Cake #41 - Strawberry Raw Cake

Wednesday Natural Ingredient / Healthy Cake - Strawberry Raw Cake.

I  have recently seen [in Facebook, that is] a lot of pictures of various raw cakes my friends have enjoyed around the world. The cakes have looked good and interesting and finally I decided to see and test what a raw cake is all about.

Gluten-free. Dairy-free. Mainly vegan (I had never thought that honey is not vegan, to be honest). Nuts. Berries. Coconut Oil. Quite rich with calories but definitely healthy and made of uncooked natural ingredients.

I read through dozens of recipes and because none of them quite matched with what I had in mind nor what ingredients I had in the cupboard, I decided to create my own - a simplified raw cake, kind of. It did turn out great - fresh, smooth and very tasty! And now I am eager to try more raw cakes! Raw carrot cake sounds delicious, doesn't it?

Strawberry Raw Cake

Base

150 g cashew nuts

150 g raisins

3 tbsp coconut oil

Filling

250 g fresh (ripe and sweet!) strawberries

200 g ground almonds

100 ml coconut oil

4 tbsp honey

1. For the base, put all ingredients in a blender and mix until the raisins and nuts are broken into very small pieces (the mixture does not need to be smooth). 

2. Spread the filling into a springform pan with the base lined with baking parchment.

3. Put in the freezer while making the filling.

4. For the filling, put all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth. 

5. Pour on top of the base and put the cake in the freezer for about an hour to set. It is not meant to freeze.

6. Decorate with fresh strawberries and mint leaves and refrigerate any leftovers immediately as the cake will quickly loose its firm consistency in room temperature.

Cake #40 - Salami

Tuesday Humour Cake - Salami.

Strictly speaking, this is not a humour cake after all, but a serious Southern European style chocolate dessert. It just happened to fit perfectly in my not-so-serious series of humour cakes.

Strictly speaking, humour cakes may get you in trouble. I was just in time in the kitchen when my daughter got home from work hungry and nearly grabbed this sweet salami stick she saw in the fridge to put on her toast.

Strictly speaking, this is the way it has to go. Things are not always what they look like and then you just need to decide if you take it or leave it. If it is not hazardous for your health or life-threatening, I would say take it!

Chocolate salami tastes great on a toast!

Chocolate Salami

150 g Digestive cookies

100 ml cocoa powder

200 g soft butter

100 ml cream

150 g dark or milk chocolate, melted

100 g cashew nuts (or other blanched nuts) chopped

(1 tsp red food colouring)

1. Break cookies into small pieces

2. Add cocoa powder and mix together.

3. Add soft butter, melted chocolate and cream. Mix well. 

4.Add chopped cashew nut into the mixture.

5. Shape the mixture into the shape of a log and wrap it tightly with clingfilm.

6. Refrigerate the salami for a few hours (or freeze a shorter time) until it hardens. 

7. Dust with icing sugar before slicing the salami.

Cake #39 - Angel Food Cake

Monday Mood Cake - Angel Food Cake for feeling light-hearted. 

Every now and then I just deliberately want to forget all stress and worries and duties for a day. Breathe. Smile. Dance. Make faces and goof around in a good way! For one day. It does not mean that I would pretend to be happy forever and ever, nor does it mean everything is grand. I just set my mind to joy and act that way. For one day. 

Monday was one of those days. A busy weekend behind and a dentist appointment the following day but no urgent duties, worries or stress on that particular day. So I breathed, smiled and even danced. I made faces with the kids and goofed around. Of course I acted like an adult and a parent, of course I took care of my responsibilities. I just stopped worrying for a day. And there is nothing false with that!

I used to hate this song in the 80's and I still do but this is it. Don't worry, be happy. For one day try to feel as light-hearted as you can. 

The recipe for the Angel Food Cake can be found here. I did not use almond extract myself, otherwise I followed the recipe as I had never made an angel food cake before. If you do not have cream of tartar, you can substitute it with lemon juice (1 tsp cream of tartar = 2 tsp lemon juice). I do not own a real angel food cake pan but a regular bundt pan worked out great and the cake turned out delicious!

Cake #38 - Tarte Tatin

Sunday Classic Cake - Tarte Tatin.

Strictly speaking, Tarte Tatin may not be a cake but a tart. However, it is often called an upside-down cake. And in Wikipedia it is listed as a cake so let me stick to that and tell you about this memorable cake baking session when I nearly set my oven in fire.

I had bought some gorgeous cooking apples to be used for baking. Tarte Tatin had been on my 'should try this' -list for some time and a rainy and grey Sunday seemed like a perfect day for this autumny cake. The only thing that was missing was a proper pan suitable for both caramelising sugar and baking the cake. Clever as I am, I thought I would do well if I just caramelised the sugar on a frying pan and then poured it into the cake pan - which happened to be a springform pan. Yep, yep.

So I did caramelise the sugar on a frying pan and poured it into the cake pan. I placed the apple slices neatly in the pan, too, and put the pan into the hot oven. A few minutes later I saw black smoke coming out the oven as the caramelised sugar was leaking out of the springform pan and turning black on the bottom of the oven. No flames, though. 

After all drama, the cake turned out superyummy and there will be plenty of Tarte Tatins in the near future. Baked in a proper pan, though!

***

Later in the evening I was scraping the oven and got black ash all over myself and the kitchen. The Husband was at the same time flying to the UK to his business meeting. 

Avoid ash clouds at home - step onto an airplane!

Tarte Tatin

Pastry

400 ml plain flour

200 g butter

200 ml icing sugar

3 egg yolks

Filling

5 big apples, I used Bramley cooking apples

50 ml lemon juice

150 ml sugar

100 g butter

1. Preheat the oven to 250 C/ 500 F.

2. Mix flour, cold butter and icing sugar until crumbs. 

3. Add egg yolks and mix well.

4. Form a ball of the dough, wrap it in clingfilm and put in the fridge for at least an hour.

5. Peel and cut the apples into slices and squeeze the lemon juice over.

6. Caramelise 100 ml of the sugar on a hot pan.

7. Place the apple slices on top of the caramelised sugar, sprinkle the rest of the sugar and the butter on top. 

8. Bake in the oven until the apples have softened a bit, about 10 minutes.

9. Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll into a circle of the size of your pan. 

10. Place the pastry on top of the apples and put back into the oven.

11. Turn the heat down to 220 C /425 F and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

12. Let cool a few minutes.

13. Take a serving plate and carefully flip the cake pan and the plate so that the pan is on top, then lift off the pan. 

14. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Cake #37 - Sausage Cake

Savoury Saturday Cake - Sausage Cake.

First time during 36 days I nearly decided to skip a cake. Behind I had a day full of action, that was, decorating cakes at my daughter's birthday party, and a massive lack of sleep - and more sleep loss expected as three of my daughter's friends were staying for a sleepover after the party. Our living room was already conquered by these pre-teens and their air beds so sofa and X Factor in quiet and peace was not a choice for me. 

To the kitchen I went, started listening to some inspirational music and googled for a recipe for a savoury cake, preferably with sausages in it as we had lots of leftover sausages from the birthday party. 

It is amazing how exhaustion can vanish just like that when you start doing something you are passionate about!

I found this simple recipe and used it with a few alterations. I chopped the cooked sausages we had into little cubes. I did not add any onion or sage, and I used Mozzarella instead of Cheddar.  Easy and fast! Something to be enjoyed for breakfast or brunch the following morning and The Husband just loved it, too!

I think this recipe would be worth trying with a full Irish breakfast as filling. To be seen in the near future. With or without black pudding, that is the question.

Cake #36 - Party Cakes

Friends First Friday Cake - Party Cakes!

For my wonderfully crazy daughter and her wonderfully crazy friends.

My younger daughter who turned 12 years a couple of weeks ago wanted to have a birthday party after all. Happy Mommy! At first she just said coffee at Starbucks with a few friends would be enough at her age. I am so happy she changed her mind. Proper party with a bouncy castle, fourteen guests and gorgeous weather! What could anybody ask for more.  More sleep for me, yes, as I was baking the cakes until 2 a.m. but, hey, YOLO! [LOL]

I baked 20 little sponges just to make sure we would have enough. Only one cake fell onto the floor by one of the guests when she was decorating it and the rest of the cakes we decorated and ate ourselves later on. 

My recipe was a very basic one: per cake 3 eggs and 150 ml sugar beaten and then 150 ml plain flour and 1/4 tsp baking powder added to the foam. I had four pans of Ø 15cm in use as four pans I was able to fit in the oven at the same time. That phase was quite boring, to be honest. Especially after midnight.



To fill and decorate the cakes we had raspberry jam, strawberry jam, home-made caramel sauce, home-made vanilla creme, whipped cream, plain buttercream icing, buttercream icing coloured blue, buttercream icing coloured purple, red and yellow icing in piping bottles, fresh blueberries, fresh mint leaves, M&M's, sprinkles and mini marshmallows. 

I had three girls at a time decorating their cakes. I just showed what we had and what the ingredients could be used for and then let them design and implement their designs.

And they all did a great job! No messing around but serious business with a smile on each and everyone's face. Creativity. Inspiration. Yes, perspiration, too. Fulfillment. Joy. Laughter. Fun!! YOLO!

Do try this at home!

The total for all ingredients was about 3€/cake which I think is very reasonable. Instead of a goodie bag you take home a cake you have made yourself and can be proud of.

A few of the girls said they had never decorated a cake in their lives and a few said they are never allowed to cook or bake at home. What? Seriously?

I do not mind busy moms serving beans and toast for dinner. And I kind of understand how busy moms buy cupcakes from the shop to take to the school bake sale. But I do not understand if they never-ever let their child cook, bake or decorate a cake at home. Even once. Please! 

Cake #35 - The Paw

Thursday Cat Theme Cake - The Paw.

They say cats leave pawprints on your heart. Nowadays they seem to leave them in shops, too. 

They also say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. 

So if I bake a pawprint cake for The Husband and he eats the cake, on his heart there will be a pawprint so powerful that he will insist getting a little kitten in the house right now. Right?

The kitten's way to the house is through the man's stomach. 

Women's logic is flawless!


The Paw

Sponge
See the recipe for Victoria Sandwich.

Caramel Sauce

500 ml fresh cream

250 ml dark brown sugar

250 ml (golden caster) sugar

3 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.

Pink Sugar Paste

Icing sugar for rolling