Rumkugeln

It's give a little, take a little, right?

I love the concept of food blogs because you can be sure there is at least one person who has tested and approved the recipes and likes them enough to recommend them to you. Everybody has been given a great, well-tested recipe from a good friend, family member or neighbour he or she swears by and this is a bit like having a gigantic neighbourhood. Sure, everybody lives in certain streets and you cannot be friends with all there are but somehow, a community sticks together. 

Recently, the nice people over at Onion Goggles knocked on my door and told me they liked what I'm doing here over at mi casa and passed along the Liebster Blog Award to me! 'Liebster' is German (I know, right?!) and can either mean “dearest”, “favourite” or “darling” and is meant to be paid forward to blogs that have 200 followers or less and you think deserve to be noticed.

Following rules apply:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
3. Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed.
5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog.

Thank you so much!

I also want to thank my followers and all the people who read my humble little blog as well as the fellow bloggers who support and inspire me. Thank you, neighbours and friends. 

These are the neighbours whose doors I'll be knocking on one after another like a jehova's witness:

http://iamafoodblog.com/- sure seems like the new troublemaker on the block! Kinda bold and awesome and I'm already loving it big time!

http://annacostafood.wordpress.com/- gracious Anna also just recently moved to our neighbourhood and someone better tell her to shut the blinds at night as some teenage boy's are already lurking outside her window! If she and her husband ever invite you over for dinner – you will dine with style so wear your Sunday's best.

http://theintrepidbaker.wordpress.com/- don't be fooled by her name. The intrepid baker does much more than just baking! I have only 'met' her recently and she comes off as the serene and creative type. What she does is often cute but never kitschy. Something I appreciate.

Both http://www.unhipsquirrel.com/and http://avocadopesto.wordpress.com/have already been around longer than I am (which does not say a lot. Haha.) but somehow managed to stay under my radar for a long time. While jovial Nicola from the unhip Squirrel is versatile in her cooking and has a productivity I'm jealous of, the equally versatile blog Avocado Pesto has a stronger emphasis on savoury and healthy meals.

Yes, and there are yet more news from my side! I have recently joined Pinterest and have been pinning away quite a bit already! I am planning on pinning more than just recipes so it's a bit like I give you entrance to my mind. Let's see how long it will take you to realise how boring I am! ;)

I am also glad to share with you another traditional pastry that you can find in every bakery around Northern Germany - Rumkugeln! Rumkugeln are cake balls made with rum and you know what the best part is? There is no active baking involved. Rumkugeln are a baker's dirty little secret. They consist of leftover cake, trims and failures. Anything that's dried out or not presentable – toss it in a bowl and make some of these! Mine are made of some of last week's Cherry and Red Wine Chocolate Cake as well as marble cake from the supermarket that was already kind of dry the day I bought it.

Funny thing not even most Germans are aware of: Southern Germany has something called Rumkugelnas well that looks just like their northern counterparts except they are smaller and mainly consist of butter, sugar, cocoa and nuts and belong more in the category of confections.

Rumkugeln are also known in Denmark and are similar to Swedish Arraksbol – except that these are made with Arrack liquor instead of rum.

There aren't even exact amounts of ingredients this time. No measuring. No baking. No fuss.

Rumkugeln (Rum Balls)

500g leftover cake make about 5 balls.

• Leftover cake
• rum or rum aroma
• jam/jelly of choice (just avoid chunks. I used apricot jam.)
• chocolate (I used some dark chocolate but you can use whatever you have on hand. If you don't have any, just leave it out. The sprinkles stick better to the ball when you cover it very thinly with chocolate and you will have to miss out on that very satisfying 'crack' when you dig in with a fork, but there will hardly be any change in flavour)
• chocolate sprinkles

• dutch process cocoa (optional. If your leftovers don't have any cocoa but you want some, there you go)
• cupcake baking liners (optional)

1. In a bowl, crumble leftover cake (if you use different kinds of cake together, make sure that all crumbles are mixed well).
2. Add rum.
3. With your hands knead into dough (Amount of rum and jelly depends on the amount of leftovers you have so I would suggest to add little by little. The mass should be nice and stiff. Not too dry of course but it should keep its shape when formed. Without wanting to sound unappetizing, but think Play-Do).
4. Knead in jam/jelly (You can either start with rum or jam. However, to make sure that I get a nice strong flavour of rum, I like adding it first and then add jam).
5. When paste is homogeneous, put in fridge for a little while.
6. In the meantime, melt chocolate in microwave (It does not really matter if it gets too hot as you won't see it later, but it is easier to use when it is just molten).
7. Take paste out of fridge, form balls about the size of golf balls or tangerines. Thinly brush with chocolate or spread some on either with a spoon or even your fingers, roll in sprinkles and put in cupcake baking liner (optional. This is the classic way of serving.) Repeat until all paste is gone.
8. Keep in fridge for at least half an hour.

Enjoy! 

It took me less than half an our to make 10 Rumkugeln.