Apple cake & cinnamon sugar

It supposed to be almost summer, but the weather can't seem to make it's mind! It's rainy and cold again. So make yourself a nice apple pie, and have some with a warm cup of tea. I know, sounds like something you would wanna do in the autumn. But at the moment I'm under my soft fleece blanket having a cup of tea. This apple cake went for a birthday, so this time I didn't get a piece. This is starting to become a staple order from me now, everybody seems to like it a lot!

 I think apple pie definitely has to have cinnamon in it. It's just a perfect combination with apples. Some like to add marzipan or almond flakes too, which is nice as well. But I usually only like marzipan if it is home made, as you can adjust the almond extract flavour, I don't like it very strong. 

I used Elstar apples this time, and heard comments that they tasted better than previous apples I've used. So I recommend those, or something more sour, like Granny smith.

This must be the easiest apple pie ever to make, but sometimes the most simple no fuss recipes are the best ones. This makes a really nice soft and moist cake, and it stays good for quite a while too, just kept in room temperature, lightly covered with clingfilm. 

I have noticed most recipes don't state if the butter is salted or non-salted. I like to use salted butter what ever I bake, because the salt actually brings out all the flavours out more. I think it's a little secret for making very nice cakes, or anything sweet really. They add sugar to most savory, salty foods, so it works the other way round too!

Apple cake

85g salted butter, at room temperature
190g flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
175g caster sugar
1 egg
120 ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 apples

For topping
25g sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 175C. Beat the butter and sugar light and fluffy, this takes around 2-3 minutes with an electric hand mixer.
Add egg, milk and vanilla, and mix so that everything is just combined. Don't worry if the mixture looks curdled, it will be fine as you add rest of the ingredients.
Combine all the dry ingredients, and sieve into the mixture, and mix to combine.
Pour into a greased pie tin or springform tin. Slice the apples and assemble on the cake.
Combine the sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the cake.
Bake 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 160C, and bake around 45-50 minutes, or until knife comes out clean as you test the cake.

Forest berry cream layer cake

Last week I was busy making six birthday cakes for two different persons! One of the wishes was a cream layer cake. I'm trying lots different versions of fillings and jams in these simple cream cakes, this one had forest berry jam which is more on the sour side. I also made a very similar cake last week with seedless raspberry jam, and I have to say I liked it more. But if you like sour berries, this is a cake for you. 

I made this with vanilla sponge cake, so by just changing the jam and decorations you can adjust the flavours a lot. It is nicest topped with loads of whipped cream of course!

So I'm all caked upped now. But tomorrow again I will go to my internship to bake more, so there will be no brakes this week! I also have my first wedding cake on plan for my friend's wedding, I'm really excited about that, as it will also be the first stacked cake I've ever done. I do like a challenge!

Another thing about the cake fillings.. As a filling you could just use whipped cream and jam, instead of cream and vanilla custard together. I usually add 10% caster sugar into my cream, and vanilla depending how you like it. So in this recipe you would need around 4 dl cream for the filling. I often make a little more than not enough, and the same goes with the cream you decorate. There is nothing more annoying than run out of ingredients while you are baking and decorating!

It should say 2,5 dl vanilla custard in this picture. I couldn't go back to edit the text!

Vanilla sponge cake

4 eggs
100g caster sugar
100g cake flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tsp lemon zest

Vanilla custard filling

50 g caster sugar

50 g corn or potato flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

300 ml milk

300 ml whipping cream

Whipped cream filling

2,5 dl heavy cream

25g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

+seedless forest berry or raspberry jam

+3-4 dl whipped cream for decoration

+fresh forest berries

Start by making the vanilla sponge cake. Preheat the oven to 180C. Beat the eggs and sugar very light, big and fluffy with an electric mixer, full speed, for about ten minutes.
Add the vanilla and lemon zest.
Sieve the flour, and add into the mixture little bit at the time, mixing carefully after every time. Use a cake spatula to this, scraping the egg mixture from the bottom of the bowl with large movements. We are trying to keep the mixture fluffy, so don't over mix. When everything is combined, pour into a greased and lined springform tin. I usually use 20-22 cm tin. I like my cakes higher and smaller, than wide and flat.
Bake in the oven about 35 minutes, or until knife or toothpick comes out clean from the cake.

For the vanilla custard, put the caster sugar, cornflour and vanilla into a mixing bowl and add the eggs and egg yolks. 

Whisk with a hand whisk until smooth and blended.

Pour the milk and whipping cream into a pan and heat gently until hot, but do not boil. Pour this over the egg mixture and immediately whisk until blended. 

Wash the pan to remove any excess from the milk and pour the custard back into the clean pan. 

Heat gently, stirring constantly until thickened. 

Don't panic if the custard starts to look lumpy as it thickens, just continue to heat and whisk until the custard is thick and smooth. 

Pour into a jug and cover the surface of the custard with cling film to prevent a skin from forming. 

Set aside to cool.

Whip the cream, sugar and vanilla.

Once the cake has cooled, cut it into three even layers with a sharp serrated knife.

Moisten the cake layers with 1 1/2 dl milk with vanilla sugar.

Add jam, vanilla custard and whipped cream (or just whipped cream) to the two first layers.

Finish with the third layer, and decorate!

More cake recipes are coming. But I will promise to post recipes and pictures of more varied things as well! I have lots of plans! Good night X

Raspberry & chocolate mousse layer cake with raspberry buttercream

So here I am back with a cake! And I can say this cake is super yummy! Every single part of the cake is simply delicious... 

My boyfriend's sister asked if I would make a cake with her, she wanted to give it as a birthday present for her boyfriend's sister. I'm really happy it turned out this nice! And we had a really nice evening together, with a few glasses of wine of course :)

Only shame is that I didn't get pictures of the pretty layers of pink and brown, but I will try to make more pictures of the layers later on!

I think any raspberry & chocolate combination lover will die and go to heaven after tasting this cake.

The raspberry buttercream is the best I've ever tasted. I made french version which has egg yolks, I think it makes it really smooth and luxurious. But then it is french after all! I used the same chocolate cake recipe as in the strawberry quark cake - there is no need to look for a better one, I love it and it's so easy to make.

I have to say I have been absolutely exhausted lately. I think it has been the weather changing plus constantly baking, plus often getting up between five and six in the mornings. Although I like baking, it is fairly physical so it gets to you after standing and concentrating on lots of details all day long. Something I have to get used to I guess. It's also the first spring living in Holland, so all the new plant 'dust' is giving me hayfever already! I'm looking forward to July when I get it worst!

But I'm soooo happy it's been warm and sunny here lately. Once our garden starts to look like proper garden I will post pictures, luckily everything is growing fast so it shouldn't take long.

Chocolate sponge cake

50 g pure cocoa powder

6 tbsp boiling water

3 eggs

4 tbsp milk

175 g flour

2 tsp baking powder

100 g butter

300 g caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 20-22 cm springform tin and line with baking parchment.

Put the cocoa powder and boiling water into a large bowl and mix well to make a smooth paste.

Add rest of the ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake until well risen and shrinking from the sides, about 45-50 minutes, depending on what size tin you are using.

Cool the cake on a cake rack. When completely cooled down, cut the cake into three even layers with a serrated knife, and put one layer for the base  in the same, cleaned springform tin.

Raspberry mousse

3 dl heavy cream

125g pureed raspberries

4 gelatin leaves

0,25 dl whole milk

0,5 dl caster sugar

Soften the gelatin leaves in a large bowl of cold water for 5-10 minutes. Whip the cream with the sugar, but leave it slightly more loose as you would normally whip. Puree the raspberries. Bring the milk into boil, and take it off the heat. Melt the gelatin leaves in the hot (but not boiling) milk and mix until combined. Add the pureed raspberries into the whipped cream. Then pour milk+gelatin mixture slowly into the raspberry cream while mixing at the same time. Pour over the chocolate sponge, and add a second layer of chocolate sponge cake.

Chocolate mousse

3dl heavy cream

175g dark chocolate

105g whole milk

3 gelatin leaves

1 tsp vanilla

Prepare the cream, milk+gelatin in the same way as we did with the raspberry mousse. Cut the chocolate into small pieces and put into a bowl. Pour the hot milk+gelatin over, let stand for few minutes, mix until smooth. Carefully add the whipped cream into the chocolatemilk and mix until combined and even in colour. Pour over the second layer of chocolate cake, and finish off with the third layer of cake. Place in fridge over night, or at least for about 4 hours, until the mousses have set.

Raspberry buttercream

150g sugar

40 g water

60 g egg yolks

190 g butter, softened

1tsp vanilla

seedless raspberry jam

red food colour (optional)

Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan.

Bring to a boil while stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Continue to boil until the syrup reaches a temperature of 115 C. While the syrup is boiling, beat the yolks with a wire whip or the whip attachment of a mixer until they are thick and light in color.

Pour the syrup very slowly (in a thin stream) into the beaten yolks while whipping constantly.

Continue to beat until the mixture is completely cool and the yolks are very thick and light.

Whip in the butter a little at a time. Add it just as fast as it can be absorbed by the mixture. Beat in the vanilla, and add raspberry jam to your taste. I added red food colour as well to get a deeper colour of pink.

If the icing is too soft, refrigerate it until it is firm enough to spread over the cake.

Decorate with whipped cream stars and fresh raspberries!

Enjoy!

Spring blossoms!

I know this is supposed to be a baking blog, but I just can't stop posting these pretty blossom pictures. So from now on this is a baking/flower/gardening blog! But nature, plants and flowers are a big inspiration for me, so why not post some inspirational photos every now and again! I want to start practicing more fondant work anyway, and sculpting flowers will be a big side of it, so it is good to get to know how different flowers look like.

I took all these pictures in England during the spring time. The below ones are from King's Wood in Kent. The whole forest gets covered with bluebells, it really is a fantastic site to see.

My intention was to bake today, but the weather was so amazing I had to stay all day out in the garden!

Now I also have my own strawberry plants growing, and lots of herbs. Pictures will come later!

Next week I will have lots of baking to do. I'm really happy people have started to ask me to make birthday cakes for them and their families, since I have only started to bake 'non hobby' few months ago. I have had lots of very positive comments! But I haven't always had the chance to take pictures, so no blog material have been produced for weeks! 

And for the last, picture of a summery wreath, or 'krans' they call it here in Holland. I made it today from some greenery I picked today, and I took some lavender from our garden. It's easy to make if you get a 'florists ring' that you make wet, and just stick the stems in, so the plants get water.

So I hope you enjoyed these pictures instead!
I will be back with cakes!