Tag: Desserts

Louise Cake
I love trying classic recipes. Some well known and dearly beloved, others slightly forgotten. Today I am gently crafting a simple cake named after Princess Louise of England, Queen Victoria’s daughter. Louise Cake is an old-fashioned New Zealand favourite consisting of a thin base layer of cake or biscuit crumbs (cookie crumbs) topped with raspberry or plum jam, coconut meringue and then baked in the oven. It is also called Louise Cake Slice because it’s baked in a rectangular pan and cut into squares.

There are so many variations on this beautiful dessert. Whether you might wish to slice it in pieces or offer in a classic cake form, it always makes for a breathtaking masterpiece.

I have discovered this recipe in one of my favourite cookbooks called most appropriately “Sweet” by Yotam Ottolenghi & Helen Goh – published by Ebury Press. The original recipe calls for the use of plums instead of strawberry jam, but as we are short on food supplies at home, I happily had to improvise.

The cake is sumptuously delicious. Lovely soft cake base, layered with strawberry jam and topped with heavenly crunchy meringue, with mushy soft inside. The cake is better eaten on the day its made but is certainly fine the day after. The meringue loses some of its crunchiness the following day and the cake could get a little soggy. The authors recommend using any seasonal fruit (peaches, apricots or cherries being alternatives) and they need to be ripe but not too soft. As spring is already here, next time I will certainly try perhaps with raspberries and rhubarb.
Ingredients

Serves 9

125g butter at room temperature (I always use salted even though the recipe calls for unsalted)

100g caster sugar

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon (1tsp)

3 large egg yolks

125g plain flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

20g desiccated coconut

80ml milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 tbs strawberry jam

Meringue

60g flaked almonds

140g egg whites (I used 4 ½ egg whites but it all depends on the size of your eggs)

1/8^th tsp salt

185g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp cornflour

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170c/150C fan.
2. Spread the almonds out on a baking tray and roast for 10 minutes until golden brown. Remove and set aside to cool.
3. Increase the oven temp to 185C /165C fan and line your 23 cm cake tin with baking paper or 20cm high sided square tin with removable base).
4. Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest in the bowl of a stand mixer with a balloon whisk until pale and creamy. Add the egg yolks while the mixer is running one at a time making sire they are well incorporated before adding the next one.
5. In a separate bowl sift the flour, salt and baking powder together.
6. With the mixer on a low speed add the coconut and then add the flour and milk in alternating parts and mix briefly to combine. Do not over mix.
7. Remove the bowl from the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom. Decant this into your lined cake tin and spread to even out the surface. Bake for 25 minutes and until its firm to the touch, light golden and when a skewer is inserted into the middle it comes out clean.
8. Cover the cake with strawberry jam.
9. Turn the oven temp up to 200C. To make the meringue ensure your bowl and whisk are spotlessly clean. Beat the egg whites with the salt until soft peak stage, about a minute. Add the caster sugar a tablespoon at a time and then continue to beat for about 5 – 6 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and the meringue is glossy. Add the vanilla, vinegar, and cornflour and mix to combine.
10. Fold the almonds through by hand and then pile this on top of the cake with the jam layer. Return to the oven, immediately lower the temperature to 150C and bake for 35 minutes and until the meringue has formed a hard crust. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for at least half an hour before removing it from the tin and peeling off the paper. Dust with a little icing sugar and serve when cool.
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March 21, 2020
Dutch Apple Tart
If I close my eyes and think of home, I see candle lights and bookshelves, I hear laughter and my husband playing the piano, I smell fresh baked apple and cinnamon tart… From a recipe very much like this one. Crunchy and flaky golden perfection with a hint of vanilla sweet and salt and inside cinnamon fragrant melting apple slices.

This is a recipe for a classic Dutch Apple Tart. I tell you what, the Dutch do love their apple tarts! You may find them everywhere. Served warm or cold, served just on their own or with a ball of delicious vanilla ice-cream, looking posh or looking rustic… However they may catch your eye, you should definitely give them a try.

Making one at home is fairly easy. All you need is to prepare a crust pastry, roll the dough and shape the form. Fill the crust pastry with a mixture of apples, cinnamon and brown sugar and cover with pastry again. If you might feel adventures, you may mix apples and pears, add sultanas soaked in rum, or sprinkle almonds or walnuts inside the filling of the tart. Whatever takes your fancy, be yourself and enjoy a delicious golden slice!
Ingredients

For 20cm springform

250g flour

125g sugar

150g butter

2 eggs

1 lemon

500g apples

50g brown sugar

5og dry bread crumbs

1tsp cinnamon

2tsp corn flour

8g vanilla sugar essence Dr. Oetker

salt
Method

Make the dough:
1. Combine the flour, sugars, vanilla, salt and lemon zest in a mixing bowl. With the mixer running, toss in the butter and mix until thoroughly combined. With the mixer running, add one egg and mix until it forms wet crumbs.
2. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead together. Reserve 1/3 of the dough for the top of the tart. Roll the remaining 2/3 of the dough into a 16″ round. Lift the dough onto the rolling pin and unroll over the pan. The dough will probably break apart but just piece it together to line the pan.
Assemble the tart:
1. Cut each apple into quarters and slice each quarter into 1/4 thick slices. Toss the sliced apples with the granulated brown sugar and the cinnamon. Sprinkle the bread crumbs into the bottom of the tart shell and then pour the apples over the bread crumbs. The pan will be about 2/3 – 3/4 full.
2. Brush the inside of the tart shell from the apples the to top with egg wash. Roll the remaining dough into a 10″ round. Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the dough into 1″ wide strips. Arrange the strips in a lattice pattern over the apples (see how to weave a lattice here). Trim the excess dough from the tart and brush the top of the crust with egg wash. Sprinkle the top of the tart with granulated sugar.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 175C. Bake for about 50 minutes until the apples in the middle are tender and the juices are bubbling. Cool completely in the pan.
4. To unmold the tart, run a knife around the edge to make sure the crust isn’t sticking and then release the pan.

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January 31, 2020
Alcazar Cookies
Alcazar are Romanian traditional New Year cookies. Delicious disks of walnut meringues, sandwiched together with chocolate-rum filling. A real pure delight. How the recipe has crossed the border to Bulgaria is an ancient mystery. But there is much more to it than that. Actually, the name Alcazar comes from the famous Alcazar Palace in Seville. Does Seville serve delicious meringue cookies, perhaps with a recipe that has travelled across Europe? I don’t know. Do the walnut cookies resemble the spectacular Alcazar Moorish Architecture in the ancient palace, as the Romanians seem to think? I don’t know. A delicious cookie with a delicious mystery. Far be it from me to try to search for more. There is something so beautiful nostalgic in the flavours of one’s childhood memories. A retro glimpse into the past and a delightful enjoyment of the present that makes one happy with no reason but the fact that a New Year is about to come and all the loved ones are with us – close by, in a memory or in a tender scent of a delicious cookie.
Ingredients

For the cookies

4 egg whites (around 140g)

200g granulated sugar

200g ground walnuts

For the filling

4 egg yolks

200g powder sugar

15g cacao powder

200g butter

100g milk

1tbsp rum (or rum extract)

For decoration

50g melted dark chocolate
Method

1. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
2. Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until foamy. Add the sugar and continue whisking until the meringue hardens. Add the ground walnuts and fold gently with spatula.
3. Transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with 1cm round tip and start piping round cookies leaving a spare distance around the disks. The cookies will increase their volume while baking.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 120C. Bake for about 40-45 minutes until slightly golden.
5. Mix the egg yolks, sugar, cacao powder, rum essence and milk over a double boiler and mix until the liquid thickens. Take off the heat, add butter, mix well and let cool.
6. Once the cookies have cooled, drizzle over melted dark chocolate and let it cool.
7. To assemble the cookies, take two and stick them together with the filling. Optionally, you may dip the sides of the cookies in ground walnuts. Store in cool dry place, until ready to serve.

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December 27, 2019
Gingerbread with Almonds
Belgium, has such a wonderful tradition to celebrate on the 6th of December, the Sint. Sinterklaas is a legendary figure based on Saint Nicholas, patron saint of the children. On his day, a feast erupts in most Dutch speaking countries offering presents to the children and countless sweets – mandarins, oranges, speculoos cookies, chocolate… Did I mention chocolate? Such a colourful and delightful occasion to be merry and most of all mark the start of the Christmas season. For me, it brings a sense of coziness and belonging, a reminder of the importance to be with family and friends. Time, to enjoy the sweet things in life. Yes, there is plenty of chocolate, but the real flavour of the feast is in the rich, indulgent scent of speculoos or gingerbread spices.

Traditionally, I would be baking speculoos cookies, but this year I am making something else instead. A Dutch gingerbread or as it is locally known speculoos cake filled with almonds. It is my first try and I am slightly nervous. The recipe however, seems to be ok. Make the spiced dough, press into a form, fill with almonds and roll the dough on top again. Nothing could go wrong, right? Just by opening my gingerbread spice tin box the kitchen is already saturated with a wonderful aroma. Like a genie coming from a bottle, the scent is impatient to join the party. I make the dough and the delicious smell is already hugging my very self – it is on my hands, my cloths, my hear. By the time the cake is in the oven, the scent transforms into something else – Christmas carols and promises of goodness, buttery sweet memories and a need for Christmas lights. Only 35 minutes in the oven and then the cake is left to rest. Rest, it most certainly does not. It fills the entire house with spices, it whispers to be seen, to be smelled, to be enjoyed. Once cooled, we finally dare to cut a slice – a perfect crisp golden-brown bake oozing of deliciousness and flavour and inside the heavenly softness of almonds and lemon. Three flavours, singing as one. We take a bite, we smile and delight in the knowledge that the Christmas season has finally began.
Ingredients

250 g self-rising flour

125 g dark caster sugar

2 tbsp gingerbread or speculaas spices

½ tsp of salt

150 g unsalted butter

2 medium eggs

190 g almond flour

handful of white almonds for garnish

handful of almond flakes for garnish

120 fine granulated sugar

1 lemon
Method

1. Mix the self-rising flour with the caster sugar, gingerbread spices and the salt. Dice the cold butter and add. Split half of the eggs and add the protein. Keep the egg yolk behind. Knead with cool hands into a cohesive dough. Form a ball, wrap in cling film and let it rest for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat the oven to 170 ° C. Mix the almond flour and the granulated sugar. Scrub the lemon clean, grate the yellow zest and add it together with the second egg to the mixture.
3. Dust the work surface with some flour and roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Cover the baking tin with baking paper and then with the piece of dough. Mould and shape the dough to fit into the form. Cut the excess dough and form a ball. Spread the almond filling evenly over the dough in the mold. Roll out the rest of the dough into a disk the size of the mold and place on top. Press the and cut the extra dough from the edges.
4. Beat the egg yolk. Brush the top with the egg yolk using the baking brush. Push the rest of the almonds into the centre of the dough and sprinkle some almond flakes around the edges. Bake the gingerbread in the middle of the oven for 35 minutes. Take out of the oven and let cool on a rack.

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December 3, 2019
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Birthday cakes are my favourite type of cakes. They call for festive extravagance, abundance of flavour and taste and most of all kitchen fun and creativity. I have been looking forward to making something special for my dearest one. He wished for a carrot cake, but instead of making one I opt for cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Not only that, I gave the piping bag to my family and let each one decorate their own cupcake. Birthdays are all about having fun, right?

These delicious carrot cake cupcakes are amazing. Very light and moist, they lack the density of the classic carrot cake.. and I must say, I really like them this way. But the favour is where all the magic happens – I use only organic carrots (they are sweeter, more moist and more aromatic), cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon – all the smells of cozy Christmas. The original recipe does not require for walnuts and raisins, but in our home, they do make a difference and we would never miss them.

The cream cheese frosting is such a simple one, yet adding a vanilla bean paste, a pinch of salt and cinnamon makes it a glorious accompaniment to the rich and aromatic carrot cupcakes! Before I know it, a second helping is in order… or did I notice third! A lovely family treat for making even the most simple occasion special.
Ingredients

1 and 1/3 cups white flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon EACH: ground nutmeg, ground ginger, ground cloves

2/3 cup light-brown brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup white granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

3/4 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or use 1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 and 1/2 cups finely shredded carrots (~3 medium sized carrots)

handful of raisins

handful of chopped walnuts

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

250 full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature (do not use low fat)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or use 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract)

1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups powdered sugar
Method

1. Preheat oven to 175C degrees. Line a 12-cavity muffin pan with cupcake liners and set aside. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Set aside.
2. In a separate large mixing bowl, using hand mixers, beat together the brown sugar, white sugar, and eggs until combined. Mix in applesauce and vanilla extract. With mixer running on low speed, slowly pour in vegetable oil and mix until combined. Finely shred the carrots (on the small side of your grater (picture above) and measure to ensure you have 1 and 1/2 cups. Add the dry ingredients right on top of the wet ingredients and the shredded carrots right on top of that. Add raisins and walnuts. Stir until just combined being careful to not overmix.
3. Pour batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each cup about 3/4 full. You should use all of the batter between the 12 cavities. Bake in preheated oven about 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick when inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean. Cool in muffin tin several minutes then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
For the frosting:
4. Meanwhile, prepare the frosting. Using a hand mixer, cream together the room temperature butter and cream cheese on medium-high speed until completely smooth. Mix in vanilla extract, sea salt and cinnamon. With mixer running on low speed, slowly add powdered sugar and beat until well blended and smooth. Chill the frosting while the cupcakes finish cooling.
5. Frost completely cooled cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

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September 27, 2019
Cappuccino Cake
Indulgent, rich chocolate cake – quick to make and even quicker to devour! Like a cup of cappuccino, it has a vanilla creamy topping and scattering of orange flavoured chocolate shavings. I have seen Mary Berry make it on TV and even then I thought “Hmm, this is a cake I would love to try.” It looked so easy!

Polite manners dictate to never go to a family BBQ empty handed, being kind to the hosts in whatever way we can. I have already claimed to make the dessert and this rich and grown-up cake will bring the party to an end while chatting and savouring the last cups of coffee.

For the biscuit base, I am using my favourite speculoos cookies. They have such a distinct spicy flavour, adding something extra to the cake. The filling is nothing but a deep indulgent chocolate mouse. But here is my secret, the original recipe calls only for the use of dark chocolate, something that I find extremely bitter. To balance the flavours instead, I am using half dark half milk good quality Côte d’Or Belgian chocolate. The mouse is set with full-fat crème fraîche, giving it a more solid substance. But the real cappuccino flavour comes from the instant espresso. The original recipe calls for only one tsp, but I find it is too subtle and instead have added two. What a difference it really makes, transforming a simple chocolate taste to a coffee flavoured sensation. To decorate the cake, again Mary Berry only adds plain whipped cream, but for me it simply wouldn’t do! I whip the cream with vanilla essence and some sugar and the aromas start to form their shape. To top the cake into a splendid finish I use my favourite Excellence Orange Intense Lindt chocolate. With all the love and attention, this is no longer just a simple cake, but a true magnificent end to a festive feast!
Ingredients

For the base

50g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

75g butter

15 digestive (speculoos) biscuits, finely crushed

For the filling

150g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

200g milk chocolate, broken into pieces

100g butter

2 heaped tsp instant coffee

granules dissolved in 1 tsp

boiling water

250ml double cream

200g full-fat crème fraîche

To decorate

250ml double cream lightly whipped

2 vanilla sugar essence Dr. Oatker (8g each)

50g sugar

chocolate shavings or coarsely grated Excellence Orange Intense Lindt chocolate
Method

1. You will need a 23cm round, loose-bottomed, fluted tart tin with deep sides and a piping bag with a plain nozzle (optional).
2. To make the base, melt the chocolate and butter in a wide-based pan over a medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat, add the crushed biscuits and stir to combine. Press into the base of the tart tin and chill in the fridge while you make the filling.
3. To make the filling, place the chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl and add the coffee and double cream. Set the bowl over a pan of just simmering water and heat until runny, stirring gently until smooth. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down a little, then mix in the crème fraîche by hand.
4. Carefully pour the mixture into the tin on top of the biscuit base and chill for a minimum of 2 hours, or ideally overnight, until set. Remove the cake from the tin and place it on a cake stand or plate. Serve straight from the fridge.
5. Whip the cream with the vanilla sugar essence and the extra sugar. To decorate, spoon the whipped cream into a piping bag (if using) and pipe or dollop five large blobs of the cream into the middle of the tart. Sprinkle over the chocolate shavings or grated chocolate and serve in thin slices.

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August 23, 2019