It barely ever happens, but this does coincide. This recipe is the same in Germany as well as Colombia. Today I am presenting a strawberry sponge roll from Germany or brazo de reina from Colombia. This sponge roll is super easy to make and is filled with heavy cream and cubed strawberries. If you are expecting guests, I highly recommend this roll as it is easy to prepare and fast to make. So far every single person has loved this recipe, Colombians and Germans alike.
Today I am going to reintroduce an old recipe anew: choux pastry in the form of hearts with a raspberry filling. This is an airy and light dessert. Don’t be intimidated by choux pastry. I have discovered a new recipe which never fails me. Below I piped the choux pastry to hearts, but you are free to also make traditional profiteroles or eclairs if you wish. The raspberry filling is not too sweet, more on the tart side and very fruity. I reduced the amount of butter and cream cheese in order to make is really taste like raspberries.
Have you heard of the tradition of smashing a cake for the first birthday of a baby? It is called “cake smash” and the tradition was established in the United States. Now it has become popular in Germany as well. I have to say, I am quite a bit jealous. Even as an adult I wouldn’t mind smashing a cake, you know. So being allowed as a baby to do that and being photographed, well, what is not to like? Today I am going to give you two recipes for a smash cake. Since babies are smaller, I would recommend going for a 15-18cm/6 inch cake instead of a 26cm/9inch one. One of the most crucial aspects of a smash cake is the frosting. You want to be sure it holds up nicely and it is something pleasant for the baby. The recipe below is for a vanilla cake with strawberry filling. You will also see a chocolate cake pictured, which contains a lot of zucchini to make it somewhat “healthier”. I included both recipes for your convenience. Below you will also find some tips on what is relevant for a proper cake prepared for a smash.
Featured photo and this one from baby photographer Chen Reissl Continue Reading…
So I started school in Germany back in the days. And you may not know it, but it is super common to have a school cone on the first day. However, I didn’t. Because we had moved from Uruguay recently and were not familiar with the traditions for your first school day. At least I had a proper rectangle school bag, it was purple and I was so proud! Every summer break I would scrub it and make it shine. I used it for many years. But to get back, I didn’t have the famous school cone, which contains sweets and materials for your first day of school. So I had to make sure when it was my niece’s turn for her first day of school, that we would have a cake look like a school cone. She of course had a proper school cone. The below cake pictures the one I made for her. It is slightly different, but I decided to show the pictures to make you realize how versatile the chocolate cake actually is. And also how easy and simple. I swear, this cake is so easy to make, it really comes together quickly. The recipe below gives you an idea of how to fill it with a cream and cherry pie filling. I hope you will enjoy!
It seems to be Murphy’s law, have you ever tempered eggs? The one time it didn’t work for me was when I tried to demonstrate it to my husband. Of course. The one time I show it to my hubby, it fails. Tempering eggs is a common technique for making ice cream, so I decided to give this banana chocolate ice cream with peanut butter a try. I got it from the German blog Evchen kocht. Ironically, it worked for me perfectly again, of course, probably because my husband was not watching.
This simple cherry cake has a little embarassing backstory. I once baked this cake many years ago when I was going to college. I remember, it was during one of these horrible times when there were like tons of exams and I was studying like there was no tomorrow. It felt like my brain was a hardware drive and had to be fully deleted and swiped clean just to be crammed again with data and facts for the next exam. It was during this time that my roommate asked for the recipe because she enjoyed it the first time around. She had planned to make it for her family visiting. And I simply didn’t remember anymore where I got it from, my brain, my hard drive had gone blank. However, I was too ashamed to admit to not knowing, so I simply did some research and gave her a recipe I found. Unfortunately, the recipe I had passed on to her was not nearly as good. But I kept quiet, I was too embarassed. Years later when I flipped through the very old cookbook my mom had given to me from the famous German brand Dr. Oetker, I realized that actually this was the recipe I had used back then. So, Susann, if you are reading this, it had nothing to do with your baking abilities, I simply had passed on the wrong recipe to you! Sorry for that.
This summery peach pie is exactly what I need right now. I made the pie crust with buttermilk. Obviously, you can go for the regular pie crust, but I figured, why not try? Pie is something I love in summer, there are so many fruit options in summer. Since we had very ripe and juicy peaches being offered, I decided to go for a peach pie. Who wants a piece or two?
Today we have a Mexican cake from the north called “mostachón de fresas.” Its base is a nut-based meringue (including crackers) a cream-cheese topping and of course strawberries. I learned that you can basically decorate with any kind of fruit. In Mexico mangos are pretty popular, but I figured since we have strawberry season and strawberries are also popular for this cake, I would stick to the traditional version. It may sound like a strange combination, especially the salty crackers, but my husband and me loved it.
When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry got married in May 2018, the combination of lemon and elderflower were all the rage. Yes, I also made a mini three-tiered elderflower lemon cake. Today, I decided to give this combo another chance. This year elderflowers are in full bloom at the moment, so you may even have the chance to make the cordial yourself. The new version of this royal combination contains moist lemon sponge cakes, lemon curd and a heavy cream and mascarpone filling infused with elderflower cordial. My cake only has one tier and I decided to decorate it with dried flowers and some fresh elderflowers. However, it is up to you how you want to decorate your cake.
May 20th is the worldwide Bee Day. For that reason I decided to publish a recipe with honey, today you will get a honey lavender bundt cake. In addition, I am giving away 1x honey jar from Münchner Honig, which was produced by the bees you see pictured here, 1x set of bee wax papers from Little bee fresh and 2x seeds to make a tiny meadow on your balcony to give the bees some flowers to take nectar from. How to be part of this, I explain below.
Did you know that working bees only live for six weeks? During that time they produce about a teaspoon of honey. Next time you complain about the price of honey, you know why. Considering that bees need to fly three times around the earth in order to produce one jar of honey, I would say honey is pretty cheap, don’t you think?
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