Melted Tomatoe Soup

This soup has a really strong flavor thanks to the parsley. I can guarantee that you have never tried something like this. And it's sooooo simple.
I made it for my family. They loved it (but they love most of the dishes I make for them). Me and my mom found a few points in the recipe we could change. Another time I made it (the improved recipe of course) for a friend. She was pretty delighted too.

This is one of the dishes where the recipe is rather flexible, at least in my opinion. You like your soups with a lot of broth, then don't be afraid to add more of the vegetable broth. If you prefer your soup with more bite, then only add 2 or 3 cups of broth. If you have different kinds of small tomatoes, use them.
Don't be shy to experiment here. It may taste different each time, but it will always be tasty.

_____________________________________________________

Melted Tomatoe Soup

ca. 600 g cherry tomatoes
2 onions
2 garlic cloves
1 bunch of parsley
2 tbsp olive oil
3-4 cups vegetable broth
salt
pepper

1. Peel the garlic. Mince it.
2. Peel the onions. Cut them in half. Divide the halves into three and afterwards slice them finely.
3. Heat the oil in a big sauce pan.
4. Add the onions and garlic to the pan. Braise them lightly.
5. Wash the tomatoes. Put them into the sauce pan.
6. Add the vegetable broth to deglaze.
7. Cover the pan and let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes.
8. Wash the parsley and dab it dry.
9. Take the whole parsley bunch and chop it coarsely. When all the leaves are cut, discard the remaining stalks.
10. Take the sauce pan of the stove.
11. Add the parsley to the tomatoes and stir it in.
12. Season with salt and pepper.
13. Cover the pan again and leave it for about 5 minutes.

Bon appétit!!

Raspberry-Lemon Biskuit Cake

I made this cake for my grandmas birthday. I had this idea about combining lemon and raspberry in a cake. If you look at most of my cakes I think it becomes obvious that I absolutely love my aunt's biscuit. So I used it as the base. And for the raspberry part I chose the raspberry dough from this recipe. And to round it out I would make a lemon frosting.
It didn't work out as I planed. I hate buttercream frosting, so I chose a cream cheese frosting. It was the first time I made that recipe. It was horrible. For one it was too sweet, but I could have lived with that. But the real problem was that it was too runny and it didn't get better when I put it in the fridge for some time. It just run down the cake. I would have made some other cream, but there was no cream cheese leftover. And it was already too late to go and by more. I was really pissed.
So I think it's no surprise that I'm replacing the frosting with one I made before and that actually worked and tasted good.

But it was not all bad. This is the first time that the fondant I made worked out perfectly.
I stumbled over this blog. There I found not only a recipe for fondant that uses only german ingredients. But also one for gum paste. I actually had to make a half an hour long bus trip to a bigger grocery store to get some of the ingredients. But it was worth it, 'couse it was still cheaper than to buy it online.
And like I said the fondant was great, just the right texture. The cake would have been beautiful. Smooth and even. The cream totally ruind it. I was kinda sad.

There are a few drawbacks to this recipe.
For one the syrup used for it is too dark. It results in an off-white fondant. For another it's a little too soft. So I don't think it's suitable for shaping.
If you make the gum paste, the problem with the shaping disappears. But if you don't plan to color it you get another problem. Because the gum paste is a pure white. The differene between the fondant and the gum paste will be obvious. 

It was the first time I worked with gum paste. I'm pretty happy with the result.
The flowers look really beautiful. They weren't perfect but for a first try still pretty good. But the work is rather elaborate. The gum paste dries fast. So I could only work on one or two petals at a time. And everytime you have to take the gum paste out of the plastic wrap, cut of a piece, put the rest back, roll out the cut of piece, stamp out the petals, put the spare gum paste back, work on the pestals and then do it all over again. I think I worked over one hour on the rose alone.
But the result was worth it.

Usually I don't put up so many picutres. But well I am rather proud of my accomplishment and wanted to show it from all sides. It would have been too hard to chose only two or even three pictures.

_____________________________________________________

Raspberry-Lemon Biskuit Cake

Biskuit

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.

 

Raspberry Batter

1 2/3 cups raspberrys, frozen
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
2 tbsp lemon zest
2 egg whites
1 egg
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt

1. Let the raspberrys thaw.
2. Press them through a sieve.
3. Grate the zest of the lemon.
4. Squeeze out the juice.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/360°F.
6. Place baking parchement into the cake pan. Press it firmly to the edges. Try to make it as smooth as possible.
7. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk them together.
8. Pour the batter into the cake pan.
9. Bake it for 30-35 minutes.
10. Take the pan out of the oven and let it cool down on a cooling rack.
11. When the dough is completely cold, take it out of the pan. Don't yet detach the parchment.
12. Place it in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours.

Lemon Sauce

1/2 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1/4 tsp lemon zest
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
3 eggs
1 pinch salt

1. Grate the zest of the lemon.
2. Squeeze out the juice.
3. In a sauce pan combine the juice, the sugar, the egg yolk, the eggs and the salt.
4. On a waterbath bring the mixture to a boil. Stir constantly with a whisk. Cook it for 12-14 minutes.
5. Press the mixture through a fine sieve.
6. Add the lemon zest and mix it in.

Frosting 

250 g cream cheese
60 g butter, soft
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 tsp lemon extract

1. Whip the butter with a hand mixer until it's smooth.
2. Add the cream cheese and 1/4 of the icing sugar to the butter. Blend everything together with the hand mixer on medium speed.
3. While the hand mixer is still running add the remaining sugar and the extract.
4. Blend the frosting for another 4 minutes.

To Assemble

1. Cut the biscuit in half. Put the top half to the side for later.
2. Spread a little more than half of the lemon sauce on the biscuit.
3. Take the raspberry batter out of the fridge. Carefully detach the baking parchment from it.
4. Place it on the biscuit.
5. Spread about half of the remaining lemon sauce on it.
6. Place the cut of biscuit on top.
7. Spread the remainig lemon sauce on top.
8. Cover the whole cake with the frosting.
9. Decorating the cake with fondant is optional.

Bon appétit!!

Lemon Ginger Honey Tea

This april it's really warm. The sun is shining! The birds are singing! The flowers are blossoming! And I managed to catch a cold. Well done Julia!

All in all it's not that bad. The worst is the sore throat. Especially in the mornings. And this is where this sweet little elixir comes in. Sadly it's not a cure, but it does soothe the throat. And tastes great while doing it.

I'm not going to give you fixed quantities in this recipe. For one it's so simple that it's really not necessary. And for another you can mix it to your taste. Add more ginger if you want it spicier, more lemon for a sour tea and more of the honey if you have a sweet tooth.
By rule of thumb just use about the same amount of ginger and lemon and add the honey until all the gaps are filled.

I would recommend a stronger, darker honey. You wont be able to taste a more subtle honey, like acacia. If you have an older honey that's already crystallized, use it. It takes a little longer but it will dissolve after about a day in the mixture.

The only drawback here is that, if you consider the amount of ingredients that go in, you only get out a small volume of the actual tea. But it's still worth it.
When (not if, cause really there is no if) you decide, that you love this. You'll want to make more. But if you make so much, that it lasts for more than three days. You should sieve out the lemon and ginger pieces. The juice will keep for another two or three days in the fridge.

_____________________________________________________

Lemon Ginger Honey Tea

Ginger
Lemon (organic)
Honey
Jar

1. Peel the ginger. Cut it into thin slices.
2. Peel of the zest of the lemons. With organic lemons you can leave the zest. Just wash them beforehand with hot water and dab them dry.
3. Cut the lemons into thick slices. Quarter the slices.
4. Layer the honey, the ginger and the lemon. Make a few thin layers.
5. You should add enough honey to fill the gaps.
6. Place the jar in the fridge. Shake it every few hours.
7. The tea is ready after about a day or after the honey is dissolved.
8. Use a spoon to mash the lemons a little to squeeze out more the juice.
9. Pour one or two tablespoons into a tea cup. Fill it with hot water.
10. Enjoy!

Bon appétit!!

Easter Egg Mini-Cakes II

Last year the Easter Egg Mini-Cakes were a hit. So this year I wanted to make some more. Especially because I was planig to have breakfast with some of my friends the saturday before easter. They make great gifts. Especially for kids, I have it on good authority that they like them just as much as the adults.
First I was planing to bake 30 eggs, but then I had a closer look at the recipe and realised that it would be more advantageou s to make 40. 
It's a good thing that this time I could use a small drill to make the holes or I would have spend a few hours on that alone. I had this idea that I could drill perfect little holes into the shells. Of course that didn't work out. For smaller holes it worked great, but as soon as I tried to make them bigger, the shell started to break. In the end I had the same result as if I had just used a finger to make the hole bigger, just with more work.

At the begining of the year I made my own extracts. And the eggs were a perfect opportunity to try them out. I made four varieties. Lemon, lime, mandarine and mint. I also used vanilla extract, but it's store bought (for one it's cheaper, for another it's the only extract you can actually buy in a supermarket here in germany). It was kind of funny, cause after the baking the eggs were all mixed up and you always had to guess which flavor it is you were just eating. 

Sometimes I can't eat the things I baked. Mostly because of the smell during the baking. The kitchen had this buttery smell the hole time I was cooking. I was kind of sick of it after the three of four hours I had to smell it non-stop. I ate one that same evening to see how they looked on the inside and that was it for the next four days. But when I came back after easter I ate the six eggs I left at home (they broke while I was cleaning them after baking). They were absolutely delicious. Way better then the one straight out of the oven. 
That's why I would recommend to make them two or three days before you plan on eating them. Just don't store them in the fridge, the cold dough won't be as fluffy. Just put them in an airtight container. 

And one last pointer. Don't peel the hole shell of when you want to eat it. Just make the hole at the bottom a little bigger and than spoon it out. Just as you would do with a soft-boild egg.

_____________________________________________________

Easter Egg Mini-Cakes 

Cake Batter

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/8 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
150 g butter, soft
200 g sour cream
3 eggs

1. Sift the flour, the baking powder, the baking soda and salt together.
2. Blend the sugar and eggs with a hand mixer till the mass is pale and creamy.
3. Add the butter to the batter and blend it well.
4. Add the flour mixture and blend everything together.
5. Add the sour cream to the batter and blend it.
 

Cream Cheese Batter 

2 egg
360 g cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
yellow food coloring
red food coloring
7 tsp extract of your choice

1. Blend the egg, the cream cheese and the sugar with a hand mixer together.
2. Add the food coloring until the batter resembles egg yolk.
3. Add flavour of your choice. Mix in well.
 

To Assemble

40 eggs, hollowed
40 strips kitchen foil, ca. 10 cm wide

1. Carefully drill a small hole into the bottom of the eggs. Preferably use some kind of sharp metal skewer. Widen the hole with a corkscrew bottle opener or something similar. In the end the hole should have a diameter of about 2 cm.
2. Scoop out the eggs. A wooden skewer is rather helpful with that. You should save five of the eggs separately. Three for the cake batter and two for the cream cheese batter. The rest of the eggs can be put together and used for something else.
3. Wash the egg shells out with warm water.
4. Keep the egg shells for 30 minutes in salt water.
5. Rinse the egg shells with cold water. Place the shells with the opening down on some kitchen paper and leave them for at least 10 minutes.
6. Dry the shells in the microwave. Do it 3-6 times, for 12 seconds at a time. Open the door between each time.
7. Tear 40 strips of kitchen foil. They should be roughly 10 cm wide.
8. Crumple up the foil and put one each in the hollow of the muffin pan. It should be formed in such a way that the eggs can stand on their heads without falling.
9. Place the egg shells in the muffin pan with the hole facing upwards.
10. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/360°F.
11. Put the cake batter into a piping bag.
12. Fill each egg to 1/5 with the cake batter.
13. Fill each egg to 2/5 with the cream cheese batter. The batter will be to fluid for a piping bag, so just carefully pour it with a spoon.
14. Fill each egg to 3/5 with the cake batter.
15. Bake the eggs for 20-25 minutes. During the baking some of the batter will flow out of the eggs. When the batter has a gold brown coloring it should be ready.
16. Let the muffin pan on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes. Afterwards take the eggs out of the pan and let them cool down to almost room temperature.
17. With a small knife carefully scrape the overflowed batter from the eggs. Don't cut all the batter at the hole of. Delicately wipe down the shells with a wet paper towel.
18. Color the eggs with an easter egg coloring which doesn't require for the eggs to be dipped in water or something similar.
19. When the color is dry cut of the rest of the overflowed batter or which has some color on it.

Tip: You will save time if you work with two muffin pans. You can prepare one while the over is in the oven. That way the second can go in immediatley when the first comes out.

Bon appétit!!