Fanta slice { Fanta szelet }

Yup, Fanta as in the orange soda.  As strange as this sound, it does work. This should be sit in the fridge at least overnight for best taste.


Fanta Slice { Fanta Szelet }

Chocolate sponge cake layer :-
3 eggs , medium-sized, separated
3 heap Tbsp sugar
3 heap Tbsp plain flour
1 level Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 level Tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt 

Cream layer :-
200ml whipping cream
250g cottage cheese, room temperature
1 zest of lemon
100g powdered sugar, or to taste
1 Tbsp gelatine powder  
  
Orange layer :-
1 can x 333 ml Fanta brand orange soda
40g pudding powder
1 tsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp powdered sugar , or to taste.

Processes :-

Chocolate sponge cake (can be made in advance, freeze and thaw a day before serving)

1) Pre-heat oven at 180˙c.

2) Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. set it aside.

3) In separate bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until creamy. Add in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and and mix gently until will combined.

4) Take 1/3 of the stiff egg white and add into chocolate batter to loosen it a little. Then fold in carefully the remaining stiffen egg white until well combine.

5) Great baking pan (  18x20cm ) and lined with baking paper . Pour in the cake batter . Bake for 12 mins or until the skewer comes out clean.

6) Let it cooled fully.

7) Once cake is cooled, start preparing the room temperature cottage cheese. Use a hand blender to blender the cottage cheese to get rid of lumps. Add a little of the whipping cream to help loosen the cottage cheese a bit.

8) Once cottage cheese is smooth, set it aside. In another bowl, start whipping the cream until half stiff. Then add in powdered sugar, cottage cheese and lemon zest until well combined.

9) Add in the preped gelatine* . Mix well . pour it over the cooled cake. Level the cream.


10) For the orange layer, take about 100ml of the soda and mix with the pudding powder.  Let it sit.
Meanwhile, heat up the remaining orange soda with lemon juice and sugar. When this is hot enough. pour in the earlier pudding-orange mixture, stir constantly until it thickens , just like making instant pudding. Once orange pudding is thick enough, set it aside to cool a little before pouring it over the cream layer. Level it out.

11) Let the assemble cake sit in the fridge over night before serving.

Hungarian Fairy Cake { Tündérsüti }

Hungarian Fairy Cake { Tündérsüti }
recipe via Tundi Konyha

Ingredients

For the dough
200gm Plain flour
80gm Powdered or Confectioner's sugar
100gm Butter, room temperature
2 Egg yolks
1 tsp Baking powder
1 pkt vanilla sugar
pinch of salt

For the filling
1 packet "puncs" / strawberry pudding powder
200ml Cold Milk
4 Tbsp sugar
180gm Sour cream, room temperature (normally 20% fat, but I only had 12%)
2 Egg whits
Rum extract, to taste
small drop of red food colouring

Powdered sugar for dusting

Method
1) Pre-heat oven to 180°. Prep cake tin (17.5x23.5cm) by greasing and flouring it. Set aside.

2) Make the dough by mixing  mixing flour, powdered sugar, baking powder and pinch of salt. Then add in butter by gently pinch butter into flour mixture until crumbly. Create a well in the centre of the bowl, pour in the egg yolks and gently knead into becoming a soft dough.

3) Divide dough into 6:4 portions. Roll out the bigger dough to the size of the bottom of baking dish. Place in the baking dish. Place the baking dish in the fridge to let the dough rest. The smaller portion of dough, wrap in cling film and let it rest in the fridge too.

4) While the dough is resting, prepare the filling. In a sauce pan , pour in cold milk, then slowly mix in the pudding powder and powdered sugar. Cook the pudding on stove top until thickens.

5) When pudding has thickens, carefully mix in the sour cream. This process will easily split the mixture. What I did was, take a little of the hot pudding, and add into the sour cream and then pour the whole sour cream mixture into the  hot pudding and quickly whisk it to avoid splitting. Then put in the rum and red food colouring, mix well. Set aside

6) In a bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. The slowly fold into pudding mixture.

7) Take out the baking dish from the fridge, pour the filling over the dough base. Finally roll out the smaller portion dough, cut into strips and lay a criss cross pattern on top (see pic from recipe link above).

8) Bake in the oven for 30-35 mins. until pudding is firm nad pastry is golden brown.

Pineapple Upside-down Cake

My first Pineapple upside-down cake.  It was delicious and so the recipe's a keeper!

Pineapple upside-down cake
via BBC Good Food

For the topping

50g softened butter

50g light soft brown sugar

7 pineapples rings in syrup, drained and syrup

glacé cherry

For the cake

100g softened butter

100g golden caster sugar

100g self-raising flour (used all-purpose flour)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

++ lemon zest

++ lemon juice

Method :-

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. For the topping, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Spread over the base and a quarter of the way up the sides of a 20-21cm round cake tin. Arrange pineapple rings on top, then place cherries in the centres of the rings.
2. Place the cake ingredients in a bowl along with 2 tbsp of the pineapple syrup and, using an electric whisk, beat to a soft consistency. Spoon into the tin on top of the pineapple and smooth it out so it’s level. Bake for 35 mins. Leave to stand for 5 mins, then turn out onto a plate. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream.

Marble cake

A favourite teatime cake of mine; which I finally successfully recreate. The buttery smell and crumbly but not dry textures is just as I remembered.

My notes :-
1) Halved the recipe and baked in loaf tin.
2) Roughly divided the cake batter, keeping vanilla batter the most. Added rum to pink (red food) batter.

Marble cake
via BBC Good Food

• 225g butter, softened
• 225g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 225g self-raising flour
• 3 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/gas 160C/gas 4. Grease a 20cm cake tin and line the bottom with a circle of greaseproof paper. If you want to make life easy, simply put all the ingredients (except the cocoa powder) into a food processor and whizz for 1-2 mins until smooth. If you prefer to mix by hand, beat the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Fold through the flour, milk and vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth.
2. Divide the mixture between 2 bowls. Stir the cocoa powder into the mixture in one of the bowls. Take 2 spoons and use them to dollop the chocolate and vanilla cake mixes into the tin alternately. When all the mixture has been used up (and if young kids are doing this, you’ll need to ensure the base of the tin is fairly evenly covered), tap the bottom on your work surface to ensure that there aren’t any air bubbles. Take a skewer and swirl it around the mixture in the tin a few times to create a marbled effect.
3. Bake the cake for 45-55 mins until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn out onto a cooling rack and leave to cool. Will keep for 3 days in an airtight container or freeze for up to 3 months.

Hungarian Sour Cherry Cake { Meggyes Lepeny }

When you freeze lots of sour cherries during the summer season, you get to make this simple yet delicious cake through out the year! Okay, the frozen sour cherries that I used to make this cake was given by my MIL though :D  As appreciation I made her this cake when she visited last weekend.

In my archive I already have a similar cake, but I find this version more to my liking as I prefer crumbly texture as opposed to the tighter crumb version. Therefore, this will be my go-to sour cherry cake recipe from this day forward.

Hungarian sour cherry cake {Meggyes Lepeny}
via About.com

Ingredients

450gm pitted sour cherries (left whole), fresh or frozen

170gm unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs, separated

1 cup all-purpose flour

Pinch salt

1/4 cup bread crumbs

Vanilla sugar

Preparation :-

1. Heat oven to 190°c / Gas 4. Butter a 10x6-inch rectangular tart pan, or a 9-inch square or a 9-inch round cake pan and dust with bread crumbs.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and half the granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks and continue creaming until well incorporated. Add the flour and salt, mixing well.
3. With clean, grease-free beaters, whip egg whites with remaining granulated sugar until stiff. Gently fold whites into cake batter.
4. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Top with cherries, stem side down. Bake 30 minutes. The batter will partially bubble up and cover the fruit. Cool in pan. Sprinkle with vanilla sugar. Cut into squares or wedges and serve.

One-bowl Chocolate fudge cake with chocolate sour cream frosting

In the last minute, I've decided to try out this chocolate cake for a birthday cake since my first bake (another chocolate cake recipe) failed! This cake turned out moist and stable, great with my go-to chocolate sour cream frosting. The left over also freezes well. PERFECT!
I've declared this is going to be go-to chocolate cake recipe from now on. No more fussing about with other recipes :p

Chocolate Cake

via kitchencorner

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1½ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

½ cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

2 teaspoon granulated coffee

Chocolate sour-cream frosting

adapted from kwanster

100g chocolate, break into pieces
64g unsalted butter, at room temperature
50-64gm confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
Pinch of salt, sifted
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp. sour cream , room temperature **12 or 20% fat
added rum for extra flavour

For the cake:-

1) Pre-heat oven at 180°c.

2) Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a large bowl. Whisk through to combine using a hand whisk to stir through flour mixture until combined well. 

3) Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together until well combined. Mix the granulated coffee with  boiling water then pour into the cake batter and mix well combine. 

4) Distribute cake batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans or one cake pan where you can cut horizontally after the cake is baked and cooled down. 

5) Bake for 30-35 minutes if using two pans or 1 hour until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. 

6)Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the pan and cool completely.

For chocolate frosting :-
1) Melt the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Set aside to cool until just barely warm.
2) In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium-high speed until pale.
3) Gradually mix in the sifted confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder and salt, beat until light and fluffy.
4) Beat in the melted and cooled chocolate and then the sour cream.
5) Continue beating until the mixture is smooth and well blended.

Frost cake and decorate as you desire.

No-bake biscuit cake

 

No-bake Biscuit cake

Ingredients

For the "cake" layer
adapted from Padhuskitchen

1x220gm packet of wheat biscuits, like the Marie biscuits. Used only 24 pcs. I used local brand "Albert"
1 cup of strong expresso / instant coffee

For the Chocolate frosting
adapted from Kwanster

100g chocolate, break into pieces
64g unsalted butter, at room temperature
50-64gm confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
Pinch of salt, sifted
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp. sour cream , room temperature **12 or 20% fat
added rum for extra flavour


Preparation :-

1) Brew/ make 1 cup strong coffee, set it aside to cool.
2) Line loaf baking tin with cling film for easy removal when it is ready.
3) Once coffee is cooled, get started with the chocolate frosting :-

1. Melt the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Set aside to cool until just barely warm.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium-high speed until pale.
3. Gradually mix in the sifted confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder and salt, beat until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in the melted and cooled chocolate and then the sour cream.
5. Continue beating until the mixture is smooth and well blended.

4) Start assembling the "cake" by dipping biscuit into coffee to soften biscuit a little. Dip piece by piece to create a base layer for the cake. Once first layer is form, spread 1/3 of the frosting over it.
5) Create second biscuit layer by dipping into coffee followed by spreading the second portion of the frosting.
6) Finally create the third layer and spread on the last portion of the frosting.
7) Leave it in the fridge for at least few hours to let it set. You can make this one day ahead before serving.
8) Serve this cold or slightly below room temperature.

Easy Poppy Seeds Cake

Any tea or coffee time cakes get two thumbs up from me! I say this because they don't require much fussing about and the simplicity of it allows the ingredients to shine. If you are like me, you'll like this recipe from No Salty

Easy Poppy Seeds Cake / Bread
Serves : 8
Note: I halved the recipe

Ingredients :-
2 cups of flour (I used 1/2 AP flour , 1/2 ground poppy seeds) **may try with gluten free
2 tsp baking powder (also added baking soda)
1 cup whole poppy seed (I sub. with walnuts)
1 cup sugar or to taste (for my halved recipe, I used 1x7g sachet vanilla sugar, 3 Tbsp sugar)
1 cup milk, room temperature
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs , room temperature
pinch of salt
powdered sugar, for dusting  
++ 1 lemon zest

Method :-
1) Pre-heat oven at 180°c. Grease and line loaf tin.
2) Sift flour, baking powder, soda, salt and set aside
3) In a bowl, beat the eggs with sugar until combine. Pour in the milk, mix and then finally the vegetable oil.
4) Add in sifted flours,baking powder, soda, salt and lemon zest and ground poppy seed. Mix until just combine *DO NO OVER MIX
5) Pour batter into loaf tin and bake for 20 mins. Check at around 15 mins  when skewer stick in the middle comes out clean, it is done.
6) Let it cool. and serve dusted with powdered sugar.

Chocolate sponge cake with mascapone whipped cream and punc flavoured butter cream

 

The story behind this cake was I started off wanting to bake a Hungarian classic, the Somlo Cake. That's when I came across a great sponge recipe; which I included below. As usual my mind can't just stick to one cake, I recalled another Hungarian cake, called LajcsiSzelet (Louie slice) ; which I haven't tasted before ; but the appearance really appeal to me.

Lajcsi Szelet (sort of)

Ingredients

Chocolate sponge cake
via you tube
basically based on the number of eggs you're using, the rest of ingredients just multiply by 2.

3 eggs
6 Tbsp water
1 sachet vanilla sugar
6 Tbsp sugar (I adjusted to my taste 4 Tbsp)
a pinch of salt

4 Tbsp All purpose flour
2 Tbsp cocoa powder, unsweetened
1 tsp baking powder
rum


Filling - Pink Layer
1x packet "punc" / pink pudding
300ml cold milk
84gm butter, room temperature
2-3 Tbsp powdered sugar

Filling - Vanilla Layer
1xpacket vanilla pudding
300ml cold milk
65gm butter, room temperature
2-3 Tbsp powdered sugar

Chocolate topping
100gm chocolate
3 Tbsp flavourless oil
rum

Method :-

Chocolate sponge cake

1) Pre-heat oven at 180°c / Gas mark 4. Grease and line baking sheet. Size
2) In a mixing bowl, crack in the eggs, pour in the water, sugars and a pinch of salt
3) Beat on medium to high speed for around 5 minutes, or until thick and creamy consistency.
4) Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into egg batter.
5) Beat again until dry ingredients are well combine.
6) Pour into baking dish.
7) Bake for around 12-14 minutes until the sponge spring back when touched.
8) set aside to cool for 30 mins. - 1 hour.

Filling (same process for both flavours)
1) Cook pudding according to instruction without the sugar. Set it aside to cool
2) Whipped butter with sugar until light and fluffy
3) Whipped in the puddings until well combine.

Assembly
1) Divide chocolate sponge into 3 rectengle
2) Start spreading the pink butter cream on the first layer.
3) Place the second chocolate sponge cake on top. Spread the vanilla butter cream on top.
4) Finally place the third layer.
5) In the microwave or double boiler. Melt chocolate and oil until shinny, add in the rum and mix well.
6) Glaze the chocolate on top of cake and it it ready.

My Notes:-
1) I've used chocolate with 49% cocoa content ; which I find to overpowering.
2) The sponge cake recipe was so easy and could be reduced and multiply easily!
3) I'll probably add a layer of apricot jam next round to give some contrast in the taste.

Raffaello Cake

Raffaello Cake

Ingredients
For the base
4 egg whites
pinch of salt
3-4 Tbsp sugar (incl. 1 sachet vanilla sugar)
100gm desiccated coconut

For the cream top
2 egg yolks
2 Tbsp plain flour
250ml milk
1 sachet vanilla sugar / or vanilla extract

200ml whipping cream
3-4 Tbsp powdered sugar
1 Tbsp gelatine

For decoration
Toasted almond slices
Toasted desiccated coconut

Steps
1) Pre-heat oven at 160°c / Gas mark 3. Grease cake tin
2) In a bowl, pour in egg whites and pinch of salt. Beat egg whites until soft peak. Add in sugar gradually and continue to beat egg whites until stiff peak. Fold in desiccated coconut carefully.
3) Pour batter into cake tin and bake for 15 mins. or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.
4) Set cake aside to cool.

5) In a sauce pan, mix together a little of milk with egg yolks and flour until smooth in texture. Then gradually add in remaining milk.
6) Cook mixture over low heat until thicken by stirring continuously.
7) Once thicken to the right consistency, remove from heat and cover the custard directly with cling film. Set aside to cool.

8) Once custard is cool, you can start soaking gelatine powder by sprinkling gelatine power over 60ml of cold water. Do not stir the mixture! Leave to soak for 5 mins. Then cook gelatine over double boiler until gelatine is fully dissolved. Do not boil the mixture. Set aside to cool.
9) In a mixing bowl, pour whipping cream and 3 - 4 Tbsp of powdered sugar until stiff.
10) Mix half of whipped cream into cool custard and whipped until well combined. Mix in a few table spoons of gelatine liquid into the custard mixture, combine well and pour this custard cream onto cake.
11) Mix remaining whipped cream with a couple of spoons of gelatine, combine well and pour whipped cream over custard cream.
12) sprinkle a little of the toasted desiccated coconut over cake. Let cake chill in fridge over night.
13) sprinkle toasted almond slices over cake when serving.

Banana Bread

Finally I've found the best banana bread recipe!

Banana Bread
source : http://www.thelittleteochew.com/2011/01/banana-rum-cake.html

Ingredients
90g canola or sunflower oil
70g castor sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
125g plain flour, sifted (- 2 Tbsp, + 2 Tbsp ground walnuts)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of salt
2 large bananas, mashed with a fork
25g regular milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract (I used vanilla sugar)

Steps
1. Pre-heat oven at 175°F (Gas mark 3). Grease and line loaf tin.
2. Beat egg and sugar till light and creamy.
3. Add milk, mashed bananas, oil, vanilla and combine.
4. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder and baking soda, and give a quick whisk. Fold in flour into the wet ingredients until no traces of flour remain. Do not over-mix. Stop the moment everything is incorporated.
5. Pour into a lined loaf tin.
6. Bake for about 30mins, or until cooked.

Chocolate carrot cake

Chocolate Carrot Cake
http://mochachocolatarita.blogspot.com/2009/08/chocolate-carrot-cake-moist-very.html

2 eggs
1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cups grated carrots
handful of cherries, chopped

Chocolate Icing
60gm chocolate
Rum essence, to taste
vegetable oil, as needed to loosen chocolate

Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
Lightly grease a loaf pan.
Using a electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar until pale in colour. Add in vanilla extract and vegetable oil continue to mix until well combined.
In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder.
Add flour mix into egg mixture and beat until well mixed, add grated carrots and chopped cherries and mix well.
Pour batter into your cake pan, bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Set aside to let it cool on a wire rack.

After cake is fully cooled, prepare chocolate icing by melting chocolate over double boiler or the microwave.
To loosen the melted chocolate add in about a teaspoon of vegetable oil and finally the rum essence.
Glaze the top of the cooled  cake with chocolate icing and let it set before serving.

Chocolate swiss roll with coconut butter cream

Chocolate swiss Roll
source : Hungarian cookery

Ingredients

For sponge cake
4 eggs, separated
salt
90gm sugar
90gm flour (minus 2 Tablespoons)
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder, unsweetened
1tsp baking powder
1 sachet vanilla sugar

For coconut butter cream-
100gm butter , softened
100gm powdered sugar
50gm desiccated coconut

For Glazing
Apricot jam, heated
60gm chocolate, melted
cooking oil, as need if chocolate is not spreadable
1 tsp Rum
Method
To make sponge cake
1. Pre-heat oven to 180°c.

2. Whisk egg whites with a pinch of salt until it become stiff foam. Set aside

3. In a bowl combine together dry ingredients - flour, cocoa powder, baking powder. In another bowl beat egg yolks with sugar (+vanilla sugar) until creamy. When eggs mixture is creamy, add in the dry ingredients and combine well.

4. Fold egg white into egg yolk mixture carefully.

5. Prepare baking dish by lining it with parchment paper. Pour in the cake mixture and bake for 10-12 mins. It is ready when cake is springy when touched.

6. Remove cake from oven. Let it cool for a while ; but roll up cake when it is still hot. When cake is cooled completely, unrolled it and spread with your favourite jam or whipped cream.

To make coconut butter cream
1. Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Fold in desiccated coconut.
3. Fill cake as mentioned in point 6. above.

To finish
1. Heat apricot jam in microwave (30 seconds) for easier application.
2. Brush heated apricot jam all-over rolled cake
3. Melt chocolate using microwave or double-boiler, once melted, if consistency is not spreadable, add cooking oil (vege. oil) to loosen and give a nice shine. Spread all over roll-caked and let it set before serving.

Hungarian sour cherries cake

My favourite cakes are still simple yellow cake such as this :)

Hungarian Sour Cherries cake

No salty

Makes – 12-16 pcs

Ingredients

4 eggs, separated

140gm sugar

2 x 8 gm sachet vanilla sugar

100ml water

100ml vegetable oil

250gm flour

1 tsp baking powder

300-400 gm sour cherries , deseeded

Method

Pre-heat oven at 180°c. Grease and lightly flour baking tray (35x25cm)

Beat egg white with a pinch of salt until stiff peak. Set aside.

Mix together flour and baking powder.

Beat egg yolks with both sugars until creamy. Pour in oil , water and combine well. Next, add-in flour+baking powder and mix until you get smooth consistency. Fold-in egg white gently until well incorporated. Dot sour cherries onto cake batter.*

Pour cake batter into the baking tray and bake for 15 mins or until skewer comes out clean.

* To prevent cherries from sinking, you can dust sour cherries with a little flour prior to dotting into cake batter.

Chocolate mousse & cream triffle cake

I intended to bake this Hungarian chocolate butter cream sponge cake (aka Ludlab) again for my FIL since I received favourable reviews the last time I made it. As the butter cream in that recipe was a bit heavy for my liking, I searched for a chocolate mousse recipe to replace the butter based one. I know the portion of chocolate mousse would not be enough to satisfy my FIL preference of more creamy filling less cake and so I added chocolate flavoured whipped cream to it. Finally, when I was deciding on presentation of the cake, I have to take into account on the convenience of travelling with a layered cake ; presenting it in a triffle cake form would be much easier to carry around - done!

Everyone loved the cake. It was chocolaty and light at the same time. There's plan to bake it again next week for another celebration.

Chocolate mousse & cream triffle cake

Ingredients

For Sponge cake ( source : flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/elfrieda/sets/72157601094692691/ )
3 eggs,
3 tbsp caster or superfine sugar
1 tbsp cocoa
3 tbsp cake flour {substitute with 3 tbsp plain flour + 1 tsp baking powder}

For the filling :-for Chocolate mousse (source http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/330616/really-easy-chocolate-mousse )

75g dark chocolate , chopped and melted (use a standard dark chocolate for this rather than a high cocoa one as it combines better)
2 eggs, separated
25g butter , melted
2 tbsp golden caster sugar
1 tbsp coffee liquor (optional)- I used rum

for chocolate flavour whipped cream
125g dark chocolate
250ml whipping cream
1 sachet cream stabiliser
powdered sugar, to taste

For the syrup
200g sour cherry preserve, with juice (roughly divide into 3 portions)
a pinch of cinnamon
sugar, to taste
2 tsp rum

For chocolate ganache
45g chocolate
a little cream or milk just to loosen chocolate

Processes
For sponge cake (I baked this few days earlier before and kept in freezer)
Grease 18cm cake tin with a small amount of butter and sprinkle a bit of cocoa in the pan to prevent sticking.
Separate eggs, cream yolks with sugar until pale.
Mix flour, baking powder and cocoa in a separate bowl.
Beat egg whites separately until stiff.
Gently combine wet and dry ingredients.
Bake in 180°c/350°F oven in round cake tin for 25 minutes or until cooked.
Set aside to cool. Once cool, cut across horizontally to create 2 cake layers.

For syrup (this can be prepare earlier as well and kept in the fridge)
Place sauce pan over low heat, pour the juice from cherry preserve into sauce pan, and sprinkle 1 portion of the sour cherry preserve, sugar and cinnamon. Cook it down until a thick consistency. Not too thick as this will use to moist the cake

For chocolate mousse
Melt chocolate and butter in microwave for 30 seconds until melted. Mix together melted chocolate and butter until well combine. Then quickly mix in the egg yolks.
In another bowl, whisk the egg whites and whisk in the sugar gradually until mixture is shinny and stiffFold in the two mixture and along add in coffee liquor if using (I used rum).

Start assembling cake

In a glass bowl, put one of the the layered cakes in the bottom of glass bowl. Brush some sour cherry syrup on the cakes and sprinkle with pieces of sour cherry (cooked together with juice)

Pour in the chocolate mousse, sprinkle with 2nd portion of sour cherries. Let it set in the fridge for 2 hours.

Meanwhile, prepare the chocolate ganache simply by microwaving the chocolate and a little bit of cream or milk til loosen and melted. Melting chocolate in microwave needs to be done by heating gradually, if chocolate is stiff add cream/milk to loosen.

For second piece of sponge cake, again brush the sour cherry syrup to moisten , let it soak up of the syrup before spreading the chocolate ganache prepared above, finally dot it with the 3rd portion of sour cherry. Set this cake layer aside while waiting for chocolate mousse to set.

For chocolate flavour whipped cream
Once chocolate mousse is set,
Melt chocolate set aside.
Start whipping the cream with sugar and cream stabiliser.
Half way through the whipping process, pour in the melted chocolate and whipped until it holds. Don not over whipped.

Pour this whipper cream over the set chocolate mousse, finally topped with the 2nd layer (the one with chocolate ganache)of sponge cake prepare earlier and it is ready.

Serve cold.

Chocolate cake in-a-minute cooked using microwave !

Chocolate cake in-a-minute {cooked using microwave}
Recipe from collaborative curry

Ingredients
4 Tbsp plain flour
4 Tbsp white sugar (changed to 1 Tbsp white + 1 Tbsp brown)
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
a pinch of Salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 large Egg, room temp
3 Tbsp milk
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
a dash of vanilla extract (switched to rum)
2 microwave-safe coffee mugs (I cooked it in mini casserole microwave-safe dish)


Method
1. Mix together dry ingredients
2. In another bowl beat the egg lightly, next add-in the rest of the wet ingredients ; mix well with a fork.
3. Mix in the dry mixture , mix until well combined.
4. Pour the batter into your microwave-safe baking dish
5. Microwave on high for a minute (my microw. is 900w). At this point the centre of the cake is gooey, it is cooked. Just keep in the microwave for another 10 seconds. Do not overcook or you might end up with a dry cake.
6. Let it cool before digging in!

No bake biscuit cake

This is going to be a great recipe for the hot summer months especially when I crave Gerbeaud cake / slice . To me this is a cheat version of the classic Hungarian confection ; one of my favourite sweets from Hungary!

No bake biscuit cake
source : Local Hungarian cooking mag

Ingredients
250gm biscuit crumbs
200gm powdered sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar / or use vanilla extract
120gm margarine (I used butter, melted)
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 Tbsp rum
100gm ground walnuts
grated zest of 1 orange (I used lemon)
Milk, as needed to combine

Chocolate icing
100gm dark chocolate

Method
1)Mix together dry ingredients and then combine in the wet ingredients. Press the mass into a rectangular tin and spread to get 2cm thickness

2)Melt chocolates and cover the top of cake.

verdict
I like it! need to be brave with milk! the "cake" base was a bit loose. Perhaps next time I'll try with vanilla cream filled biscuit crumbs.

Lemon cottage cheesecake

With lemon in season, I've been addicted with lemon curd since I made my first batch about a month ago. In fact, this batch is the third I've cooked consecutively!

Lemon cottage cheesecake
source : credited respectively below as I was combining 3 recipes

Crust ~ adapted from Joy of Baking

100 gm crumbs of vanilla cream biscuits

57gm unsalted butter, melted

* sugar was eliminated as vanilla cream from biscuits should give enough sweetness. You can add sugar if you will.

Lemon curd ~ from Joy of BakingMakes 360 ml

3 large eggs

80 ml fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons) (do not use the bottled lemon juice)

1 Tbsp finely shredded lemon zest

150 grams granulated white sugar

56 grams unsalted butter , at room temperature

Cottage cheese filling adapted from Not quite Nigella
250gm local cottage cheese
2 eggs
24 gm vanilla infused caster sugar

Method

Pre-heat oven at 180°c

For crust
In a bowl combine the biscuit crumbs and melted butter. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and about 1 inch (2.5 cm) up the sides of the springform pan. Cover and refrigerate while you make the filling.

For lemon curd

In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until blended. Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent it from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick (like sour cream or a hollandaise sauce) (160 degrees F or 71 degrees C). This will take approximately 10 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately pour through a fine strainer to remove any lumps. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk into the mixture until the butter has melted. Add the lemon zest and let cool. The lemon curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Cover immediately (so a skin doesn't form) and refrigerate for up to a week.

For cottage cheese filling

In a bowl, mix cottage cheese, eggs, , vanilla sugar until smooth using hand blender. Mix with 3/4 of lemon curd, set aside

Assembly (text as per http://homecookingrocks.com/coffee-cheesecake/)

Take the crust-lined springform pan out of the fridge. Place the pan in a larger pan. Pour the cheese mixture over the crust.

Pour enough hot water into the larger pan to reach halfway up the height of the pan. Bake the cheesecake for an hour and 45 minutes. The center should be jiggly. Leave the cake in the oven to cool completely. Decorate top of cake with remaining 1/4 of lemon curd. Then, chill in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Filling ~ Walnut butter cream

Walnut butter cream frosting
source : http://www.nosalty.hu/gazdag_diotorta_recept_1659

Ingredients
200gm ground walnut
1 Tbsp plain flour
250ml milk
100gm sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
lemon zest from 1 lemon
100gm margarine , room temperature ( I used butter)

Method
1) In a sauce pan, mix together milk, sugars, lemon zest. Heat it just until boiling point.
Add in flour and walnut mixture. Bring it to boil again. and set aside to cool

2) Beat margarine (butter) with elec. mixer. When butter is light and fluffy, add in walnut mixture cooked earlier. Combine well and it is ready to be used as cake filling.

Swedish Almond Cake inspired by Ikea

Ikea swedish almond cake....mmmm yumm, right? I thought it would be rather easy to find a compatible recipe to recreate at home ; but my google search gave too many different kinds of swedish almond cake. In the end, I gave this one a try.


Erm... look nothing like the ones I ate in Ikea ; however, taste wise it was pretty close! So, next time I'll just need to search for an icing to go with this cake.

Swedish Almond Cake
http://www.danlepard.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1914

75g unsalted butter
2 tbsp dry white breadcrumbs
1 large egg
125g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp double cream
100g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
50g flaked almonds (didn't have any, sub. with roasted snack type)

Melt 50g butter and use some to brush inside an 18cm flan tin then dust generously with breadcrumbs.

Heat the oven to 180C (160 fan).

Break the egg into a large clean bowl and whisk until frothy. Slowly add 100g sugar and beat until thick.

Stir the vanilla and 2 tbsp cream in evenly, sift in the flour and baking powder and fold through, followed by the remaining melted butter.

Spoon into the tin and bake for 25 minutes until the middle is barely firm{*}. Meanwhile melt 25g butter in the same saucepan then add the almonds, 25g sugar, a tsp of flour and 1 tbsp cream and stir over heat until bubbling.

When the cake is cooked remove from the oven and turn the heat up to 210C (190C fan). Spoon the almond mix over the cake, return to the oven and bake another 5 - 7 minutes until golden. Remove from the tin while warm.

{*} the cake was already cooked after 20 mins. , I'll adjust baking time to 15 mins.