Tag Archives: Vanilla

February 2nd, 2014

Nut cake

Category Cake & Pastry Tags: Cake, Chocolate, Egg, Nuss, Vanilla 10 Responses

Some recipes are just what they seemed to be. Like the “simple and delicious nut cake” recipe which I found on Alex’ Blog Foto e Fornelli. The picture was very tempting and I made a mental note to try the recipe as soon as possible. And when my mum called to ask if we want to meet spontaneously at the weekend, I had THE excuse to bake the cake.

It was a good idea to make this cake because everyone liked it very: moist, nutty and chocolaty is a mixture that never fails! A new favourite cake of our family!

Continue reading →

January 18th, 2014

Germknödel with sweet Starter

Category Cake & Pastry, Dessert, hand kneaded Tags: Hand kneaded, Poppy seeds, Sweet starter, Vanilla 14 Responses

I’m keep my little sweet starter which I created for baking pandoro in the fridge for nearly a month now. I feed him once a week with one part flour and half a part water and let him rise at 30°C for 3-4 hours, until its volume doubles. This keeps the starter very active, but slowly the acidity is coming back. And so I decided today to refresh him by feeding him three times every three hours (similar as described here), which removes the tangy taste.

But that left me with some very active sweet starter which I didn’t want to throw away. And so I mixed it with some flour, milk, eggyolk, butter and sugar to bake “Germknödel” . I needed some patient, because the dough took its time to rise, so I would advice to use 5g fresh yeast to speed up the process if you are a little bit in hurry! I steamed most of them, but cooked some in water as well. Both worked fine, but like always I prefer the steamed version!

The Germknödel have very good flavour with some complex notes due to the starter but without any acidic tones! A delicious dessert or (that what we do) great treat on a lazy saturday afternoon!

Continue reading →

December 29th, 2013

Pandoro (pure Sourdough)

Category Bread, Cake & Pastry, Christmas Cookies Tags: Butter, Egg, Sweet starter, Vanilla 27 Responses

Since I tasted Pandoro many years ago I’m madly in love with this cake/bread. I love the light crumb, the flaky crust and its taste of vanilla and butter.

Until now I baked two different recipes: The Pandoro from the sisters simili which I found on Chili und Ciabatta and the recipe from the SFBI, which Susan published on Wild Yeast. The Pandoro of the Simili-Sisters is a yeast based one, with the butter laminated into the dough, while the SFBI-Recipe uses both sourdough and yeast and the butter is kneaded into the dough.

This year I dared to create my own recipe, with laminated butter for a crumb that can divided into long strands. It is risen with the pure power of a sweet starter. Continue reading →

December 6th, 2013

Stollenkonfekt

Category Christmas Cookies Tags: Almonds, Candid lemon peel, Candid Orange peel, Cardamom, Christstollen, Cinnamon, only with yeast, Raisins, Vanilla 58 Responses

Stollenkonfekt – this is Christstollen baked as little bits. I saw it often in the last weeks in the supermarket. And I thought “I can do some of this delicious bits by my own!” This was the beginning of this recipe. I made some adjustments in my favourite Christstollen recipe, increasing the amount of water roux to prevent drying out in the oven and cutting the marzipan into the small cubes. I halve the recipe so it will yield one tray of Stollenkonfekt.

And because the Stollenkonfekt is so small, no one will recognise when you taste one or two still oven warm. They then already delicious, moist and fluffy. That makes it even harder to wait the one or two weeks of rest a stollen needs so the different flavours can infuse and melt together. But the taste is worth the patience. The crumb gets denser during that time and stays incredible moist. A perfect little bit of stollen in a size which fits on every christmas cookie plate.

Continue reading →

July 28th, 2013

Coconut chocolate bar

Category Cake & Pastry Tags: Chocolate, Kokos, Vanilla 4 Responses

At the moment I’m couch bound. A horse fly bite on my knee inflamed badly during this weekend, sending me with fever to the hospital. The good thing is that on Sunday mornings only few people are waiting in the emergency department and so I get my antibiotics quite fast. But the rest of the day I have to cool my painful leg and walk as less as possible. That is so boring! And so it is very good that I remembered some blog post I wanted to finish since a while.

Like this recipe for coconut chocolate bars, which I made for my favourite colleague as little “thank you” some weeks ago. I found the recipe over at Paule , who got it from Gourmandises végétariennes. The original recipe stems from a Alnatura contest but is not online anymore.

I stick nearly completely to the recipe, only replacing the rice milk with coconut milk, because I decided the more coconut flavour is in the bar the better it is!

They are perfect for hot summerdays, refreshing when served out of the fridge and so delicious, that you will need to hide the box!

Continue reading →

June 22nd, 2013

Rhubarb Syrup and Lemonade

Category Drinks Tags: Rhababer, Vanilla 4 Responses

One last recipe before the rhurbarb season is coming to an end…

In the last days summer shortly decided to turn on the heat, changing from 12°C at the weekend to 37°C during the week. When I come home after work, I’m always feeling very warm after a one hour ride in a train without air-condition. And so I started to prepare a elderflower lemonade similar to Virgin Hugo each evening and kept it in the fridge during the day. When I come home, it is well infused and refreshing cool.

But a girl needs a little bit of adventure in her life and everyday elderflower lemonade gets boring sooner or later. And that’s why I did not hesitated when I came across rhubarb in the supermarket this week. I made rhubarb syrup out of it and then used it to mix Lemonade. And this is very delicious, too. Not to sweet and not to sour, with a hint of vanilla. I’m now prepared for the next hot days!

Continue reading →

May 9th, 2013

Curd Mousse

Category Dessert Tags: Curd, Orange, Rhababer, Vanilla 2 Responses

I liked to use second part of my oven roasted rhubarb in a delicious way, too. And when I saw the Curd-Mousse, that Micha made, I was instantly in love. Micha found the recipe on Verenas Blog Schlammdackel, and Verena found it at Living at home. In the original recipe, the Mousse was made with sea buckthorn berries, but Micha used strawberries instead. I like strawberries as well but the fact that I’m allergic against them made it necessary to change the recipe.

To cut a long story short: I made the Mousse with oven roasted rhubarb instead of buchthorn berries or strawberries. And that tasted great, too.

I think this Mousse is a great basic for a lot of different fruits. I can not wait to try it with some fresh blueberries, or raspberries, or…

Continue reading →

May 4th, 2013

Oven roasted Rhubarb

Category Dessert Tags: Rhababer, Vanilla 12 Responses

Opinions are divided over Rhubarb. Some dislike this sour vegetable very much, other – like me – love it. I love to drink Rhubarb Schorle in the summer or eat rhubarb in cakes, with pancakes or – really simple – as compote.

The oven roasted rhubarb I made two times last year: one time as a filling for cream puffs and one time for Rhubarb Napoleons. Both times I was completely stunned by the taste of the compote.

During roasting in the oven, the rhubarb develops a deep caramel flavour which is nicely underlined by the vanilla flavour while the tart taste is well balanced with sugar.

This time I served it only with some whipped cream, a simple but perfect dessert for spring!

Continue reading →

April 7th, 2013

White Chocolate Muffins with Vanilla and Cardamom

Category Cake & Pastry Tags: Cardamom, Vanilla, White Chocolate No Responses

When we need a cake which can easily transported in a box, I tend to bake Muffins. And so I suggest Muffins when I talk with my sister about her birthday, too. She like the idea of Muffins but had no clue what kind she would like to have and so she announced that whatever I bring would be delicious.

And so I opened my pantry and looked through my baking ingredients on search for inspiration. Finally I saw in my chocolate box half a bar of white chocolate, a leftover from the Christmas baking.

Immediately a recipe starts to form in my brain: muffins with molten white chocolate, a hint of vanilla and cardamom….

And that’s what I bake then: White Chocolate Muffins, flavoured with vanilla and freshly grounded cardamom. A easy and yet so delicious treat!

Continue reading →

December 19th, 2012

Chocolate & Spice Almonds

Category Christmas Cookies, Presents from the kitchen Tags: Allspice, Almonds, Cardamom, Cinnamon, clove, Geschenke aus der Küche, Sternanis, Vanilla 13 Responses

Christmas eve is now near. And the nearer this day comes the more I enjoy the fragrance of almonds, cinnamon, vanilla, clove and other spices. And when I read a recipe for Chocolate Almonds I knew instantly that I has to try this recipe. But – and I knew this instantly, too – that I would have to make spiced chocolate almonds, with cinnamon, cardamom and vanilla – just like the delicious chocolate almonds that you can buy at this time of the year.

They are not very complicated to make but to coat them with chocolate needs some time. The chocolate is added in small increments and then the almonds have to be stirred until the chocolate sets. And then the next increment of chocolate is added… And that repeatedly until the almonds are covered with a thick layer of chocolate. It is a similar principal as dipping candles.

When the almonds are done you have to find a save spot hide the almonds, otherwise small or big christmas mice will eat them

Continue reading →