I’m sitting right here with a warm tea by my side. I’m freezing. It is so freaking cold here in Europe. My brother and I have a cold and in the middle of our sneezing session, we decided we needed a shortbread cake.
I have already showed you the family recipe à la Mama . THis one here is the Easter version of it. Prepared in a round pan and without Nutelly in the whipping cream. Tasted just as good.
I am very proud of this nest which is made of edible Easter grass and marzipan eggs breeded by a chocolate hen. I bet her chicken will be chocolate covered marzipan! :D Hope you have nice holidays, despite the temperatures. xoxo
Bulgarian Shortbread Cake
(makes about 10 pieces)
400 g (14 oz) shortbread
1 l (4 cups + 4 tbsp) milk
2 pck. Chocolate pudding powder
6 tbsp. sugar
500 ml (2 cups) heavy cream
sprinkles, decoration (optional)
Place one layer of cookies in a round cake pan. (Everything about 10“ is okay.)
Prepare the pudding as written on the package with the milk and sugar. Pour a part of the hot pudding on the cookies, which is enough to cover them and smooth it down. Place another layer of cookies on top of the pudding. Put one more layer of pudding on top. Continue like this, until you have no more pudding, the last layer must not be cookies.
Let the cake cool completely. Prepare the topping in the meanwhile.
Beat the heavy cream with a mixer until it is stiff. When the cake is cooled, place the cream on top and smooth down. Decorate as you like. Let the cake chill for at least one hour in the fridge.
Serve and enjoy :)
Ladies love flowers. I love them, too, although I would not say I am a real lady. But, you know, I had some cake around… it wanted the flowers so bad I gave the to it. Yep, I kinda killed my bouquet for women’s day, it was just the right thing to do.
What I am talking about here is a fluffy, creamy dreamy cake with fresh strawberries. A sponge cake layer is soaked with thinned strawbery jam and a thick mascarpone and strawberry cream layer covers the moist dough.
To give this beauty a special outward appearance, put a ring of ladyfingers around it and tie with ribbon. Top with fresh flowers. As this season everything is going to be about pastel colours, I these light pink ones were perfect. So cute!
Strawberry Mascarpone Cake
(for round 10´´ pan; 12 servings)
sponge cake:
2 eggs
100g (1/2 cup) brown sugar
100g (1 cup – 1 tbsp) flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
2 tbsp strawberry jam
1 tbsp water
cream:
200 ml (4/5 cup) heavy cream
250 g (8 oz.) mascarpone
3 tbsp powdered sugar
300 g (10 oz.) fresh strawberries
decoration:
mini marshmallows
fresh flowers
240 g (8 oz.) ladyfingers
Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Cream eggs, vanilla and sugar on high speed for about 1 minute. You should be able to see lots of bubbles in the batter. Add dry ingredients and incorporate them. Oil a round 26 cm (10´´) pan and bake for about 10 minutes until a toothpicker comes out clean.
In a small bowl, combine strawberry jam and water. Stir with a whisk until the mixture is almost homogenous. Spread it all over the sponge cake with a teaspoon. This will make the cake moist.
Beat the heavy cream in a bowl on high speed until stiff. Beat in mascarpone on low speed. Add powdered sugar and incorporate shortly.
Wash strawberries and cut into small cubes. Carefully stir the fruit pieces into the cream.
Put a cake ring aroung the sponge layer and pour the cream on top. Smooth it down. Let sit for about 1 hour, then remove the ring carefully and decorate.
Now do what is good for you and have a bite.
…because calling them “Zebra Muffins” would be too much. What my brother wanted, was a simple white and chocolate cake muffin. What I wanted was something with a little twist in outer appearence, yet delicious.
This uffin recipe is probably the most European I have ever tried. It is light, fluffy, not too sweet. This is the thing about European cakes. They make you want more. These muffins make a perfect sweet sunday breakfast with a tall glass of milk an a spoon of nutella.
Our winter holiday here is almost over and afterspending the first 5 days of it in bed with a fever I guess… it is time to relax :D. Therefore the muffins. They possess stimulating force.
Check this one out, chillers
Striped Muffins
(makes 12 muffins)
150 g (1 1/4 cup) flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 pckt. vanilla pudding powder
125 g (1/2 cup + 1 tbsp) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
150 g (1 stick + 1 tbsp) butter, softened
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp milk
Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Line a muffin pan with paper molds.
Mix flour, baking powder and vanilla pudding powder in a bowl. Set aside.
Put butter, sugar, eggs and dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat with mixer until the dough becomes even.
Pour half of the dough into a bowl and set aside. Add cocoa powder and milk to the leftover dough and incorporate these ingredients.
To make striped muffins, place 1 tsp white dough, then dark dough on top in the middle of the muffin molds. Continue like this until the molds are about 2/3 full.
Bake for 25 minutes and then, have a bite :)