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.

Cake #126 - Revamped Banoffee

Monday Mood Cake - Revamped Banoffee.

Revamped Banoffee

200 g Digestive Cookies, crumbed
100 g butter, melted
Can of caramel sauce
4 bananas
500 ml  fresh cream, whipped

1. Mix the digestive cookie crumbs and melted butter together.  Press half of the mixture straight on the serving plate, 
2. Spread half of the caramel sauce on top of the base.
3. Slice two bananas and place on the cake.
4. Whip the cream and pipe half of it to cover the bananas.
5. Gently place another layer of digestive cookie and butter mix on top of the cream and then a second layer of bananas.
5. Last, pipe neatly cream on top and sprinkle the rest of the cookie crumbs on the cream.
6. Serve immediately. Do not refrigerate more than a couple of hours as the bananas start turning black quickly.

My Christmas Cakes

#122 - Traditional Fruit Cake

#123 - Date Deluxe with Golden Icing, Fresh Figs and Cranberries

#124 - Almondy White Chocolate Cake

#125 - Prune and Brandy Cream Cake

Traditional Fruit Cake

300 g butter

200 ml granulated sugar

200  ml soft brown sugar

4 eggs

600 ml flour

2 tsp baking powder

150 ml cream

300 g mixed fruit

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

2. Combine dried fruit, flour and baking powder in a bowl.

3. Cream together butter and sugar.

4. Mix in eggs.

5. Add the dry ingredients together and the cream and mix well.

6. Pour the dough into the cake pan and bake the cake in the oven for 50-60 minutes. 

7. Let the cake cool on a rack before removing from the pan.

***

Date Deluxe

I baked the cake using my traditional Date Cake recipe. The icing is just icing sugar mixed with water and after it was set I sprayed some gold on top (Dr Oetker Shimmer Spray). I decorated the cake with fresh figs and a few cranberries to give it more colour.

***

Almondy White Chocolate Cake

Base
150 g white chocolate
150 g butter
150 ml caster sugar
4 egg yolks
100 ml ground almonds
150 ml plain flour
100 ml cornflour
2 tsp baking powder
4 egg whites

Filling
300 g cherry jam

Icing
200 g white chocolate
50 g butter

50 g almond crunch

1. Melt chocolate and let cool a little.
2. Cream together butter and sugar.
3. Add egg yolks one at a time and mix well.
4. Add all the dry ingredients and the melted chocolate.
5. Beat egg whites until stiff.
6. Fold the egg whites into the dough carefully.
7. Pour the dough into a Ø 20 cm cake pan and bake in the oven at 175 C / 350 F for about 45 minutes.

8. When the cake has cooled down, cut it into three layers.
9. Spread jam on each layer.
10. Melt chocolate and butter and spread evenly on cake.

11. Sprinkle almond crunch on the sides of the cake.
12. Let the cake set in the fridge a few hours or overnight before serving.

***

Prune and Brandy Cream Cake

Sponge
4 eggs
300 ml granulated sugar
300 g butter, melted
400 ml plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
100 ml fresh cream

Filling

500 g dried prunes

200 ml sugar

200 ml water (add more if needed)

500 ml brandy cream

or

500 ml fresh cream

1 tbsp brandy

1. Preheat oven to 175 C / 350 F 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 and cream.

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

5. While the cake is in the oven, cook the prunes and sugar with some water until the prunes are soft. Use a blender if needed. The jam does not need to be completely smooth. Let cool.

6. Let the sponge cool a little before removing from pan.

7. Cut the sponge into three layers and moist both with Sprite or sugar water.

8. Spread some prune jam and whipped cream onto each layer.

9. After filling and compiling the cake, spread a thick layer of jam on the top and pipe cream neatly on the sides.

10. Let the cake set in the fridge at least for a couple of hours or overnight before serving.

Cake #121 - Mozzarella Brunch Cake

Savoury Saturday Cake - Mozzarella Brunch Cake.

Another simple cake for Sunday brunch, to be served with colourful tomatoes and fried bacon.

Mozzarella Brunch Cake

200 g grated Mozzarella cheese
3 eggs, lightly beaten
400 ml plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
250 ml cup milk
100 ml mayonnaise

1. Preheat oven to 175 C / 350 F.
2. Grease and flour a Ø 28 cm cake pan.
3. Mix all ingredients together and pour into pan.
4. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and solid inside.
5. Serve warm with fried bacon and salad.

Cake #120 - Oreo Chocolate Cake

Friends First Friday Cake - Oreo Chocolate Cake.

For the Christmas season, holidays and family time. Movies, board games and - cakes!

I used this recipe for the sponge except I replaced the oil with melted butter. The chocolate covering came from a tin of Nestle Carnation Chocolate Filling and Topping [shame on me]. My son (9) decorated the cake with Oreo cookies. And very yummy it was! Kind of minimum effort so to say but sometimes you need to take the easy path.

Cake #119 - Xmas Cat Bauble

Thursday Cat Theme Cake - Xmas Cat Bauble.

This cat cake was a surprise gift to somebody who likes strawberry jam (I have heard), cats (I have seen a picture of him with a cat) and my cakes or at least pictures of them (I know).

The cake itself is a white sponge, filled with strawberry jam and covered with icing. The little cat is made of sugar paste, the text is red-coloured icing,

Cake #118 - Spicy Apple Pancake

Wednesday Natural Ingredient / Healthy Cake - Spicy Apple Pancake with Vanilla Sauce and Mint.

A great snack or dessert!

Spicy Apple Pancake
3 eggs
300 ml milk
1 tsp baking powder
200 ml plain flour
½ tsp salt

2 big cooking apples, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
50 g butter

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C / 390 F.
2. Grease a Ø 28 cm cake pan and place the apple slices on the pan. Sprinkle sugar and spices on the apple slices and the rest of the butter.
3. Bake the apples in the oven for 10 minutes while you make the batter.
4. For the batter mix all ingredients together and beat well to make it smooth.
5. The take pan out the oven and pour the batter over the apples. Place the pan back into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.
6. Serve warm with home-made vanilla creme.