I know I’ve been very quiet in the past months. I had another knee surgery coming up and invested my time more in larger baking projects that I wanted to blog about when I am tied to the couch anyway. Nice plan, but didn’t quite turn out that way. In the past four weeks after my surgerey I focussed on fightig my way back in to normal life and the total lack of structure made it difficult for me to motivate myself to actually do something. Last week I made a faithfull attempt to get back to blogging by writing myself a schedule but I couldn’t be bothered for some reason. I miss baking more than I’d admit. Writing about past projects only makes me want to do something of similar complexion again. And I am currently not capable of standing in the kitchen this long. I was looking through my To Bake List for something easy and quick, that I can handle in my current state. I was looking for a fruity all-in cake and found the Lemon-Pear-Polenta-Cake from the Cake Cafe book. Continue reading
Tag Archives: TBL
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
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!
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
TBL September: Plum Frangipane Cake
The goldsmith gave me a hell of a minute when telling me on the phone that something went wrong with making our wedding bands smaller. What a joke. It was a huge hassle to make them smaller and in the end we payed nothing. So I decided to pay with a smile and a cake. As September is traditional plum season I went for something with plums and a twist. When I flipped through my marked recipes I stumbled upon a recipe in Lecker magazine: Plum Frangipane Cake
To be honest, the first thing I did was looking up what frangipane is: a filling made of almonds, butter, eggs and sugar. The recipe I used needed marzipan instead of ground almonds. The Scone rolls I tried earlier this year were filled with something similar, not calling it frangipane. Seriously, Marzipan cream and Plums? Hell yeah! Continue reading
TBL: Chocolate Truffle Ruffles
As you might know already I was quite busy in the past month with recovering from a knee surgery and my wedding. The most annoying thing in that past month was that I was rather limited to my home, not able to stand for longer than a couple of minutes, had to walk with crutches and was completely dependent on my friends and family. Especially my best friend and Maid of Honor made an exceptional job on the wedding planning and realization of “the day”. Without her the day wouldn’t have been this perfect! I spent the last night before the Wedding at her house and brought a princess breakfast as a small “Thank you” gift. Continue reading
TBL: Lemon Meringue Pie
For driving me home I granted one of my colleagues the choice of the July recipe from my To Bake List (TBL). As it was very hot that time he chose the lemon meringue pie. I was very curious to try it and compare it to the Tarte au Citron. You see I am still very proud of that Tarte stuff and I think I can be. That is why I always compare… But this pie was very tasty, too and definitely wins the time-benefit-assessment.
Edit: I have adjusted the recipe slightly because I like to have more filling for a large 28cm tarte. Continue reading
Frankfurter Kranz Cupcakes
I live in the state of Hesse and the Frankfurt Crown Cake is besides Applewine (some sort of Cider) one of the things that the region is famous for. There are many different recipes for the cake but something they all have in common is the shape and the cover with butter cream, golden brittle and cherries to make it look like a crown. I like the version of the cake that comes with a base of sponge cake, cherry jam and a light butter cream. As I promised to bring a cake to work the other day I was looking for the appropriate tin to make the cake at home. But I couldn’t find it and decided that I could also go for cupcakes. Continue reading
Carrot Cake or Bunnies Favourite
I remember the first time I went to Dublin as if it was yesterday. I loved the city, the people and the special spirit there. But most of all, I liked the Queen of Tarts and their carrot cake. Back then you couldn’t find it in a tourist guide, it was a secret shared with my by a colleague and we stumbed into the new place that they just opened in Cows Lane. The carrot cake was juicy and fresh, full of flavours and melt-in-the-mouth. Since that time I’ve been looking for a good recipe that meets the taste of my menory. The flavour may have faded away over time but I find the recipe is totally awesome. Continue reading
Filled Scone Rolls – or let’s get dirty!
This is the february contribution to my new years resolution and definitely one of my new favourites. Special Thanks to my boyfriend for picking this recipe to try it!
I love scones. Everyone who has been to England or Ireland sure tried some for afternoon tea. But making perfect scones with the right consistency and taste is an art itself. I’ve learned some things about scones the hard way of trial and error. It is crucial to not overknead the dough and you should do that by hand in order to keep small butter pockets in it that make the scones soft and fluffy. I’ll pick up that point later in the description. AndYou need patience, space and your finger tips to make a good scone. So let’s get dirrrty! Continue reading