Swirl Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies!

Is there much more to say….?

I think it is. Cheesecake is for a lactose intolerant person the absolute enemy, usually, but thanks to the milk industry in Germany, they found a way how lactose intolerant people are able to enjoy milk products. If I did understand it right, they add the enzyme which divides the lactose sugar in it’s two sugars already. So people with the lactose problem don’t have that enzyme, that’s what makes it so hard to digest. (I hope that makes sense to you). Whatever! I was able to make and EAT that Cheesecake Brownie because I used lactose free Cream cheese. Hurray!

The texture was delicious rich, creamy and moist. Not at all dry.

Swirl Chocolate Cheesecake Brownie (by Donna Hay)

Ingredients for the brownie

185g (6 oz) butter or lactose free margarine, melted
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour, sifted

Ingredients for the cheesecake

285g (9 1/2 oz) cream cheese (I used lactose free)
4 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius (325 F). Place the butter, cocoa, sugar, eggs and flour in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Spoon into a 20cm (8 in) square slice tin lined with non stick baking paper.

To make the cheesecake, mix the cream cheese, sugar and eggs until smooth.
Place large spoonfuls of the cheesecake mixture on top of the chocolate mixture and swirl with a butter knife. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until set. Cool in the tin. Cut into slices.

Take a bite and enjoy!

Lemon, Raspberry and Mint…

Cupcakes!
sounds like Candy to me, like a Cocktail or Lemonade! You want some? You should make some!

Seriously, I want everybody to bake more. What about everybody in my street bakes something on Sunday’s and shares it with the neighborhood? Set your cake outside your door and let everybody sample! Wandering up and down the street and sample cake…wonderful idea, isn’t it? Sometimes I dream about big Cake buffets outside with lots of trees and coffee smell in the air, fresh fruit and cream and sweet cake.

The Cake is a recipe for Madeira Cake by Donna Hay, I put a frozen raspberry in the center of each cupcake before baking and made a butter cream frosting with artificial mint flavoring.
I got 36 mini cupcakes out of it.

Madeira Cake (from Donna Hay’s baking book)

Ingredients

170g (5 1/2 oz) butter or lactose free margarine (which I used, as always ,of course)
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
3 eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup almond meal

Preheat the oven to 170 (330 F) degrees Celsius. Place the butter, sugar and lemon rind in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and creamy. Gradually add the eggs and lemon juice, beating well. Sift the flour and baking powder over the butter mixture and fold through with the almond meal.
Line muffin pans with paper cups and bake for 15 Minutes (remember I used mini cupcake pans, for normal ones it might need double the time). Test with a skewer if it’s cooked right.

Everybody deserves a piece of cake every day!

A tribute to spring..

with a wonderful trilogy of cookies!

Macarons with chocolate ganache or lemon cream, chocolate biscuit cookies with ganache and my favorite melting moments cookies.

Spring is here with all it’s lovely faces. Cherry blossoms, longer days, warm days, sun, flowers, open balcony doors all day. Fresh morning air. I love it! And to make these days even sweeter I decided to make my favorite cookies and try some other delicious looking recipes.
Here they are…

here. Thanks to Aurelie with that wonderful video tutorial!

The recipe for those chocolate biscuit cookies is from Danna Hay’s Baking Book. (I am going to write it in here later, I promise).
They taste like a bite of a cake. They have a consistency just like a cake! I really liked it.

And last but not least the so called “melting Moments Cookies”. You can find the recipe here.

Balcony season for photo shoots just started! I am very happy about that.

Chocolate, Nuts, Whipped Cream…

that’s some heavy stuff!

After all this Cupcake practicing, I need a new challenge. I want to practice to make pretty layer cakes. The cake was so moist and soft and tender like a real American chocolate cake has to be. It’s probably the best I ever made.

The filling is just simply wipped cream and so is the “frosting” around. The top is melted chocolate with hazelnut meal.

You can find the recipe for the cake here.

Chocolate Cake

* Butter, for greasing the pans (of course I used lactose free margarine)
* 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
* 2 cups sugar
* 3/4 cups good cocoa powder
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1 cup lactose free buttermilk, shaken
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.



Spring is here and I will definitely make more of these precious cakes!

Lemon lemon coconut Cake

delicious, sticky, chewy, and so sweet it crawls into your socks…

I baked those goodies yesterday in the afternoon and planed to have my first photo shoot of this year again on the balcony, today in the morning. After I was done I couldn’t resist any longer and did eat one right away. I made the lemon syrup, too. Hmm…It’s worth it! The cake is nice moist and the dessicated coconut gives it a very chewy consistency. The syrup on top makes it irresistible.

Good morning sunshine! Good morning Lemon! A lemony good morning!

Coconut Lemon Cake (by Donna Hay)

Ingredients:

  • 125g (4oz) butter or lactose free margarine
  • 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
  • 1 cup caster sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cups dessicated coconut
  • 1 cup flour (sifted)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

Lemon Syrup

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup shredded lemon rind

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (160 Celsius).

Place the butter, lemon rind and sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the eggs and beat well. Fold through the coconut, flour and baking powder. Pour the mixture in a 8 in (20cm) round cake tin lined with baking paper or use paper lined muffin forms (will make about 18). If you make a cake, bake for 45 minutes. If you make cupcakes, it’ll take about half the time ca.20 minutes.

To make the syrup, place the sugar, lemon juice and rind in a saucepan over low heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Allow to boil for 5-7 minutes or until syrupy.

Pour half of the hot syrup over the hot cake in the tin. The rest of it when serving, as desired.



With that cake you bake yourself some sunshine!

Heavenly Melting Moments Cookie Sandwiches

I bet you’re going to let out a sweet “sigh”, too when they melt in your mouth!

I got the Donna Hay ” Modern Classics2 ” Baking Book for Christmas. When I flipped through the sides, these Cookies cached my eye and I knew I couldn’t resist very long to make them. They are wonderful and really not difficult to make. You could even leave the Butter Cream out, I am sure they will be as delicious and probably not as sweet. They remind me of some German classic Butter Cookies or Shortbread. The consistency is the same. You take a bite and it just takes you one chew more that they melt.

Melting Moments Sandwich Cookies (by Donna Hay)

Ingredients

  • 175g (6oz) butter, softened (I used non dairy margarine)
  • 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract ( I used a vanilla butter flavor mix)
  • 1 cup flour, sifted
  • 1/4 cup cornflour, sifted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 Celsius). Place the butter, icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Mix in the flour and cornflour until combined.
Place the mixture in a piping bag fitted with a fluted nozzle and pipe 3cm (1in) rounds onto a baking tray lined with baking paper, allowing room for spreading.
Cook for 12-14 minutes or until golden. Cool on tray.

Filling

  • 1 cup Icing confectioner’s sugar
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind

Place the butter, sugar, lemon rind and juice in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy and creamy. Pipe onto half the cookies and sandwich with the remaining cookies.
Makes about 16.

I can hear my sweet tooth fairy sing…

One for you and one for me…

they are both, lactose and gluten free!

It’s been a while. It’s winter, keeps snowing outside, and only ten days to go till Christmas eve. I’ve been baking German Christmas Cake in two different Versions lately. Hopefully can post the results soon. And been baking and munching down the “also called” Mexican wedding cookies = American Christmas Cookies.

Today I made a German “classic”, so called “Zimtsterne”, Cinnamon Stars! Super easy, maybe a little time intense, but absolutely worth it! Just the combination from nuts and lots of cinnamon, crisp on the outside and chewy inside makes these cookies really needed on your Christmas table.



Cinnamon Stars

  • 3 egg whites
  • 2 1/2 cups (250 g) confectioner’s sugar
  • 3 1/3 cups (400 g) almond meal
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla
  • 3-4 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 260 degrees Fahrenheit, ca.130 Celsius. (Yes, the temperature is very low)

In a large bowl beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff. Slowly add the sifted confectioner’s sugar. Take away a small cup full of the egg white mixture for frosting later. Stir in the almond meal and the vanilla and cinnamon. On a very well floured surface, roll out the dough thick. Use a star cookie cutter and transfer them to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Frost them with the egg white sugar mixture.

Bake for about 30 Minutes.

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas Time!

Sprinkle Sprinkle Birthday Cake…

for a little 2 year old Miss and her party guests.

I’ve been asked to make a birthday cake for a friend of mine. It was her daughters second birthday. And since a two year old doesn’t care too much about a certain theme for her birthday cake (I am talking about the always favorite princess, cartoon character or cars, dinosaurs, whatever they want when they get older) my first thought was Sprinkles in all colors!!!
And so I did. Vanilla Cake with Vanilla – hint of Lemon Frosting, stuffed with Blueberries.
Sweet and Sprinkles Sprinkles Sprinkles. And M&M’s.

I used the recipe for the Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes you can find here and the basic Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting you can find here and added some lemon zest to it.
I made a layer with Blueberries. Just cooked them(about 3 cups) with a couple tablespoons brown sugar and one tablespoon lemon juice and zest.

With some left over batter I baked mini cupcakes. Frosted and decorated with, of course! Sprinkles and mini M&M’s and put them on toothpicks on the cake.

The kids loved it, that made me happy.

The best Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe?

I still haven’t found it yet, but those were pretty good…

I don’t know what the secret is, to make a chewy and not crispy chocolate chip cookie.
I personally like them soft and chewy. I don’t even want them crisp on the outside. I figured, I always bake them too long. To make chocolate chip cookies this way, you really need a magic feel for the baking time. One minute too long and they get hard.

Well, I am going to keep trying and one day I will succeed!

Recipe (from my secret recipe book)

I added about 1/2 cup chopped pecans and of course I used lactose free margarine instead of butter.



One cookie a day keeps the trouble away!