Wiener Hazelnut Cake.

Another January birthday came up and we celebrated with hazelnut cake, covered in icing resembling the freshly fallen thin snow layer on rough grassland and Berlin streets. We lit several candles, snuggled into our seats and had loads of cups of tea.
This recipe is adapted from Sarah Wiener’s “La Dolce Wiener”.

WIENER HAZELNUT CAKE.

hazelnuts, grounded – 250 grams
hazelnuts, halfed – 200 grams (keep the most beautiful once for decorating)
eggs – 4
butter, soft – 250 grams
sugar – 200 grams
salt, a pinch of
vanilla sugar – 2 teasp of
flour – 250 grams
baking powder – 2 teasp of

ICING
icing sugar – 200 grams
water, a little bit

Heat oven at 175 °C. Seperate eggs and beat eggyolks, butter, sugar and vanilla sugar until foamy. Afterwards beat egg whites with a pinch of salt to stiff peaks. Lay on eggyolk mixture and sift flour, baking powder and grounded nuts above. Blend thouroughly but not too intensely.
Put half of the dough in a well buttered spring form. Place all of the halfed nuts on the first layer, then add the second half of the dough. Let cook for about one hour.
Once ready, take out of the oven and let cool. When cooled, gently take the cake out of the spring form. Stir powder sugar and as much water as needed to get a viscous icing. Pour over cake and even at the edges so everything is completely covered. Start decorating with the left over hazelnuts.

Honey and Polenta Cake.

Honey polenta cake with its mellow taste and crumbly texture is actually more like honey polenta bread with a sweet pear topping. Have it with goat cream cheese or quince jam and a nice big pot of tea plus nice people around you and horrible weather outside.

HONEY AND POLENTA CAKE.

polenta – 160 grams
flour, wheat – 140 grams
baking powder – 2 1/2 teaspoons
sugar – 30 grams
honey – 20 grams
butter, soft – 90 grams
egg, organic – one
milk – 250 ml
a pinch of salt
pears, ripe – 3
goats cream cheese

You will need a loaf tin measuring 25-30 cm across the base. Line the tin with parchment paper. Set the oven to 200°C.
Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Don’t stop until the mixture is almost white in colour. Crack the egg and gently beat in. Using a wooden spoon roughly fold in the milk. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Don’t overdo or the cake will be heavy. Transfer the mixture to the lined cake tin, then lay the sliced pears on top and shake over a tablespoon of sugar.

We came up with this recipe a while ago, eating corn cakes with goats creme cheese. The harmony of the mild but distinctive corn and the creamy cheese along with the sweet pears satisfied us immediately.
Spread a slice with cheese. Don’t be to measly with the cream cheese, you need to feel your teeth sing into it.

Carrot Cake.

Another birthday cake. And a homage to a young woman, selling the best coffee on the market. I (Anne) needed a cake for a friends birthday. Something you could eat right from the hand or easily transport in a box. Big chunks of hazelnuts, a soft batter and the smell of autumn.
The barista serves freshly brewed coffee, flat white and espresso, alongside with three different types of cakes. Each of them baked in a round, 40 cm in diameters, tin. As I do not like chocolate, I am always gazing for the carrot cake. She’s there (Maybachufer, Kreuzberg) on Tuesdays and Fridays but if your are in for a piece of cake, be there before noon.
If not, here is my favourite carrot cake recipe.

CARROT CAKE.

flour – 250g
baking powder – 1/2 a teaspoon
cinnamon, ground – one teaspoon
gloves, ground – a pinch
ginger, ground – a pinch
pinch of salt
sunflower oil – 200ml
light muscovado sugar – 250g
eggs, separated – 3
carrots -150g
juice of half a lemon
hazelnuts, chopped – 150g

Set the oven at 180C/Gas 4. Butter one 26cm tart tin and line each with baking parchment.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, gloves and salt. Beat the oil and sugar in a mixer until well creamed, then introduce one egg yolks after the other, reserving the whites for later. Grate the carrots into the mixture, then add the lemon juice. Roughly chop the hazelnuts and add them. Fold the flour and spices into the mixture with the machine on slow. Beat the egg whites till light and stiff, then fold carefully into the mixture with a large metal spoon.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 40-45 minutes. Test with a skewer. The cake should be moist, but not sticky. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then turn on to a wire cooling rack.

Old Bakery: Zwetschgendatschi.

Whenever I (Philine) hear someone say “Zwetschgendatschi” I instantly think of my grandmother. Of her standing in the small kitchen of her beautiful house, with all the ingredients generously scattered on all surfaces. A pot of coffee and one of black tea in preparation. In fact I have never ever in my life eaten Zwetschgendatschi that had been prepared by someone other than my grandmother. She serves it with a smooth dollop of slightly sweetened whipped cream.
And my family has got always some grandmotherly Zwetschgendatschi stored in the freezer.

ZWETSCHGENDATSCHI OR DAMSON YEAST CAKE.

flour, plain – 375 g
milk, lukewarm – 90 ml
butter – 40 g
sugar, caster – 40 g
yeast – 15 g
egg – 1

damsons – 2 kg
sugar with cinnamon – 3-4 tablespoons

Before you start make sure you only use ingredients at room temperature.
Preparing the starter: Sieve the flour in a large bowl, form a hollow in the middle and crumble the yeast in. Add some lukewarm milk and a tablespoon sugar and dissolve the yeast. Cover with a tea towel and let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
Now, add more milk, remaining sugar, liquid but cool butter and egg. Mix with a wooden spoon then turn the dough out onto a generously floured board. Knead the dough lightly for five minutes or so. You feel when it is ready and it should not stick to the bowl anymore.
Once the dough feels elastic and ‘alive’ then put it into a floured bowl, cover with a clean cloth, then put it somewhere warm to rise. It will take approximately an hour to double in size. Once it has, then punch it down again, knocking some of the air out. Use a rolling pin to form a square and put it on a baking tray. Cover the dough once more and return it to a warm place to rest.
Set the oven at 220˚C/Gas 7.
Wash and core the damsons. Cover the dough completely. Scatter some butter flakes on top along with some cinnamon sugar and bake for 35-40 minutes till well-risen, golden brown and crisp on top. Leave to cool slightly before dusting with icing sugar. Cut into thick wedges and eat whilst it is still warm. It will not keep for more than a few hours.

This time I didn’t scatter it with streusel, for sometimes they feel to heavy.
But if you’d like here is my personal recipe for streusel.

flour, wheat – 200 g
cinnamon – 1 teaspoon
sugar, caster – 150 g
butter, melted – 150 g

Sieve the flour in a bowl alongside the cinnamon and sugar. Melt the butter in a small pan and slowly drizzle over the flour. Stir in the butter constantly by using a fork. When done put the bowl in the fridge and let cool for more then one hour. Then stir through again and scatter over the damsons.
The cooling time is the most important thing, because this will make the streusel crispy, flaky and perfect.

Old Bakery: Red Currant Roll.

A twist on a cake most german folks know and loved in their childhood. Although rarely offered in cafés or bakeries,  this roulade belongs to the essential old bakery. I am sure every grandmother will approve of this variation in which tingly sour red currant goes with the sweetness of icing sugar and the softness of sponge cake.

RED CURRANT ROLL.

eggs – 2
caster sugar – 50 grams
plain flour – 30 grams
hazelnuts, grounded – 20 grams
a pinch of salt
a pinch of baking powder

cream – 250 ml
red currant jam, homemade – 4 tablespoons
red currants – a handful

Preheat oven to 180° C. Line a baking tray with a buttered paper.
Whisk eggs whites in an electric mixer until thick, pale and tripled in volume (7-8 minutes) and add the sugar gradually.
Add egg yolks, whisk just until incorporated.
Sift over flour and hazelnuts, folding in gently with a large spoon.
Pour onto the paper and sleek the batter. Bake for 4 minutes until light golden and the dough springs back when pressed lightly with your fingertip. Remove the dough from the tray and turn it onto a towel (sprinkled with sugar) and fold in the short side and roll it up. Let cool completely.

In the meantime whip the cream till thick. Wash the red currants.
Unroll the dough and remove the paper. Spread with the currant jam and the cream and cut it in half (lengthwise). Roll up the first piece a second time and wrap the roll with the second piece, for a big one. Or roll them up separately.
Place them upright on a plate and top with the red currants.

Old Bakery: Käsekuchen.

Because it is not cheese cake.
Because there has been a birthday,
and a wish for a cake that our grandmothers used to bake.

Recollecting memories of last birthdays,
and anticipation for those following.
So we made Käsekuchen,
because it is old-fashioned,
because it is steady,
and reminds you of the changes and constants in life.

Speaking simply it is no cheese cake.

SHORTCRUST PASTRY.

300 g flour
150 g butter
100 g sugar
1 egg

FILLING.

500 g Quark
125 g hot butter
up to 250 ml hot milk
125 g sugar
5 eggs (separated)
zest of 1/2 a lemon
90 g farina (ground wheat)
1/4 tsp baking powder
50 – 100 g raisins
pinch of salt

For the dough: Put the flour and sugar in a bowl. Cut the butter into small cubes and add them to the bowl. Make sure your hands are as cold as they can get and start crumbling the butter into the flour.  The more contact the dough has with the warmth of your hands, the more the butter will melt and your pastry will turn out the less flakier than aimed.

Add the egg and knead until the mixture just forms a dough. Turn pastry onto a floured surface and lightly knead with the heel of your hand until the pastry comes together. Cover the pastry with a plastic wrap and chill.

Roll pastry, using a rolling pin, on a lightly floured surface to 3mm thick. Line your baking dishes. You won’t need to brush them with butter, for the pastry is quiet buttery enough. Put the baking tins back into the fridge.

Preheat your oven to 190°C.

For the filling: Drain the quark. Whisk the egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form and add 2/3 of the sugar. In another bowl mix the quark with the hot milk, hot butter and 1/3 of the sugar thoroughly. Add the egg yolks one by one whisking systematically between each. Then add the lemon zest, the raisins and a pinch of salt. Sieve the farina and baking powder and fold them in. And finally fold in the stiff egg whites. Be gently here for a light mass.

Pour the dough in the baking tins and bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours (for a 26 cm cake tin). If you use tartlet dishes like we did bake for about 30 minutes until lightly browned.

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Katie’s weekly bits and bobs

Stella’s tent

and Nicole’s pies

Pear and Ginger Cake.

Pear and Ginger Cake.

Ingredients.

3 ripe pears
a handful of grounded hazelnuts
muscovado sugar to taste

Slice pears and toss with grounded hazelnuts and muscovado sugar and set aside.

200 g butter
200 g caster sugar
4 eggs
ginger to taste, finely grated
200 g flour
75 g grounded hazelnuts
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbs milk or apple juice

Whisk butter until creamy and fluffy, gradually add sugar and continue beating. Add eggs one at a time, whisking 2 minutes between each. Use ingredients at room temperature.Add the finely grated ginger, fold into the mixture. Sift the flour and baking powder in a bowl and add grounded hazelnuts. By turns add the dry ingredients and milk to the dough.
Pour the dough into a buttered tin. To finish: garnish the cake with pears in form of a rosette. Bake at 180-190°C for about one hour.

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red lips
open window
this river
this bakery
a rainbow hotel

Spelt Almond and Cherry Cake.

it’s the weekend. and we are home. inviting friends over to have tea and coffee. and cake.

SPELT ALMOND AND CHERRY CAKE

recipe adapted from Nigel Slaters “Tender Vol.2”

Ingredients

150 g unsalted butter
150 g sugar
3 eggs – free range
110 g spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
70 g finely ground almonds
300 g cherries – fresh and pitted
icing sugar, to finish

Preheat your oven to 180°C.

Start by creaming the butter until very smooth and silky, it should be of pale colour. Add sugar, whisk thoroughly until fully combined. Add eggs one at a time.

Sieve flour and add almonds and baking powder. Fold the dry ingredients into the cake mixture gently with a spatula. Add cherries. Don’t overmix or the cake will be dry. Pour the mixture into a lined cake tin. Shake over a tablespoon of sugar for a lovely golden crust.

Bake for 45 minutes, covering the top lightly with a foil for the last ten minutes. Remove from oven, let cool, then remove from tin. Finish with a light dust of icing sugar and serve.

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this painting
this house
anticipation for summer
travelling with suitcases
pottery
coffee
this feather