Monday 30 July 2012

Lots of Cake Pops

Some months ago I had to bake for several occasions on one weekend. All in all, I made one small (18 cm) chocolate fudge cake, one batch chocolate fudge muffins and loads of cake pops, including oreo flowers and round ones made out of the fudge cake dough as well.

http://thomas-michalski.de/

1. A kind of hen-party

What I liked most here is the fact that a small person, aged about two, who is said to be veeery picky about his sweets, liked the oreo flowers so much that he dispatched three of them :)

Second, my brother-in-law-to-be did not want to taste the chocolate fudge muffins, saying he did not like dry cake without any filling. 'This one is not dry at all. It is really moist, acatually.' - 'Weeell, ok, maybe later.' When he finally tried it, he could not stop smiling.  <winnermood> Victory!!! </winnermood>

2. Photo shooting with some Condra folks

For the photo shooting I made the chocolate fudge cake and cake pops (oreos and cream cheese, as you should know by now from other posts). Here is the recipe for the chocolate fudge cake:

90 g flour
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
80 g sugar
1 egg
75 ml sunflower oil
75 ml milk
1 tbsp. golden syrup


Pre-heat the oven to 180°C and line a 18cm baking tin. Mix the flour, cocoa, baking powder and sugar in a bowl. Then add the egg, oil, milk and syrup and beat until smooth. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C and bake for ca. 35 minutes.


Here are the Oreo flowers, still without the chocolate coating.





I am quite sure that someone made pictures during the party... I will post them as soon as I find out.

But here are some more pictures Thomas (The Künst-Guy, remember?) made.

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Thursday 26 July 2012

Princess Louise - Cake

Who? Well, first of all, I am not quite sure whether the cake has something to do with the actual princess of Prussia, like 'It was her favourite cake'. Unfortunately, I could not find any legend saying so, but here is some information on the princess:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Louise_of_Prussia

And the cake...


All you need is:
  • 100 g dark chocolate
  • 5 eggs
  • 330 g soft butter
  • 130g sugar
  • 2 sachets vanilla sugar
  • 1 tbsp. rum
  • 200 g ground almonds
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 sachet custard powder chocolate
  • 400 ml milk
  • 150 g dark chocolate

Grate the chocolate. I only chopped it, so my cake did not become dark, as it is supposed to be. Mix 80 g soft butter, 80 g sugar, one sachet vanilla sugar and a pinch of salt. Divide the eggs. Mix the eggs one by one with the butter mixture. Now, mix the chocolate with the ground almonds and baking powder. Fold them under the butter mixture, as well. Beat the egg whites to stiff peak and fold under, as well. Grease and flour the bottom of a 26 cm springform pan. Fill in the dough and bake on 175°C for about 25-30 minutes. Then, let it cool down completely.

Mix the chocolate custard powder with 50 g sugar and 6-8 tbsp. milk. Heat the remaining milk. When it starts to cook, stir in the mixture and cook for about one to two minutes. Pour the pudding into a bowl and cover with cling film. Let it cool down. Meanwhile, chop the chocolate and melt it in a double-boiler. Let cool down a little. Beat the remaining 250 g butter until white and fluffy. When the pudding has cooled down to room temperature, stir it into the butter spoonwise. Then, stir in the melted chocolate likewise. 

Cut the cake into two layers. Spread roughly half of the chocolate butter cream onto one cake layer. Cover it with the second one. Now, cover the whole cake with the remaining butter cream. Let the cake rest in the fridge for about two hours. 

You can decorate your cake in whatever way you like. Usually, it is piped with clotted cream, but I simply sprinkled on some grated chocolate and golden sugar pearls.






Wednesday 25 July 2012

Toffee-Shortbread

No pictures today because I did not manage to take pictures -> lack of time and camera (The only usable camera in this household is my boyfriend's mobile phone, remember?).

But they were quite yummie, so I won't hesitate to share the recipe with you.

All you need is:

500 g butter
350 g flour
100 g sugar
1 egg
6 tbsp. maple syrup
400 g single cream
400 g dark chocolate


1. Knead 250 g butter, the flour, sugar and egg until it forms an even mass.

2. Fill into a rectangle baking tin (greased and floured) and bake for about 20-25 minutes on 175°C. Let it cool down.

3. Cook 250 g butter with maple syrup and cream until viscid. Put onto the shortbread. Let cool down.

4. Melt the chocolate and pour it all over the shortbread. Cut the cake into pieces.

That's about it :)

Sunday 15 July 2012

Jam

Today, again something different. For some time there is some preserving sugar in my cupboard, waiting for some fruit. Looking at my fruit basket, there were some oranges... Guess what happened next ;)






All you need is:


500 g peeled oranges (about three)
250 g preserving sugar (2:1)

Take the oranges and put them into a pot. Make sure the oranges are completely peeled, so that there is nothing white on them any more. Add the preserving sugar and mix. Wait for 3-4 hours and then cook it. It should cook for several minutes only (cf. instructions on the preserving sugar packet). Then, fill the mixture into a glass you can close airtight. I had to use two glasses, a larger one and a smaller one, although the smaller one was only half full. Close the glasses immediately and put them upside down for five minutes. Then, back to normal again and let the jam cool down. Once open, store them in the fridge. 

If you like your jam rather bitter, add some grated zest from the oranges.




Monday 9 July 2012

Apple Tart

Yay, another cake. This time something simple, but yummie nevertheless.



6 apples
1 lime
3 tbsp. sugar
cinnamon and ground cloves to taste
2 eggs
150 ml milk
50 g flour

1 egg
60 g sugar
125 g butter
250 g flour

Skin and dice the apples (not too small). Put them into a pot, together with the juice of a lime and the sugar. Cook until the apples start to become soft. Then, add the spices. Mix the eggs and the milk until they form an even mass. When the apples have cooled down a bit, add the egg mixture and heat again. While heating, stir in the flour.  Let cool down again.

Now, put the ingredients for the dough into a bowl and mix them briefly, than go on kneading it with your hands. When everything is well combined, add water until the dough becomes smooth, without becoming sticky.

Spread the dough in a tart form, including the edge, than fill in the apple mixture. Bake on 180°C for about 45-60 minutes.


Monday 2 July 2012

Theatre and stuff

I know, it seems I'm getting lazy, but I assure you, I do not have forgotten how to make cakes :) The next 'project' will be something with either apples or oranges... Maybe on Wednesday?

Well, at the moment I am pretty occupied with this:

designed by Thomas Michalski

What's this got to do with baking? Well, this is the reason for not baking this often at the moment. It's the theatre group I am part of. Here you see Prospera, surrounded by Ariel and Caliban. And no, I am neither of those ;)
For further information visit www.actorsnausea.com

Hope to post new cakes soon :)