Cake #62 - Carrot and Coconut Cake

Wednesday Natural Ingredient / Healthy Cake - Carrot and Coconut Cake.

When you think about cakes made of natural ingredients, at some point you have to make a carrot cake. Despite of the fact that only rabbits eat carrots, like my younger son said at the age of four. 

After that he has eaten carrots, though. Fresh carrots in his school lunchbox and carrot sticks dipped into a blue cheese dip at dinner. But he does not eat carrot cake. No idea why. Is it because I once made a carrot cake which was quite spicy? Or is it simply because mixing healthy snacks with sweet treats would be suspicious? Like an evil plot - you think you are eating a lovely cake but actually you are eating a healthy vegetable disguised as a cake? 

Carrot and Coconut Cake

3 eggs

250 ml sunflower oil

500 ml plain flour

500 ml granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 tsp vanilla sugar

200 ml dessicated coconut

200 ml chopped nuts

500 ml finely grated carrots (about 3 to 4 medium carrots)

100 ml creme fraiche

1. Preheat oven to 175 C / 350 F and grease and flour a 2-litre bundt cake pan.

2. Mix together eggs and sunflower oil.

3. In another bowl, mix together all dry ingredients.

4. Beat all together and fold in grated carrots and creme fraiche.

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

6. Let the cake cool and sieve some icing sugar on before serving.

Cake #61 - LOL

Tuesday Humour Cake - LOL.

Time to bake another funny cake, OMG... WTF could I bake?

JK, of course I have a plan. (TBH, I do not have a plan.)

BTW, what did I bake last week?

IRL, I am just about to bake my cake now... so GTG.

And remember - BFF!!!

You can find the recipe (which I have used several times already but IDC) from here.

Cake #60 - Raspberry Mascarpone Cake

Monday Mood Cake - Raspberry Mascarpone Cake.

"I'm in the mood for love...."

Raspberry Mascarpone Cake

Base
2 large eggs
100 ml granulated sugar
150 ml self-raising flour
50 g butter, melted
25 ml cream
1 tsp red food colouring

Filling
150 g Mascarpone Cheese
3 eggs
50 ml cream
100 ml granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
125 g raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 175C / 350F and grease and flour a Ø 23 cm cake pan.

2. Beat eggs and sugar until white and fluffy.

3. Fold in flour together with melted butter, cream and food colouring.

4. Pour into pan and bake in the oven for 15  minutes.

5. Mix together all ingredients for the filling and pour on the cake base.

6. Put the cake back in the oven and bake another 15-20 minutes until the filling is set.

Cake #59 - Mud Cake

Sunday Classic Cake - Mud Cake with Pomegranate Seeds.

“Happiness. Simple as a glass of chocolate or tortuous as the heart. Bitter. Sweet. Alive.” 

― Joanne Harris, Chocolat

Chocolat is a marvellous movie! Not only does it bring together Johnny Depp and chocolate but is also a brilliant story. If you feel dull on a Sunday, bake a chocolate cake and sit down to watch Chocolat. 

Recipe is from here. I did not make any ganache but sprinkled some pomegranate juice on top of the cake, then dusted it with icing sugar and decorated with pomegranate seeds. The cake was served with vanilla ice cream while watching Chocolat for the 109th time (or so).

Cake #58 - Goat Cheese and Parma Ham Cake

Savoury Saturday Cake - Goat Cheese and Parma Ham Cake with Black Olives and Ramiro Peppers.

Perfect Saturday lunch cake. For the family, that is. Was.

I had planned to go shopping on Saturday so I thought I would be smart and make lunch aka my daily cake before going. So I did bake a cake. I tasted a tiny piece of the cake to check if it was good. It was. So off I went. When I came back I was super hungry because I only had had a small latte in Starbucks. And the tiny piece of cake before I left. But there was no cake left. There was no cake left. Two of them say they had never liked goat cheese until now. So I guess I should be happy? I should be happy there was no cake left for me?

Goat Cheese and Parma Ham Cake

Dough
300 ml lukewarm water
25 g fresh yeast (or 7 g fast action dry yeast)
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
800-900 ml strong white flour
50 ml olive oil

Filling
150 g goat cheese
100 g parma ham
100 g black olives
2 Ramiro peppers
oregano, basil and black pepper
olive oil
fresh basil to decorate

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water.

2. Add salt and sugar and mix well.

3. Start adding flour gradually.

4. After you have kneaded in about half of the flour, add olive oil.

5. Knead in more flour until your dough is not sticky any more but still soft. 

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

7. Preheat the oven to 175 C / 350 F.

9. Oil a Ø 30 cm cake pan.

10. Divide the dough into two and roll both into pan-size discs.

11. Put first layer into the oiled and place half of the fillings on top.

12. Place the second layer on top of the first layer and the rest of the fillings on top of that.

13. Drizzle some olive oil on the cake and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.

14. Enjoy while still warm.

Cake #57 - Pink Ribbon

Friends First Friday Cake - Pink Ribbon.

This cake is for breast cancer awareness and you, my friends, whose lives breast cancer has affected. I wish you well, I wish you strength! 

October is breast cancer awareness month in Ireland and world-wide, too,  and the Pink Ribbon is its symbol. Therefore this cake.

I made a basic sponge (same recipe I used for example for the Victoria Sandwich), which I filled with whipped cream and strawberries. The icing is white chocolate with some yellow and light brown food colouring and the decorations are made of pink sugar paste.

Cake #56 - Cat Pancakes

Thursday Cat Theme Cake - Cat Pancakes.

I saw this video a while ago and thought why not try making some cat pancakes...

Once you get going, it is not that difficult to make cat shapes just using a piping bottle. To get more detailed faces I would definitely need a better pancake pan and more practice with the hob and temperatures. I also learned that the batter should rather be runny than thick and the piping nozzle rather small than big.

How about a pancake selfie next time?

My Pancake Batter

500 ml milk
3 eggs
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
200 ml plain flour
3 tbsp melted butter

Mix all ingredients together and let the batter set for about half an hour before frying your pancakes.