my cake I add some the remaining praline pieces that were left and some fresh strawberries picked straight from the garden.

Cupcake Hero: Honey melon cupcakes with a quark cream filling and a lemon-honey melon glaze.

2008-06-24T08:22:00.000+03:00

This is my first Cupcake Hero challenge and i'm so excited. The theme for June was melon, which i thought was quite challenging to use in baking. Coming up with a way to incorporate melon into a cupcake was a lot of fun and a new challenge. I came up with numerous ideas and couldn't wait to try them out.

When i first saw that the theme ingredient for June was melon, I couldn't have been happier. Currently where I am, which is in Kyrgyzstan, ( I know, you're probably wondering "where in the world is that?!"), they have the BEST and juciest melons. Now is the season for their Dinyas and Arbuzis or in other words watermelons and honey melons. Watermelons and honey melons are being sold at the local fruit and vegetable markets and by the side of the roads in huge stacks now, as well as the honey melons. It's a real treat to buy them so locally and fresh. Brought from a village not far from Bishkek, so freshness is definitely guaranteed. I absolutely love honey melon, it's my favorite out of all the melons, which is also why I decided to use it in my cupcakes, instead of watermelon.

These cupcakes had a great flavor, although next time I would add a bit more honey melon puree into the cupcakes, just to get more of the melon flavor. The filling worked well with the cupcakes and the lemony glaze. The quark here in Kyrgyzstan is different from that in Finland and elsewhere of course. It has a more gritty texture but the flavor is wonderfully rich and creamy. I also decided to add a slice of strawberry in the middle of he filling with 2-3 small cubes of honey melon. While I was thinking of flavor combinations for the cupcakes, I tried a lot of different fruits with honey melon to see what flavor combinations worked and strawberry just happened to be the best, they really work well together. The cupcake overall had a great flavor, filling and all.

Cupcakes: ( makes about ~8)

Vanilla base cupcake

Ingredients:

3/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

56.5 grams unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup honey melon puree

1. Cream the butter until smooth. Add in the sugar gradually and the vanilla sugar. Beat until smooth and creamy.

2. Add in the egg and mix until incorporated.

3. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients. Add these to the creamed mixture alternating with the milk. ( make sure that the milk is at room temperature.) Make sure to also not overbeat the mixture.

4. Bake in the oven at 177 C for 20-25 mins.

5. Once the cupcakes have come out of the oven let them cool completely. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled you can start with the filling of the cupcakes. There are many ways in which you can fill a cupcake. I personally like to use Chockylit's cone method. Other tips for filling a cupcake can be found here.

6. Once you have the cupcake ready for filling place a little bit of the quark filling in the center and then add a slice of strawberry and 2-3 cubes of honey melon. Top with a dollop of quark and place the top back on.

7. When all the cupcakes have been filled, it is time to glaze the cupcakes. Pour a little bit of the lemon-honey melon icing on each cupcake until evenly coated.

Quark Cream Filling:

50 grams fresh quark

1 tbsp sugar ( add more if you prefer it sweeter)

2 tsp honey melon juice

A few slices of small strawberries to place in the center

A few small cubes of honey melon to place in the center (with the strawberries)

Place the quark, sugar and honey melon juice in a bowl and mix until smooth and creamy. When filling the cupcakes, add a bit of the filling in the center (don't fill it too much) and then place a slice of strawberry on top and 2-3 small cubes of honey melon, then add some more quark filling on top and place the top back on.

Lemon-honey melon glaze:

128 grams icing/confectioners sugar sifted

1-2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp honey melon juice

1 tsp lemon zest

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth. Add more or less honey melon or lemon juice to get the right consistency. The glaze should be a good pouring consistency, but not watery thin.

Pour the glaze on the cupcakes and give them a swirl to get the glaze to completely cover the top of the cupcake.

Snickerdoodleeeesss....!

2008-06-05T22:21:00.000+03:00

"Snickerdoodles." It was due to the name that I had to bake them. Snickerdoodles, I think that is just an awesome name for a cookie. Just the name makes you want to try them, well this was my case.

These cookies are truly a classic. They are one of the easiest and simplest, yet delicious, cookies to make. Crispy edges, soft and creamy inside and a lovely taste and smell of cinnamon. These are cookies that I could really eat by the dozen. My lovely doggyline seemed to love them as well. I think he probably ate more of them than I did. He's got a really big sweet tooth. I am sure snickerdoodles are his new favorite cookie. If drooling just due to the smell of them isn't a good enough sign, then I don't know what is.

Snickerdoodles: ( ~ 24 cookies)
(Recipe adapted from joyofbaking.com)

Ingredients:
193 grams flour
114 grams butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla sugar (if you have it)
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon

Coating:
33 grams white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon (I added a bit more cinnamon, since I love it)
Mix the sugar and the cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.

1.Preheat oven to 190 celcius.
2. Beat the butter and the sugar with your electric mixer or hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla extract and give it a quick swirl.
3. Add in the egg and beat until combined.
4. In another bowl mix the dry ingredients. Add these to the butter-sugar mixture. Mix until you have a smooth dough.
If the dough is soft, place it in the fridge for an hour or two until hard enough to roll into balls.
5. Roll the dough into balls and roll these in the cinnamon sugar until coated. Place these onto the baking tray lined with parchment paper. Flatten them out with the bottom of the glass to about 1.5 cm thick (1/2 inch).
6. Bake in the oven for about 8-10 minutes until the edges are a golden brown and the top is a bit crackly.

Cupcake sugar cookies

2008-06-01T15:51:00.000+03:00

While randomly browsing through blogs, I came upon Cake Journal, which immediately caught my attention. Cake Journal is an amazing blog where you can find great ideas and great step by step instructions. I stumbled upon the prettiest cookies ever. They were cupcake shaped sugar cookies that were amazingly decorated. They were seriously fantastic.

I knew I had to try making such sugar cookies. I knew I couldn't get my cookies decorated as nicely as the ones on Cake Journal, but I just had to try them. Since I don't have cupcake shaped cookie cutters I had to make my own, all I needed was a pencil and an empty milk carton. (Cake Journal has the templates if you want to download them.)

The sugar cookies came out great. I always cut my cookies out too thin and so they would get hard and crispy, but this time I remembered to cut them out quite thick (~1 cm), which made them lovely and soft. The icing was the tricky part for me, even though it's just mixing egg whites, confectioners sugar and a little bit of lemon, I find it a tad bit difficult to get the right consistency for the piping of the outlines and then the filling in of the cookies, or for flooding the cookies. I will definitely keep on experimenting with royal icing until I get it just right.

Sugar cookies: (~14 big cookies)
(Recipe adapted from joyofbaking.com)

Ingredients:
245 g all purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
113 g unsalted butter, room temperature
150 g granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In an electric mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and the sugars, until light and fluffy (~3-4 mins).
2. Add the egg and the vanilla extract, beat until combined.
3. In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients and mix until you get a a smooth dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for about an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 177 C. Line two baking trays with baking sheets/parchment paper.
5. Cut the dough in half and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about 1 cm thick.
6. Bake in the oven for about ~15 minutes or until a light golden brown.

The classic carrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting

2008-05-17T20:15:00.000+03:00

I finally got the chance to make cupcakes again. This time I made the classic carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I actually made these cupcakes for a bake sale at my school. I thought I would slowly introduce the cupcake to the Finns, since cupcakes aren't that well known here. I went home with an empty box, so I think that's a good sign. "Finns like cupcakes!"
These cupcakes came out lovely and moist and cinnamon-y and the frosting never tasted better!

Ingredients: (makes 12 cupcakes)

170 g carrots, peeled and grated
140 g flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
120 ml oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
nuts/raisins (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside ( flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt)
3. Beat the eggs and sugar until thick and frothy. Add in the oil, vanilla, flour mixture and the grated carrots.
4. Bake in an oven for about 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting:
115 g cream cheese
30 g butter
115 g icing sugar (or more)
1 tsp lemon juice

Beat the butter and the cream cheese until light and fluffy add in the lemon juice, give it a quick mix. Then add in the icing sugar. Add more (or less) icing/confectioners sugar to get the consistency you desire.

Oatmeal Cookies Finnish style

2008-02-24T16:43:00.000+02:00

I can only say that these cookies were delicious. They smelled great when they came out of the oven! The edges of the cookies were crunchy and crisp and the center was nice and chewy, but not in the soggy way. I will definitely be making these cookies again.

Oatmeal Cookies
(original recipe from joyofbaking.com)

Ingredients: (makes about 24 cookies)

110g chopped walnuts, hazelnuts, or any other nuts of your choice, roasted and chopped
105 g flour
215 g brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
260 g oats
170 g butter, room temperature

Preheat the oven to 177 degrees celcius. Line two baking trays with baking/parchment paper.

Cream the butter and the brown sugar until smooth and creamy (2-3 min.) Then add the egg and he vanilla extract, mix until well combined. Mix the dry ingredients ( flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.) Then add the dry ingredients to the creamy mixture with the oats and the nuts. Mix until combined. Spoon some of the mixture onto the parchment paper and mold them a bit with your hands. Its easier when you wet your fingers a little bit with water.

Bake the cookies in the oven for about 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Let them cool a while on the baking trays them move them onto a wire rack if you have one.

Lemon Cupcakes

2008-02-03T15:55:00.000+02:00

I love lemon. I love it in baked goods and in my tea. These cupcakes came out really nice and moist and they had a light lemony flavor. These cupcakes tasted great without the icing but the icing adds more sweetness and something extra.

Ingredients:

195 grams flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

113 grams butter, softened

170 grams sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

50 ml lemon juice

2 eggs

114 grams sour cream ( I used smetana)

For the lemon icing:

115 grams icing sugar or confectioners sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.

2. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside (flour, salt, baking powder)

3. Whisk the butter for 30 sec. until creamy. add the sugar and vanilla whisk together. Then add the eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition.

4.Add the dry ingredients alternating with the sour cream and the lemon juice, mix well.

5. Bake in the oven for about 20-25 mins. You can tell when they are done by inserting a toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean they're done.