Olive Oil & Orange Cake with Pistachios

Soooo, I was working at the CeBIT Computer Expo two weeks ago. For the oblivious ones among you (read: probably everyone), CeBIT is the largest IT fair in the world. Attending a fair that is the “barometer of the state of the art of computer technology” (thank you, Wikipedia) is pretty amazing, huh? Well, I wouldn’t know. I was busy ruining people’s days. All day, every day. 

I was working at one of the entrances making sure that only those who were supposed to enter actually got in. That included telling families with children that they could not attend (you had to be at least 16) despite having valid (and pricey, I may add) tickets and coming all the way from France/Greece/Norway/whatever. People don’t like to hear it and I don’t like telling them. It was a lose-lose situation, really.  I didn’t make the rules. It was not my fault but I was there, so I was hit by their fury. And all I could do was stay calm, smile and apologise.  I mean, it’s not like it wasn’t written directly on the ticket in big bold letters but what can you do…

Anyways. Breaks lasted from five to thirty minutes, depending on how busy it was which even in a best-case scenario is not enough time to really see anything. The furthest I got was to the hall right behind the entrance. And what did it have? Robots? Future Social Media? 3D technologies (It was all there, somewhere)? No. Effing Ethernet hubs, switches and routers. But there were stalls giving away free lattes and popcorn, so I had carbs and caffeine to keep my spirits (and heart rate) up. 

The recipe I share today is not mine but adapted from dear blogger friend Rowena over at Apron and Sneakers who posted it merely a week ago. The moment I saw this cake I had cravings. Cravings for something I have never eaten before. The concoction was just so intriguing and her presentation so appealing that I thought about it all week so when I finally had some time to spare on the weekend, I was a man on a mission when I hit the street market. 

Let’s just say, the cake did not disappoint. It’s amazing! While it’s not her cake per se, she made several changes and additions. All of them are an improvement, in my opinion, and are what really makes this cake so scrumptious and moist. 

Olive Oil & Orange Cake with Pistachios
Adapted from Apron and Sneakers.

Rowena wrote it makes two 22cm round cakes, but just like her I made one big cake. Mine had a Ø of 26cm. While I, too, made a few very minor changes, it is essentially her recipe that you see here.

For the cake:

• 400g (14 oz) pastry flour, sifted  (plus additional for the baking pan)
• 250g (8.8 oz) sugar
• 200ml (6.75 fl. oz) olive oil (plus additional for the baking pan)
• 4 eggs, divided
• Grated zest of one untreated orange
• 250ml (8.45 fl. oz) freshly squeezed orange juice
• 40g (1.4 oz) ground pistachios
• 1ts baking powder
• Seeds of one vanilla pod

For the syrup:

• 250g (8.8 oz) sugar
• 250ml (8.45 fl. oz) freshly squeezed orange juice
• Zest of half an orange (I simply forgot about it, to be honest)
• 1 orange, sliced thinly

 

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Grease & flour baking pan.
3. Whip egg whites until stiff, refrigerate.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and vanilla seeds until fluffy. 
5. Add sugar, whisking continuously.
6. Add olive oil little by little, keep whisking.  
7. Add sifted flour, baking powder and orange zest.  Mix well.
8. Add orange juice little by little, mixing well.
9. Fold in egg whites.  
10. Pour mass in baking pan. 
11. Sprinkle top with crushed pistachios. 
12. Bake for 40 minutes (30 if you make two smaller cakes.) with oven vent on (mine became suspiciously dark after 20 minutes, so I turned it off again).  Check centre with a toothpick.  If it comes out clean, it's cooked.
13. Let it cool off a little.  Make sure cake is loosened from sides of the pan while still left inside.

While the cake is baking:

1. In a small pot, combine sugar, orange juice and zest (that I forgot, like I said) over low heat until sugar has dissolved
2. Add orange slices.  Move them carefully in the saucepan.
3. Increase heat and boil for 5 - 6 minutes or until syrup thickens.

Final touches:

1. With a toothpick, prick little holes evenly into the cake
2. Pour over half of the hot syrup little by little, letting it soak into the cake.
3. Carefully remove from pan.
4. Cover the top of the cake with the orange slices and sprinkle with crushed pistachios.
5. Let the cake cool.
6. To serve, cut the cake and pour over remaining syrup.

Enjoy!

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.

Divine Cherry & Red Wine Chocolate Cake

As most of you may already know, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. At first, I did not have the intention of covering this oh so essential day for baked goods - from the bland perspective of food blogger-me, that is. The reason why is the me-me. Mixed feelings.

February 14^thhas never really been the day for lovers, but more the day for love in a different way, as it was my grandfather's birthday. A man I have more respect, admiration and appreciation for than I could never form into words that would not fall short to what he really deserves. A man who was kind and honest. Benevolent. A man who met not the fate in a way he deserved.

This day will always be his birthday but of course, Valentine's Day is becoming more important as well. Giving it a bit more thought, the idea of a day that reminds happy couples how great and valuable it is what they have is quite appealing in its essence. However, the execution fairly often somewhat questionable. When shiny things and expensive gifts become the main focus – and especially when the lack of such result in tears and tantrums – maybe the relationship is not so valuable after all. Like I said, mixed feelings on so many levels.

But yes, in the end, I have decided to think up something for Valentine's Day.
Something that I am sure you are happy to know is rather quick to make (considering the date, it is last minute, isn't it?) but does not come short in decadence and sophistication. The ingredient that certainly makes it a grown-up cake is red wine and you will only need so much that there is still enough left to enjoy along with it. Cherries and red wine go together perfectly.

Oh yes, before I forget. Over the week-end, I finally found some time to do minor additions to the blog that were more than needed. For one thing, there now is a 'About'-page where you can read a little bit about the author of this blog, who would be me. For another thing, there now is a Facebook page for this blog. So if you like what you see and read, feel free to like me on FaceyB and be informed about every update and maybe some tidbids that come to my mind. :)

The only tricky thing with this recipe is that you need to flip the first cake over.

Cherry & Red Wine Chocolate Cake

Makes 16 slices

For the cake:

As you bake two layers, you will need this amount of ingredients TWICE. I would not recommend making the double amount at once.

• 250g (8.8 oz) all-purpose flour
• 50g (1.8 oz) dutch process cocoa powder
• 150ml (5 fl. oz) oil (I used canola oil)
• 1tblsp. (15g or a sachet) baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 75ml (2.5 fl. oz) strong coffee
• 275ml (9.3 fl. oz) milk
• 250g (8.8 oz) sugar

For the filling:

• 150g (5.3 oz) sugar
• 200ml (6.8 fl. oz) red wine
• 4-16g (0.15-0.56 oz) agar agar (this depends crucially on the kind and brand of agar agar you are using. Best thing you can do is to read the instructions on the package. I used the amount needed for 1000ml or 33.4 fl. oz. The amazing thing about agar agar is that the process can be undone, which means that you can simply re-heat the mass and add some more of it in case it was not firm enough. So all you can basically lose is time but no ingredients!)
• 1 complete jar of cherries (mine had 680g including the juice which I used as well. The complete filling for the cake should make about 1000ml or 33.4 fl. oz, so when your jar contains more or less than mine, I would simply balance it out with red wine)

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. In a medium sized bowl, combine all ingredients for the cake with a wooden spoon. 
3. Spread on a sheet pan about 42,5x36x3cm in size (the equivalent would be 13x18x1''. It does not matter much if the size of the pan is slightly different) lined with parchment paper. Bake on centre rack for 10 minutes or until a stick comes out clean. Let the whole pan cool down.
4. In the meantime, repeat step no. 2.
5. Remove first cake from pan, lay on a flat and clean surface.
6. Use the now empty sheet pan again for step no. 3.
7. While the second layer cools down,  blend cherries along with the red wine until smooth either in a blender or with a hand blender (before you do this, you may want to check whether there are still some pits left in some of the cherries).
8. In a medium pot, pour in mixture,combine with sugar and agar agar. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring continuously. 
9. Pour over the layer of chocolate cake that is still in the pan. 
10. Let it cool off completely until it is firm (This will probably take way less time than you would expect).
11. Carefully lay first cake layer on top of the filling.

Enjoy!

Amaretto Walnut Coins

I am doing you a favour today and spare you my usual blabber. It is Christmas Time and there is such a great recipe to share on the final day of my countdown/bake-o-thon! It is nutty and fruity with a nice shot of booze - what better way is there to get merry?

Amaretto Walnut Coins

Amount depends on size of biscuit/cookie cutter. Makes about 36 (18 prepared) biscuits with a 7 cm (2.75 inches) cutter.

• 250g (8.8 oz) all-purpose flour
• 1 ts baking powder
• 100g (3.5 oz) butter
• 60g (2.1 oz) ground walnuts
• 80g (2.8 oz) sugar
• 1 egg
• 100g (3.5 oz) apricot jam/jelly
• 3 ts almond liqueur
• 150g (5.3 oz) icing/powdered sugar
• 3 ts almond liqueur
• 18 walnut halves (or more, depending on size of biscuit/cookie cutter)

 

1. Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F).
2. Knead together flour, baking powder, butter, sugar, ground walnuts and egg (I did this with my hands again as usual, since I am kind of a fan of putting some elbow grease into my biscuits).
3. Roll out dough (it should be about 1,5-2 cm or 0.6-0.8 inches thick). Cut out biscuits/cookies. Bake on centre rack for 10-12 minutes or biscuit start to brown. Let them cool down completely.
4. Meanwhile, stir together apricot jam with almond liqueur.
5. Spread on half the batch of your biscuits/cookies. Top each biscuit with a plain one.
6. Stir together icing/powdered sugar with rest of almond liqueur. Spread icing on biscuits/cookies.
7. Decorate each one with an almond halve.

I am wishing you all happy holidays and a wonderful time!

Coconut Macaroons

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Or in my case, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

Or sound. I believe that these two crucially belong together. At least when it's the right kind of music. I want to be honest. The first time I hear 'Last Christmas' some time in Mid-November, I feel like gagging a little. Maybe it's the major case of overexposure the song had to suffer from over the last decades or maybe it's just that it's simply not my kind of tune but I find it utterly annoying.

However, earlier this week, I have had the opportunity to listen to a Michael Bublé record and I really started to catch a bit of the Christmas Spirit. While I did not like all of the tracks per se, it's the classics that get me. Winter Wonderland, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and such. And then, the real classics: Silent Night and Ave Maria. I'm just not feeling those poppy 'contemporary' Christmas songs. Uh-uh.

But you really got me, Mr. Mickey Bubbles.

And while I'm in the mood for sharing a bit about me, why not something that makes me look like an oddball. Do you know what my favourite Christmas compilation is? It's the one from Ally McBeal (that TV show). Yes. Really. Just go ahead and give me that “You're a weeeeiiirdo.” look, but I can't help it. Oh, just to be clear, I am not getting paid for mentioning these records.

Coming to the recipe. Again, it's a fairly simple (in fact, it's probably the quickest and easiest of the all) classic recipe for Christmas perfect for last minute baking: Coconut Macaroons! Alright, I bet you know this one as it's not exclusively German with its origins being somewhere else, but they are still pretty Christmas-y. I decided to make the moist, dense kind as opposed to the ones resembling meringues. So there is no beating the eggs necessary. The little thing that makes these ones extra special is that you roast the shredded coconut beforehand to get a bit of a flavour boost.

Coconut Macaroons

• 200g (7 oz)  shredded dried coconut 
• 150g (5.3 oz) sugar 
• 3 egg whites 
• 1 TS almond liqueur (optional)  

1.  Preheat oven to 160°C (320°F). 
2. In a small pot, toast shredded dried coconut until light brown on high heat, stirring continuously (be careful not to roast them too much as the macaroons may become dry).
3. Remove from heat and immediately stir in sugar let cool slightly.
4. While mass is still very warm yet not hot anymore, stir in egg whites (this step is the only tricky one as the macaroons will not stick properly if mass is either too hot or cool. It should be hot but not painfully hot at about 50°C).
5. Add almond liquer (optional).
6. With a teaspoon, form macaroons. Bake on centre rack for 17-20 minutes.

I have dipped the bottoms of the macaroons in dark couverture but this step is completely optional (but good!).

Enjoy!

Do you have a favourite Christmas song or album?

Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars)

Day 2 of my 5-Day Christmas Bake-a-thon and I am starting to feeling it.

Like I said, I did not have time so far to think about Christmas at all. Well, the only little accomplishment I mastered was to plaster the windows with some lights after switching into Tomb Raider mode when trying to find the ever so mysteriously disappearing boxes full of decorations in the basement. It's never where I could have sworn it was and it's never in the condition I thought I have left it (I am looking at you, weird ravel that is supposed to be Christmas lights! Must be the same effect that applies to headphones or any kind of cable, really...).

Oh yeah, to stick with the theme of bringing you traditional German Christmas Goodies, here is some random trivia: Did you know that decking the Christmas tree with candles originated in 17^th century Germany? It only really became a tradition in the Early Modern Period and was established in the UK during Queen Victoria's reign and spread through emigration to North America and Australia (Wikipedia is so clever, innit?).

I doubt that Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars) have been around for so long, but who knows. These pretty little things originally come from Swabia, a region in South Germany yet are known in the whole country today. Making them can be quite a sticky business, but laying out the surface with ground hazelnuts like in this recipe really helps. However, you know what I just do? I just flatten the dough with my hands and only use a rolling pin to even it out a little afterwards but for the less barbaric more traditional people among us, I've heard that laying the dough out between two sheets of parchment paper works wonders! And just for stating the obvious, you will need a star-shaped biscuit/cookie cutter, duh. But technically, any shape will do and I can even imagine them looking nice just cut into diamonds.

Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars)

Note: While the recipe is not exactly mine, it has been in my family for quite a while with the source unknown. This is one of those recipes that friends and neighbours pass around on hand-written notes.

• 190g (6.7 oz) Icing/powdered sugar
• 100 (3.5 oz) Almonds, finely ground
• 200g (7 oz) Hazelnuts, finely ground 
• 2 Egg whites
• 1 TS of Cinnamon
• 1 Dash of Lemon Juice

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F).
2. Either with a food processor or a hand mixer, beat together egg whites and icing sugar into a nice and firm, sticky glaze (this can take a little while). Set 1/3 of it aside.
3. Add 100g (3.5 oz) hazelnuts as well as the other ingredients to the remaining 2/3 and knead it in first with a spoon, then with your hands.
4. Cover a flat surface with remaining hazelnuts and roll out dough (or whatever method floats your boat). It should be about 8-10mm (0.3-0.4 inches) thick.
5. Cut out biscuits and put them on a baking tray laid out with parchment paper. Generously spread biscuits with egg white glaze.
6. Bake on centre rack for 10-12 minutes, sticking a wooden spoon between oven door after 8.

They should still be a bit chewy but speaking from experience, crunchy is not exactly a failure, either. :)

Enjoy!

Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Crescents)

Alright, so I'm a big old liar.

Last post – which was AGES ago – I promised that I would stick around and keep writing. I did not.

But hey, at least I'm pretty good at lying as I had convinced myself at that moment I could do it. Damn how oblivious I was.

The reason I was on a hiatus? University. Let's just say there had been complications with my Bachelor's Thesis that had me stuck on the computer rewriting and writing it (or falling into comatose four hour sleeps or lying on the floor in fetus position slowly rocking myself back and forth...whatever) until the last third of November and then trying desperately to catch up on all the academic things I have missed (I had to complete my thesis during the first semester of my master's programme... long story), holding presentations, attending a three-day course over the weekend in between yadda yadda yadda.

Anyways.

 Good news is, I'm back! It's the middle of December and no thought was given towards Christmas so far. Not one. Meaning: No Christmas shopping yet, no trips to the Christmas market yet and only vague plans of how Christmas is going to be this year.

Among all those Chrismas-y things I have missed so far naturally is: Christmas Baking!

With only five days left until Christmas Eve, I hereby announce my 5-Day Christmas Countdown/ Last Minute Bake-athon! Starting today, I will post one recipe daily until Friday! Yay! But not just any kind of recipes. In a little attempt to spread some warm and cosy Old Worldly Christmas lovin', I will share the most traditional German Christmas biscuits and other pastries I could think of.

Admittedly, Vanillekipferl, sort of translating to Vanilla Crescents – do not ask me what Kipferl is supposed to mean as it is probably some kind of dialect – are more of German-Austrian-Bohemian origin, but as the boarders are rather blurry both geographically and historically, one cannot really pin it down to one particular country, especially not today's.

In Germany at least they belong to Christmas like Candy Canes do in the States and while there sure is a plethora of recipes for such a traditional kind of biscuit – with the ingredients varying slightly – this one is simply amazing. They really are delightfully light and almost melt-in-your-mouth airy. I think it is the lack of egg that helps with the consistency and also makes it really easy to veganize! Just replace the butter with margarine and there you go!

Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Crescents)

As recipes usually ask for vanilla sugar, which is not easily to be found everywhere around the world, I omitted it in my version and rather added the vanilla straight to the dough as opposed to rolling the baked biscuits in a mixture of icing and vanilla sugar.

• 250 g (8.8 oz) Cake or All-Purpose Flour
• 200 g (7 oz) Butter (or margarine for a vegan version)
• 100 g (3.5 oz) Walnuts, finely ground (I quickly did that in a blender)
• 70 g (2.5 oz) Icing/Powdered Sugar
• 1 Pinch of salt
• Seeds of 1 Vanilla Pod (You could go crazy and use two, I dare you!)
• Extra Icing/Powdered Sugar

Note: You can also make these using ground almonds or hazelnuts, but increase the amount of butter to 7.8 oz then

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F)
2. Knead together all ingredients but the extra icing sugar. (I did that with my hands and I would recommend you doing that, too)
3. Let the dough sit for at least half an hour.
4. Form dough into rolls as thick as a finger. Cut into 3cm (a bit more than an inch) long pieces.
5. With your hands, shape pieces into little crescents.
6. Bake on the second rack from the top for 15-20 minutes (they should hardly brown)
7. Immediately yet carefully remove from tray as they both burn and break easily at this state.
8. Let cool completely and roll in generous amounts of icing sugar.

Getting the right shape can be quite a pain in the bum so sometimes I just roll the dough into little balls to bake vanilla buttons. It indeed is even less time consuming that way.

Enjoy!

Apple Walnut Brownie Cake

Chirr chirr. Chiiirrrrrrr. Chirr chirr. What's that noise? Oh yes, it's the SILENCE that nested in here over the last days.

It has gotten a bit quiet around here, hasn't it? That is because I am really busy these days, having only little time for la dolce Vita. But don't fret, I'm here to stay. A weekly post is still something you can count on. Bare with me until mid-November, when life is hopefully a bit less stress-laden. That is when I am (hopefully) done with my bachelor's thesis. Keep your fingers crossed for me, would ya?

Alright, I have to admit...that's not all. Last week, I allowed myself a teensy weensy time off from everything. I was in London! How I LONG for that city! I have expressed my love for London before when I did that seven things about me post, and it's oh so true. Maybe one day I'll manage to live there. Especially after a friend of mine who is living there now has proven to me that it is basically just as EXPENSIVE to live right in the centre as it is in any other part of LDN. How I envy her...Sigh. I realize that I only lived there for the shortest time and I still kind of see things through rose-coloured glasses, but lets wait what time will bring.

While three days is not long (I did not go alone and we only managed to do the touristy things), it meant that I had to catch up on all the work that waited for me back home. Uhhhgh. Je ne regrette rien. Maybe a bit. No. Nothing.

Alright, this week I am back on the apple track, after last week's short break. The recipe combines one of my favourite combinations - chocolate and walnuts – with the sweet tartness that bring the apples. Alas, while the apples were supposed to stay at the top, the batter 'ate them up' just a bit too much in the baking process (maybe I should not have eyeballed the amount of baking powder...) so that they were hardly visible anymore in the final cake that was so wonderfully ooey-gooey, it was difficult to cut a piece without making a mess. Still, it's a texture and flavour paradise. It's juicy, a bit crunchy and creamy.

Apple Walnut Brownie Cake

Adapted from here (German).

• 100 g (3.5 oz.) butter
• 100 g (3.5 oz.) dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
• 100 g (3.5 oz.) walnuts
• 75 g (2.65 oz.) flour
• 225 g (8 oz.) brown sugar
• 50 g (1.75 oz.) + 1/2 tsp cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 package of vanilla sugar (can be substituted with 1 tsp vanilla extract)
• 3 eggs (size M)
• 125 g (4.4 oz.) crème fraîche
• 4 apples (each ca. 175 g or 6.2 oz.)
• 75 g (2.65 oz.) apricot jam
• 1 tsp powdered sugar
• Butter for the pan

1. Melt butter and let cool slightly.
2. Coarsely chop the chocolate and walnuts.
3. Whisk together flour, sugar, 50g cocoa, baking powder and vanilla sugar in a bowl.
4. Add eggs to a mixing bowl, beat with a handmixer (or food processor) until creamy. Stir in butter. With a spoon, stir in the flour mixture well.
5. Fold in crème fraîche, chocolate and nuts in portions.
6. Pour batter into a greased springform pan (26 cm diameter or 9'') and smooth out.
7. Peel the apples into quarters, remove seeds and cut in several times with a knife.
8. Lay them out tightly onto batter.
9. Bake in a preheated oven (electric oven: 175°C or 350°F / fan 150°C or 300°F / gas mark 2) on middle rack for about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, heat up jam.
10. After 25 minutes, remove cake from oven. Brush apples with jam and put the cake back into the oven for the remaining 20 minutes.
11. Remove from oven, place on a wire rack, loosen edge of springform pan and let cool in the pan.
12. Mix together 1/2 tsp powdered sugar and cocoa.
13. Loosen cake from the springform pan, set on a cake plate and sprinkle the sides with powdered sugar and cocoa mixture.

Enjoy!

There is still that document open that I have to focus on... so back to work!

Five Spice Snickerdoodles

Five. Spice. Baby. Dudun dududun dudu dun dun. I bet Vanilla Ice never saw that one coming.

You know what? Before I got sucked into the fast-paced and capturing world of food blogs, I have never heard of the miraculous concoction that is five spice powder. Then I read about it on several blogs, featured in both sweet and savory dishes. I was intrigued, yes, but never imagined ever getting my hands on it because I thought I would not be able to get where I live. I was wrong.

One day I was just sort of meandering through my go-to self-proclaimed 'international' shop – and with 'international' they mean mostly Asian and Oriental food with a bit of African thrown in – when I found a semi-transparent little plastic bag tightly stuffed between a plethora of other semi-transparent plastic bags filled with spices. This one, however had the unexpected printed on it in bold black letters on a baby blue background: 5 Spice. Jackpot.

Curiously, I sniffed the package – quickly checking whether anybody else is in sight because, you know, I don't want to be the weird person sniffing stuff in public except fruits maybe – and fell in love with what I was smelling. Usually, five spice powder consists of a combination of cinnamon, fennel seeds, star anise, sichuan pepper and ginger, each representing one element of the five element theory (Wu Xing). 

Probably one of the most famous dishes it is used in is peking duck.

So, as I have never used this spice mix before, I wanted to try something basic with the powder providing most of the flavour. I found this amazing quick recipe over at Dispatches From Whitcomb Street for snickerdoodles. Can it get more basic than that? I don't think so.

They turned out amazing. Crispy and airy on the outside but nice and chewy in the centre. Scrumptious.

My family liked them so much that I had to make them again two days later.

Five Spice Snickerdoodles
Adapted from here.

• 1 cup (225g) of butter
• 1.5 cups (340g) of sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2.75 (345g) cups flour
• 2 ts of baking powder
• 1/2 ts salt
• 1/2 ts five spice powder

1. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in eggs.
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and five spice and fold into wet ingredients until just incorporated.
4. Roll dough into 1'' (about 2,5 cm) balls and roll in a mixture of sugar and five spice powder (the original recipe said 3 tbsp of each was enough but I almost used 6 tbsp of each)
5. Put on lined or greased baking sheets at least 2'' (5cm) apart and bake at 400°F (about 200°C) for 8-10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Hazelnut Apple Sheet Cake

Sooo, Monday was my one month mensiversary. Yes. That's a word. I looked it up.

 

Anyway, I was just minding my own business not really thinking about it, when I saw that Alyssa from Mom de Cuisine was awarded with a 'Versatile Blogger Award'. “Good for her!”, I thought. It's a great blog she has there with almost daily updates from sweet to savory. So she truly deserves it.

As I went through the list of bloggers she passed the award on to, I noticed something. There was one name I thought I misread. Could that be... MY name I saw there? WHOA! Yes? YES! How was that possible? I feel genuinely honoured, I do. As I said, I have only been a blogger for one month yet feel very passionate about it and hope to one day find my style and voice as one and develop my cooking and baking skills.

It's been a great month and hope for many more to come!

Thank you, Alyssa!

So, coming with this award are certain rules. I did a search about it and saw that there seem to be different ones. As I am so new to blogging, I chose the following:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award.

2. Tell 7 random things about yourself.

3. Pass the award on to 10 bloggers you've recently discovered and you think are fantastic!

Here we go:

Seven random things about me:

1. The only two Disney films that I like are the old Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins. I just don't get me to like Disney because I always felt like they ripped off other films and ideas (most of it was based on books and fairy tales to begin with, anyway) and many of the old ones had obvious racist implications. I could do a whole post about this so I'll leave it to that for now.

2. I hate spiders. Alright, that's not very creative. Many people hate spiders. It went so far with me that when I was a child, even the tiniest of those eight-legged monsters made me freeze and stare at it, fearing it would disappear once I manage to get the vacuum cleaner. It got better, though. Last year (pretty much exactly one year ago from today), there was an incident with a HUGE spider sitting right next to my pillow the moment I wanted to go to bed. Let's just say it was the first and last panic attack I've ever had with cold sweat and everything. After that kind of 'shock therapy', I'm a little more relaxed but still could not sleep in a room where I KNOW there is one.

3. I did an internship in London and fell in love with that city. The people, the mentality, the variety, the culture, the vibe. It comes so far that when the desire to get back becomes too strong, I go to that kind of strange tiny shop in a completely different part of the city I live in just to buy me a Crunchie for like 1€. You don't get those here. Oh, and while I'm German, my accent is British when I speak English. Apparently, I sound like a “posh British schoolboy”, so I've been told. Go figure....

4. If I was a girl, my name would be Julia. True story. My mother got the idea of calling me Tobias because of a football (soccer) match my brother had when he was 13. One boy who played in THE OTHER team was called Tobias and his friends where cheering him on yelling “TO-BY! TO-BY!”. She liked that so much that she gave me that name. Bless her heart.

5. I love animals but decided for me that I can never have a pet (anymore). I used to have a cat until she died about 3,5 years ago and it crushed my soul so deeply I still can hardly look at pictures of her. It's better for my own sake.

6. My very most favourite leaf vegetable was arugula... until I developed an allergy from one day to another. If I eat it now, my whole mouth and throat turn sore for a couple of days. Not worth it.

7. About two months ago, I bought a Joan Baez vinyl record. I don't even have a player. I just saw it when I passed a music store that also sells old vinyls and felt like it. I like her, yes, but am not obsessing over her or anything. These facts are supposed to be random and that is one of the most random things I bought, I guess.

About the bloggers...that really is a difficult task for me. I mean, I have only been a blogger for a month and being an active part of the blogging community is very new to me. Many of the blogs I would consider have already received the award, some may not really care. Because of those factors coming together here, I chose to pick 10 blogs I have recently discovered and think are great as opposed to 15 blogs in general. The rules vary and I found these to suit me better.

To be honest, I am a bit overwhelmed and feel like I am not quite up to the task. ;)

So here we go (in no particular order):

http://www.apronandsneakers.com/

http://lemonsandanchovies.wordpress.com/

http://vondelicious.blogspot.com/

http://www.tastewiththeeyes.com/

http://kitchenconfidante.com/

http://kokken69.blogspot.com/

http://zoomyummy.com

http://rumandreason.com/

http://hotpolkadot.com/

http://www.ecurry.com/

I am going to contact all of them as soon as possible although I have never spoken to some of them before. Awkward.

Now, there is still a recipe to post! I actually meant to post something completely different today, but because there is always cake when there is something to celebrate, I decided to bake one right this morning, especially for this occasion!

Autumn is right around the corner. That also means that harvest time is here. Do you want to see a picture of our apple trees? No Tobias, why should we? I knew you do! So here it is:

Packed.

That means that I am going to post quite few apple recipes in near future because that is basically what I'll be baking with. Apples Apples Apples. Good thing I like them.

I am in love with this cake. It has an old timey sentiment to it and not only because both my grandmother and mother used to bake it. I leafed through my grandmother's old folder of recipes she “passed on” to me and tracked down the original. It was in a promotional calendar by “Dr. Oetker” from 1954! For the month of March, strangely. Not really a month I'd associate with apples. Dr. Oetker is a well-established food processing company which also publishes cookbooks and has many other things in its portfolio. Their book “Schulkochbuch” had an impact on German cooking similar to Julia Child's in the US.

Anyway, I changed the recipe quite a bit to give it a more seasonal touch and because I simply adore the combination of apples and cinnamon. I prefer this version to the original. However, I leave it up to you to decide which one you like better.

Hazelnut Apple Sheet Cake

• 1 package vanilla pudding mix (not instant, the kind you need to cook. Can be substituted with 45g or 1.6 oz. starch flour and 1 ts vanilla essence)
• 4 tbsp milk
• 150g (5.3 oz.) butter
• 150g (5.3 oz.) sugar
• 2 eggs
• A pinch of salt
• 250g (8.8 oz.) all-purpose flour
• 9g (0.3 oz. or about 1 1/2 ts) baking powder
• 500g (17.6 oz.) apples, peeled and sliced

My personal changes and additions:

• I only used 150g all-purpose flour and substituted 100g (3.5 oz.) with ground hazelnuts
• 1 1/2 ts of cinnamon for the batter (because apples and cinnamon are HEAVEN)
• 2 handfuls of slightly crushed hazelnuts (I did that in a mortar but a freezer bag or even just cloth and anything heavy works just as well)
• Mixture of about 5 ts of demerara sugar and 1 ts of cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 160°C (320°F)
2. Stir pudding mix with milk.
3. Beat butter until creamy, add sugar, eggs and salt little by little.
4. Mix flour and baking powder (substitute 100g flour with ground hazelnuts and add cinnamon if you want to try my version), add to the batter alternately with pudding mix.
5. Spread half the batter into a greased 24cm (about 9'') spring form pan. Lay out half of the sliced apples.
6. Sprinkle with half of the demerara/cinnamon mix and a handful of slightly crushed hazelnuts (all optional)
7. Spread remaining batter onto apples, lay out remaining apples. Add rest of demerara and hazelnuts (optional again).
8. Bake on centre rack for about 55 minutes (my version took about 60 minutes).

Enjoy!

Oh right. This is what the calendar looks like:

Wow, this post took so long to write I had to push it back a day.

Mexican Chocolate Tart

Sometimes, to create something beautiful, you have to do evil.

There were five of them. I tore off all covers, leaving them bare-naked on the cold wooden surface. The first one was strategically placed right in the centre. I knew what was about to happen. Gazing at its shiny, smooth outer, my mouth could not be detained from smirking a little. Then I ran the knife through it for the first time. Easier than imagined. Chop chop chop it continued. Chop chop chop. Bits and pieces flew everywhere, covering the others that were silently sitting right next to it. Chop Chop Chop. First one done. Four to follow. Let's see if I can do three at once, I thought. The knife went down with three dull thuds each time. What a peculiar rhythm. Still one to go.

As I said. Sometimes, to create something beautiful, you have to do evil.

Chopping chocolate really is not the most delicate activity in the kitchen. In fact, I thought it always creates a scenario reminding of the intro of Dexter. You know, where that whole procedure of preparing breakfast somehow has a murderous touch to it. Coming to the beautiful part, now.

This tart is insanely rich. The filling consists solely of a ganache made of chocolate and cream while the crust has a nice flaky crunch with hardly any sugar giving just the right level of sweetness. I would stick with the official version that I only had a small piece but the picture unfortunately outs me as a big old liar.

Pants on fire.

Depending on what chocolate you use, it can be a bit pricey. However, you know what I did? I did a quick search online looking for reviews of chocolates and found a reliable source that told me how good they actually are. I have found one that was rather low in price, yet high in quality and it still tasted great (I tried it, of course).

As the recipe told me, I sifted a bit of cocoa over the tart which I actually would not do next time as the flavour overpowered the rest quite a bit. I kind of ate a thin layer off of the top first so I could indulge in the rest sans dutch-processed cocoa powder.

It's fairly easy to prepare yet decadent and just too good. I guess I have found myself another monster to munch on. ;)

The hardest part is to really keep it in the fridge for four hours before cutting it!

The magazine I found this in calls it 'Mexican Tarte', although I am not quite sure what is so Mexican about it.

Mexican Chocolate Tart

Adapted from: Frau von Heute, 9^th issue, 25.02.2011: Mexikanische Tarte

• 160g (5.6 oz.) AP Flour
• 100g (3.5 oz.) Butter
• 50g (1.8 oz.) sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 egg yolk (size M)
• 1 tbsp dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 500g (17.6 oz.) dark milk chocolate (I was not too sure what exactly that was supposed to mean so I used 4 bars of 50% dark chocolate and 1 bar 30% so my ganache was generally rather on the milky side)
• 400ml (13.5 fl. oz.) cream
• 1 pack of vanilla sugar (this is lesser known in the US, I think you could either omit it or replace 1 ts cream with 1 ts vanilla extract)
• Cocoa for dusting the cake (I recommend skipping this)

In addition:

• Dry peas, beans or cherry stones for baking the crust blind.
• Parchment paper for the same purpose.

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F).
2. Combine flour, sugar, salt, egg yolk, cocoa and butter and knead until smooth (I did that with my hands). Put in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
3. Grease a 24cm (about 9'') spring form pan and and lay out dough, forming a crust. Prick it with a fork several times and lay out with parchment paper. Fill with dried peas.
4. Bake for 15 minutes, remove peas and parchment paper and bake for further 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Chop up chocolate and heat up cream in a small pot. Remove from heat. Add the chocolate along with vanilla sugar to the heated cream and stir until smooth. Let it cool off for 30 minutes. (I added the chocolate to the cold cream and heated everything on low heat just enough to let it melt. It worked fine for me and there was hardly any time needed to let it cool down.)
6. Pour mass into crust and put in refrigerator for 4 hours. Dust with cocoa powder.

Forget about those damn calories and indulge!