Monday 28 June 2010

✺ it's all relative

my daughters' papa has family roots in Germany:
we spent many times in Hamburg eating delicious cakes
made by his cousins wife ~ Gudrun:
she kindly sent me this recipe for my collection:
translated for me by her daughter Natascha ~
 she said 
"it is called topfkuchen and is the easiest
most famous German cake recipe I think"

while making it I realised that I inherited my food mixer
from my late mother-in-law Trudi:
so it is quite fitting to be using it to make this cake:
*and it is indeed a topmixer, don't you just love the fancy flan on the box?

topfkuchen

you will need ....
4 eggs
250g softened butter
250g flour
250g sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt

heat your oven to 160°c/ gas 4:
grease and line a cake tin ~ any shape:
I used a loaf tin but I think they are often baked in a savarin
or bundt tin: 

in a bowl sift your flour and baking powder:
then stir in the sugar and salt:
add the eggs and butter and mix together until light:
* as children there was always a scuffle to be the one to lick these!

now you can add one of these flavours as suggested by Gudrun ....

the zest and juice of a lemon
and/or
100g raisins
or 
50g chocolate chips

I added choc chip as directed Libbie:
bake for an hour, testing with a skewer to make sure
it's cooked in the middle:
cool in the tin for a short while then turn onto a rack:
schmeckt gut as they say in Germany:
^_^
here's hoping she will next share her fabulous cake with 
custard and whole apples!

Saturday 12 June 2010

☕ a little bird told me

sometimes a treat is in order:
no not a cake, but a book:
their cake making methods are quite different from
any I have used before:
so I decided to try it their way:

chocoNana muffins
you will need:
two over ripe bananas ~ mashed:
120g plain flour:
120g caster sugar:
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon:
80g softened butter:
2 eggs 
100ml milk:

*icing ingredients ....
250g sifted icing sugar:
100g softened butter:
50g cocoa powder:
about 50ml milk:
some grated chocolate 


heat your oven to 170°c/ gas 3:
line your muffin tin with cases:

in a large bowl add the flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter:
with a handheld electric mixer, whizz slowly until you
get rubble ~ like this ☟
s l o w l y  add the milk and continue mixing:
then add the eggs and combine well, scraping the
sides of your bowl with a spatula:
stir in the mashed banana by hand then
spoon the mixture into your cases:
they should be about two thirds full:
bake for 20 minutes until golden and springy to touch:

cool on a rack then ....
carefully mix the softened butter to your 
sifted icing sugar + cocoa powder:
if you haven't disappeared under a puff of sweetness ....
add the milk, little by little until the mixture is
stiff but not too stiff:
then beat it into a light fluff and pile onto
your muffins:
top with your grated chocolate:
tasty results:
what do you think about this method of
muffin making?