TWD: Fold-Over Pear Torte - One Sentence Post

Cakelaw of Laws of the Kitchen selected Fold-Over Pear Torte on pages 348 and 349 for this weeks Tuesdays With Dorie, this one was a huge hit all around: at work, with my dad and with my friend!

FFwD - Gerard’s Mustard Tart - One Sentence Post

This is my first recipe for this new and exciting group: French Fridays with Dorie and it was Gerards Mustard Tart which I absolutely loved, as will probably everyone that likes mustard although I must say trying to cheat with storebought tart dough wasn't the best idea I had today since I mistakenly bought sweet tart dough and I also accidentally left the tart in the oven a tad too long; the recipe can be found in Dorie's new book Around My French Table, don't forget to check out what everyone else thought of this tart here....

One day late - TWD: Tarte Fine

This weeks recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie was picked by Leslie of Lethally Delicious. It was extremely easy and quick to make. I made the 'Playing Around'-version and also added some cinnamon to the apples: it was delicious!!!

Four weeks ago I started going back to college/university: I'll be studying to get my Bachelor in Communication and am so glad that I made the decision to go back to school. However, this does mean that I will barely have spare time left as I work full-time, attend classes two nights a week and have to study.

I do want to keep baking and cooking things, but know that I won't be able to write lengthy posts. Therefor as long as I have classes my posts will be pics and 'One Sentence Posts'. When I do have time (e.g. during school holidays) I will try to write longer posts.

TWD: No Chewy, Chunky Blondies - instead: Lots of Ways Banana (Cup) Cakes

Frustration sums up my experience with the Chewy, Chunky Blondies that Nicole of Cookies on Friday picked for this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie..... I tried Nicole, I really did: I baked the blondies twice, unfortunately both times I ended up with undercooked blondies when they did test done!! Frustrated by wasting two batches of great ingredients (my add-ins were pecan, chocolate and coconut) and the tropical heat in my kitchen I finally gave up. Please check out what my fellow TWD-ers thought of the Chewy, Chunky Blondies here, the recipe is posted at Nicole's blog!

Last week Kimberly of Only Creative Opportunities picked the Lots of Ways Banana Cake. It's called that way because you can basically put whatever you feel like into this cake and it will still turn out amazing.

I actually baked these on time but totally forgot to blog about them because I was too busy planning my upcoming trip to Paris with my mom. I only had 2 bananas, so I made half the recipes and turned the cake into cupcakes. I used coconut milk instead of sour cream and my add-ins were shredded coconut and mini-chocolate chips. The cupcakes went into the oven for 20 minutes on 350 degrees Fahrenheit, half the recipe yielded 18 cupcakes. I simply dusted the tops of the cupcakes with confectioners sugar and added a little bit of cocoa for contrast.

Two cupcakes were devoured by my parents, two I ate myself, six I gave away to my parents neighbours and four of them found their way to Amsterdam where my dad and brother finished them of. Everyone really liked them and noticed how crumbly, yet moist these were. Both the banana and the coconut flavour were quite subtle. I will be baking these again, in fact: there are six ripe bananas waiting for me in the kitchen right now!!! Go here to check out what my fellow TWD-ers thought of the Banana Cake, the recipe can be found at Kimberly's blog.

P.S. Check out my $70 CSN gift card giveaway: deadline is Thursday July 29th, midnight CET!

TWD: Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes

This weeks recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie was super easy and very tasty: two thumbs up!! The Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes were picked by Wendy of Pink Stripes.

I took the cake to work and forgot to take pictures when I set them up, so by the time I finally remembered that I still had to photograph the cake there was only half a slice left!!

The only problem I had with this cake: there wasn't enough of it!!! I should have never halved the recipe!!

The recipe can found over at Pink Stripes. Go visit the LYL to see what my fellow TWD-ers thought of the Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes.

Asparagus Tomato Goat Cheese Puff Pastry Tart

This Saturday I picked up some more green asparagus at the market, I love asparagus season: just can't get enough of them!! The other day I didn't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen, but I also didn't feel like ordering fast food. So I had a look at my fridge/freezer and decided to play with what I had on hand.

The oven was preheated to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. I thawed some puff pastry sheets and rolled them out, I then scored a line about 1/2 inch from the edges of the puff pastry to get a nice rim after baking. Two tablespoons of pesto were spread onto the center of the puff pastry and then topped with halved cherry tomatoes (9 whole, 12 half tomatoes). This was baked for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile I washed 400 grams of asparagus and used pencil-thin ones, if they were thicker I halved them length-wise. I layered these on top of the puff pastry and sprinkled some salt and pepper over them. I topped the asparagus with slices of soft goat cheese and popped the tart back into the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes until the edges of the puff pastry is golden.

Doesn't it look delicious???

Here's a close-up for you!! Yum!! Serve this tart with a nice salad and it'll serve two.

Enjoy!!

Rhubarb Upside-Down Buttermilk Cakelets

I've done it again.... I've joined another group: Have the Cake. Every month one of the members picks a recipe for a cake, cookie, cracker, pie, bar, biscuit or brownie. Everyone can make it as is or put their own spin on it. You have the whole month to complete it and when you are done, you post your baking experience on your blog and on Have the Cake's blog! Each participant gets to pick a recipe for an assigned month and it should be something they've never made before. This month it was Gerri's turn to pick a recipe, she choose Buttermilk Cake for our May Challenge.

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• Last Saturday I went to the market and bought 2 kilos of rhubarb, with the intention to use part of it for this challenge. I happened upon this wonderful Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake and decided to adapt it by subbing the milk with buttermilk, however I forgot to buy buttermilk. So I used the advice Gerrie gave us and made my own buttermilk by adding one tablespoon of lemon juice to one cup of milk and let it sit for 10 minutes until it clabbers. I used my non-stick 6 hole-baking pan for buns, fairy cakes, muffins & yorkshire puddings. Doesn't that cake look nice and fluffy?
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• Rhubarb Upside-Down Cakelets
• makes 12 3-inch cakelets
• recipe adapted from Taste of Home
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• Ingredients
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2-1/4 cups diced fresh or frozen rhubarb
• 4-1/2 teaspoons sugar
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• Batter:
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• Whipped cream, optional
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• Directions
• Butter the baking pan and line the bottom of each individual hole with parchment, butter the parchment. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and butter. Spread into the baking pan. Layer with rhubarb; sprinkle with sugar. Set aside.
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• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.
• In a small bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Gradually fold into creamed mixture, about 1/2 cup at a time. Gently spoon over rhubarb (pan will be full, about 1/4 in. from the top of pan).
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• Bake at 325° for 25 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate. Serve warm with whipped cream if desired.
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TWD: Mini Quick Classic Berry Tarts

When I turned 30 last year I had an afternoon tea party at home, the next day I took the leftover cupcakes and brownies with me to work. A couple of my coworkers were so enamored with my baked goodies that they asked me if I would consider baking some things for them to share with coworkers for both of their birthdays. Of course I told them that I would be more than happy to oblige.

Summer came and went, as did Sinterklaas, Christmas, Easter and several other special days and I had totally forgotten about my promise until my coworker approached me last week and asked me if I still wanted to bake for them. I had to check my schedule first to see if I had enough time and then said yes. My coworkers really wanted something chocolaty and two other fruity options. For chocolate I made brownies, I also made Dorie's Yoghurt Lemon Cake.

For the final fruity treat I decided to adapt this weeks challenge for Tuesdays with Dorie. Christine of Cooking with Christine picked Dorie's Quick Classic Berry Tart, which I loved!! This tart actually combines two delicious recipes: the sweet tart dough and pastry cream. I doubled the tart dough recipe and baked the tarts in my mini cupcakes/muffins pans covered with foil for 15 minutes and an additional 10 minutes without the foil, I ended up with 38 tart shells. The tarts I served at my coworkers birthday at work were topped with raspberries and blueberries. For the ones at home I used up my leftover blueberries and strawberries: huge hit!! Everyone loved them even if I did forget to add the drizzle of jelly on top of them!

The recipe can be found at Christine's blog. For tips and tricks I suggest you read the P&Q. Go check out how my fellow TWD-ers tarts turned out here and leave them comments is you like what you see/read!

Taste & Create: Mrs. B's Lemon Meringue Pie

Just a short post today. This is the second recipe I made for April's Taste & Create. I was paired with Jen of The Misadventures of Mrs. B and apparently she loves lemony desserts as much as I do. As soon as I found this lovely Lemon Meringue Pie I knew I had to make it. I have always been intimidated by meringue and was super-excited by the thought of finally tackling it!

In fact I was so excited that I made one huge mistake.... I cut the pie when the custard wasn't quite set yet.... Oops!! So the first piece looked like crap, it tasted wonderful though! For the crust I used Dorie Greenspan's recipe for Sweet Tart Dough (page 444 of Baking From My Home To Yours) or here. I used the juice of 5 lemons for this and that amount was ideal: the perfect flavor combination with the tartness of the crust and the sweetness of the meringue.

After some time in the fridge the custard set as it was supposed to and looked gorgeous. The recipe can be found here over at The Misadventures of Mrs. B, go check it out! I know I will be frequenting Jen's blog from now on to see what other scrumptious dishes she comes up with!

Svenska Tosca Kaka

While researching the background of this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie I came across this recipe for a Svenska Tosca Kaka that seemed very similar to the Swedish Visiting Cake: first eggs and sugar were mixed, next dry ingredients are folded in and then the melted and cooled butter is folded in. The cake gets topped with almonds before going into the oven.

But this cake looked so different that I was intrigued by it, so I decided to bake it today. Again: easy to make, but way more dishes are dirtied than with Dorie's Swedish Visiting Cake. This cake has 1 1/5 teaspoons of baking powder in it, so it rises quite a bit.

Unlike the specimens I encountered during my Google-search my cake decided to dome quite a bit. Taste wise the cakes are completely different: the topping of the Svenska Tosca Kaka is both crunchy and chewy while the base is more like a spongecake, it was a tad dry to my taste so next time I would bake the cake 5 minutes less after topping it, so only 10 minutes instead of 15.

The Svenska Tosca Kaka reminded me of German Bienenstich sans filling.

Another note: make sure that the cake tin is high enough. When I topped my cake and popped it back into the oven, the top of the mixture was exactly level with the tin. The topping will bubble during the 10 minutes in the oven and thus overflow and dirty your oven by burning cause a disgusting burn smell that made me fear my cake was ruined when in fact it was perfectly safe!

P.S. Today I have reason to celebrate: finally one of my pictures got accepted by Tastespotting!!

See it here!! Yay! Btw: Happy Secretary Day!!

Svenska Tosca Kaka

adapted from nami-nami, serves 8 - 10

Sponge Cake

3 large eggs

200 gram sugar

400 gram all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

100 ml milk

125 gram butter, melted and cooled

Tosca Topping

75 gram butter

100 gram almond slices

150 gram sugar

4 tbsp whipping cream/double cream

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

Sponge Cake:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Butter and line a 25cm springform tin.

Whisk eggs and sugar together until thick, pale and creamy. Mix dry ingredients, then fold gently with milk and melted butter into the egg mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Tosca Topping

Mix the butter, almond slices, sugar, cream and flour in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.

When cake is half-baked after 20 minutes, remove it from the oven and set the oven to 225 degrees Celsius.

Spoon the tosca topping onto the half-baked cake and put back in the oven.

Bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the topping is cooked and has a lovely golden color.

TWD: Swedish Visiting Cake + Foodie Exchange

This week the lovely Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs got to pick the recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie and she did a good job! She decided on the Swedish Visiting Cake that can be found on page 197 of Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or here at Nancy's blog.

A Google search for Swedish Cake soon came up with Toscakaka, also spelled as Tosca Kaka, which basically is a lemon sponge topped with crunchy almonds. Sound familiar? It looks familiar too, except that the layer of crunchy almonds is thicker than Dorie's. Could this have been Dorie's inspiration for the Swedish Visiting Cake? I might give this recipe or this one a try one of these days as it looks really tempting!

Anyways, I baked this on Easter Monday, which is national holiday here in The Netherlands, expecting no visitors and thought this would be another great cake to bring into work with me on Tuesday. It was very easy to put together, I was done in no time and I made it exactly as written: no changes this week! I was quite surprised when the doorbell rang shortly after I put the cake into the oven: it was my mom who had decided to take her dog out on a walk and visit me because the weather was so nice.

As soon as she walked into the door, she asked me what that lovely smell was. I told her to be patient as she could have a taste of the Swedish Visiting Cake when it was done. She loved it and took two pieces home with her (for my dad and herself of course!). So I only had 3/4 of a cake left for about 20 coworkers and not enough stock in my pantry to bake another one. My colleagues were a bit disappointed that they only got slivers of cake, because they loved it, as did I!! Thanks for a wonderful choice Nancy!

On another note, I have registered at Foodie Exchange for my 101 in 1001 challenge. So I've started my second goal on the list, #2: Take part in 5 Foodie Exchange. Basically what Foodie Exchange is is a group for foodies from around the planet who wish to exchange their local food specialties as a care package with other foodies. The items in the care package should be limited to about $10.00 in cost, shipping is extra. Each month you can sign up on the monthly exchange thread in the forum where members match themselves up with partners. When you received the package you can share the story by adding you blog post to the Blog Posts section.

I have started several goals, such as signing up for a two-day assertivity training (#90) that will take place in August and starting a new skin care routine (#18), which I will tell you about late this week. I already completed one goal: #80 Register as an organ donor

Taste & Create: Ukranian Honey Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche Buttercream

This post is well overdue, it was supposed to go up before March 24 but I totally forgot about it... Luckily Min from The Bad Girl's Kitchen was so kind to send me a reminder through email. This month I was paired with tittilating eatables, she only started blogging in February 2010 but the stuff you see on her blog is amazing!! I decided on adapting her Ukranian Honey Cake by turning it into cupcakes and topping it with Dulce de Leche Buttercream. So here´s my late entry for March´s Taste & Create: Ukranian Honey Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche Buttercream.

Before I tell you all about these cupcakes, let me tell you a bit more about Taste & Create. Basically Taste & Create is a cultural exchange program for bloggers, you sign up monthly and are paired with another blogger. You look around at their blog, find that one recipe (or more if you like) that you want to recreate and post the about it. You also submit a picture and a very short review to the T&C website.

So basically what I did is make the recipe I found at tittilating eatables and divided it over cupcake liners. I then baked the cupcakes for about 18 - 20 minutes and let them cool afterwards. To make them extra special I topped them with some Dulce de Leche Buttercream. Go here to check out the recipe I used for the cupcakes: Ukranian Honey Cake.

Dulce de Leche Buttercream

Adapted from Joy the Baker

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
3 Tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
3/4 cup dulce de leche

Cream together softened butter and powdered sugar on low using an electric mixer. Add cream, salt, and vanilla and beat on medium speed until smooth and no lumps appear. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the prepared dulce de leche and beat to incorporate. Frost cooled cupcakes using a knife or a pastry bag and tip.