Carrot cake

Hey there... we are all sick in my house and to entertain a sick child I decided to make a cake.Lately I really like involving my little chef in my cooking. He seams to enjoy it as well!
So, lets see.... Let it be a Carrot Cake. Simple, healthy, with its moist texture and unforgettable taste I hope it is going to be a success!

INGREDIENTS:
8 servings

3 eggs
1,5 glass of Sugar (brown is even better)
1 glass of vegetable oil ( sunflower, corn, mixed...)
2 glasses of flour
2 spoons of cinnamon
1 tea spoon of baking soda
0,5 tea spoon of salt
5 large carrots
handful of nut kernels


Something new that I am pleased to offer to my followers. I got a little hint from a dear person and the hint's about some household economy. If you find yourself on this page it means you like coking and moreover you like food. We also all like dining out as we might think the real chef will cook better that us. It's true! I am not going to foolish anyone. BUT !!! It's also true that the bill we get in the restaurant is not something we spend in supermarket buying simple ingredients. It's not very easy to calculate the price of the food we cook as my supermarket may sell it's products cheaper than you have round the corner but nevertheless I will try. Said that, this is what I spent for the cake...

 to be continued....


Some comments to add:
1. Sugar: I usually use brown sugar for this type of cake, the colour is not going to be changed as the cake comes out to be brown and the taste differs slightly to somehow more exotic.
2. Oil: I usually use the one we have here in Italy that is used actually for frying and it's a mixed vegetable oil. If it can be of a help it's called Friol.

1. Grind carrots. I usually do half with a large grinder and the other half with a small one. You will see it yourself that this way the little bits of carrots will be still visible in the slice of our cake without making the dough too heavy.

2. Use a mixer to beat the eggs with sugar to a whitish foam, so, for about 5 minutes.
3.  Add oil and mix carefully.




 4. In a separate bowl mix together the flour with the other powders: salt, baking soda and cinnamon. This is done to distribute the small amounts of salt, soda and cinnamon carefully in the cake mixture.
5. Add flour to the eggs and mix it quickly not to destroy the little air bubbles created while beating eggs.







6. Add carrots and nuts to the dough and mix it all together with a spoon.

 7. Use a 22-24 cm baking pan: I have the one that can be open so gets easier to take the cake out when it's ready. So line the bottom with parchment paper and pour the cake dough into it.
8. Bake at 200C for about 40 minutes. I always try if the cake is ready pricking it with a tooth stick. It should come out absolutely dry with just tiny crumbles if any...
Little secret: if you notice your cake is getting too brown on the top when the time is still running, you may cover the pan with a sheet of parchment paper and it will protect the cake from being burnt on the top.

9. Let the cake cool down and remove it carefully from the pan turning it over a dish.
10. Remove the paper and let the cake sit some more. The classic Carrot Cake needs frosting, this time I skipped it and just sifted some sugar on top. Less calories at least but the taste is just lush...

Enjoy the sweet temptation!

Lemon Mousse Cake

This cake looks like a cheesecake but it is not!!! It's a fluffy lemon mousse cake. And this time it is My Birthday Cake!!! Happy birthday to me....
This cake is really light and is not very sweet. It is a great dessert after a sumptuous meal, it is also very good in summer time because of it's fresh and a bit soury taste. 
The preparation may seem  complicates but the only difficulty you may encounter is to whip different ingredients apart and mix them together afterwards.     

  

INGREDIENTS:
Servings: 8

3 eggs
90g sugar
90g flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Mousse:
2 eggs
100g sugar
1.5 lemons
5g gelatin (2.5 sheets)
250g whipping cream

1. Whip 3 eggs with 90g of sugar (6tbs) for 10 minutes: 3-4 minutes at high speed to create the volume and 6-7 minutes more at a very low speed to fix the bubbles. 

2. Sift the flour together with baking powder.
3. Mix the flour into the egg with a hand whisk paying attention to make the movements from the bottom to the top. 
Note: Be careful not to mix for too long as it will break the bubbles and the cake won't come out soft and airy.
4. Pour the cake carefully into a 22-23 cm mould and bake the cake at 180C for 20 minutes.

5. Switch the oven off and keep the cake for about 10-15 minutes in the oven with the door slightly open.
6. Take the cake out of the mould and and let it cool down completely over the cake rack.
7. Cut the cake with the steel ring to about 21cm in diametre.  

8. Prepare the syrup with 50ml of water, 1tbs of sugar and some liqueur, better Limoncello or at least Rum. 
Note: You may melt the sugar in hot water or just heat it in the microwave oven.
9. Using a special cake squeeze bottle, pour the syrup over the cake to moist it.
10. In a small bowl soak the gelatin for about 10 minutes.   

11. Divide eggs into yolks and whites.

12. Whip the whites with half of the sugar (50g) and the yolks with the rest of it in separate bowls.

 

13. Whip the cream to thick foam.

14. Grate the yellow part of 2 lemons' peel.
Note:The white part of the lemon skin is bitter, don't use it.
15. Squeeze the juice of 2 lemons.

16. Add lemon peel and lemon juice to the yolks.

17. Mix the three whipped ingredients together using a hand whisk, try to do it very carefully not to break the bubbles.

18. Squeeze gelatin to remove the excess of water and melt it in the microwave oven for about 20 seconds.
Note: You may also melt gelatin in a double boiler.  

19. Add gelatin to the mousse and stir well.

20. Insert the cake into the cake ring over a nice dish and pour the foamy mousse over it.

21. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or better overnight.


22. Make a neat cut round the ring and open the ring.
23. Decorate the cake as you like it, better with some lemon slices to recall to the taste of the dessert.
Note: You may use the borders of the cake that you cut off: crumble them and decorate the cake's border.
       

    

ENJOY!!!

Peach Sour Cream Cake

I love holidays!!! Any holiday... especially when a "just on the calendar" holiday coincides with a Holiday! 1st of May is a day of all working people but it is also My Dad's Birthday! 
Even if I am far away from you on your holiday, daddy, I dedicate this cake to you! You used to like it when I baked it ....
Don't get puzzled about the ingredients, the result will surprise you. Some people ask if the cake has any even slight mayo taste: I may assure you - this cake has a CAKE taste!!!
 

INGREDIENTS:
Servings: 8-12

1 can concentrated sweet milk
250g mayonnaise
4 eggs
1.5 glass sugar + 3-4tbs
2 glasses flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
800g sour cream / Greek Yogurt (10% fat)
+ sugar for the cream (to taste)
1 can peaches in syrup
50g almonds
cake gel / cake glue   

First thing to do is to drain the sour cream or Greek yogurt. I used the yogurt as it is very difficult to find sour cream in Italy.
Note: Greek yogurt has almost same texture and even wins in fat percentage: instead of 18-20% of fat in sour cream, in yogurt there is only 10% of fat (you may try the lower fat versions of Greek yogurt but to my mind it will be too much, reducing the fat in yogut will result in more liquid texture).

 

1. Use a medium colander which you will cover with a clean kitchen towel. Then pour all the cream / yogurt inside and keep aside for 3-4 hours or the time necessary to bake and cool the cake layers. You will see how much whey it will drain....

And now we prepare the cake itself:

2. Whisk the eggs with 1.5 glass of sugar till it doubles in volume.

3. Add concentrated sweetened milk to the eggs and whisk it in.

4. Add mayo and mix well.

5. Sift flour with the baking powder and add it some by some to the egg mix and stir well.

This is how the batter will be when all the ingredients are in.



6. Heat the oven to 220C.

7. I used a silicon mould of 23cm in diameter but you may use any, in this case cut the circles out of the baking paper to fold the bottom of the mould. If you use a silicon mould just grease the bottom with some vegetable oil and clean it with a paper towel each time you bake.
8.To bake 5 layers pour 7 tbs of the batter to the mould and bake at 220C for 5 minutes or until it's brown on the top.
Note: To bake 6 layers, ust reduce the quantity of the tablespoons of the batter to 6 per each layer.
Note: This kind of batter raises a lot.

9. Cool each layer over the cake rack or the "net lid", the one that is use to cover the frying pans in order to avoid splashes of oil.

Let's prepare the cream:

10. Mix the drained sour cream / yogurt with 3-4 tbs of sugar, the cake is quite sweet itself so don't overdo with sugar!


And finally we assemble the cake:

11. Spread some cream over the first layer which you placed over a nice dish (the one that you will use to serve it) 

 12. Take the peaches out of their syrup and cut one in tiny pieces.
13. Spread the peach bit over the cream.
14. Cover with the second layer of the cake and repeat with the cream and peach.

15. Don't add any peach on the top of the cake but cover well with the cream.
16. Spread the rest of the cream over the sides of the cake.

17. Crush almonds into medium small grains. 
18. Use the almond crush to cover the sides of the cake.
19. Decorate the top of the cake with the peaches as your fantasy suggests you better.

To make the peach roses:

- slice the peach as thin as possible and dry the slices with a paper towel, 
- roll the first slice tightly and start envelope the other slices around,

- place the rose on the cutting board with the edges of the peach around to fix the shape,
- fix the rose with a cake transparent gelatine used to frost the cakes,

- remove the peach edges from the rose and transfer it onto the cake.            
    

Note: You may ask any florist for some real rose leaves (in any case they through them away) or do I did and use the lemon leaves or any other that are not toxic.
Note: To use the leaves, wash them carefully and clean with a paper towel soaked in vegetable oil. This will clean the leaves better and will render them more shining and attractive. 

  

 ENJOY !!!

Spicy Cake with Chocolate Icing and Orange Marmalade

One thousand and one nights tales - have you ever heard about Aladdin or Ali Baba?.. Spicy and fluffy, this cake will become a perfect treat for those who have ever visited a market of spices ... You will be very surprised to find mayonnaise as one of the ingredients but the taste will reassure you... And what to say about the home-made Orange marmalade? 
This cake is not simple to prepare as we need two different fillings and an icing.
  
INGREDIENTS:
Servings: 8

Cake: 
2 eggs
1 glass sugar
0.5 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
200g mayonnaise
1 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 glass flour

Icing:

100g chocolate
100ml cream

Orange Marmalade:
4 oranges (about 900g)
1.5 glass of sugar
25ml rum 


Custard:
3 egg yolks
100g sugar (5 tbs)
30g flour (3tbs)
300ml milk (1.5glass)
orange zest
 

First we prepare Orange Marmalade:
1.Wash the oranges with some soda as we need to use the zest as well.

2. Peel the orange skin of 1.5 oranges, just the part of orange colour. You may do that with the vegetable peeler that takes away just the upper layer of the peel.
3. Slice the peel into really thin stripes.

4. Peel the oranges with the knife to get rid of the outer membrane. 
5. Cut the orange segments out of the membranes, it's quite a toilsome task but think of the result and you'll be fine!!!

6. Keep the membranes aside and squeeze them through a sifter.
7. Add 1 glass of sugar to the juice that you squeezed and melt it over medium heat.

8. Add the orange peel stripes and cook them for 5 minutes. Switch off the heat and put the pan aside for 10 more minutes.

9. Add orange segments and 0.5 glass of sugar to the syrup and cook it for 40 minutes at a medium heat.
10. From time to time take away the foam that will appear and stir the marmalade.
11. At the very end add 2 tablespoons of rum and switch off the heat.
12. As you haven't prepared a big quantity of the marmalade so you may refrigerate it for some days, don't worry it won't last long.... It is absolutely perfect for breakfast! 

Orange Marmalade is a fragrant filling for various cakes and transform even a plane one into a fine pastry masterpiece....
But for those lazy-ones: you may always buy a jar of orange marmalade in the supermarket....

Custard: This recipe is just for this cake. Usually they use a vanilla bean and lemon peel instead of orange peel.

1. We have already prepared the orange peel but for those who use the ready marmalade, peel just the orange part of the orange skin with the use of a vegetable peeler.
2. Heat the milk with the orange peel, but don't bring it to boiling. Use a thick bottom sauce pan for that. Keep the milk with the peel for 10 minutes to flavour it.

3. Whisk egg yolks with the sugar to a white foam with an electric mixer. You may do that with a hand whisk but then you need too much time and muscle work...
 

4. Sift the flour and mix it in with a hand whisk.
5. Add half a glass of milk and mix well.
6. Take the orange peel out of milk.
7. In the same sauce pan with the milk, whisk in the egg mix.

8. Over a medium heat, whisking vigorously, bring the milk and egg mix to boiling. It will thicken. Here we go: our custard is ready.

9. Transfer the custard to a bowl and cover it with plastic film making sure you stick the film to the custard surface. It will prevent it from the forming of the lumps ... Wait till the custard is cold to use it.            
 

Now it's turn to prepare the cake layers
 
1. Whisk eggs with sugar just for a couple of minutes. You don't need to use a mixer for.
2. Mix mayonnaise into the eggs.

3. Sift flour together with the baking soda and all the spices.
 
5. Whisk in flour little by little to the mix of eggs and mayo. The batter should be medium thick.

6. Prepare the cake pan: spread half a teaspoon of refined oil over the pan's bottom and sides.

7. Divide the batter into three parts and cook each layer of the cake in preheated oven at 250C for 7-8 minutes.
 

8. Make sure you clean the pan after each layer.
9. Cool the layers over the cake rack.



Let's melt the chocolate:

1. Break chocolate into piece, put it into a sauce pan together with the cream.





2. Melt it over a low heat stirring constantly.






Let's arrange our cake finally.

1. Spread orange marmalade over the first layer.

2. Spread some custard over the marmalade and cover with the second layer. You may also spread the custard over the second layer, then turn it over and put custard on top the marmalade.

3. Repeat for the second layer, same: marmalade and custard.
4. You will  still have some custard left, but you will need it later.

5. Spread the melted chocolate icing over the third layer, keeping couple of tablespoons of the icing.

6. Mix custard with the chocolate.
7. With a use of a table knife (the one that doesn't cut) cover the borders of the cake with the chocolate custard.
I used a fancy cake form, so this stage was really laborious... But if you've used a plane round cake pan it will be like a piece of cake.... nice pun, huh? :-)

8. Decorate the cake with some orange peel and keep it in fridge. 
             
   

     

I don't have anything to add... Enjoy!!!!