Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Full credit for this cake has to go to Smitten Kitchen. It turned out amazing, as all Deb's recipes do, and is the perfect tea-time/Kaffee und Kuchen cake to serve! 

I slightly tweaked her recipe by using a mix of quark, sour cream and mascarpone in place of the 2 cups of sour cream. You can find the recipe here. Take my advice and try it out. :)

Rhubarb Meringue Mess...

There is no recipe for this, it's more a matter of assembling really. A meringue base with whipped cream and rhubarb compote, topped with chopped roasted hazelnuts and chocolate crumbs. Basically, anything goes!

Ginger and Lemon (Birthday!) Cheesecake

Continuing with the ginger and lemon theme...

This is my Mom's choice of Birthday Cake. It's pretty awesome. 

And don't worry, my cat did not eat a whole slice of cake. ;)

Happy Birthday Mutti, ich liebe dich!! :)

Continue for recipe...

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting

These are little bite-size cupcakes, pretty to look at as well as eat, and the well known pairing of lemon and ginger complement each other perfectly.

recipe adapted from Cakes & Bakes from My Mother's Kitchen.

makes about 10-12 cupcakes, depending on the size of your tin and cupcake cases.

Ingredients:

60g unsalted butter

50g light soft brown sugar

2 tbsp golden syrup

2 tbsp molasses/black treacle

1 tsp ground ginger

80ml whole milk

1 egg, beaten

2 pieces stem ginger in syrup (or crystallized ginger as I used), drained and chopped

115g self-raising flour

Frosting:

2 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed

180g confectioner's sugar, sifted

2-3 pieces stem ginger, drained and chopped

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170 C/325 F.

Put the butter, sugar, syrup, molasses and ground ginger in a saucepan and heat gently until melted. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the milk, then beat in the egg and stem ginger. 

Pour the mixture into a large bowl and sift in the flour. Fold in until well combined.

Spoon the mixture into paper cases (lining a 12-hole cupcake tin) and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, until risen and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

For the frosting, pour the lemon juice into a bowl. Gradually sift in the confectioner's sugar, stirring as you go until the consistency becomes thick, smooth and spreadable.  Spoon the frosting over the cakes and arrange a few pieces of the ginger on each one. Leave to set before serving. The cupcakes will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 2-3 days.


Enjoy!

Gluten free Banana-Almond Bread

I came across this amazing recipe by chance on Teresa Cutter's blog The Healthy Chef and adapted it only slightly. It's a favorite already, even topping my usual go-to banana bread recipe! (Think it's the almond element; I'm a sucker for anything almond!!) Her website is definitely worth a look. :)

Ingredients:

300 g smashed ripe banana
3 free range eggs
60 g organic maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
60 g extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2  tsp baking soda 

1 tbsp lemon juice
200g (2 cups) ground almonds
25 g (1/4 cup)  ground flaxseed 

flaked almonds and cinnamon for topping

Method: 

Preheat your oven to 160 C.

Mix together the banana, maple syrup, oil, cinnamon, vanilla, eggs, baking soda and lemon until blended thoroughly.

 
Add in the ground almonds and flaxseed and mix well.

Lightly oil one loaf tin and then coat liberally with extra ground almonds – this will prevent the cake from sticking.

Spoon the batter into the tin, sprinkle over the flaked almonds and cinnamon and bake for  45 minutes to 1 hour ( a skewer inserted into the center should come out dry).

Cover the top with foil if over-browning. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before turning out the loaf onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Can be eaten warm, with a spoon of ricotta and drizzle of maple syrup or honey, or also cool. Keep refrigerated, covered with aluminum foil. 

Enjoy!

Easter Cupcakes!

I have already posted this exact Easter Cupcake recipe on this blog (see here), but it's a new year and there are new (and bigger) photos, so I decided to go ahead with this post anyways! Vanilla Cupcake recipe can be found here, as always.

Happy Easter everyone!

Ginger-Mascarpone Icebox Cake!

Here in Ireland, today is considered Mother's Day. Confusing because I always think of it in May, when it's Mother's Day in the States, and Italy, and Germany... 

Sometimes I think we end up celebrating it twice, but I just think of it as another excuse to bake a cake!!

This cake is extremely rich (so serve thin slices), but also crazy good. The combination of ginger and mascarpone cheese is perfection in my opinion. I urge everyone to try the recipe out at least once. 

Ingredients:

12 oz gingersnap crumbs

5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature (I used philadelphia)

1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt

2/3 cup granulated sugar, more for the pan

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup minced crystallized ginger

1 lb. mascarpone cheese

1/3 cup heavy cream

Method:

Grease a 9 inch springform pan.  Dust the pan with a little sugar and knock out any excess.

Combine the gingersnap crumbs and butter, then sprinkle half of the crumbs over the bottom of the pan and pat down evenly; reserve the rest.

Using an electric mixer, whip the cream cheese, yogurt, sugar, vanilla and ginger until smooth, scraping down the sides.  Add the mascarpone and cream and whip until the mixture is thoroughly combined and just holds peaks.  Don't overwhip!

Carefully spoon half of the mascarpone mixture over the gingersnap crust, spreading it evenly to the edges of the pan using a spatula.  Sprinkle half of the remaining crumbs over the mascarpone cream.  Top with the remaining mascarpone cream and finish with the remaining crumbs.  Gently tap the pan on the counter to get rid of any air bubbles.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to serve, run a thin knife around the sides of the cake and remove the springform.  Cut the cake into slices with a warm knife. Enjoy!

 (Taken from the American magazine 'finecooking', about 2/3 years ago)