Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

February is almost over and I have decided that it is time for cake. Well, when isn't time for cake anyway? I have been trying different techniques to improve my baking skills so it's not just macarons I can do. In fact the first ever sponge cake with icing I have made was for my nieces birthday back in December. I was very proud of myself and it tasted pretty good too.
Here I'm going to show you how to make fairly easy chocolate and hazelnut sponge with vanilla buttercream. I am not a big fan of chocolate, especially not on its own, but when its mixed with fruit or nuts, I do enjoy it. As it is still cold and miserable outside it seemed indulgently appropriate.

Chocolate caramel walnuts

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE. I hope you all had lovely Christmas and New Year celebrations with your loved ones. We have been busy baking and preparing meals, which left us with no time to prepare a post for you. But we have some ideas already for the new year that we want to share with you. 

Firstly I'd like to show you a recipe for an excellent snack. I found it in one of my favourite magazines called KINFOLK. Amazing lifestyle magazine, do check it out if you can get hold of it or visit their website kinfolk.com.
This appealed to me instantly as I am a big fan of walnuts. Paired with caramel and chocolate it seemed like the perfect combination. And it did work. My sister enjoyed this snack very much as she loves dark chocolate!

CUSTARD TART

I would like to share a recipe for another tart. You must all think that all I bake is tarts. Which is true, but i do cook other things too. This one is just a quick post, I guess to end the summer on a high. There is a bit of work involved, but the results are worth it. The recipe is from Aran Goyoaga, the creator of Cannelle et Vanille blog. I recently ordered her book and I'm enjoying it immensely. All Arans recipes are gluten free, including this tart, but the one I made was with classic sweet crust pastry. I guess I was cooking for a different crowd...

"Du Pain et Des Idées"

«Du Pain et des Idées» is Paris’ prettiest bakery of traditional handcraft located near Canal St. Martin. The bakery dates back to 1889 and was re-envisioned by former fashion industry executive Christophe Vasseur in 2002.

All of the breads and pastries are made the most traditional way (here, a baguette is made in seven hours) and with the best ingredients (only fresh, seasonal fruit is used for the pastries.)

This bakery is full of flavours, a little wonderland full of exciting products. The star however is their signature bread "Pain des amis", with a thick caramelised crust, aerated middle and slightly nutty flavour. Christophe recommends to eat it with a good slice of ham, a Pata Negra or a piece of Bellota. Alain Ducasse serves this bread in his restaurant at the Plaza Athénée.

You should also taste the «Brioche Mouna», a traditional North African speciality. It's a butter brioche with orange blossom. Its so fragrant, its possible to smell it before you even walk inside. It is delicious with just a smear of salted butter.

MAKING MACARONS

Macarons a true French classic, so well know around the world, a little luxury we can enjoy ever so often. The first time i tried them i was hooked. Of course there are flavours I prefer to others, for example pistachio and Salted caramel. I would never choose Rose or Licorice, but they are all incredibly popular. Laduree are the market leaders, Pierre Herme is more experimental, but many bakeries are making macarons. I always wanted to be able to bake my own. The first time I tried it was a catastrophy. They looked like a colourful flat biscuits that stuck to the baking sheet. I was very disappointed and demotivated and it took another few years before I tried again.

Practice makes perfect, as the saying goes and after few times I had some positive results. My colleague was organising a Hen night at the beginning of march and she mentioned to me she wanted to get some macarons from Laduree. I offered to make some for her. It was an exciting challenge. And I had to make them all Lactose free, which isn't easy as the non dairy product don't have the same rich taste. In the trial I made Lemon and raspberry, but eventually we decided to make pistachio and salted macarons. I enjoy the process of making them. It takes time and I am always improving my skills.

Marbled chocolate brownie cake

Over the holidays my mum made this cake while I was visiting Slovakia.  It looked so irresistible I just have to share it with you. You can make it in square  tin or round one as we did which looks lovely. Make it as a treat for Sunday or for any celebrations. It will serve 8-10 people as it is very rich. Serve with fresh fruit of  your choice, berries work really well.

Its a very easy recipe, but the results are deliciously indulgent. Just follow the instructions below!

Christmas baking round two

Every year I make these honey biscuits before christmas which we then decorate with my niece and nephew. Its now our little tradition. They are soft and fragrant from spices. I guess they are similar to gingerbread, only there is no ginger. In Slovakia, you will find beautifully decorated ones, but watch out, we are getting better at it!!!

The rest of the confection consist of coconut meringues which my grandmother used to make and we called it kisses. That was long before the meringue girls...

I also made jammy dodgers, which are filled with strawberry jam. The round balls are not baked, its a mix of nuts, raisins and rum, bit of cocoa which is chilled overnight and then rolled and coated in coconut powder. 

For the honey biscuits, the dough has to stand in the fridge for 24 hours before i cut the shapes with various cookie cutters I collected over the years. They are cooked only for 8-10minutes, otherwise they would become hard. Brush them with beaten egg when they come out of the oven. Keep in a box or a container with a tiny piece of bread to extract the excess moisture. 

CHRISTMAS BAKING MARATHON

Christmas is time of cooking and baking in excess. Slovak traditions are no exception. Many start as early as beginning of December to make sure everything is prepared for our Christmas Eve dinner.
In Slovakia, instead of one main desert we bake at least 10 different varieties of biscuits and small cakes. Each region has it's own specialities, some families also share between themselves.
This cake is called Stedrak, which kind of means generous cake. No wonder, it consists of 4 different fillings! I made it for a Christmas party we held in early December. (Everyone is too busy in London)

The base is from sweet yeasty dough that is used a lot in Slovak baking. You need to be patient, knead it properly and give it enough time to rise. The fillings are also traditionally Slovak, poppy seeds, ground nuts, plum jam and a sweet quark like cheese. The cake was light and airy, with the different textures and flavours of the fillings.

Plums in frangipane

Aren't little tarts so pretty? And also, when I make individual tarts like these, everyone gets their own. I had some plums that I needed to use and inspired by tarts I have seen on other blogs, I decided to try and make them extra pretty. Frangipane seemed the perfect partner, flavoured with some rum.

Simple sweetcrust pastry, rolled very thin is lining the tart cases. This needs to chill in the fridge at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile prepare your frangipan. Ground almonds, sugar, eggs and butter mixed together to quite a solid paste. I added a handfull of ground wallnuts too and a splash of rum. Once the cases are chilled, fill them with your frangipan. Layer the sliced plums, then bake in preheated oven. I have preheated a baking sheet, placed the tarts on it to make sure the bases cook through.

To make these, just follow the recipe below. Instead of plums you can also use pears, blackberries or anything that goes with almonds. If you want to make it super simple, use shop bought pastry, just don't tell anyone...

Dinner Party (part two)

Big part of most dinner gatherings is alcohol. Of course we had some prosecco and some beer, but these little cocktails stole the show. After dinner we had White ladies consisting of gin, Cointreau, lemon and fluffy egg whites. It was rather sour, but nicely refreshing after dinner.

Then we had a go at Scottish mojito, also from gin, cucumber, mint, brown sugar and some lime.
It was lovely (first picture). The cucumber really comes through and compliments the gin beautifully.
We finished the evening with a desert. I made apple and plum crumble with some praline hazelnuts on top and fresh custard. It simple, easy to make but everyone enjoyed it.

Pear tart

This is rather simple tart. I used Rocha pears, but feel free if you have other preference. They must be ripe and juicy. The case is sweet crust pastry which is rolled very thin and chilled in the fridge for 30 mins before I filled it with frangipan and arranged the pears on top.  Sprinkle of Demerara sugar on top and bake in hot oven for 35 mins. The pears are lovely and soft, the pastry is crisp and frangipan is fragrant from vanilla and almonds. Hmmm lovely...

Pancakes

We wanted to start our blog with something everyone would like. So why not pancakes!!! They are versatile, easy to make and so delicious. I made those American style fluffy pancakes as a breakfast treat with golden syrup, fresh fruit and a trickle of creme fraiche. What are your favourite pancakes?