Carrot Cake

The first time I tasted Carrot Cake was after I moved to Ireland. I loved the taste, especially the delicious Cream Cheese Icing.
But it wasn't until recently, that I started making it myself. I tried a few different recipes, adjusted a little bit and found this recipe my favourite. It's light and moist and simply delicious. For my Mother-in-Laws Birthday Cake, I cut the cake in half and put most of the Icing in the middle and some on top and sides, to stick on the Fondant Icing. I used some leftover Cream Cheese Icing as well to stick on the flowers. The White Daisies are made out of the same Fondant Icing and then I 'glued' some of Dr. Oetker's edible paper Flowers on. The cake was a big success, even with the ones who never like Carrot Cake :) I was a very happy baker :)

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 140ml (5fl oz) vegetable oil
• 200g (7oz) soft light brown sugar
• 300g (11oz) grated carrot (weight when grated)
• 100g (31/2oz) raisins
• 75g (3oz) pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)
• 180g (61/2oz) self raising flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice
• grated zest of 1/2 orange
• 1 tsp orange juice

For the orange cream cheese icing:

• 250g (9oz) cream cheese (straight from the fridge)
• 50g (2oz) butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 275g (10oz) icing sugar, sifted
• Finely grated zest of 1 orange

Method: 
You will need a 20cm (8in) round tin

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F), Gas mark 2. Oil and line the loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

2. Beat the eggs in a large bowl, then add the oil, brown sugar, grated carrot, raisins and chopped nuts.

3. Sift in the dry ingredients and bring the mixture together using a wooden or large metal spoon.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin, smooth the surface and bake in the oven for 1-11/4 hours or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

5. Allow to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before removing. Cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

6. To make the icing, beat the cream cheese and butter together in a bowl until combined. Add the vanilla extract, icing sugar and finely grated orange zest and mix to combine. The icing should be smooth and quite thick. Using a palette knife, spread the icing evenly over the cooled cake, dipping the knife into a bowl of hot water if the icing is hard to spread out. Cut into slices to serve.

Donauwellen (Danube Waves Cake)

Donauwellen (Danube Waves Cake)


I love cherries in a cake and this is one of my most favourite cakes, the Donauwelle (translated Danube Waves Cake).
It is a very popular cake in Germany, yet it's unclear, how the cake got it's name or where it originated. It might have gotten its name due to the swirl effects within the cake and the chocolate decoration pattern, which resembles waves. Another name is Schneewittchenkuchen, which means Snow-White-Cake, possibly due to the colour combination of black, white and red, as mentioned in the fairy tale.

I simply love the combination of a marble sponge filled with sour cherries as a base, topped with a vanilla pudding (custard) buttercreme and then covered with a thin layer of dark chocolate. Delicious!
I used to make the cake only on occasions, when I  either had a visitor from Germany bringing me a glass jar  of Cherries or two, or when Aldi or Lidl would have them on sale. The ones I use are in a juice, hence not that sweet and I was delighted to find them in my local polish wholesale shop, which is open to public.  Now I can make the cake whenever I fancy it or the kids request it again :)

Before you start though, prepare the cherries by draining them from it's juice. Use a sieve over a jug, you can keep the juice for ice cream sauce, simply thicken it over a low heat with cornflour or arrow root.
Pre-heat oven to 180C (fan-oven 160C).

Ingredients for Sponge:

• 2 Glass jars of Sour Cherries (Net weight approx. 350g each)
• 250g soft Butter
• 200g Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
• inch of Salt
• 5 medium Eggs
• 375g Plain Flour
• 3 tsp Baking Powder
• 20g Cocoa Powder
• 1 tbsp Milk

Method for Sponge:

1. add the Butter into a bowl and mix with a hand blender until smooth
2. slowly add Sugar, Vanilla Essence and Salt - a tbsp at a time - until all mixed together
3. add Eggs, one at a time, mixing each egg on highest speed for about 1/2 minute until adding the next one
4. combine the Flour with the Baking Powder and sieve half of it into the mixture, blend together on a low speed, for not too long, just so that all is well mixed together.
5. pour about 2/3 of the mix onto a baking tray (approx size 40x30cm) and even it off
6. sieve the Cocoa and add the milk to the 1/3 in the bowl and blend together until you got a smooth chocolate mix
7. evenly spread the chocolate mix over the 2/3 of the mix on the tray and with a fork mix them together a little bit, to get a marble effect
8. dry off the drained Cherries on a paper kitchen towel and spread them evenly onto the tray
9. using the back of a spoon or your clean hands, press the Cherries slightly into the cake mix
10. put the tray onto the lower shelf of the oven and bake for about 40 Minutes

Ingredients for Vanilla Buttercreme:

• 500ml Milk
• 1 Vanilla pod (always use a Vanilla Pod, it gives a much nicer flavour)
• 4 Egg yolks
• 50g Cornflour
• 100g Sugar
• 400g soft Butter
• 200g Icing Sugar

Method for Vanilla Buttercreme:

1. pour Milk into a saucepan
2. slice the Vanilla pod length ways, just so that the vanilla pod has an opening
3. add Vanilla pod to the Milk and bring to the boil, but don't stir as the milk will burn otherwise
4. once boiled, leave to simmer for 5 minutes
5. in a separate bowl, add the Egg Yolks, Sugar and Cornflour and mix until smooth
6. slowly add the Egg/Sugar/Cornflour mix to the Milk, stiring constantly with a whisk, until thickened, otherwise the vanilla pudding will burn
7. remove the Vanilla Pod from the Milk and leave pudding to cool to room temperature, make sure you stir regularly to avoid a skin from forming
8. smooth the pudding through a fine sieve to make sure there's no skin
9. add the Butter and Icing Sugar into a bowl & mix until smooth
10. add the pudding spoon by spoon to the Butter mix - make sure both are at room temperature - in case of curdling, put the bowl over a saucepan with hot water (not boiling) and stir until smooth (but make sure no water gets into the mix)
11. Once the cake has cooled, spread the cool Vanilla Buttercreme over the cake
12. leave to set in a cool place for an hour

Ingredients for Chocolate Glaze:

• 300g Dark Chocolate (75% or 80%)
• 2 EL Vegetable Oil, i.e Sunflower oil

Method for Chocolate Glaze:

1. Break Chocolate into small pieces and add to a bowl
2. add the Oil
3. place bowl over a saucepan with hot water - not boiling
4. slowly melt the Chocolate - make sure that no water gets into Chocolate
5. spread the Chocolate over the cooled & set Buttercreme mixture until fully covered
6. If you want, you can add a waves design onto the Chocolate with a serrated side scraper
7. once the Chocolate has set, cut the cake into little squares and enjoy :)

TIP:

If you don't have the time to make the Vanilla Pudding from scratch, you can use ready made Pudding Powder ( i.e. from Dr. Oetker) and make the Pudding according to instructions. Then once cooled add it to the Buttercreme as per instructions above.

If you have any questions, let me know :)

Gluten Free Lemon Slices

This is a very refreshing Summer Cake, especially if you like lemons...and Gluten Free! 

Ingredients for Cake: 

• 350g Butter
• 350g Sugar
• 350g Rice Flour or Gluten Free Flour
• 6 Eggs
• 1 Lemon, juice only
• 2 Lemon, grated rind
• 1 tsp Vanilla Sugar or a few drops of Vanilla Flavour
• 3 tsp Gluten Free Baking Powder
•  (TO MAKE YOUR OWN GLUTEN FREE BAKING POWDER mix
•  1/3 cup Baking Soda
•  2/3 cups Arrow Root or Potato Starch
•  2/3 cups Cream of Tartar - keep in an airtight container for future use)

Ingredients for basic Icing: 

• 300g Icing Sugar
• 1 Lemon, juice only

Method

Preheat oven to 150-175°C (depending on oven).

Lightly oil an oven tray and cover with baking paper. Use a smaller tray, than the size of your oven, that way the cake is a little bit higher – or use more ingredients, just try it out.

Base: 

1. Combine the soft Butter with the Sugar and Vanilla Sugar/Flavour and mix until creamy. 
2. Add the eggs slowly one by one into the mixture, keep mixing. 
3. Mix the Flour with the Baking Powder. 
4. Grate the Lemon and add Flour and Lemon to the Butter mixture, one spoon at a time.
5. Pour onto tray and bake for 20-30min. 

 Icing:

• Mix the Icing Sugar with the Lemon Juice. 
• Take cake out of oven, when ready and pour Lemon Icing over warm cake. This Icing will soak into the cake, keeping it nice and juicy. 
• Let it cool down and cut into slices.

I made this cake once with rice flour and although the texture wasn't as smooth as with ordinary flour, it was still very tasty!

Lemon Slices / Lemon Cake

This is one of my favourites, because it's juicy, even 2 days after making it-if there's still some left then! Even though it's nice and refreshing, it's not only for summer, but for any occasion. 
I love using this recipe for various cakes as a base. I made my nieces Christening Cake with this recipe and it was a great success. On another occasion I used a tray and instead of cutting the cake into slices, I cut out Olaf the snowman from Frozen, and decorated it with fondant Icing. 
If you use a round tin,  you might have to watch your baking times and leave it in longer - but make sure it doesn't burn. 

I love this cake as it is very versatile and Kids love eating it too. 

Ingredients for Cake:

• 350g Butter
• 350g Sugar
• 350g Plain or Cream Flour
• 6 Eggs
• 1 Lemon, juice only
• 2 Lemon, grated rind
• 1 tsp Vanilla Sugar or a few drops of Vanilla Flavour
• 3 tsp Baking Powder

Ingredients for simple Icing:

• 300g Icing Sugar
• 1 Lemon, juice only

Method

Preheat oven to 150-175°C (depending on oven). Lightly oil an oven tray and cover with baking paper. 
Use a smaller tray, than the size of your oven, that way the cake is a little bit higher – or use more ingredients, just try it out.


Base:

1. Combine the soft Butter with the Sugar and Vanilla Sugar/Flavour and mix until creamy. 
2. Add the eggs slowly one by one into the mixture, keep mixing. 
3. Mix the Flour with the Baking Powder. 
4. Grate the Lemon and add Flour and Lemon to the Butter mixture, one spoon at a time.
5. Pour onto tray and bake for 20-30min. 

Icing:

1. Mix the Icing Sugar with the Lemon Juice. 
2. Take cake out of oven, when ready and pour Lemon Icing over warm cake.
3. This Icing will soak into the cake, keeping it nice and juicy. 
4. Let it cool down and cut into slices. 

Tip: 
if you want to decorate the cake, i.e. for birthday parties, cover with another layer of icing, once the cake has cooled down. 
Decorate with sprinkles etc. or decorate it with another layer of lemon butter icing, like I did for the Christening Cake. 

Meringue Roulade with Strawberry & Raspberry

 

It might not be the weather for it right now, but I love this lovely summery fresh fruit roulade. 
Perfect to bring to garden party or a rainy day like today - a taste of summer :)

Ingredients

Meringue

• 3 large egg whites
• 175g caster sugar
• 1 level tsp cornflour
• 1tsp malt vinegar
• 1tsp vanilla extract

Filling

• 150ml/5fl oz double cream
• 200ml/7fl oz Greek yogurt
• 225g/8oz strawberries & raspberries.cut in to halves or quarters
• icing sugar, for dusting

Method

Meringue

1. Preheat the oven to 150C. 
2. Line a 33x23cm Swiss roll tin or tray with non-stick baking parchment. 
3. Beat the egg whites with an electric whisk until frothy and doubled in bulk. 
4. Slowly whisk in the caster sugar until thick and shiny. 
5. Mix the cornflour, vinegar and vanilla extract, then whisk into the egg whites.
6. Spoon into the tin and level the surface carefully, so you don't push out the air. 
7. Bake for about 30 minutes until the meringue surface is just firm.
8. Remove from the oven and cover with damp greaseproof paper for 10 minutes. 

Filling

1. Lightly whip the cream and mix with the yogurt. Spread evenly over the meringue.
2. Cut the strawberries into quarters and sprinkle over the cream mixture.
3. Roll up the meringue firmly, using the paper to help you, from the long end of the roulade. It is essential to keep the roll very tight.
4. Wrap in non-stick baking paper and chill before serving.
5. Serve dusted with icing sugar.

German Cheesecake Muffins

I was going with my Mother-in-law to her neighbour's coffee morning in aid of Aware. As I hosted a few coffee mornings myself, I always found it nice if people brought something they baked. To do something different, I decided on German Cheesecake Muffins, which are really easy and quick to make and went down a treat. Try for yourself :)

If you're not keen on mandarins, you can leave them out altogether or replace them with any other fruit, like cherries or even with chocolate chips ;)

Makes about 18 Muffins

Ingredients:

• 100g Butter
• 2 Eggs
• 180g Caster Sugar
• 500g Quark (Fromage Frais)
• 1 Packet (37g) of Vanilla Pudding powder or Custard Powder
• 1 tbsp Ground Rice or Semolina
• 1 small tin of Mandarins

Method:

1. Pre-heat Fan-Oven to 180°C
2. Add Soft Butter and Sugar to a bowl and mix until smooth
3. Then add all other ingredients and mix until well combined
4. Drain the Mandarins well
5. Add Muffin cases into Muffin tray 
6. Half fill Muffin cases with Muffin Mix
7. Add 2-3 Mandarins to each Muffin case and top up again with Muffin Mix to about 3/4
8. Bake for about 30 minutes (check that they're not wobbly otherwise leave for another 5-10 min but don't let them burn - they should be a golden brown colour)
9. Leave to cool. Don't be worried if the middle sinks - it's suppose to do that with Cheesecake