Raspberry cream cake

Before all, apologies for the picture quality... we were in kinda hurry to get ready for the party and got a lousy replacement phone in action to document the baking.. Anyway...
Birthdays! They are always a good opportunity to eat something sweet.. and at celebrations we can do it guilt free :).
The kids found a video of a berry cake, and there was no way I can avoid baking one. Well, it was the easy challenge, and I quickly jumped into accepting it.
Plus, it is a light(er) treat compared to the average cake.
To make it even lighter replace the heavy whipping cream-cream cheese mix with yogurt, and in general play around with various fillings..

Ingredients for a 12 portion cake
Sponge cake
10 eggs
water
12 tbsp sugar
12 tbsp flour
2 tbsp oil
1 lemon zest
dash of vanilla extract

raspberry jam o fill the spongecake roll

Cream filling
9 oz fresh raspberries
4 fresh blueberries (optional, replace with raspberries)
200 g, 7 oz sugar
gelatine for 2 quarts liquid, I used 3 bags of gelatine powder
1/2 pound cream cheese
6 large tbsp sour cream
1 quart heavy whipping cream (you can replace it with natural yogurt)
juice of 1 freshly squeezed lemon, left from the sponge cake
dash of vanilla extract

Bake the sponge cake.
Prepare a large tray. Line baking paper in the bottom, and lightly butter both the paper and the sides that
In a larger bowl beat the 10 egg whites with water equaling 2 eggshells filled.
Start beating the egg whites, when lightly beaten add gradually half of the sugar (6 tbsp) and the water.
Beat until soft peaks form, but do not over beat.
In another bowl mix the egg yolks with the other half of the sugar (6 tbsp), add the 2 tbsp of oil, mix lightly into the egg whites. Add the lemon zest.
Last, sift in the 12 tbsp flour, gradually and lightly mixing it into the eggs.
Bake at 180 C, 350 F for 12 minutes.
Remove from oven and roll it up with the help of the parchment paper. Keep it tight for 15 minutes until cools down slightly. Slowly roll it out and spread a thin layer of jam on the sponge cake. Roll it back, and let it sit for another 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile prepare the cream.

Lightly beat the cream cheese with the sour cream in a smaller bowl. In a larger bowl beat the whipping cream and mix in the cream cheese-sour cream mixture, vanilla extract, lemon juice, adding the gelatin at the end.
How you prepare the gelatin depends on the type you have, but it should be enough to make 2 quarts of liquid rather jelly-ish. I lightly warmed up 5 tbsp cream, added the gelatin powder and mixed it into the cream-cream cheese mixture.

Prepare a round bowl, about 3 quarts, with plastic wrap all around.
Slice the sponge cake in thin slices, about 1 cm (3/8") thick and cover the sides of the bowl tightly with the slices. Leave some for the top.

Poor some cream mixture into the bowl, hitting every now and then to make the cream fill in the gaps between the sponge cake slices. Add a handful of raspberries, poor more cream, more berries, more cream.. and so on.., approximately 3 layers of berries between 4 layers of cream.

Fill it almost to the top, leave place for the bottom to be layer of sponge cake.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
Before serving remove from fridge and decorate with a handful of raspberries and mint leaves.
In our family it was a hit among the kids as it was creamy but not too sweet, and the jam and fresh raspberry and lemon gave an extra kick.
Bon apetite!

Brownie cheescake - sajttorta brownie

It looks like I'm Americanizing my baking, which will be the case with some pies coming soon to our table, but this brownie ironically had been on our menu for years.. not less than 10 years.. OMG.. time really flies.
The recipe came from a fellow social network addict back in 2003, living in France, loving cheese, and chocolate I suppose :).
It has two types of cheese, so no wonder why the recipe made it to France :).
It is a nice way to get your kids eat cottage cheese and ricotta, if they are not mad about them in any form already, like mine.
The recipe is sooo easy, the challenging part is to let it sit for a day in the fridge.. nooohoohhooo way :D. Ok, this time might work as I finished it at 9 in the evening, and I keep fingers crossed that nobody wants to dill their belly with sweets for the night.

Ingredients
Cheesecake
250 g ricotta (farmers cheese, cottage cheese will do it)
150 g farmers cheese (cottage cheese, maitorahka :))
4 tbsp powder sugar
small dash of vanilla extract
2 eggs
120 g heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp flour

Brownie
200 g butter (2 sticks)
300 g dark chocolate (or semisweet chocolate chips)
6 eggs
200 g powder sugar
ash of vanilla extract
150 g flour (1 cup, or 250 ml)
pinch salt

Prepare a deeper tray, 5 cm - 2 inch, by lining parchment paper on the bottom and buttering/ flouring the sides. Preheat the oven to 180 C, 350 F.
 Prepare the cheesecake. Mix the ricotta, farmers cheese, sugar, vanilla, 2 eggs (adding them one by one and working them well in the batter), at the end add the whipping cream and flour. You'll get a yogurt like liquid batter. Scoop it into a piping bag.

Melt the chocolate with the butter over water bath or in the microwave.
In another bowl mix well the eggs with the sugar and vanilla. Add the melted chocolate, flour and pinch of salt to the butter-sugar mix.
Scoop the butter in the tray, and dip the top of the piping bag in the batter. Start gently pressing, while slowly moving the bag in zig-zag, or as you like until you empty the bag. The cheesecake does not have to be visible on the top, it just happened that as I managed to poor it the way it looks.
Bake for 35 minutes on the middle rack. Let it cool, and refrigerate it for 4 hours, or better a day.
Serve cut in roughly 4x4 cm, 1.5x1.5" cubes.. be en garde!, and grab some before it is gone! :)
Bon appétit!

Lohikeitto - Finnish salmon soup

Phew, what a day.. 9 fires in San Diego, Santa Ana blowing crazy the whole day tormenting the trees, and some 38C in shade.
Nothing like baking, or even cooking, time, but I promised to bring lunch for our teacher, and nothing less but Finnish Salmon soup.
Salmon soup is a kinda big win 'cause is ready in 25 minutes, plus prep, (which is much better than cooking goulash), and gets equally many compliments (almost) than the goulash.. Almost, not because it's worse, but because has quite some half-half in it, which is not the easiest meal for a stomach :)

All in all, it is totally worth making it!
Start by hitting the stores for fresh salmon. I went for a combination of sockeye salmon and wild salmon file, which gives an extra kick to at least the looks ;), and the rest of the ingredients is most probably laying in your pantry.

Ingredients
400-500 g, 1 pound salmon
4 medium carrots
6 medium potatoes
2 onions, or 1 American onion (for some reason they are extreeeeeeemly buge)
200 ml half-half, cream (ruokakerma ;))
bay leaves, salt, black pepper
dill, 3-5 tbsp, depends on your preferences
water

Take a medium sized pot, minimum 3 liters.
Clean the potatoes, onion and carrot. Chop the carrots in thin slices, and cut the potatoes in not too small pieces, about 2x2 cm, or 1x1 inch.
There are two choices how to start cooking:
1) Put the potatoes, onion, carrot and add water until covered plus 3 cm, 4 inch.
2) Chop the onions. Add 3 spoons of oil, I prefer sunflower oil, heat it up, add the finely chopped onions, and fry them until golden. Add a generous dash of water, and continue simmering until it is reduced back to oil only. It caramelizes the onions and gives it a smooth texture and taste. That's what I did... Next add the finely slices carrots, and potatoes, stir just couple of times, and then fill with water until all covered, plus the 3 cm, 4 inch.

Either way, now add the spices: a tsp of salt, large pinch of pepper and 2-3 bay leaves.
Cook for 15 minutes, until it is almost fully cooked.
Meanwhile cut the salmon in generous cubes, 4x4 cm, or 11/2x1 1/2 inches.
Add the salmon and add finely chopped dill, leaving some for serving.
Adjust the water level, saltiness and amount of black pepper if needed, the potatoes will most probably soak up some.. If you like a less thick soup add more water, but in general is best as is, a bit more thick than the average Hungarian soup.
Cook for only 5 more minutes. Add the cream, wait until it starts bubbling and remove from the heat.
Serve with a pinch of fresh dill on top.
Bon appetite!

Ps. It can be served even cold, or colder, which makes it more appealing in this hot weather.

Matcha-white chocolate rice crispies

Leftovers today.. Making it double, matcha snack with green tee... Uhh, this cake just made me realize how much I miss matcha mochies, matcha ice cream, and anything matcha from my, too few, days in Osaka and Kyoto. Now that I have my treasured matcha powder in the pantry, I will have to make things with moooore matcha, and mooore matcha :D.

I have greatly over estimated the brick needs for my cake and ended up with ingredients for just another almost same size Minecraft cake.

I munched on the bits through the whole week, just to give opportunity to my handyman to ask "dieting again"? How kind..

Yesss.. I was "dieting", and I'm kinda happy these are the last bits, 'cause it will help to keep my sugar intake under control, but I had to take the opportunity to snap a picture. Last opportunity.

Simple snack, ready really quickly, and edible by adults and kids alike, not to mention lactose intolerant friends, too.

Ingredients (makes enough :D, ok, a 30x40 cm tray, about 2.5 cm thick or 12"x16"x1"), you might want to make half for the family only
350 g white chocolate

50 ml organic blue agave syrup (add more if you like it very sweet)
5 tbsp condensed milk
1 stick butter
1 tbsp matcha powder, flat or humpy, up to your matcha preferences. If you are unfamiliar with the taste of the green tea powder add less, it has a bittery taste.
300 g rice crispies

Cover the bottom of the tray with parchment paper, leaving the two shorter ends longer, so it would be sticking out from under the rice crisps to be easier to remove them.
Melt the chocolate over a water bath, stirring only occasionally. When melted cut the butter pieces and drop them into the chocolate, leave it to melt, and combine in. Add the agave syrup and stir lightly.

Mine looked like a disaster, the chocolate looked like it fall into pieces due to the syrup, I suppose, so no worries if it happens to you too.
Add the condensed milk and the matcha powder, mix well. It becomes kinda gooey, which is great!
Now add the rice crisps, and combine until the rice crisps are covered with the chocolate mixture.
Pour the mixture in the tray, and place it in the fridge for about 2 hours.

Remove, cut in squares, and enjoy.. There is really not too much to say anything else about it :).

Light chocolate muffins/mini cakes

So many things going on right now.. Number one priority is the house, but no matter what else is on my plate I still have a family to feed. And they like goodies..
On top of all there is Easter, and making plans ahead wouldn't hurt.. so I kinda try.

I decided to make some Easter egg nests, and combine some idea prototyping with a "light" chocolate/baking therapy to accompany a hot rum tea on a late afternoon. One additional reason for choosing muffin was the cooooooold weather, it is not the most convenient to bake yeast based goodies when I can't heat my kitchen.

Instill don't have my triple chocolate muffin recipe, which was THE best, but I thought I'm gonna use my friends' recipe as a base.
I didn't haven measuring cups at hand so I just threw things in the bowl, but cupcakes are NOT rocket science, so one can hardly go wrong if there are enough moisturizers.
The original recipe I used is from Ripaus ja hyppysellinen, without the cream, 'cause I just simply don't like creams unless absolutely needed.
I used mini cake forms because they reminded me of little nests, and I will use these as a bases to decorate for Easter.

Ingredients
200 g grated chocolate, preferably on the darker side, or roughly 1 1/2 cups small semi sweet chocolate chips. It would be even better to mix and match dark and milk chocolate chips, or even white one.. next time.. 
1 1/3 stick butter (150 g)
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
2 eggs
3-4 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar, can be humpy
2/3 cup yogurt
1 tbsp oil, something with no flavor

Preheat oven to 430 F, 225 C. Prepare about 18 smaller (not the mini though) muffin forms any eay you want. I like to lightly
Mix butter with sugar until creamy. Mix in the eggs, one by one, blending in each properly.
Mix the dry ingredients, except chocolate and start adding them to the buttery mix. Mix in the yogurt, the tbsp oil,  and last just fold in the chocolate.
Divide the dough in the baking form, filling about 2/3.
Bake for 15 minutes, and let cool.
Next, you can do as wish, decorate with melted chocolate wiggles, add butter cream, castor sugar..
I will most probably make various decorations before Easter, for Easter, so check back if interested..
Bon appétit!

Coconut wreath

It is just a month or so and we will be busy coloring eggs, baking cookies and cooking/baking large hams to eat with friends and family while getting soaked in water, or perfume, on Easter Monday.
With Easter knocking on the door, I was thinking to try Easter wreath varieties well in advance, so I can experiment, and others have time to experiment as well.
This recipe is almost a nobrainer, destined to be a success due to the "pulla" (cardamom bread) dough, flavorful brown sugar and coconut. OK, waistline damage alert for today, but sigh...

Ingredients
1/2 portion pulla dough

Filling
~4 tbsp coconut flour (finely grated coconut)
~4 tbsp brown sugar
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
1 lemon zest
25 g butter (quarter stick), melted

1 egg and 1-2 tbsp water, for the egg wash

Prepare the dough, let it rest as it is given in the dough recipe.
Preheat the oven to 225 C or 430F.
Roll out the dough to about 30 cm x 60 cm long.
Spread a thin layer of melted butter on the dough, sprinkle with the coconut and the brown sugar evenly, so that the coconut and sugar soaks in the butter. This will make sure your filling is not going to fall out when you cut the slices. Grate the lemon zest evenly on top of the filling and sprinkle with the lemon juice.
Roll it up along the longer edge evenly, pull towards the ends if needed while rolling. Cut ~2 cm thick slices, not thicker though or it will grow out of hands.
Pull them towards the sides, one to the left, the other to the right, laying them evenly on top of each other.

                       


This is how it looked at the end, and this is how I actually planned to bake it. To my biggest disappointment however, my large tray wasn't clean, and laziness kicked in, ending in making a round wreath by curling up my braid on the smaller tray.
You should just place it on a baking tray (need a larger one)
Brush the top with the egg wash all over the sides and the top, and sprinkle lightly with brown sugar (or for an even more sophisticated look with pearl sugar).
This is how mine actually ended up, looking not so bad either, but next time I'm gonna make the straight version, too.
The taste was delicious, with the brown sugar and coconut taste blended with the cardamom.., and it will definitely be one of the family's favorite filling.
Bake in the preheated oven on the middle shelf for 18-2ö minutes. Let is cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting it in slices and serving.


Happy baking and Easter preparations :).

Cream cheese - cranberry muffin

Muffins are new to the Hungarian/Finnish culinary scene.
Some of them are horrible, and I mist say to me is till a mystery how can people eat those full of butter frosting monsters one can encounter basically everywhere here.
There are a few exceptions, though, especially the home made ones. Our first success was a triple chocolate, recipe lost, but desperately looking for it..
To soothe the pain meanwhile, faith sent us  cranberry muffins made by a friend, and they were so good that they were gone in no time, so I obviously begged for the recipe.
I made slight changes to it, khhhhmmm... of course. The main reason is that the amount of sugar looked faaar to big for my European stomach. Second, because I had some shredded coconut I didn't know what to do with, so I had to make a good use for it in these muffins..
For me the cranberry is somehow associated with Xmas, but I had no kitchen back then, so here you go, cranberry dessert that's going to fill our NEXT Xmas table, but meanwhile our pockets on these beatiful and cool spring days :)

Ingredients (makes 24 normal size, 48 mini muffins)
1 cup butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar (original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups)
1 1 /2 tsp vanilla
4 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour (whole wheat flour would work great, too, if not better)
1 1 /2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups fresh (or frozen) cranberries
1/2 cup shredded coconut (original recipe called for chopped cashew nuts, to be tried next)

Preheat oven to 350F. Place 24 baking  cups in a tray and lightly spray them with oil.
Mix butter with sugar, mix in the cream cheese, and at the end mix in the eggs, one by one, mixing each well in before adding the next one.
Mix flour with salt and baking powder, lightly mix in the dry ingredients in the butter-cram cheese mixture. Don't overmix, just to have it kinda evened.
Fold in the fresh or frozen cranberries and coconut.
Scoop batter in the baking cups. I had some mini cups, so I got about 36 of them 3/4th full of batter.
Bake for 20/25 minutes. Let them cool a tiny bit, at least 5 minutes, than remove them to a serving plate.
They are a yummi and healthy-ish snack/dessert for the kids for school, or for you to enjoy.
Bon appetite!

Obs. Minimuffins need to be baked at 380F, and for shorter, like 15-18 min time. I managed to overbake them, slightly, so leave them lighter in color for a tiny bit more moist texture.