Blueberry Biscuit Cake

In Wiesbaden you can find the gorgeous Café Maldaner. I absolutely love it. Not only the delicious cakes but also the atmosphere. It's more than worth a visit.

One of my favorite cakes is the Blueberry Biscuit Cake. I liked it so much that I wanted to make one myself. I already had a tasty biscuit recipe from my aunt. So I only needed the blueberry topping. It wasn't so easy to find one. Somewhere along the way I stumbled over these recipe. It came pretty close to what I was looking for.

The recipe works with fresh or frozen berrys. The first time I tried it out it was summer so I made it with fresh blueberrys. It was for my aunts birthday. Everything worked how I planed it. The taste is of course not exactly like the one from Café Maldaner. But it's still delicious.
I changed the recipe a little bit after the first try. For one I made more of the topping. That way there is a better balance between the biscuit and the blueberrys. For another I left out the shortcrust. It was too sweet for my taste.

On the second try I made it with frozen blueberrys. At first I used the same, already changed, recipe. But while cooking the topping I realized that it was too runny and wouldn't firm up. I had to add more cornstarch and cook it again. But it was worth it. It held perfectly when I took of the cake ring the next day.

The fresh and frozen berrys aren't interchangeable. The result is pretty different. In taste and appearance.
And I got to say the frozen blueberrys were pricier than the fresh. But you only get fresh berrys in the summer while you can buy frozen blueberrys all year round.

All in all I liked both variations.
Maybe next time I try it with raspberrys or a berry-mix.

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Blueberry Biscuit Cake

Biscuit

150 g flour
38 g cornstarch
188 g sugar
315 g eggs (with shell)
1 pinch citric acid powder

1. Weigh the eggs with the shell. Try to come as close to the intended weight as you can. That works best with a mix of medium and large sized eggs.
2. Separate the egg whites from the yolks.
3. Put the egg whites in a tupperware container, close it. Put the container in the freezer. Leave it there until the egg whites are a little bit frozen on the edges. This can take from 15-50 minutes. You should check every 5-10 minutes.
4. Beat the egg yolks with a hand mixer until they turn pale. Put a piece of saran wrap directly on the beaten yolk. Put the bowl in the fridge for later.
5. Mix the flour with the cornstarch. Sieve the mixture at least twice. Leave the flour in the sieve for later.
6. Put the sugar into a small bowl and leave it for later.
7. Take a baking pan but leave out the bottom. Put a cake-strip around the pan.
8. Put baking parchment on a baking sheet. Place the ring of the baking pan on top. Crush the edges of the parchment around the ring.
9. Pre-heat the oven to 155°C/310°F.
10. Prepare the flour, the sugar, the yolk and a timer for easy access.
11. Put the citric acid powder in a big bowl.
12. Add the egg whites.
13. Whip the egg whites manually. Preferably use a spiral whisk or a normal whisk, if you don't have one. It's important that you don't turn the bowl while you whip the eggs and you always have to beat in the same direction. Basically you have to repeat one hand movement the whole time.
14. After 10 minutes start gradually adding the sugar. Overall the egg whites should be whipped for 25 minutes.

15. Afterwards add the egg yolk.

16. Sieve half of the flour to the whipped egg whites. Fold them in carefully but quickly. Sieve in the remaining flour and fold it in too. Like with the egg whites you should not turn the bowl and fold in the same direction. Try to work quickly but always be careful.

17. Put the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth out the top as good as you can.

18. Bake for 50-60 minutes. When you press the top carefully with a finger and it jumps back, the biscuit is finished.

19. Put the baking pan on a cooling rack and leave it to cool down completely.

20. Remove the parchment. Afterwards use a thin knife to carefully cut the biscuit out of the pan.

Blueberry Topping

Fresh Blueberrys

1,1 kg blueberrys, fresh
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar
4 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
21 g butter

1. Wash the blueberrys.
2. Put 1 1/2 cups of the blueberrys, the sugar, the cornstarch and the water into a medium sized sauce pan. Carefully, so you don't squish the blueberrys, mix everything together.
3. Bring the mixture to a boil.
4. Boil it for about 2 minutes while constantly stirring. It will become thicker.
5. Add the butter and the lemon juice and stir them in.
6. Take the pan of the stove. Leave it to cool down a little until it's just warm. It takes about 30-40 minutes.
7. Add the remaining blueberrys and cautiously stir them in.

Frozen Blueberrys

1 kg blueberrys, frozen
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup sugar
5 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
21 g butter

1. Put the blueberrys in a colander and let them thaw. It works best if the berrys thaw in the fridge over night.
2. Put 1 1/2 cups of the blueberrys, the sugar, the cornstarch and the water into a medium sized sauce pan. Carefully, so you don't squish the blueberrys, mix everything together.
3. Bring the mixture to a boil.
4. Boil it for about 2 minutes while constantly stirring. It will become thicker.
5. Add the butter and the lemon juice and stir them in.
6. Take the pan of the stove. Leave it to cool down a little until it's just warm. It takes about 30-40 minutes.
7. Add the remaining blueberrys and cautiously stir them in.

To Assemble

1. Cut of a bit of the biscuit to level the top.
2. Put the biscuit on a serving plate.
3. Put a cake ring around the biscuit. Make sure it's as tight as it goes.
4. Pour the blueberry topping on it. Smooth out the top.
5. Leave the cake in the fridge until the topping becomes solid. Best would be over night.
6. Carefully release the cake ring.

Bon appétit!!

Lemon Thumbprints

The original recipe is for Orange Thumbprints. But when I went to buy the ingredints the oranges didn't look so good but the lemons were great. So I took them instead. I was pretty satisfied with the end result.
Other then the Orange Thumbprints the filling for the Lemon Thumbprints is a lot paler.
I found the filling a little dull. So I changed the recipe to intensify the lemon taste and make it a little sourer.
The cookies were good when they were fresh but I liked them a lot more the next day. So it's a good recipe to make beforehand.

When I was visiting my family I made them the Orange Thumbprints. Mostly because they had some oranges lying around and all the other ingredients are of the kind that you always have at home. I started rather late and then I stalled for longer and longer to finish the cookies, until it was almost evening. And I really wasn't in the mood anymore. So I finished them the next morning. The dough was still great. 

I liked both the Orange and the Lemon Thumbprints. I want to try it with limes next time, see how that works out.

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Lemon Thumbprints

Dough

225 g butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks size L, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt

1. Mix the butter and the sugar with a hand mixer until it's light and fluffy.
2. Add the egg yolks and the vanilla extract and mix it for about 1 minute.
3. Slowly add the flour and the salt. Mix the batter until it is entirely incorporated.
4. Form the dough into a 1-2 cm thick square sheet and wrap it in plastic wrap.
5. Store the dough in the fridge for at least 1 hour. The dough can stay there for up to 24 hours.

Filling

1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 egg size L, room temperature
2 tsp lemon zest
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp lemon extract, optional
1 pinch citric acid, optional

1. Whisk the egg with a fork.
2. Add the sugar and flour and whisk everything together.
3. Add the lemon zest, the juice, the salt and possibly the lemon extract and citric acid. Whisk it all together.

To Assemble

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/360°F.
2. Put baking parchment on a baking sheet.
3. Take the dough out of the fridge. Cut it into even squares, each should be the size of about 2 tsp dough.
4. Form balls out of the squares. Place them on the baking sheet, leave about 2 cm between the balls.
5. Use the end of the handle of a wooden spoon or something similar, it should be round and flat, and carefully press it into the dough balls to make small wells. Try not to break the sides, better to leave them a little shallow.
6. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes.
7. Use the spoon again to make the wells deeper.
8. Carefully fill the wells to the top.
9. Bake the cookies for another 10 minutes, the edges should be a light brown.
10. Leave the cookies on a cooling rack to cool down.

Bon appétit!!

Cheese Muffins II

I absolutely love these muffins. Since that first post I made for them, I've been experimenting with the recipe. Some variations were better than others.

Here are two I rather liked. The Curry Variation is my favorite. The first time I made it the curry flavor wasn't intense enough. Another time it was a little to much. But I think I figured it out now.
The Pizza Variation was planed as Paprika Variation but in the end it reminded me more of pizza. That's not a bad thing even if it isn't what I wanted. I can still find the right combination for the paprika taste. So there is still more to come. YAY!

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Cheese Muffins

Base Dough

Dry ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
70 g parmesan
60 g gouda

1. Grate the parmesan and the gouda.
2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a big bowl.
3. Use a spatula or a wooden spoon to mix everything together.

Wet ingredients:

2 eggs
2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1. Put the eggs in a small bowl and whisk them with a fork.
2. Add the remaining wet ingredients to the eggs and whisk everything together.

Egg Wash

1 egg yolk
2 tsp water

1. Combine the egg yolk with the water and whisk them together.

Curry Variation

1 cup corn, out of a can
3 scallions
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp curry
1 tsp masala

1. Put the corn in a colander to drain.
2. Wash the scallions and dab them dry. Cut them into slices.
3. Peel the garlic clove. Mince it.

Pizza Variation

1 red bell pepper
3 tbsp ajvar, hot
ca. 40 g black olives
3 scallions
2 tsp paprika powder
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp Piri-Piri spice blend

1. Wash the bell pepper and dab it dry. Cut it into small cubes.
2. Put the olives in a colander to drain. Halve the olives and cut them into slices.
3. Wash the scallions and dab them dry. Cut them into slices.

To Assemble

1 base dough
1 variation
1 egg wash

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
2. Grease a muffin pan with baking spray.
3. Add the prepared ingredients from the chosen variation to the dry ingredients of the base dough.
4. Mix everything together with a spatula or a wooden spoon.
5. Make a well in the middle and add the wet ingredients of the base dough.
6. Use the spatula or wooden spoon to thoroughly combine all the ingredients.
7. Distribute the dough in the muffin pan, it's enough for 12 muffins.
8. Smooth out the top of the muffins.
9. Brush them with the egg wash.
10. Bake the muffins for 35-40 minutes.
11. Leave the muffins in the pan for about 5 minutes to cool down.
12. Take them out and put them on a cooling rack.

Bon appétit!!

Lemon Garlic Pasta

It's been a while that I made these recipe. So I don't remember much about it. But it was obviously good or I wouldn't have put it on my "to post" pile.

So here it is.

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Lemon Garlic Pasta

150 g pasta
1/4 cup parmesan
3 garlic gloves
1/2 lemon
2 tbsp pine nuts
6-8 basil leaves
2 tsp olive oil

1. Toast the pine nuts in a skillet, without oil.
2. Skin the garlic. Mince it afterwards.
3. In a skillet heat the oil on low. Fry the garlic in it until it turns a light brown. Save it for later.
4. Cook the pasta.
5. Grate the parmesan.
6. Chiffonade the basil leaves.
7. Combine the pine nuts, the parmesan, the garlic oil and the basil in a bowl.
8. Squeeze the lemon juice into the bowl. Mix everything together.
9. Combine it with the pasta.

Bon appétit!!

Marble Cheesecake

This is one of the cakes I made for my fathers birthday. I combined three different cheesecake recipes and changed them up a lot.
I thought it was ok, but I'm generally not that big a fan of cheesecakes. But my father likes them so I made one anyway. Everyone else thought it was good, so I count it as a win. Only my mom complaind a little, because she didn't like the chocolate cheesecake. She prefers her baked good chocolate free. I don't get it.

I didn't want to make the bottom out of cookie crumbs. That's so boring and not one of my favorite pastries. I searched around a little and found this brownie bottom. It paid off. It was my favorite part.

I used a square form. Mostly because the other cake I made was round and I wanted something different. But I will write the recipe for a round form. The only difference is how you prepare the baking pan anyway.

You can't eat all that much of it. The cream cheese makes it rather heavy. But maybe it's better this way.

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Marble Cheesecake

Brownie Dough

85 g butter
85 g chocolate, bittersweet
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup flour

1. Use a round baking pan, but leave out the bottom. Grease the sides with butter.
2. Put baking parchment on a baking sheet. Place the ring of the baking pan in the middle. Press the sides of the parchment to the outside of the ring.
3. Cut of a strip of baking parchment, it should be as high as the ring. Place it on the inside of the pan.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 175°C/350°F.
5. Put the butter and the chocolate in a sauce pan and melt it on low. Stir constantly.
6. Put the sugar in a bowl. Take the pan of the stove and add the chocolate to the sugar. Mix it together.
7. Leave it to cool down for about 5 minutes.
8. Add the milk and the eggs. Use a hand mixer on medium speed to mix everything together.
9. Stir in the flour.
10. Spreed the dough into the prepared baking pan.
11. Bake for 25 minutes.

Light Batter

880 g cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs

1. Soften the cream cheese.
2. Add the sugar, the flour, the sour cream and the vanilla extract and mix it together.
3. Add the eggs individually and blend them in.

Chocolate Batter 

50 g chocolate, bittersweet
100 g cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg

1. Chop the chocolate roughly.
2. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.
3. Soften the cream cheese.
4. Add the sugar and mix it in.
5. Add the salt, the sour cream and the vanilla extract and blend everything together.
6. Add the egg and mix it in with a hand mixer on low speed. Don't over mix.
7. Add the chocolate and mix it in.

To Assemble

1. Pre-heat the oven to 175°C/350°F.
2. Put blobs of the two different batters on the brownie dough.
3. Pass a fork through the batter to create a marble effect. Don't overdo it or you only get light brown batter.
4. Bake the cake for 45 minutes.
5. Reduce the heat to 165°C/325°F.
6. Bake for another 60-70 minutes.
7. Shut down the oven. Leave the cake for about 1 hour in the oven with a tilted door.
8. Put the cake on a cooling rack and leave it to cool down completely.
9. Put the it in the fridge for at least 8 hours.
10. Detach the baking pan and parchment before you serve the cheesecake.

Bon appétit!!