Rhubarb cream (cheese) cake.

We had a few quite hot days in Vienna, so I thought a refreshing cream cheese cake with rhubarb is just what I need. So I baked it in the evening and I forbid my boyfriend to eat a piece before I had taken pictures in the morning. You should have seen his frown. Be patient, my dear! But I hadn’t had space in the fridge (how does it happen that no matter how big the fridge it’s always full?!) and I didn’t want to stuff my lovely cake inside (also being afraid that the cake takes on the fridge smell and I don’t have a real cake plastic box with a lid). So I just left it outside with the cake ring still around it – close by the open window to leave it as cool as possible.
Then in the morning I opened the cake ring and put the cake on a plate and it looked delicious! I arranged my photo space and that’s when I saw that my cake started to slip on one side. It looked like a glacier under the influence of global warming in time-lapse. Imagine how horrified I was! However I pulled myself together and quickly snapped pictures of the better side of the cake and put it back into the cake ring and finally in the fridge. So if you wonder why you only see the right side of the cake – you know. You and everyone else. I’m horrible at keeping secrets from you.

All you need is:
– 500 g rhubarb
– 10 g strawberry puree
– 4 tbsp rhubarb syrup (or strawberry syrup)
– 205 g cream cheese
– 250 cream (beaten)
– 150 g sugar
– 9 pieces of gelatin

Make a sponge. Bake it.

Peel the rhubarb and cut it into small pieces. Let 8 pieces of the gelatin soften in a bowl with cold water. Put it in a pan and heat with the rhubarb syrup until it’s soft. Add the gelatin and stir until it’s completely dissolved Blend it well until you have a smooth mixture. Let it cool down. Meanwhile mix the cream cheese and add half of the rhubarb puree. Slowly add the beaten cream. Add a cake ring around your sponge and make a circle with the cream around the edges. Fill the circle with 1/2 of the left over rhubarb puree and fill the ring with all of the rhubarb cream. Put the whole cake into the fridge and let it cool over night. In the morning put the gelatin into cold water and heat the rest of the rhubarb puree with the strawberry puree and dissolve the gelatin. Put it aside and let it cool until it’s handwarm. Pour the mixture on top of the cake. Let it cool in the fridge for another 2 hours and now it’s ready to serve!

Doesn’t the cake look refreshing and light – perfect for any summer party or birthday. Now I only need a garden to host it.

And yes, I’m obsessed with wild roses as props – as you might have noticed on several occasions. I’m sorry. I can’t help it. They are my garden compensation.

Now. Carry on!

 

More space for cake.

I wasn’t the only one who celebrated her birthday last month. A good friend of mine has her birthday 2 weeks before me. For me the birthday of others is always a good and a bad thing. The good thing is that there’s cake and celebration, the bad thing is I have to think of a present. Don’t get me wrong. I love to give presents to people and I honestly don’t care how much they cost (with a certain rage of course) or that they take a lot of time (for handmade gifts) if I have the feeling the gifted person is genuinely happy with it. I always hesitate to give handmade presents because I always have the feeling that people only like those because of the gesture. Like my mum who got so many paintings from little me. I can’t really imagine how you can make a happy face after the 153rd. (I guess I have to be a mum myself to understand this mystery.)

Well back to the purpose of this post and my friends birthday: she’s a crafter herself and I knew that she would appreciate a handmade gift. That’s why I made her a plate and a cake. I’m actually so happy with the combination: handing over a cake and the plate is for you to keep as well?! Genius. At least that’s what I thought. And I’m sure my friend too. First the hero was the cake …

 

All you need is:
– 3 eggs
– 1 cup sugar
– 1 cup sour cream
– 1/2 cup oil
– 1 tbsp Vanille sugar
– 1 cup flour
– 1/2 cup poppy seeds
– 1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate
– 1 tbsp baking powder

For the cream & topping
– 1 cup sour cream
– 1/2 cup cream cheese
– 3 Tbsp sugar
– 3 Tbsp poppy seeds
– 1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 180 ° C. Beat the eggs with the white sugar and Vanille sugar. Add slowly the oil and sour cream and combine well. Fold in the flour, baking powder, poppy seeds and dark chocolate. Line a baking tray with paper and spread the sponge on the baking parchment. Bake for 20 mins and let it cool down.

For the cream mix the sour cream with the cream cheese and the sugar. Spread it on the cake. Mix the poppy seeds with the cinnamon and sieve it on top of the sheet cake. Voilá!

This cake doesn’t look like much but it’s just so delicious! It could easily be one of my favorite. No. It certainly is one of my favorites!

I made the plate the same way as this Valentine’s day present for my boyfriend and what a surprise it was! The text is german and means “more space for cake”. Unfortunately it’s not dishwasher-safe. My friends tried. Well, such a gem needs to be taken care of, so only washing by hand! Luckily they can just bring me the plate and I restore it. So no harm done!

The cake was gone in no time as you can see…

Now. Carry on!

 

Apple rosemary and olive oil.

Did I ever tell you that I lived half a year in Australia? In Perth, to be exact? Maybe not. I studied there abroad in 2010. Already 4 years ago? Oh no, time flies. Well, while I was there, I was a huge fan of their TV show Masterchef Australia. I watched it almost religiously every night. For those of you who don’t know the concept: it’s a casting show for amateur cooks and it’s incredible what they came up with!
However back to the topic of this post: Now and then a famous cook came by the show and showed the contestants his/her signature dish. One that really stuck with me because it was not only easy but extended my flavor palette (and with it my imagination when it comes to food and combining ingredients) was the Apple rosemary and Olive Oil Cake by Maggie Beer. I adapted her recipe a little for this post because I couldn’t get verjuice in Austria but it turned out just as great!

All you need is:
– 500 g apples
– juice from 1 lemon
– 1 cup apple juice
– 1/2 tsp apple vinegar
– 1 tsp rosemary
– 3 eggs
– 125 g sugar
– 1/2 cup flour
– 1/2 tsp baking powder
– 1/4 olive oil
– 3 Tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 180 ° C. Cut the apples into slices and poach them. with lemon juice, apple juice, rosemary and apple vinegar. Seperate the eggs and beat the egg whites with half the sugar until stiff. Mix the other half of  the sugar with the egg yolks until the mixture is very light yellow. Mix the flour with the baking powder and mix the olive oil and the dry ingredients slowly under the eggs. Grease a baking tray with butter and place the apple slices on the bottom. Fill the tray with the sponge and bake for 35 – 40 mins.

While the cake bakes, heat one cup of the poaching liquid in a pan and add the 3 Tablespoons of sugar. Let it boil until the mixture is gooey.

When the cake is done, turn it over and brush it with the reduced poaching liquid and the cake’s done!

If you think rosemary and apples are a daring combination, you’re right. But you’ll never believe how good they work together.

Thank you Maggie Beer for opening my tasting palette. You have to try something different from time to time to get out of your comfort zone. You’ll never know what you find there.

Now. Carry on!

Mohr im Hemd.

I changed my job this week. Which is crazy considering that I work now for 2 weeks everyday (even the weekend!) and went one day into one company and the other into the next one. Changes are inevitable. Changes are good. However I’m not that good at saying “goodbye”. Not that I cry or anything but I have a hard time of letting go. Maybe this weekend (which will be for leisurely activities and no work only) I might be able to wrap my head around the fact that I have a different position, new work colleagues and a a lot new challenges now. To make it even harder for my “old” work colleagues (former work colleagues? There! It starts. I’m already confused again.) I baked them a cake. But not any cake! My signature dish. I haven’t made it for years now but there was a time when I baked this cake a lot (also a lot on request from my family and friends). It’s actually quite easy and fast (or I just got really fast after the 100th time) and soooo delicious. The German name “Mohr im Hemd” translates loosely into “Nigga in a shirt”. I am not kidding. I swear. There was even a national discussion in Austria if that name should be changed. It didn’t. Austria is not as good with changes as I am. However it’s normally a dessert and gets baked in single serving portions (with a soft core) but the Gugelhupf version is just as delicious! (If you don’t have a Gugelhupf form, you can make it in a long baking pan like for banana bread.)

All you need is:
– 140 g dark chocolate
– 140 g butter (room temperature)
– 140 g castor sugar
– 1 pinch of salt
– 1 Tbsp Vanilla sugar
– 8 eggs
– 180 g ground almonds
– 60 g bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 160° C (320° Fahrenheit). Melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water (careful! don’t get it too hot!). Put the bowl to the side and let it cool a little. Cut the butter into pieces and add to the melted chocolate. Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites with the castor sugar, salt and Vanilla sugar until stiff. Mix the chocolate and butter together and add slowly the egg yolks. Carefully combine the egg whites, the chocolate mixture with the ground almonds and bread crumbs. Grease your baking tin with butter and add 4 Tbsp bread crumbs. Turn and swing the form until every inch is covered in butter and bread crumbs. Fill the cake mixture into the baking tin and bake in the oven for 60 mins.

It is currently so warm and bright outside that I could take this pictures in the garden. Not my garden. I don’t have one. But still. A garden.

I got the Gugelhupf baking tin from my parents who bought it in France. Isn’t it pretty with the hearts on the white background?

If you have problems with the cake coming out of the tin (or limited time because you started baking at 11 pm and want to go to bed, ahem) you can place a wet towel on the turned over tin. It will cool the form and the cake will slide out.

Any changes for you already this year?

Now. Carry on!

Coffee cake date.

After I’ve been on holiday I always miss to cook and bake. Although there was  a kitchen I could have used, I just don’t feel this comfortable as in my own. Half of the things I need are missing and making a mess makes me happier when I’m the only one it could bother. (Besides my boyfriend but he has to put up with me – that’s just how it works.) So I wanted to bake a cake very badly but forgot to buy butter. My first thoughts: Me? Forgetting about butter?! What’s wrong with me?! My second thoughts: A cake without butter? Does this exists?! I was in doubt but after some research (nothing can stop me after I put my mind to something) I made this delicious chocolate cake which dough is almost the same as for a macaroon. Bound to be good? You betcha!

All you need is:
– 2 egg whites
– 100 g ground almonds
– 50 g corn starch
– 150 g castor sugar
– 225 g dark chocolate
– 4 egg yolks
– 4 Tbsp powder sugar
– 2 tsp instant coffee powder
– 4 Tbsp sweat cream

Preheat the oven to 160 ° C. Beat the egg whites until stiff and add the castor sugar, almonds and corn starch. Combine slowly and carefully. Grease a 20 cm baking tray (mine was 24 cm and the cake became very thin. With a smaller one it will be a bit higher) and pour the mixture in. Spread evenly. Bake for 15 mins in the oven.

Meanwhile melt the chocolate (don’t let it get over 30° C!). While the chocolate cools a little, combine the sweat cream and instant coffee in a mug and mix well until the coffee is completely dissolved. Add the coffee cream, powder sugar and egg yolks to the molten chocolate and mix by hand until well combined.

Take the cake out of the oven and add the chocolate mixture on top. Don’t worry when the chocolate mixture will sit on top of the egg white dough. After baking it all together, it will sink in and look just as mine. Just make sure that you don’t spread the chocolate mixture to the very edge of the baking tray. Put the tin back into the oven and bake for another 20 mins.

Friends of mine just became a baby and this is the cake I brought them as a congratulation gift. With one piece missing because – of course – I had to try first if it is any good.

Never bring a cake that you’ve never tried before. Rule No. 1!

However it’s even better than it looks. Rich and full of chocolate. Not too sweet. This is going to be a coffee date favourite from now on.
Serve slightly warm with some beaten cream.

Now. Carry on!

Going bananas.

I can’t tell you how good it feels to be on holiday. To have constantly around 26 ° C, the sea, the mountains. I really needed that. But didn’t realize it until the first day passed. I just couldn’t get into vacation mode. I was constantly worrying over work-related stuff and I was cold and tired. Something like: it’s nice here but can we go home, so I can get work done? Please?! Luckily we didn’t! Because Tenerife is amazing at this time of year. The plants are blooming, it’s hot but not too much and I can only image how busy with tourists this island would be in summer when almost every single German over 55 and half of the elder British population comes here to feel what summer’s supposed to be. However I will tell you more about the island in another post. For now I wanted to show you something that I made at home (and it should have gone up yesterday, but the internet failed me – another sign that I’m actually on vacation): Banana brownies.

All you need is:

– 120 g dark chocolate
– 120 g butter
– 150 g sugar
– 2 eggs
– 150 g flour
– 2 tbsp cacao powder
– 2 smashed bananas

Melt the chocolate with the butter and let it cool a little before adding the sugar and eggs. Mix well and sieve in the flour, cacao butter and banana. Combine slowly but thoroughly and bake for 30 mins in the 175 ° C preheated oven.

One of the little things I knew about the Canary Islands before arriving here, was that they’re famous for their bananas. So in the honour of my November vacation, I created this brownie recipe (and it had nothing to do with the fact that there were bananas going brown at home. It’s totally an homage at the Canary Islands!).

They tasted surprisingly strong like bananas. I thought that the chocolate would be a little overpowering but au contraire (the opposite)!

These are the perfect combination of fruit with chocolate. Adding exta moisture and a surprising taste.

Now I’m going back to deciding where I’m going to eat tonight. I send you some warm sunny rays if you’re looking at cold and foggy November days.

Now. Carry on!

Tender melting chocolate.

After a week in Paris and working for 12 days straight you can’t imagine how much I look forward to two few days off. But don’t you worry, I will be busy anyway. After the craft party yesterday with We Love Handmade on the occasion of releasing their 3. We Love Handmade Mag (only in German), I’m going to the Fashioncamp on Saturday. If you are in Vienna and come too, approach me. I’m the one who’s looking lost and overwhelmed and kind of out of place. Yeah, that’s me.

Because I’m constantly sleep-deprived lately (how do mothers of newborn do this?!), I need to get my energy from other sources. Preferably from chocolate. Good thing I got this recipe from my sister for chocolate cake with tender melted chocolate middle. The best. And so easy to make! It’s bound to be your favourite too!

All you need is:
– 3 eggs
– 1 Tbsp sugar
– 50 g butter (room temperature)
– 120 g chocolate
– 1/8 l milk
– 1 tsp Vanille sugar
– 2 heaping Tbsp flour

Beat the egg whites with the sugar. Mix the butter with the Vanille sugar until soft and smooth and add the egg yolks one by one. Put the milk in a saucepan and melt the chocolate in the milk. Let it cool a little and then add it to the butter-egg-yolk-mixture. Mix the egg whites and the flour in at last. Put the dough into oven-proof dishes and freeze (yes, freeze) for about 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 175°C and bake for about 15 mins. The top should rise but the cake should still be runny and gooey in the middle. Best served warm with some fresh fruit and cream.

I like how the raspberry look like the fell from the sky. Raspberry rain. Sounds like some emo music.

I actually cooked it to perfection but thought it would be easier to photograph when I let it cool (that’s how much I want you to get the best pictures!). Now the inside of the cake is a little too baked through. Still soft and certainly very delicious but it was perfect before.

Anyway the taste. The taste! Pure perfection and not as greasy and heavy as most of the chocolate cake recipe that are still soft in the middle.

The cold of the fresh beaten cream with the soft and sweet warm cake is like the best combination. I could eat 10 of these.

You have to try this recipe. This is an order!

Now. Carry on!

Plum job.

I’m back home. Yeah, back at my parents house. Forth and back. It’s my sisters 30th birthday (no, not this sister nor that one – I have more than 2.). (A lot of anniversaries this year, I guess. My grandpa’s 80th, my uncles 50th and my sisters 30th birthday.) It was her birthday on Monday actually but Monday is probably the worst day for a birthday. Don’t you think? Because I couldn’t celebrate with her, I made a cake on Sunday that I just ate in her honour. Yes, I’m this selfless, considerate and self-sacrificing. And humble.

Because I had plums at home and marzipan I made this delicious sheet cake:

All you need is:

– 100 g butter (room temperature)
– 100 g sugar
– 100 g marzipan
– 3 eggs
– pinch of salt
– 1 Tbsp Vanille sugar
– 100 g flour
– 25 g corn starch
– 1 Tbsp baking powder
– 1 kg plums
– dust sugar and cream for decoration

Preheat the oven to 175° C and cut the washed plums into quarters.

Grate the marzipan with a rough grater and mix with the butter, sugar, salt and Vanille sugar until it’s a smooth mixture. Add one egg at a time and combine well. Stir the flour, corn starch and baking powder and sieve it into the butter-egg-maripan-mixture. Combine slowly and pour the mixture on a baking tray or a flat baking dish. Add the plums to the top.

Bake at 175° C for 40 mins. As soon as it’s out of the oven sieve the powder sugar on the cake as long as it’s hot. The moist plums will dissolve the sugar while the dry cake will look nicely powdered.

Now enjoy this moist and delicious plum marzipan sheet cake.

Best served slightly warm with cream on the side.

Now. Carry on!

The cherry on top.

 

It’s still very hot in Vienna. However I decided not to get dictated by the weather and make some cupcakes with cream anyway…. and eat them really fast, so they can not melt. I’m this considerate when it comes to dessert. It would just be wrong to let it go to waste or sit in the fridge for a long time. Good thing these cupcakes are to delicious to hold onto them for any longer.

I got this cute little glass dome with the sweet cupcake stand at the pottery market that I told you about. It’s been waiting for so long for it’s grand appearance on the blog.

All you need is:
– 250 g flour
– 1 Tsp baking powder
– 2 Tbsp cacao powder
– 1 Tsp allspice
– 200 g dark chocolate cut into pieces (or chocolate drops)
– 100 g butter (room temperature)
– 100 g castor sugar
– 100 g brown sugar
– 2 eggs
– 160 g sour cream
– 5 Tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 190° C. Mix the flour with the baking powder, cacao powder, allspice in a bowl and add the cut dark chocolate. Beat the butter with the 2 kinds of sugar in an extra bowl and slowly add the eggs, sour cream and milk. Then thoroughly but slowly combine the dry with the wet ingredients. Put the dough into a muffin tray and bake in the preheated oven for 25 mins.

For the cream:
– 90 g sour cream
– 90 g double cream
– 90 g whipped cream
– 3 Tbsp powdered sugar

Beat the cream with one tablespoon sugar and mix the sour cream and double with the 2 tablespoon sugar. Combine slowly.

Pipe the cream on the cupcakes once cooled and put a cherry on top.

Now look what delicious chocolate, sour cream cupcake with cherry I made!

Because of the allspice and sour cream those cupcakes are extra tasty and moist. You’ll see the table set for 3 and wonder who would visit me. Thank you for reminding me, nobody visited. Of course. I’m all alone as always. Even my boyfriend didn’t want to join me at the coffee date because “it is too hot”. Pah! Don’t let the weather rule you, rule the weather! Or so. Weirdo.

Next time I invite you and you have to come and listen to my stories about how great I am and compliment the cupcakes. I would also offer you a cold drink but that’s the only commitment I would make to the heat. There. That’s a plan. For next time.

Now. Carry on!

Sheet cake.

Last weekend was quite busy. Besides going to the Holi festival on Saturday, I explored Austrians countryside on Sunday. It was a very culanary day. It was actually less exploring the beautiful ruins, hills and castles but more the fresh apricots, cherries and fresh produce.

But my one-day-holiday is not what I wanted to tell you. Well it was until I forgot my DSRL camera and couldn’t take any pictures. So this post is about the apricots that I bought and used in a sheet cake. You didn’t think that I forgot about you, did you?!

I did some heavy research online for the best apricot cake that I could find and as always I combined a few recipes to make this apricot cream cheese sheet cake. My boyfriend said it’s one of the best cakes he’s ever eaten. That’s a real compliment in his books.

All you need for this cake is:

– 2 eggs
– 100 g butter (room temperature)
– 200 g castor sugar
– 1 Tbsp Vanille sugar
– 1 pinch of salt
– 250 g cream cheese (for Austrian and German readers: you can use Topfen or Quark)
– 300 g flour
– 1 Tbsp baking powder
– 300 ml milk
– about 10 – 15 apricots

Preheat the oven to 180° C. Combine the flour with the baking powder. Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt and 50 g of sugar until stiff. Beat the butter until really soft and add the egg yolks, the rest of the sugar and Vanille sugar. Once it’s well combined add the cream cheese. Put the egg whites and cream cheese mixture together into a bowl and slowly sieve in the flour and add the milk. Carefully combine everything.

Spread it onto a baking sheet. (I used a square baking tin for part of the mixture and put the rest on a baking sheet, you can use a wide baking tin as well if you want.)
Quarter the apricots and take the stone out and spread on the dough. Push them down a little (they should hold anyway and sink in a little, this is just to make sure that they do so for sure.) Put the cake into the preheated oven and bake for 40 – 45 mins.

Now. Look what a beautiful apricot and cream cheese cake I made!

The cream cheese makes it extra moist and delicious.

One thing that I want to tell you though is that I had fish on a stick for the first time in my life. That’s really a thing in Eastern Austria: fish covered with  delicious seasoning barbecued on stick. I think I’ve heard of this specialty for years and years now from my boyfriend and last sunday was finally the day that I had it! What a day!

Now. Carry on!