Best Chocolate Cake ever

I have seen this hilarious list on buzzfeed today and I find myself in this a lot. I love my family and there is a whole lot of people to love. It’s not like the Kelly family but for the average German family I have a lot of siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. Both my Grandparents insisted that we all gather at Birthdays, Easter and Christmas. Come what may, at least 20 people in one room, eating, talking, having fun. When I was a teenager I rebelled against this bourgeois traditions. I hated those get-togethers, being locked up in a room with people I had nothing in common with but the same blood line, it made no sense to me. I used to say “friends are the best family because you can choose them yourself”. Teenagers… By now it makes totally sense to me and I must confess I was completely wrong back then, I wouldn’t want to miss any minute of the family time I had. I guess losing my Grandfather last year made me change my point of view even more. As you grow older, you understand that even though they may have chosen another path, you still have a lot more in common than blood. Those folks have always been there and always will be there to help and support me without any question. Though it is very stressful and requires a lot of planning, I did not regret it any minute that I had them all over for my birthday. 23 friends and family members sitting/standing/running around, lots of chats and laughter and nice food – a perfect birthday! I am very sad that my Grandpa couldn’t be here with us, I guess he would have loved it and maybe he watched us from above.

I second #12 of the list, I was too slow so I did not get to eat a single piece of my own birthday cake that I baked the night before my birthday. Everyone I asked said it was fantastic, so I made it again to convince myself. Again this recipe comes from my favourite Book, Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery. Someday I need to get to London, go there and tell ’em how thankful I am. Continue reading »

Mai 30

TBL: Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream

Every time I am home alone, I make huge plans. After getting up very early I find myself writing an enormous to do list. On my list are always a lot of tasks that I procrastinate as long as possible. I even start with tasks that I detest in order to avoid something that is even worse. Then I need to trick myself and add a bonus task to my list, something I love doing, that I only allow myself to do after I completed the other skipped tasks. Sounds ridiculous but it kinda works for me. My bonus task was baking cupcakes. I have a very poor time management, once I had finished the cupcakes I had to rush to a Whisky tasting and ended up icing cupcakes at 1pm. But it was totally worth it. It was another recipe from the Primrose Bakery Cupcake book. I LOVE THIS BOOK! Continue reading »

Mai 23

TBL: Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

I must confess I couldn’t resist when I found the Primrose Bakery Cupcake Book at TK Maxx in Dublin. I had it on my amazon wishlist forever, but never ordered. I was talking myself out of buying another bake book to go into my shelf, but was made to buy it anyway. Back in the hotel I pulled it out directly, started sneaking through the pages and instantly felt the urge to lick the pages. As you might have noticed the TBL was flooded with recipes from this book ’cause they all look so appealing. After the fantastic Orange Cake from the Cake Cafe I was kind of set to oranges when asked to bake something to bring to work. A simple cake wasn’t enough, it needed to be more fancy pants, so I decided to make Chocolate Orange Cupcakes with a Chocolate Orange Buttercream. Sounds like a Chocolate-Orange-Overkill, he? I did this a while back, just before we were moving so there is no pretty picture. But they taste A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Seriously, go buy the book!

Apr. 28

Chocolate Cookie Bowls

I have seen this idea on Pinterest and kind of fell for it: Small bowls made of cookie dough. All you need to do is turn your muffin pan upside down and place round cut cookie dough on there. I must confess I tried a lot of those life hacks you find on Pinterest with mixed results. Most of the things I tried did not come out as good or easy or at all. But this time it actually worked though I improvised. I was invited to a Party with a Sports theme, so I wanted to bring something cool, awesome to impress but also a little healthy. After consulting Google, this sugar cookie recipe was picked. But I was set on chocolate so I varied the recipe slightly. Continue reading »

Apr. 21

Swedish for beginners

Easter is a typical time for buns, wreaths and other fine goodies made with yeast. I wanted to make a breaded bun filled with plum jam anyway and as I am smart enough to buy everything double when attempting to prep something on a bank holiday, I had leftover yeast and decided to try out some little swedish delights. It is one dough, that can be varied to different shapes and flavours. I found the recipe in Lecker magazine, written by the one and only Frau Horstmäään from Zucker, Zimt & Liebe. She has a thing for Scandinavia, that is obvious. And in the last Lecker Bakery, there was a special on her scandinavian recipes. I have tried out Kanelbullar and Kanelknuter, both made from the same dough with different fillings and shapes. Yeast doughs are very easy, when you follow some simple rules.

Make sure, that the milk is not warmer that lukewarm, otherwise it might kill the yeast bacteria and your dough will be hard as stone. Do a pre-dough, even though most recipes don’t say so, Grandma taught me, so I’m doing it. Grandma also taught me never to use metal bowls or mixing appliances. Once you’ve mixed everything together, knead for 3 minutes longer. Then give your dough some rest at a warm spot, be patient and let the yeast do the work. There are some shortcuts like filling a bowl with warm water and put the bowl with your dough in there, sprinkle with a little flour and cover with a tea towel. Now on to the recipe, I have made some small adjustments. Continue reading »

Apr. 1

Cupcake vs. Muffin

People keep asking me what the difference between a muffin and a cupcake is. Some believe the frosting makes the difference, others think it’s the measurements. However I always try to explain them with two simple German words: Muffin=Kuchen (Cake) and Cupcake=Torte. But I learned that this is only half of the truth. The main difference is the method of preparing the dough. While for Cupcakes all ingredients are creamed together, the “wet” ingredients are mixed separately from the “dry” ingredients and only brought together very shortly before baking the Muffins. When creaming things together you try to beat in as much air as possible to “fluff” up while the muffin method relies on a raising agent (mostly baking soda).

I must confess I haven’t baked muffins in a long while because they were often too dry, never rise too much and turn more broader instead of having the typical hat. With all those little bits and pieces of knowledge I acquired over time I finally managed to bake muffins that were well risen and moist, even though they still don’t look like store-bought ones. ~~I totally forgot to take a~~ picture of my blueberry muffins. I took this recipe and made some variations. My brother left a 125g pack of blueberries in the fridge, but some of them were already over ripe. I tossed those, added a little dried super-fruit-mixture (dried cherries, cranberries and arionaberries) and replaced the baking powder by baking soda. I also added a spoonful vinegar with the berries as I once read that baking soda needs acid or at least other sour ingredients to react with in the dough, there again goes chemistry (:

After Brownies the Muffins seem to be the next recipe to reconcile… I am pretty curious what’s next!

Feb. 28

TBL: Orange Cake

Due to various circumstances and my own laziness I haven’t managed to try out a recipe in February. Actually I only made one cake beginning of February, back in my old kitchen for a friends birthday. The next day I boxed all my kitchen appliances and moved them in the basement of the new place. They are stuck down there ever since. This week finally my work surface for the kitchen arrived, it is a large and very heavy piece of handpicked slate. Anyhow, we are making baby steps towards a finished house, there is still a lot of bits and pieces to be done and craftspeople are often unreliable or hard to get hold of. Sometimes I believe I’d rather get an audience with the pope than an appointment with some of those craftspeople. But I will quit the whining and tell you something about a very fabulous place I have explored during our last visit in Dublin in November. After a stroll in Iveagh Gardens, one of the hidden gems of the City, we needed a sweet treat to brighten up the grey, rainy day. I stumbled over this place on Twitter that I was dying to try, even though it looked like an office building in the pictures. We made our way through the backstreet and he gave me this “are you sure we are on the right track” kind of look. I have to admit I was a little weirded out by the street too, but then we took a turn in to one of the most beautiful courtyards I have ever seen. They have very pretty mosaics with everyday items on the walls and a bunch of private corners. The place is really small, maximum 8 to 10 tables, but very warm and welcoming, so is the staff. As the front completely consists of glass we could easily see that it was very busy. The lad behind the counter waved us in and kindly informed us that they’ll have some spot for us in a couple of minutes if we want to wait outside. Wait? Outside? In the cold? This place better be good, I thought to myself. I gave him a smile, nodded and just a few seconds later we were equipped with the menu and some hot-water bottles in one of the snugly corners in the courtyard. The Orange Cake was sold out (boohoo), so the waitress recommended “an absolute lovely Victoria Sponge” and I went for the mixed cake platter that had a little piece of everything on top. All very delicious! Being good marketeers they had their own book right on the cash desk, so I had no other choice as to inspect and buy it. It is rather small but offers a good range of recipes and it looks just fab with its cool graphics. After cashing out we took the other entry point to the courtyard, through a paper craft shop. How cool is that? If I only hadn’t spend all of my shopping budget…

I have yet tried the Orange Cake only but it was one of the best cakes I ever made. It is very moist and so fluffy I’m gonna die. You only need 7 ingredients and it can be varied very easily. This time I am not going to share the recipe, I can just recommend to buy the book: http://www.thecakecafe.ie/

Jan. 17

TBL: Beer Batter Maple Bacon Cupcake

I came home from Handball one night and was asked if I knew that cupcake show on TV. “It’s about two broke girls that bake Cupcakes to become rich and famous. It is hilarious!”. I sat down and was on fire instantly. Okay, the show is a typical sitcom with below the belt humor, but that’s what I love about it. And in the season 1 finale they finally meet Martha Stewart in a bathroom and she tries this Beer Batter Maple Bacon Cupcake (watch scene). I can totally feel with these two girls, striving to dream and never give up on it. I don’t have the balls to start my own business now, I envy all those people who put everything at stake to follow their dream. But I am not yet ready to quit live as I know it and become rich and famous *lol*.

I do like to play around a little instead, testing my limits and the combination of savoury & sweet is very appealing to me. The idea of something salty together with sweets is inconceivable for many people. While salted caramel is already almost mainstream, the idea of adding bacon to a sweet treat send shivers of disgust through many people. I kind of understand why but you’ll never know if you don’t try as my Granny used to say. And as we had fantastic pancakes with maple syrup and crispy bacon at Avoca in Dublin, the urge to try the Beer Batter Maple Bacon Cupcakes rose within me. And then last week my fellow colleague told me about his holidays in LA, where he went a shooting day of “2 broke girls”. We both saw this as a sign, it is time to do this. Therefore my first blog post for this year is about what makes half of the people ahhhh and the others ewww. Continue reading »

Dez. 30

My baking year 2013 – a review

I have to admit I have not been writing very often in the past few months. I cannot tell exactly why and I am not going to find excuses now. But as the year is closing and I am sitting at my new kitchen counter, I thought it might be a good idea to look back.

The To Bake List

My New Years resolution was to bake a new recipe every month. I almost hit the target, but in November I totally missed it. However I am kinda proud I sticked to it and tried out at least 16 new recipes and here goes my hitlist:

Frankfurter Kranz / Frankfurt Crown Cake: I mastered this recipe over the year, starting with a convenience blend on my first attempt I refined the recipe more and more, tried different things and now am pretty certain that I do it very well. My gramps would love this one *sigh*
Carrot Cake: It is just a perfekt cake, moist and full of flavours with a little twist. Seeing it on display at Avoca in Suffolk Street Dublin kinda made me chuckle 🙂
Double Chocolate Salted Caramel Nutella Cookies: Better late then never I tried this recipe from Topwithcinnamon, I wanna drown in those cookies, pleeeeeeease.
Lemon Meringue Pie: Though it stressed me a lot when I did this cake for the last time, the taste again made all up for it. I just need to figure out a way to get this pie out of the pan in a clean way.
Cranberry Shortbread Stars: Came across the recipe in a magazine and had to try it. I love shortbread in all its forms, combined with the sweet and sour cranberries a winner!
Plum Frangipane: Plums are underrated in baking, well kind of. In Germany they are mostly used for Zwetschgendatschi (a yeast cake topped with plums) but there are always more ways of making cakes out of those fruits I can‘t wait for September to grab all those wonderful plums from the tree in our new yard and work them into delicious cakes!
Pear Walnut Brownies: I have always struggled with Brownies, they didn‘t ever come out good, whatever recipe I used. Then there was the day when I had „one last attempt“ with this recipe that gave me back the trust in my own skills. It is never you, it is always the recipe 🙂
Chocolate Truffle Torte: This was very very rich but extremely good in small doses. Made the perect base for a mini cake and a lovely surprise for my bridesmaid and truly best friedn.
Filled Scone Rolls: I remember flour, everywhere flour… But they tasted like more…
Peanut Butter Fudge: Just toooo much… But maybe next christmas in tree shapes put in giftboxes…
Apple Szarlotka: This recipe was rather surprising as it was dairy-free. But in fall with the right apples it makes a real great cake.
Nougat-Marzipan-Cookies: Usually I‘d say that when 3 good things come together it can only get better but this does not apply here. The cookies where too tiny and burned in the oven instantly. In the end the cookie base was too dry and only after storing them for 3 weeks they became somehow tasty. My sister loved them but I don‘t…
Red Velvet Cupcakes: Not one of my brightest moments in 2013. I had a specific picture in mind and what I produced came nothing close to that. I admit, my first cake wreck and I don‘t believe that adding food colouring does make it all better.
Chocolate-Almond-Macarons: I don’t know why, but it seems that macarons and me are not becoming good friends EVER… They don’t rise and look crappy… I need to take a class!
Scones with buttermilk & Lemongrass: Read it and liked the idea of Lemongrass in Scones, but after the first bite I was certain that I’ll never do those again.
Coco Choco Cookies: These have been the WORST cookies ever, they were mashy without crust *buerk*

Well, the list has grown a lot lately, after buying new books in Dublin. We’ll see what the next year will bring… I hope I can stick to trying out one thing from the list each month and to be acutally writing one recipe per month. That might be the biggest challenge, as I am a good baker and eater but always forget to take pictures and lack the drive to write stuff.

Personal

My year has been pretty troubled, there were major changes going on and some are still not yet through. Healthwise 2013 totally sucked but I found a new passion, some sort of ventile, in baking (when workouts are not possible). I am still at the opinion that a hard workout is the best way to wipe your brain and forget about all stress and worries. But baking, being creative with flavours and dough, really comes close, when you love what you do. And I love baking!

Being a married woman now and moving into our own house is a big thing for me. All this planning and all those decisions finally coming to live. From red brick walls to rooms with large windows, slate floors and a new kitchen was a very long way, but we are almost there. I am very thankful that my partner is taking care of all this so I can do what I can do best: Make people happy with cakes and cookies.

May you also have a wonderfull 2014, full of adventures, joy and yummy baked goods!

Dez. 5

Yummy Cookies and sideeffects

My health really gave me a hard time in this past year 2013. Also I’ve done my best to ignore it, my body refuses and partly gives up on me from time to time. This week it was my stomach who refused to let me eat painfree. Luckily there is a pill for everything but sometimes they come with unwanted side effects. Yesterday was Nap-day, I think I had as many naps as a bunny has per day, 17 to be exact. Last nigth and today was rather problematic cause as a side effect of my meds all my muscles decided to hurt like crazy today. I felt like after a constant 2 day workout with a burn in my muscles that just won’t stop. I needed distraction and found it in a note that today was national cookie day in whatever country (I guess it’s America). As I did not manage to bake something from the To Bake List in November I found it appropriate, to at least make some new cookies on the cookie day. I decided to give the Salted Caramel + Nutella Stuffed Double Chocolate Chip Cookies I have recently found on topwithcinnamon blog a shot. Izzy is a teenage girl living in London and blogging her fantastic recipes for a few years now. I’ve been following her on Twitter for a while and saw her video together with the guys from SORTED food and fell in <3 with the recipe. I have to admit I am a huge fan of stopmotion, that was one of the first things I had to do as a semester project for design class back in university and I loved it. Actually my stopmotion semester project also involved cake. We had to make a countdown for movies with stop motion and we decided to let a set of false teeth eat up our cake numbers would make a fantastic countdown. But back to Izzy and her fantastic recipes… She is very inspiring, so young and yet so talented, creative and professional. She has an eye for photos and does explain complicated recipes in an easy understandable way. And she’s always wearing funny socks in her pictures and has a great sense of style. And with all due respect I HAD to take a picture with my feet in it, just as she does a lot. (Just a quick shot with the phone as the camera is already boxed…)

I wanted to try out some of her recipes but hadn’t had the time yet. Now that I tasted thos really gorgeous cookies, I WANT MORE. The recipe is very easy and fast to do, you don’t even need a electric mixer (which my sister will appreciate). I used some Cadbury caramel chocolate that I brought from my last trip to Ireland for the center of the cookies and that worked very well. I made 15 cookies out of the recipe, not all containing caramel chocolates. if you place the salt just on the center of the cookies, above the Nutella, it makes a fantastic taste experience.

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