Tomatoe tart or tarte tatin with tomatoes, pizza margherita with puff pastry dough, I don’t really know how you want to call this beauty, but you will find tomatoes simmered in caramel, baked with the dough on top and then turned upside down. Sprinkle with additional mozzarella, pine nuts and basil, and you can dig into this summery dish. I had the audacity of eating the entire thing in one go, approved of it and therefore decided to put it on the blog.
While I am writing these words, I still have the taste of this delicious apricot pretzel sticks cake in my mouth. This is seriously such a delicious treat and we are not going to use the oven. When I first tried it, I thought it was OK, you know, good, but not necessary excellent. However, the day after, I was so surprised, it tasted just so much better. So this is definitely a cake you can make in advance. Yummy, yummy, yummy. And for that reason this recipe made it on the blog, so let’s enjoy this apricot pretzel sticks cake!
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Have you ever heard of lemon posset? Apparently this is a dessert from the UK and it contains three ingredients: lemons, heavy cream, and sugar. It is unbelievably easy to make and comes together in less than 15 minutes. Surprisingly, you don’t need any additional binder, no gelatine, no agar agar, the lemons themselves somehow work their magic for this to get to the creamy and mousse-like texture. 
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Today I am presenting a roasted strawberry pie with some braided topping. My strawberry season was extremely long this year. I started in Spain on holiday where they were already at the end of the season to return to Germany and continue. Here in Munich lockal strawberries are just available now, so I have been eating fresh and local strawberries for quite some time now. I didn’t know this, but roasted strawberries are even better than just baked strawberries, believe me, this is a special treat.
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.
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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.
