carrot, hazelnut and tahini cake with lime cream cheese frosting

by on September 20, 2012

Did you miss me last week? I took a week off, actually two weeks because the last post had been a guest post from the lovely Sandy from confiture de vivre.

The truth is and I am just saying it: I was busy but in a positive way. My family had been visiting me, I had been trying hard to soak up every moment of this rare days where we are all together and enjoying ourselves. My last three weeks had been the best of this year, we celebrated my birthday, had been on vacation in Florida, had the best food Memphis has to offer and did some amazing baking, grilling and cooking. I had been marveled about seeing all the food disappearing faster than I can keep supplies coming.

Also the first time since three years, we had all been on the same continent for my little sisters birthday. I promised her a birthday cake and she chose a carrot cake. Call it karma but I already bookmarked a recipe for a carrot cake in the new baking book I got for my birthday two weeks earlier. It took me some minutes to talk her into this because she thought tahini belongs into hummus and not into her birthday cake. Point taken! I can’t deny I felt not just like a risk-taker but also like a thrill-seeker with an apron as I did not just add tahini but also olive oil to the batter. And you wouldn’t see this recipe here today if it wouldn’t turned out good. Not the right words: it was one of the best carrot cakes ever and I had a few a lot…

I adapted this recipe from Dan Lepard’s “Short & Sweet“. Many of you might know him from his Guardian column. I have to admit, I didn’t, I learned about this baking book in an article and was even more eager to lay my hands on it, as I read somewhere (maybe a review?) that it would be the only thing to save if your house would burn down. And it has to be a good baking book if I make my sister order it in Britain and bring it over in her suitcase all the way from Germany. It started with one bookmark for the carrot cake and now has colorful post-its all over, next on my list: banana blondie from page 204 or here. How does brazil nut toffee sound to you? Yes I thought so.

carrot, hazelnut and tahini cake with lime cream cheese frosting

Adapted from Dan Lepard’s Short & Sweet available here and here. And check out his video here.

I only have extra virgin olive oil on hand, if you have a mild and inexpensive olive oil in you pantry you can use this instead and skip the vegetable oil, this would be 125 ml / 1/2 cup altogether. If you don’t want to use olive oil at all use the same amount of sunflower (like mentioned in Short & Sweet) or other neutral vegetable oil.

The original recipe calls for pomegranate syrup or black treacle, I used sugar-beet syrup (Zuckerrübensirup which is popular in the area in Germany where my hometown is, but it’s hard to get here (yes we smuggled it). Though I was able to find some from time to time in a well stocked supermarket. I mention black treacle in the recipe instead.

ingredients:

75 g / 1/4 cup tahini (sesame paste)

75 ml / 1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or vegetable oil)

50 ml / 1/4 cup vegetable oil

3 Tbsp black treacle (dark syrup)

225 g / 1 heaping cup turbinado sugar or light brown sugar

1 + 1/4 Tbsp orange zest (from about 1 orange)

3 large eggs, divided

100 ml / 7 Tbsp fresh orange juice

100 g / 3/4 cup roasted chopped hazelnuts

200 g / 1  3/4 cups finely grated carrots

175 g all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

instructions:

Preheat your oven to 175 C / 350 F and grease your 24 cm / 9.5 inch springform pan.

In a small bowl measure and mix dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and set aside.

In a large bowl mix tahini, oil, treacle or other dark syrup, sugar and orange zest. Add one whole egg and two egg yolks (save the two egg whites for later) mix until well incorporated.

Add orange juice, hazelnuts, carrots  and stir well. Add dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Beat remaining egg whites until soft peaks form and fold into the batter. Place batter into springform pan and bake 35 to 40 minutes until a skewer inserted into the center comes out without crumbs clinging to it.

Let cool completely on a wire rack before applying the lime cream cheese frosting.

lime cream cheese frosting

Also adapted from Dan Lepard’s Short & Sweet. Check out his book for more tips on frosting!

ingredients:

1 package cream cheese (226 g / 8 oz.)

110 g / 1 stick unsalted butter

finely grated zest of one lime

100 g / 3/4 + 1 Tbsp cup powdered sugar

Make sure all ingredients are very soft otherwise they won’t incorporate.

instructions:

In a medium mixing bowl beat butter, sugar and about a third of the cream cheese. Add remaining cream cheese and continue mixing until smooth and fluffy.

Spread frosting evenly on top and wall of the carrot cake, keep refrigerated and the cake stays fresh for several days. Mine lasted 4 days without drying out or loosing flavor.

{ 2 comments }

German peach streusel cake

by on August 15, 2012

There are things that would force me to get up early on a weekend day like tornado siren, earthquake or fire alarm. But there are also some enjoyable circumstances like the scent of freshly brewed coffee waving into my bedroom and tinkling my nose (hint!) or the anticipated trip to a peach orchard.

Since our visit to an apple orchard in Wisconsin last October, I am in love with orchards and pick-your-own fruits. Due to the summery heat we decided to rise and shine very early, get a bucket full of peaches and have a decent late breakfast at the cafe owned by the farmers wife. I love it than a plan comes together. We were the first peach pickers that morning, but not for long. Our bucket filled up fast, the trees were loaded with branches full of fragrant and juicy peaches. Afterwards the breakfast was sweet and filling and we enjoyed the Southern hospitality.

I spent most of this weekend in my kitchen, there are three peach pies sitting in my freezer and waiting for my family to arrive in a couple of days. I made American peach pie for my German family and this German peach streusel cake to share with you and my American friends. Food is connecting people, countries and continents.

 

 German peach streusel cake

 

All ingredients should be at room temperature! This cake is best the day it’s freshly baked but still delicious for two more days if wrapped and stored in the refrigerator.

ingredients:

for the yeast dough:

130 g / 1 cup all-purpose flour (more if needed)
70 g / 1/2 cup  whole wheat flour (or all-purpose flour)
2 tsp active dry yeast
3-4 Tbsp granulated sugar
pinch of salt
30 g / 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, soft
60 ml  / 1/4 cup milk (2%)
1 egg

1.1 kg / 2 1/2 pounds peaches (about 8 medium and 5 large peaches)

for the streusel dough:

180 g / 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
100 g / 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
110 g / 8 Tbsp unsalted butter, soft
butter and flour for the pan

instructions:

Add all ingredients for the yeast dough in a big bowl. Knead by hand or with stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment for 2 minutes. Add more flour or milk if needed. You should end up with a easy to handle dough not too sticky and not too dry. Sprinkle dough with more flour to keep it moist. Place the bowl at a warm (not hot) place, cover with a clean kitchen towel, let rise until doubled in size, approx. 40-50 minutes.

Grease and flour dust a baking pan 20 x 30 cm / 8 x 12 inch. Knead the dough shortly with your hands. Roll out dough and place into your baking pan. Let rise a second time while you prepare peaches and streusel.

Preheat your oven to 180 C / 360 F.

Meanwhile peel peaches with vegetable peeler (works best for me), cut in half, remove stone and cut the halves into thin slices (about 4-6 slices depending to the size of your peaches).

In a medium bowl add all ingredients for streusel. Knead with your hands until well combined. Rub with fingers until crumbs form.

Place peaches on dough, top with streusel and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool before serving.

{ 10 comments }

berry and pistachio coffee cake

by on June 14, 2012

Do you believe in destiny? Actually I am not the one thinking someone else is in the driving seat of my life’s car (this is so ‘The Game of Life :) )  On the other hand if this cake is not controlled by kismet or karma or what ever, I don’t know…

I have to admit this recipe was not meant for you. I love you guys and sharing recipes with you is more than fun, but you were not supposed to see this one. This one is simply to get rid off unwanted, space-consuming troublemaker. It started with pistachios, salted and in their shells, moving around in my kitchen from one corner to the other. I just didn’t want to throw them away, but their shells were holding me up from simply popping them in my mouth. They seem to be constantly in my way and I had to deal with them. I discovered some breakfast’s leftover berries, leaking red water all over the fridge and some yoghurt, way over the date of expiring but still smelling OKish. With cake on my mind and some notes I started baking, I decided to add a topping, switched some things in between and voilà! Seriously the piece of paper with my recipe notes has a lot crossed out numbers and words  and I had a hard time to decode my scribbling.

The first bite made me eat the whole piece and than another and I had to stop myself and get my camera before all evidence had been eaten distroyed by me. I have to admit I never ate and took pictures at the same time of the same food.

The good thing about all the chaos? I made the whole cake again, just for you and to make sure, it will work out and taste the same for the second time and if you are making it. The batter is rather firm, that will prevent the berries from sinking to the bottom of the cake. After baking the cake is soft and spongy and not too sweet. The topping is crunchy, buttery and nutty. Although the topping gets softer after two days, the cake is still good for some more days, I think the berries keeps it moist.

berry and pistachio coffee cake

It’s best if you have all ingredients at room temperature. If you have salted pistachios on hand, put them in a colander and rinse the salt off, works great. You’ll need 2 sticks of butter altogether (just to clarify the butter situation). While browning the butter: the brown specks might be hart to see in a nonstick pan, in this case use your nose, it should smell like brown butter, nutty and a little toasty, rather stop earlier, if you are not sure, black butter is not what we are going for…

ingredients:

80 g / 2.8 oz pistachios (without shell)

300 g / 10.58 oz all purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

170 g / 1.5 stick unsalted butter (at room temperature)

200 g / 7.05 oz sugar

200 g / 7.05 oz plain yoghurt (fat free Greek yoghurt)

2 eggs

1/4 tsp almond or vanilla extract

160-200 g / 5.6-7.1 oz mixed fresh berries

topping:

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

3 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp ground pistachios (saved from the amount above)

instructions:

Preheat your oven to 175 C / 350 F. Grease or line a baking pan 20 x 30 cm / 8 x 12 inch. with parchment paper.

Grind pistachios in your food processor until very finely chopped. Add pistachios to a small bowl but save two tablespoon for the topping. Measure flour, baking powder, salt and mix with the pistachios, set aside.

Prepare topping: in a pan over medium high heat, add butter, sugar and (2 Tbsp) ground pistachios. Let cook, stirring frequently until you see some small brown specks, remove from heat and set aside.

Add butter, sugar, yoghurt, eggs and almond or vanilla extract to a large mixing bowl. Mix with a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer until well combined, about one minute. Add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and mix shortly.

Pour batter into the baking pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with berries and the browned butter topping and bake for 30 minutes. Check after 25 minutes.

{ 2 comments }

chocolate hazelnut cake

by on February 24, 2012

So many things are happening in and about my small world. If you look up and left and right you might discover the new look of this side. It’s not just a new design, I moved the whole thing from iweb to wordpress. I haven’t finished yet, many things still need to be updated. But I did it almost on my own and can’t stop backslapping myself, this is not just webdesign, I am talking about a miracle. As I am mentioned before, if you would open the door in my brain which says ‘computer, IT, etc.’ on the name plate, this place is dark and tiny and you find two bored brain cells fighting each other.  Against all odds and a lot of copy, paste, update, insert and uploads later, I am getting there. So excited! Please leave a comment if you like (woohoo the comment section is working again) I would like to hear from you.

This weeks birthday girl is Lily. Congratulations. She is trying hard to dress appropriate for her age. We celebrated her birthday with chocolate cake and she didn’t get a crumb. It’s a dog’s life!

Chocolate cake has always been the number one on my list of favorite cakes, it’s the best for every occasion, no doubt about that. I can make up a lot of reasons for a celebration chocolate cake, although I don’t think anyone should need one. This cake has many faces: a little gooey like a brownie but not dense, not very sweet… find it out yourself. The flavors of the roasted hazelnuts, three kinds of chocolate and coffee are coming together very well, they complete each other. The instant coffee is more a seasoning and not overwhelming, add more if you like.

chocolate hazelnut cake with ganache

This cakes keeps moist and well for several days.

200 g / 1 stick + 6 tablespoons unsalted butter

60 g / 2.1 oz. 85 % chocolate

60 g / 2.1 oz. 70 % chocolate

110 g / 3.88 oz. milk chocolate

6 large eggs separated

200 g / 1 cup sugar

200 g / 7.06 oz  hazelnuts, roasted and finely ground

2.5 tablespoons natural cocoa powder (unsweetened)

2 tablespoons corn starch (or potato starch)

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons instant coffee or espresso dissolved in 1 teaspoon water

 

Preheat your oven to 200 C / 400 F and grease a 26 cm / 9 inch spring form.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in your microwave oven, add the butter and stir. The warm chocolate will melt the butter and cool a little bit at the same time, set aside.

Beat the egg yolks and the sugar until pale, takes about 3-5 minutes.

Add the cooled chocolate/butter and mix. Then add the ground hazelnuts, cocoa powder, starch, salt, coffee and mix again.

Beat the egg whites until you got stiff and firm peaks.

Add 1/3 of the beaten egg whites to your batter and fold in with a spoon or rubber spatula, continue adding a 1/3 of the egg whites at a time.

Pour into the springform pan and bake for about 35 minutes, don’t over bake.

Remove the sides of the springform pan and let cool completely before you apply the ganache.

 

For the ganache:

This is the minimum amount of ganache, just enough to spread evenly all over the cake. Double if you like a thicker layer.

50 g / 1.79 oz. dark chocolate ( I used 70 %)

50 g / 1/4 cup heavy cream

In a small saucepan over low heat, bring the heavy cream to simmer, add the chocolate. Stir well until smooth and let cool to room temperature before spreading over the cake.

 

 

 

 

{ 5 comments }

apple cake with toffee topping

by on October 4, 2011

Last week had been a fun one! My sister and her friend are visiting from Germany and we headed to Chicago to escape my small town and have some urban pleasure in the big city. The windy city lived up to its name and we got literally blown away all day long. The main things I had done these days was sitting around, watching people while having coffee, walking up and down the beaches north of Chicago, and visiting the cultivate festival in Lincoln Park last Saturday. This was not only a fun event with nice food and concerts, it had also been a great way to inform about where food naturally comes from and that industrialized farmers are the losers, bad guys, not so good for you and the environment.


Sunday had been all about apples and friends. Our dear friends from Chicago invited us to join them for an apple picking day on an apple orchard in Wisconsin. I didn’t count but our group was about 30 people of all ages. Everyone brought some nice food and it reminded me of tailgating without the football and the grilling. Games were played, some beer were drunken, apples had been picked and we had some interesting and fun talks. We drove home with a one year ratio of apples for a family of ten, a beautiful pumpkin and newly made friendships.

I see a lot of apple cakes coming my way, here are some recipes for you from me:

apple streusel cake

caramel apple butter

prune cake with marzipan streusel (works also great with apples)

apple cake Barbados

upside-down skillet cake

five variations of crumble

 

 

 

 

apple cake with toffee topping

adapted from Tessa Kiros: falling cloudberries
This recipe calls for 3 apples, I came out with 360 g peeled and cored apple chunks, for my licking a wee bit more would have been even better, I am going for 4 apples next time. And I used whole wheat pastry flour and really loved the nuttily flavor which went well with the apples and the sweetness of the topping.

3-4 apples (like golden delicious but any other will do)
juice of 1/2 lemon

100 g / 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
200 g / 1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
200 g / 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
2 teaspoon baking powder (aluminum free)
1/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
100 g / 1/2 cup sugar
120 ml / 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat your oven to 190 C / 375 F and grease and flour your 24 cm / 9.5 inch springform pan.
Peel and core the apples, cut them into bite size chunks. Add the lemon juice and stir. Arrange the apples evenly on the bottom of your baking pan, no need to make it beautiful, you won’t see much of them under the topping later.

In a large bowl cream the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until pale and softened (takes 2-3 minutes) then add the eggs one by one. Add the flour, the baking powder and the milk and mix shortly until just combined. Pour the batter over the apples into the springform pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. The cake is done if a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove your cake from the oven and start to make the topping: put the butter and the sugar in a medium pan and cook for 3 to 4 minutes over medium heat. Sugar gets very hot while melting, you better resist to lick your spoon! Don’t add all the cream at once! Pour in the cream very slowly, start drop by drop, then in a steady stream, stir constantly. Continue to simmer for another minute over low heat.

Turn the cake upside down: run a knife blade along the rim of the spingform pan to release the edge of the cake, put a plate on the top of the cake and turn over, use a long knife to separate the bottom of the springform pan from the cake before removing it. This is optional and not part of the original recipe, I just prefer to have the apples on top rather than at the bottom.

If you have turned your cake or not, loose the side of the cake and pour the toffee sauce over the top of the cake. Let the cake cool before you remove the side of the pan. Serve with ice cream, warm or at room temperature.

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