Valentine's Day - Chocolate Cake with Rum and Raisin Fudge

Valentine's Day 2015, Cake #168 - Chocolate Cake with Rum and Raisin Fudge.

On the plate, instead of a cake, I was supposed to place cute little rum and raisin fudge hearts in cute little paper cups. I made the fudge in the morning but for some reason it just didn't set during eight hours at all. It did not even freeze - except the raisins. Luckily the mixture looked like it could work out as cake covering - and it did! On a chocolate cake which was supposed to be something else than chocolate cake covered with rum and raisin fudge... 

Oh, well. Win-win. The chocolate cake covered with rum and raisin fudge tasted heavenly. 

So, hopefully better luck next time with f-u-d-g-e in cute little papercups.

Rum and Raisin Fudge Cake Covering

100 g raisins, chopped

2 tsp rum essence

500 ml double cream

450 g demerara sugar

150 g butter

150 g white chocolate

2 tsp red food colouring

1. Sprinkle the rum essence on the chopped raisins and let set while you cook the fudge.

2. Mix together cream, sugar and butter and boil on medium heat until the mixture thickens, about 15 minutes.

3. Remove from heat, add chocolate and food colouring and mix well.

4. Fold in the raisins and put the fudge cake covering in the fridge to set while you bake the cake.

Chocolate Sponge
175g self-raising flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp soda
150g caster sugar
2 large eggs
150 ml sunflower oil
150 ml milk
2 tbsp syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C/ 350 F and grease and flour a Ø 24 cm round cake pan.

2. Sieve flour, cocoa and soda into a bowl. Add sugar and mix well.
3. Make a well in the centre and add syrup, eggs, oil and milk. Beat well until smooth.
4. Spoon the mixture into the pan and bake for 35-40 minutes until risen and firm to the touch. Remove from oven and leave to cool completely before spreading the fudge.

Valentine's Day - Yogurt and Raspberry Heart

Valentine's Day 2015, Cake #167 - Yogurt and Raspberry Heart (pulla - sweet bun cake).

Valentine's Day. In most languages I know, the day is called Valentine's Day or Saint Valentine's Day referring to a saint called Valentinus and being associated with romantic love. 

For some reason in Finland the day is called Ystävänpäivä - Friend's Day, and in Sweden Alla Hjärtans Dag - All Hearts' Day. Why, that is an interesting question. Is it easier for a Finn to say their partner that you are my best friend rather than saying I love you in a romantic way? And do the Swedes want to spread equality also this way - to, via and through all hearts?

One stereotype or another, let your Valentine or Friend or Foe or anybody with a heart - and especially anybody without one -  feel loved this Valentine's Day. If you cannot find words or dare say any, bake a cake!

***

Yogurt and Raspberry Heart
Dough
300 ml  lukewarm milk
25 g fresh yeast (or 1 bag / 7 g fast action dried yeast)
100 ml sugar
½ tsp ground cardamom
1 egg
100 g melted butter
about 1 litre plain flour

Filling
100 ml natural yogurt
50 ml raspberry jam
50 ml granulated sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract

1 egg for glazing

icing sugar, red food colouring and sprinkles for decorating the cake

1. Dissolve yeast in warm milk.
2. Add sugar, cardamom and egg and mix well.
3. Start adding flour gradually.
4. After you have kneaded in about half of the flour, add melted butter.
5. 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.
6. Leave the dough to rise in a warm place until double in size, for about half an hour.
7. Roll your dough into a rectangle, about 0,5 cm thick.

8. Cut hearts with a cookie cutter - or cookie cutters of different size.
9. Grease a heart-shaped cake pan and place one layer of hearts in the pan.
10. Mix together all ingredients for the filling and spoon half of the filling on the hearts. Then place another layer of hearts on top and spoon the rest of the filling on them and finally a third layer of hearts. 
11. Let rise for about 20 minutes and glaze with egg before baking.
12. Bake in the oven at 200 C for about half an hour.
13. Let the cake cool before removing from pan and decorating with icing and sprinkles.

Cake inspired by Ikea paper napkin...? 

Valentine's Day Coming Up!

 The Cat Hairy Baker's Valentine's Day Specials 8-14 February. Stay tuned!

Also on Facebook and Instagram.

Cakes #165 and #166 - Friday Cakes

#165 Friends First Friday Cake - Raspberry and Lemon Cake - to celebrate spring which according to the Celtic calendar started 1 February. And it really feels like spring!

#166 Nutella and Cinnamon Cake - Another World Nutella Day Cake.

Lemony Peach Cake by Donna Hay is one of my all-time favourites. Now I used raspberries instead of peaches and it worked out great! Yogurt gives the cake a gooey texture and yogurt is also great to go with the cake together with some fresh (or like in this case, frozen) berries.

The recipe for Nutella and Cinnamon Cake I bumped into at BBC Good Food Facebook page on the World Nutella Day right after baking my Nutella Brownie Cake. I wanted to try the recipe but had to leave it to the day after. Worth trying. Worth waiting!

Both turned out to be the perfect Friday Cakes when watching a movie with the family. After enjoying some pizza The Husband made for his Friday 'cake'. Some evenings are just made for munching, especially when it is all home-made. 

Cake #163 - Nutella Brownie Cake

World Nutella Day 5 February. Sure a reason to bake something with Nutella!

Nutella Brownie Cake
175 g dark chocolate
175 g butter
250 g golden caster sugar
pinch of salt
3 large eggs
120 g plain flour
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp Nutella

1. Pre-heat n to 180C and line a 20cm x 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter and stir until smooth.
3. Add sugar and salt and beat eggs and vanilla into the mixture.
4. Sift in the flour and then stir in Nutella.
5. Scrape the mixture into the tin and bake for 20-25 minutes.
6. Allow cool before removing from tin.
7. Serve with ice cream.

Happy World Nutella Day!

Cake #162 - Profiterole Cake

Wednesday Natural Ingredient / Healthy Cake - Profiterole Cake with Fresh Blueberries, Raspberries and Whipped Cream.

I am not sure if profiterole cake would be the correct name for this cake as it is not made of several profiteroles but rather of profiterole batter piped on a baking tray to shape two round cakes and then the filling is put in-between the two cakes.

***

I made this choux pastry double and then piped it into two equal sized round cakes on baking paper on a baking tray. The cakes I baked at 200C for about 25 minutes. After the cakes had cooled down I removed them from the trays, whipped 200 ml fresh cream to fill the cake together with fresh raspberries and blueberries and on top sprinkled some icing sugar.

Excellent dessert cake which was enjoyed by the family on one go. Oops. Well, seven people to be exact so the slices were actually tiny.

Cake #161 - Banana, Coconut and Sesame Seed Cake

Monday Mood Cake - Banana, Coconut and Sesame Seed Upside Down Cake.

It was a day to turn some jars upside down and feel if there is any serious baking power left after baking five batches of cinnamon buns the day before.

Baking is a lot about feelings. One day you feel like having pulla, the other day you feel like trying some recipe with sesame seeds in it. On the other hand, you may have overripe bananas in the house and you need to use them whether you feel like using them or not (unless you feel the bin is a choice). And then you feel the kids may have deserved some ice cream so you bake something to go with ice cream. You may feel satisfied after baking or you may not. You may feel like eating what you have made or you may leave it for later. Sometimes you feel the batter is better than the actual cake.

The main thing is that you can feel the joy!

The recipe for this cake is from here. - Instead of sprinkling the sesame seeds on top - the bottom after baking, that is, I would mix them in the batter the next time to feel them equally in the cake. As eating is feeling, too. And feeling is eating.

Cinnamon Buns and Shrove Buns

Pulla, anyone? Cinnamon buns or maybe Shrove buns with marzipan?

Sometimes you get into the mood for pulla and then there is only one medicine - you have to bake them!

The other day I set myself a mission to bake the perfect cinnamon bun and it was way harder than I expected. Until now, I have mainly baked my cinnamon buns in paper cups where they keep their shape and all excess butter stays inside the cup. This time I wanted to make the real, proper ones with no cheating. After baking 5 batches (about 60 buns, that was), I was able to find nine (yes, 9) buns with which I was just about happy with. A good start, eh?

But even the ugliest ones tasted perfect. The ones which looked like viking ships and the ones which looked like crippled snails. Oh, and the ones shaped like the horns of Dorset sheep. Yummy yummy pulla!

And then I also made a batch of Shrove buns. A bit early - the Shrove Tuesday is not until 17 February. I just happened to find a package of marzipan in the cupboard and baking the basic round buns felt like an easy and rewarding job after all the misshapen cinnamon buns.

Cinnamon buns (makes 12-14)
300 ml  lukewarm milk
25 g fresh yeast (or 1 bag / 7 g fast action dried yeast)
100 ml sugar
½ tsp ground cardamom
1 egg
100 g melted butter
about 1 litre plain flour

Filling
100 g butter
2 tbsp cinnamon
100 ml sugar

Glazing
1 egg
pearl sugar

1. Dissolve yeast in warm milk.
2. Add sugar, cardamom and egg and mix well.
3. Start adding flour gradually.
4. After you have kneaded in about half of the flour, add melted butter.
5. 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 buns will be too dry and hard after baking.
6. Leave the dough to rise in a warm place until double in size, for about half an hour.
7. Roll your dough into a rectangle, about 0,5 cm thick.
8. Spread the butter on top and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
9. Roll the dough into a cylinder and then cut it into triangles. Turn the triangles so that the sharp side faces up and then press it down with your finger.
10. Let the buns rise for about half an hour, then glaze with egg and sprinkle with pearl sugar.
11. Bake in the oven at 225C for 10-12 minutes.

Shrove Buns

Make the dough as above. When risen, knead it on a floured surface and cut into 12 pieces and roll them into balls. Let the buns rise, glaze them with egg and sprinkle with pearl sugar or almond flakes. Bake in the oven at 225C for 10-12 minutes.

After the buns have cooled, cut them in half and fill with marzipan or jam and whipped cream.

Cake #160 - Runeberg Torte and Cake #164 Runeberg Cake

Cake #160 Runeberg Tortes
Cake #164 Runeberg Cakes

J.L. Runeberg, the national poet of Finland was born 5 February, 1804. His wife used to bake these little tortes which later were named after him. The tortes are popular in Finland around Runeberg's birthday and are made by every bakery in the country and sold nationwide. And each and every Finn certainly has an opinion which bakery makes the best tortes!

As an expat Finn I have to bake my own Runeberg Tortes and they are not that bad either. I prefer mine with almond essence unlike my family so always need to bake two batches, one with almond essence and another without.

You can use the same recipe for making one or two bigger cakes instead of small tortes if you do not have suitable tins. I was lucky to find these nearly perfect tins in TK Maxx a while ago:

Runeberg Tortes or Cakes (makes 12 tortes or 2 small cakes)
Batter
200 g butter
100 ml brown sugar
100 ml granulated sugar
2 eggs
100 g ground almonds
200 ml finely ground dry breadcrumbs
300 ml plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
200 ml milk
(2 tsp almond essence or rum essence)

raspberry jam
icing sugar, a few drops of water

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C and grease and flour 12 muffin tins (or use paper cups) or 2 Ø 20 cm cake pans.
2. Cream together butter and sugar.
3. Add eggs and almond essence.
4. Mix together all dry ingredients and add them to the batter together with the milk.
5. Spoon the batter evenly in the muffin tins and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes).
6. Let cool and decorate with raspberry jam and icing.
7. If the tortes feel dry you can moisten them with sugary water flavoured with almond or rum essence).

Cake #159 - Spinach Pancake

Savoury Saturday Cake - Spinach Pancake, served with crayfish tails, capers, rocket, creme fraiche and lemon.

I am a spinach fan! Fresh baby spinach in salads, cooked spinach in soups or, like here, in an oven pancake. In a stir-fry, in Fish Florentine... And nowadays in smoothies and home-made juices as well as my daughters are making those daily.

Spinach Pancake
150 g fresh spinach, cooked and blended
4 eggs
400 ml milk
300 ml plain flour
½ tsp salt

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 C and grease a Ø 30 cm springform pan.
2. Mix all ingredients together and pour into pan.
3. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
4. Serve warm - plain or with prawns, ham, poached egg... Goes well for brunch or lunch as such or for appetizer like we enjoyed it.

Cakes #157 and #158 - Friday Cakes

Friday Cakes
#157 Cat Theme Cake - Hidden Cat.
#158 Friends First Friday Cake - Cheesecake with Fruit and Coconut Flakes with Nice Biscuit Base.

Missing summer! Friday cake with fruit to bring some summer here. It's so cold at the moment, and windy and humid, too. We are ready to move to any warmer place if there is one.

I do not know why but this winter has felt colder than ever. The wind is pushing through everything - and every body, including mine.

I am glad I have three cats and cats are warm. A warm and purring cat on your lap is the best you can have on a cold day. A cat and a cuppa - and a slice of cake!

I have baked quite a few hidden cat (and other hidden figures) cakes already. They are exciting as you cannot always be sure how they turn out - and if they turn out anything at all. Usually at least half of the cake I have managed to get fine.

Hidden figures change but my favourite recipe stays the same, you can find it here.

For this cheesecake I used my lime cheesecake recipe except I replaced digestive cookies with Nice biscuits. On the top I placed slices of nectarine, kiwi and pineapple and some grapes and a passion fruit cut in half. I brushed the fruit with jelly and poured the rest of the jelly on the cake to cover any uncovered spots between the fruit. The sides I decorated with coconut flakes.

Cake #156 - Beetroot Cake

Wednesday Natural Ingredient / Healthy Cake - Beetroot Cake with Cream Cheese.

A naturally pink cake for Valentine's Day!

Base
400 g cooked and grated beetroot
400 ml plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
200  g butter, melted
4 eggs
300 ml golden caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla sugar

Topping
150 g cream cheese
3 tbsp caster sugar
(a few drops of beetroot juice)

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C / 380 F and grease and flour a 24 cm x 24 cm square cake pan.
2. Beat eggs and sugar until white and fluffy.
3. Mix together all dry ingredients.
4. Add the dry ingredients together with grated beetroot and melted butter to the egg and sugar mix.
5. Pour batter into the pan and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes.
6. When completely cool, remove from pan and spread cheese mix on top.

Cake #155 - Mud Cake

Tuesday Humour Cake - Mud Cake.

The medium is the message!

Sorry I took your chocolate. I needed it for this cake.

Mud Cake

100 g dark chocolate

200 g butter

150 g golden caster sugar

150 g soft dark brown sugar

150 ml milk

150 g self-raising flour

2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 175C / 350F and grease and flour a 23 cm spring-form pan.

2. Melt butter and chocolate and mix in both sugarsand stir until smooth.

3. Pour in milk.

4. Fold in flour and eggs.

5. Pour into pan and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes until a stick comes out slightly moist.

6. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes.

7. Write your special message on top of the cake with icing or white chocolate.

Cakes #153 and #154 - Monday Cakes

Monday Cakes 
#153 Apple and Yogurt Cake with Vanilla and Cinnamon
#154 Chocolate and Raspberry baked Mascarpone Cake with Raspberry Sauce

Apple and Yogurt Cake with Vanilla and Cinnamon

Base
100  g butter
100 ml granulated sugar
1 egg
250 ml plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

Filling
500 g natural yogurt
200 ml fresh cream
2 tbsp potato flour or corn flour
2 eggs
150 ml granulated sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1  tsp vanilla extract

3 apples, sliced thinly
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp granulated sugar

1. Pre-heat the oven to 175 C / 350 F and grease and flour a Ø 24 cm spring form pan.
2. Beat together butter and sugar.
3. Add egg and then the dry ingredients.
4. Spread the batter evenly on the pan.
5. Mix all ingredients together for the filling and pour on the base.
6. Place the apple slices on top and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on them.
7. Bake in the oven for about 45-50 minutes and let cool completely before removing from pan.

***

For the Chocolate and Raspberry baked Mascarpone Cake with Raspberry Sauce I used this recipe. I was originally looking for a recipe for a cake with mascarpone cheese in it. The recipe I used was for ricotta cheese but worked perfectly with mascarpone. A nice gooey cake and the raspberries made it even more delicious!

Cake #152 - Birthday Cake

Friends First Friday Cake - Birthday Cake.

I was ordered this cake for a Sweet 16 Party of two girls, for 50 people. Wow!

Chocolate cake was what they wanted and I also learned that both girls are very musical and love singing. That's why the notes Happy Birthday to You - and the cute little sugarpaste microphones and stereo which my daughter shaped.

The cake had been a success at the party so I can be happy! I wish I could make these cakes more often as it was a very inspirational challenge. And a learning experience, too - I piped the notes three times before I was just about satisfied with the result...

The 5+ kg cake filled and covered with chocolate before decorating it.

Cake #151 - Lemon Cat Cup Cake

Thursday Cat Theme Cake - Lemon Cat Cup Cake with Lemon Jam and Ice Cream.

No excuses. It was a hectic day and I nearly did not bake any cake at all as I rather do so than bake c**p. Then I remembered the very, very nice Nutella cake in a mug and I also remembered this cat mug warmer I knitted last year.

Again, I was amazed you can actually bake a yummy cake in a mug in the microwave within minutes after making the batter.

The recipe is from here. I did not make any sauce but instead, enjoyed the cake with lemon jam (lemon curd would have been better but I did not have any!) and vanilla ice cream. Good, good!

Cake #150 - Fruit and Nut Loaf

Wednesday Natural Ingredient / Healthy Cake - Dairy-Free Fruit and Nut Loaf of Dates, Apricots, Walnuts, Sunflower Seeds and Pumpkin Seeds.

Another brown cake. Pathetic. When I look at pictures of my cakes from the past week they all are brown and very dull-looking. Of course they are more colourful in real life! Like this one - the orange apricot really has a bright orange colour but in the picture it does not show up. Dull. Maybe I should change the background somehow. Or create more colourful cakes. After all, I am more a baker than a photographer.

The recipe for this cake is from here. I used sunflower oil instead of butter so therefore I can call it dairy-free. And I also used a little different fruit and nuts compared to the recipe - dates, dried apricots, walnuts, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds but otherwise followed the recipe carefully. Worth baking and works well as a morning boost, too!

Cake #149 - Ricecake Cake

Tuesday Humour Cake - Ricecake Cake, piled ricecakes with Peanut Butter and Nutella in-between and melted milk chocolate on top.

My daughter absolutely wanted to name the pile cake Holy Grail!.- And she wanted to take some to school for lunch as ricecakes are... ok to have in your lunchbox. Oh, well.

Cake #148 - Spicy Raisin Cake

Monday Mood Cake - Spicy Raisin Cake.

A little Christmassy aromas - but I do miss Christmas. And when it is cold and frosty outside, warm spices are a good way to create warmth. Comfort eating? Yes, that, too!

Spicy Raisin Cake
100 g raisins
150 ml buttermilk
3 eggs
150 ml granulated sugar
150 ml (dark) syrup
150 g butter, melted
450 ml plain flour
1,5 tsp bread soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger

1. Soak raisins in buttermilk for an hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 175C / 350F and grease and flour a 2-litre bundt cake pan.
3. Beat eggs and sugar until white and fluffy.

4. Fold in flour, spices and bread soda together with melted butter, syrup and the raisins with the buttermilk.

5. Pour into pan and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes.

6. Let cool a little before removing from pan.

7. Enjoy with a warm cuppa wearing your warmest woollen socks and maybe a hat, too?

Cake #147 - Revamped Banana Bread

Sunday Classic Cake - Revamped Banana Bread with Home-Made Caramel and Whipped Cream.

I think banana is one of the most versatile fruit to be used in baking. I tastes good the way it is but it goes well with various spices, too. Do not throw overripe bananas into the bin - rather throw them into the batter! Cakes, muffins, bread, cookies.

How about deep-fried bananas? This revamped banana bread and the caramel really remind me of deep-fried bananas. I wonder if we have any vanilla ice cream in the freezer...

Sponge
175 g soft  butter
150 g soft light brown sugar
2 bananas, very ripe, cut into small chunks
3 eggs
150 g self-raising flour
75 g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
50 ml natural yoghurt

Caramel
200 g soft light brown sugar

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160 C / 340 F and grease and flour a 2-litre square pan .
2. Then make the caramel by tipping the sugar into a frying pan, shaking it to an even layer.  and heating it gently until it melts. Once melted to a golden caramel, pour it onto a baking sheet and leave to cool, then smash into small pieces.
3. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add the bananas and beat in with the eggs, flour, almonds, baking powder and yoghurt until smooth.
5. Stir in 1/3 of the caramel and spoon into the pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes until the cake is golden and a skewer comes out clean. Let cool.

Decorate the cake with whipped cream and caramel pieces.

Cake #146 - Serrano Ham and Feta Cheese Ring

Savoury Saturday Cake - Serrano Ham and Feta Cheese Ring.

Make a small batch of your favourite pizza dough, roll it and cut it into 10-12 triangles. Place the triangles so that you form a circle in the middle. Fill each triangle with tomato puree, ham and cheese (I used serrano ham and feta), then lift each corner to cover the filling. Glaze with egg, sprinkle some poppy seeds on top and bake in the oven at 200 C / 400 F for about 15 minutes.

Try with puff pastry or even ready-to-bake croissants for a fast savoury snack!

Cake #145 - TGIF

Friends First Friday Cake - TGIF, Chocolate Cake with Marble Icing.

You cannot always succeed with the looks of your cake but TGIF!!!

Chocolate Sponge
175g self-raising flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp soda
150g caster sugar
2 large eggs
150 ml sunflower oil
150 ml milk
2 tbsp syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C/ 350 F and grease and flour a 1 kg loaf pan.
2. Sieve flour, cocoa and soda into a bowl. Add sugar and mix well.
3. Make a well in the centre and add syrup, eggs, oil and milk. Beat well until smooth.
4. Spoon the mixture into the pan and bake for 35-40 minutes until risen and firm to the touch. Remove from oven and leave to cool before spreading the icing.

Marble Icing
100 g butter
300 g icing sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
a drop of milk

50 g white chocolate, melted

1. Beat together all ingredients for the icing until smooth.
2. Spread the icing on the cake.
3. Pipe the melted white chocolate on the icing and mix a little to create a marble look.
4. Make some plain icing with icing sugar and a drop of water and write TGIF on the cake as the icing does not look good at all.

Cake #144 - Leopard Pancake

Thursday Cat Theme Cake - Leopard Pancake.

To be honest, this was meant to be a Leopard Swiss Roll. However, the cake got a bit too crispy to be rolled and it was too late in the evening and I was too tired to bake a new one, so I just cut the sheet into squares and we ate it like we would eat oven pancake - with jam and whipped cream. A happy end.

Leopard Pancake
4 eggs

2 dl / 3/4 cup sugar

1,5 dl / ½ cup plain flour
2 tbsp potato or corn flour
1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1. Preheat oven to 225C and line an oven tray with baking paper.

2. Beat eggs and sugar until white and airy.

3. Mix flours and baking powder and add to the egg-sugar mix.

4. Take 1/4 of the batter and mix the cocoa powder in it.

5. Spoon the white batter evenly on a baking tray and pipe brown circles with the brown batter.

6. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. 

Cake #143 - Chia Seed and Banana Cake

Wednesday Natural Ingredient / Healthy Cake - Chia Seed and Banana Cake.

Chia seeds? Chia - salvia hispanica.

I had seen bread with chia seeds in it, maybe even expensive bags of chia seeds in some of the healthy food stores, but I had really not been that interested. Another fashionable superfood brought to Europe all the way from Mexico to make us healthier and stronger. What. 

Then the other day I noticed that my daughter had bought a bag of chia seeds so I thought I could as well try them out. Not bad. Although I have to say the cake tasted a bit like nori (seaweed). I love sushi but the taste of nori and banana and sugar was not the best combination. Maybe it was something with my taste buds, so I do recommend trying it! Maybe in bread rather than sweet cakes if you ask my opinion.

Chia Seed and Banana Cake

500 ml plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp chia seeds
150 g butter, room temperature
250 ml granulated sugar
3 large eggs
3 medium bananas, mashed
1/2 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat the oven to 175 C / 350 F. Lightly grease and flour a Ø 24 cm cake pan.
2. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chia seeds.
3. In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy and beat in eggs one at a time.
4. Stir half of the dry mixture, followed by the banana and buttermilk. Stir in remaining flour mixture, stirring just until no streaks of dry ingredients remain and seeds are well-distributed throughout the cake.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
6. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
7. Allow cake to cool for about 15 minutes in the pan, then reinvert the cake on the wire rack to cool completely.

Cake #142 - Cup Cake

Tuesday Humour Cake - Cup Cake.

A Nutella cake baked in a cup in the microwave. This must be a joke? Nope. A very nice and gooey cake indeed. Takes less than 5 minutes from the beginning to the end. Who says baking is time-consuming?

There are dozens of recipes for similar cakes, some with very few ingredients. I used this one. 

Cake #141 - Gooey Potato Cake

Monday Mood Cake - Gooey Potato Cake, served with whipped cream and blackberry jam

Monday mood? Would love to be a couch potato for a day! [or two]

It is strange. Even when you would have a chance to spend a day as a couch potato you do not want to! So much going on. Worlds to be explored. New recipes to be tried. Like this one. 

Potato Cake in a Bundt Pan

3 medium-sized cooked potatoes, mashed (or if you have, leftover potato mash, about 250 ml)
150 ml plain flour
100 ml ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
75 g butter, melted
3 eggs
130 ml granulated sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 175 C / 350 F and grease and flour a 2-litre bundt cake pan.
2. Mash the cooked potatoes.
3. Mix together flour, ground almonds and baking powder.
4. Beat eggs and sugar until white and fluffy.
5. Fold carefully all ingredients together until you have a smooth batter.
6. Pour batter into the pan and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes. Let cool a little before removing from pan.
7. Serve cake with whipped cream or ice cream and jam.

Weekend Baking

Savoury Saturday Cake - Carrot and Cheese Loaf with Poppy Seeds.

I prepared the dough using the recipe for my Pizza Boston with 2 tbsp poppy seeds added in it. After the dough had risen I rolled it flat and spread the filling (150g Philadelphia cream cheese and 1 finely grated carrot) on it. Then I rolled it into a cylinder and placed it in a 1 kg greased loaf tin, let it rise another half an hour and then baked it in the oven at 200 C for about 40 minutes. The texture of the loaf was very nice and gooey although the filling did not come out evenly after baking.

Sunday Classic - Red Velvet Cake.

The recipe is from here. I absolutely love the smoothness which buttermilk gives to this cake!

Cake #138 - Je suis Charlie

Friends First Friday Cake - Je Suis Charlie.

For freedom of speech.

Pour la liberté d'expression.

Sananvapauden puolesta.

I made this cake using my Alexander Pastries recipe and I baked the cake in a Ø 24 cm springform pan. The icing is coloured with yellow food colouring and the text is black icing.

Midweek Mix

Wednesday Natural Ingredient / Healthy Cake - Lime and Ginger Cake.

You can find the recipe for this cake here. I left out the icing as I was craving for a simple and harmonic taste with no overflowing sugars so I just simply sieved some icing sugar on top.

Thursday Cat Theme Cake - Giant Cat Pulla.

I baked this using my basic pulla - sweet bun in Finnish, that is - recipe, see the recipe for my Boston Cake, for example. I added one handful of raisins into the dough but otherwise the filling is the same as in the Boston cake. I compiled the cat on an oven tray, glazed it with egg and baked it in 200C for about 25 minutes.

Thursday Extra - Tosca Cake (Swedish Caramel Almond Cake) with Whipped Cream.

You can find the recipe here. Instead of a round cake, I baked a square one, then cut it into two halves and filled the cake with whipped cream to make it more 'deluxe'.

Cake #134 - Gift

Epiphany Cake - Peppermint Brownie Surprise.

End of this Christmas season.

My daughter got the jar with cake ingredients for Christmas - 'just add 250 ml melted butter and 4 eggs' it said on the card. We could see there was peppermint crush and cocoa powder, but what would it turn out...

And it turned out excellent! Tasty, gooey, chocolaty - anything you can wish for!

Cake #133 - Oven Pancake

Monday Mood Cake - Oven Pancake.

Monday mood: Monday mood. The very Monday mood after holidays, to be exact. Too sleepy and too busy is a combination impossible.

For two trays you need:
1 l milk
4 eggs
500 ml plain flour
1 tsp salt
some butter for greasing the trays

1. Mix all ingredients together and let rest for a few minutes.
2. Line two baking trays with parchment and grease the parchment with butter. I usually throw a few spoonfuls of butter on the lined trays, put them into the oven for a minute or two and when the butter has melted, brush the melted butter evenly on the baking parchment before pouring the batter.
3. Bake in the oven at 225 C / 435 F for 15-20 minutes.
4. Cut into squares - pizza cutter or scissors are the best for this! - and serve with jam, peanut butter, whipped cream, Nutella, syrup...

Last Days of Holidays

Friends First Friday Cake - Carrot and Blueberry Cake with Apple and Pineapple.

First Friday having somebody special baking a cake for my challenge, in my kitchen. Today it was my daughter Saaga (12). In the future it may be... you?

The recipe for this cake is from here. Instead of zucchini, my daughter used grated apple and instead of raisins, fresh blueberries. Besides frosting, there is chopped walnut and pumpkin seeds on the cake.

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Savoury Saturday Cake - Gingerbread and Blue Cheese Cake.

I made this cake using my Lime Cheesecake recipe. The digestive cookies I replaced with gingerbread cookies. Sugar, vanilla and lime juice I naturally left out. The cheese I used was Cashel Cream Cheese. 

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Sunday Classic - Mudcake, with Orange Chocolate Ganache.

For the cake I used this recipe. Instead of milk chocolate, I melted dark orange crisp milk chocolate to make the ganache and saved a few pieces to be crushed on top.

Happy New Year!

Christmas cakes gone -  time to bake something new for New Year's and the days around New Year's.

Cake #127 - Maltesers Anti-Gravity Cake

Tuesday Humour Cake - Maltesers Anti-Gravity Cake

Maltesers Anti-Gravity Cake is a cake I had been planning to bake for ages. I had bought boxes of Maltesers a few times earlier - just to make this particular cake - but somehow the crispy chocolate balls had always disappeared into the kids' mouths. Now I was wise enough to hide the chocolates and also wise enough not to let the kids have any before covering the cake - as the cake did need them all - a 360 g box and a 120 g bag!

Again, I used this recipe to make the sponge (Ø 24 cm) which I then cut into two layers. The filling and covering is chocolate buttercream (200 g butter, 400 g icing sugar, 2 tbsp cocoa powder). Inside the upside down chocolate bag there is a wooden chopstick on which I 'glued' the anti-gravity Maltesers with the buttercream. Fairly easy as the 'glue' worked better than I would have expected. And I would certainly have made the pile a bit taller but I simply ran out of chocolates.

Cake #128 - Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Mousse

New Year's Eve Cake - Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Mousse

On New Year's Eve I found myself baking another Naughty Chocolate Cake sponge. What can I do - it is just so versatile and yummy. The consistency is excellent, too - gooey and moist which makes it is easy to cut and it does not crumble much, either.

The filling is raspberry mousse, see recipe for the Lime Cheesecake filling. Instead of lime juice I used raspberry juice and a few drops of red food colouring. The 2015 year numbers I piped with melted dark chocolate and sprinkled with coloured sugars, hundreds and thousands and little hearts.

Only sparkles were missing from this New Year's Eve cake. The ones we had were Monster ones - too tall to stick on the cake and too big to light indoors but the kids got to light them in the backyard at midnight.

Cake #129 - Vasilopita, Greek New Year's Cake

New Year's Day Cake - Vasilopita, Traditional Greek New Year's Cake

For New Year's Day I wanted to find a new recipe and preferable one with some tradition or idea behind. I simply googled for recipes and ended up baking Vasilopita, a traditional Greek New Year's (Day) Cake. 

You can find the recipe here. Instead of slivered almonds I used toasted flaked almonds. As you can see from the picture the cake was very moist in the middle but luckily it was not raw, squeezed rather (you know, the way fresh bread squeezes if you try to slice it when it is too hot). I baked the cake in a Ø24 cm pan (the recipe says 10"so roughly Ø25 cm) but I would recommend baking it in a Ø28-30 cm pan to make it not quite as tall and prevent the middle part squeezing and looking not-so-appealing.

Delicious it was! Not too sweet so goes well for brunch, too. Warm it up and eat with jam. Or with ice cream, or whipped cream. Or just plain.