Cake #83 - Date and Walnut Cake

Wednesday Natural Ingredient / Healthy Cake - Date and Walnut Cake with Honey and Banana.

Banana cakes represent me autumn. Simply because when my younger daughter was born it was September, and a few weeks before she was actually born I started keeping bananas in the house to take some for me and The Husband to the hospital as an easy and nutritious snack when the time would come. It was a very warm autumn, back then in 2002, and the bananas got overripe too fast so I had to start making something (cakes, obviously) of the overripe ones - and keep buying new ones for the time to come. She was born one week before her due date but still it was a good few banana cakes I baked!

Date cakes, again, represent me Christmas because they remind me of the traditional Christmas Date Cake which I always bake for Christmas and which I already baked in September as cake #31 for this challenge .

In mid-November it is not quite Christmas yet but not autumn any more, either. I am definitely getting into Christmas mood more and more. So let this cake, made of both bananas and dates, be a rite of passage. A cake not autumny any more but not quite Christmassy yet. Until tomorrow comes and Christmas lights are set up all around the house. 

Recipe for this gooey cake is from here.

Cake #82 - One Sort Licorice

Tuesday Humour Cake - One Sort Licorice Cake.

Tuesday was one of those days with no inspiration whatsoever. Not even perspiration to help as it was so cold and rainy that I had to switch on constant heating in the house for a few hours - and even that did not make me feel warm.

Thanks to my local Centra I finally got the idea for my humour cake. 

I felt like buying a little bag of licorice allsorts but they had no little bags in the whole shop. Instead, they had 800 g boxes on sale - "was 8€, now 6€". Yay!  The point is that I did not open the box until when I was back home and I could actually see the various licorice and be inspired by them. If they had had the small bags in the shop I would have probably just eaten all the licorice when walking home without actually seen them. Empty bag, no inspiration.

For the cake, I baked a sponge the batter of which I coloured orange. First I thought I would just use black icing for the middle licorice part but then I got the idea of placing a cup full of licorice inside the cake and covering it with a lid - which was a digestive cookie with black icing on it. Worked out well  as a surprise element! 

PS A few days later the shop had reduced the price of the licorice boxes to 5€ so I have now a whole lot of inspiration!! And if I run out of ideas they still have a few boxes left, I just checked.

Cake #81 - Strawberry Dream Delight

Monday Mood Cake - Strawberry Dream Delight.

A miserable Monday. Pouring rain, a very grey day indeed. 

Monday afternoon my younger son (9) was still a little bitter about the Father's Day cake decorating episode when the Big Sis' (12) took over and did 99% of the work leaving the Lil Bro' crying.

So to make the miserable Monday brighter, we went to the shop after school and I let him choose something for my Monday Mood cake. 

Fresh strawberries. Yes!

When we walked home from the shop my son was very bubbly and talkative and obviously very happy that finally he could decorate a cake all by himself. He even found something positive to say about his sister.

"Mommy, you know there is one thing in the world me and her agree on. We hate the same song!"

Strawberry Dream Delight

Base
100 g butter
100 g granulated sugar
2 eggs
50 g self-raising flour
50 g ground almond
1 tsp baking powder

250 ml whipping cream¨
fresh strawberries
almond crocant crush (or grated milk chocolate)

1. Heat the oven to 200 C / 375 F and grease and flour a Ø 28cm springform pan.

2. Mix together the dry ingredients.

3. Cream together butter and sugar.

4. Add eggs and mix well.

5. Add the dry ingredients.

6. Spread the mixture onto the pan. 

7. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until solid in the middle.

8. Let cool completely on a rack.

9. Whip the cream and spread over the cake.

10. Decorate the cake with strawberries and almond crocant crush or chocolate.

Cake #80 - Father's Day Cake

Sunday Traditional Cake - Father's Day Cake.

The Finnish Father's Day is celebrated the second Sunday of November.

Mystery Box ingredient used: Wienet Nougat Almond Crocant Crush.

A Father's Day cake is not that much about the recipe but about teamwork in the family. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it does not.

I got the easiest part which was to bake the sponge so I was ready and out of the kitchen in no time. Then the Decorating Team took over. - My only requirement was that they should use the almond crocant crush as that was my last Mystery Box ingredient not used yet.

The cake itself turned out excellent with whipped cream and banana slices in the filling, and whipped cream, almond crocant crush and piped milk chocolate on top.

The teamwork turned out not-so-excellent. Every Decorating Team does need a leader but the leader should be able to delegate and not do all the work by herself. Every Decorating Team does need a leader but the leader should not kick the other team member out of the kitchen because of a slight disagreement.

Every Decorating Team leader who does not remember the above from now on shall never be a Decorating Team leader again.

But. Like I wrote earlier, the cake itself turned out excellent and we ate it all. All's well that ends well, right? Yeah, right. TBC - To Be Continued.

Cake #79 - Wild Mushroom Cake

Savoury Saturday Cake - Wild Mushroom Cake with Red Onions and Grilled Peppers Cheese.

Mystery Box ingredient used: funnel chanterelles (Craterellus tubaeformis).

Funnel chanterelle is one of my favourite wild mushrooms. And they are precious, too, when you know that a dear friend has done all the hard work picking the mushrooms fresh from the forest and drying them and then posting them all the way from Finland to Ireland. That really is a genuine present and much appreciated. Unfortunately I am not the only one in the family who likes them.

So I actually need to share them.  Nowadays even with more people as the extended family - my daughter's boyfriend - likes them, too!


Wild Mushroom Cake

Dough
300 ml lukewarm milk
25 g fresh yeast (or 7 g fast action dry yeast)
1 egg
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
800-900 ml strong white flour
75 g butter
1 red onion, chopped

Filling
30 g dried funnel chanterelles, soak in hot water for about half an hour
170 g Philadelphia Grilled Peppers cheese (or other cream cheese of your choice)
1 egg
100 g grated Mozzarella

1 egg for glazing
sesame seeds
fresh basil

1. Melt butter on a pan, caramelise the red onion in it for about 15 minutes and let cool a little.

2. Dissolve yeast in warm milk.

3. Add salt, sugar and egg and mix well.

4. Start adding flour gradually.

5. After you have kneaded in about half of the flour, add the caramelised onion and any butter from the pan.

6. Knead in more flour until your dough is not sticky any more but still soft. It is better to leave the dough a little too soft than make it too dense as the cake will be too dry and hard after baking.

7. Leave the dough to rise in a warm place until double in size, for about half an hour.

8. Line a baking tray with baking paper. 

9. Roll your dough into a rectangle, about 10 mm thick and cut it into three equal-sized rectangles.
10. Mix together all ingredients for the filling.
11. Spread half of the filling on one rectangle and place another one on top. Repeat.
12. Glaze the top layer with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
13. Bake in the oven at  180 C / 375 F for about 30 minutes.
14. Garnish with fresh basil and serve when still warm.

Cake #78 - Turkish Pepper and Lime Cake

Friends First Friday Cake - Turkish Pepper and Lime Cake.

For my elder daughter who is the best toilet cleaner in the world!

Mystery Box ingredient used: crushed Turkish Pepper candies.



How can someone like cleaning toilets and be so good at it, too? 

My elder daughter, who is now 19, has probably been cleaning our toilets since she was 10 years old. Not that we would have told her to, she just seems to have an interest and motivation for it. Cleaning the toilets, yes.

The more professional she gets the more demanding she becomes. She tells me what cleaners I need to buy and she cannot complete a task if she has run out of something. 

There is not only the usual Domestos or whatever brand toilet cleaner is the best, but there is a separate spray for cleaning the shower and another one for the bathtub, and there is certain mousse for cleaning the sinks. Then you need wipes and you need window cleaner for mirrors. The colour of the toilet blocks used matters, too. And obviously we need to have lots of spare sponges and rubber gloves.

I do not mind buying the stuff she needs. They are all very affordable and they all leave a nice and fresh smell around (not that disgusting chlorite). 

What will happen the day she moves out? Will any of the younger siblings be willing to take the toilet cleaning responsibilities? I am already getting prepared and saving the shopping lists with the names of all the products with the nice smell. If the rest of us cannot learn to clean the toilets as passionately and profoundly as she does now at least we can get the right fragrances.

Turkish Pepper and Lime Cake

Batter
200 g butter
250 ml granulated sugar
3 eggs
400 ml plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
juice of two limes
50 g Turkish Pepper crush

Icing
300 ml icing sugar
1 tsp black food colouring
2-3 tsp water

3-4 tbsp Turkish Pepper crush

1. Preheat oven to 175 C / 350 F and grease and flour a 1.5-litre bundt cake pan.
2. Combine flour, baking powder and Turkish Pepper crush in a bowl.
3. Cream together butter and sugar.
4. Mix in eggs.
5. Add the dry ingredients together with the lime juice.
6. Pour the batter into the pan and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes.
7. Let cool on a rack before removing from the pan. 
8. Mix the black icing and spread on the cake and then sprinkle Turkish Pepper crush on top.

Cake #77 - 16 Cats

Thursday Cat Theme Cake -  16 Cats. Birthday Cake for my son who turned 16 years.

Mystery Box ingredient used: licorice bars with lemon filling.

A 16-year-old is not quite a man yet but he will soon be. Nearly as tall as his dad, 20 cm taller than me. He can be talkative and again, from time to time, very quiet. He goes to the barber's by himself and decides on his hairstyle. He even changes his socks regularly. His room may not be the tidiest of all but he always knows where to find his glassed. He might have lost his bus card or earphones once or twice but they can be easily replaced. He does not hug but he loves being hugged. He does not show his feelings a lot but he has them, a lot.

He does not cook or bake but he loves my cakes from the bottom of his heart. He actually may be the reason why I started my 365 Cakes / 365 Days challenge. Last summer when he had his Junior Cert exams I promised to bake a cake each day he had an exam and so I did. I baked seven cakes.  And then he started asking for more.

16 Cats Birthday Cake

You can find the chocolate sponge and ganache recipe here.

I did not put any ganache between the layers, only on top. Between the layers I put banana slices (3 small bananas) and spread caramel sauce and whipped cream.

Caramel Sauce

200 ml cream

100 ml  dark brown sugar

100 ml muscovado sugar

2 tbsp butter

1. Place cream and sugars into a saucepan over medium heat and stir until sugars have dissolved.

2. When the mixture starts bubbling, lower the heat and keep mixing until it thickens. Usually this takes 10-15 minutes.

3. Add butter and let cool down just a little - the sauce spreads better when still warm.

For decorating the cake I chopped the lemon filled licorice bars for the cats' eyes, and to form the ears, I piped melted milk chocolate with a piping pen.

A very nice, rich cake with dark and deep flavours!