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.

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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!!

Paska

A paska is a typical russian easter dessert. It's a cake made out of yeast dough with raisins in it. It can be in all kinds of different sizes. They are glaced with royal icing and decorated with sugar sprinkles.

When I was still a child my aunt and grandma always made them to easter. The easter holidays are some of my beloved childhood memories.
Back then we used empty cans, for example from canned peaches and the like. It's actually quite practical and cheap. And it makes the end results more interesting, cause the finished paskas have different sizes.
Another way is to use coffee cups. But I am not taking responsibility if you use your favorite mug and something goes wrong.
I took a more fashionable way and used a muffin pan.

After many, many years without, my mom and I tried our hand at them.
The end result was tasty but sadly not all that pretty.
During the hole preparation we had to call my aunt three or four times to ask for help. I think my aunt can make them in her sleep. But that's just the problem. Some things are just self-evident for her, she doesn't even realise that she has to say them. But my mom and I, we are total noobs. We need it step by step.
That they turned out too small wasn't actually our mistake. My aunt has her cups and cans she used for years and knows exactly how much dough to put in them. But wasn't so sure how much to put in a different dish. Well 1/3 was not enough.

You should have a lot of time when you make these. The work you put in the dough isn't actually all that much, even if it needs some brawn. But the waiting between the different steps is quite long and annoying.

My mom has two oven. Which is great when you have to bake a few things at ones.
The dough should be baked directly after the last step. We made a lot of dough and needed both of them.
We used a muffin pan, a cup, a cake pan and a silicon loaf pan. The silicon pan isn't all that suitable for paska. The sides and the bottom don't get brown enough. When they get the right color the top is already too dark.

So this is my second try. And I think I have figured out all the flaws.
They didn't turn out perfect, but all in all it were just small mistakes. I think I'm ready for easter.

As opposed to my mother I only have one oven, but I figured out a way  to bake the hole dough at once.
I used a muffin pan, a 19 cm cake pan and two cups. After they were finished I realised that the muffin and cake pan would have been enough. And I think it would even be just right for two muffin pans. Maybe I try that next time.

The dough needs to raise at about 38°C/100°F. The lowest setting on my oven is 50°C/120°F. I solved the problem by adjusting the oven to 50°C/120°F and then leaving the oven door half open the hole time. I checked every so often with a cooking thermometer, that the temperature is about right.

At the end I forgot to make the royal icing while the paska was baking. So I could ice them as soon as they come out of the oven. When I started they were only lukewarm and now the icing breakes of the paska if I cut it or bite into it. It doesn't cling to the dough.

They actually taste better the next day. And they are good for several days. After about 4 day they get rather dry, but you can just cut them into bite-size pieces and eat them with tea.

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Paska

Dough

50 g margarine
500 ml milk
16 g dry yeast
180 g sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
200 g raisins
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp oil
700-1000 g flour

1. Carefully melt the margarine in the microwave and put it aside for later.
2. Warm the milk to lukewarm.
3. Lightly mix the milk, the yeast and 2 tbsp of sugar together. Leave the mixture for about 10 minutes.
4. Mix the eggs and the rest of the sugar in a big bowl together. For about 1-2 minutes.
5. Add the milk-mixture, the salt, the raisins, the cinnamon, the oil and about a cup of the flour to the egg-sugar-mixture. Blend everything together with a wooden spoon.
6. Keep adding the flour cup by cup until you can no longer blend it with the spoon.
7. Generously dust a working surface with flour. Put the dough on the surface.
8. Add more flour to the dough and knead it by hand. Keep doing that until the dough is no longer sticky. But be careful not to add to much flour so it doesn't become to firm.
9. Put the dough into a fresh bowl. The bowl should be rather big, at least 2-3 times bigger then the dough.
10. Pre-heat the oven to 38°C/100°F (If the lowest setting on your oven is 50°C/120°F, read how to do that in the comments at the top).
11. Add the margarine and knead it in by hand. Knead the dough until the margarine is completely incorporated and the dough is no longer sticky.
12. Form the dough to a ball and leave it in the bowl. Cover the bowl with a microwave cover and put a clean kitchen towel over it. You could use a plastic wrap instead of the microwave cover, but the microwave cover doesn't interfere with the raising dough.
13. Put the bowl into the oven, on a baking sheet or a baking rack on the lowest position, and let the dough raise until it is 2 - 2 1/2 its original size. It takes about 60-80 minutes.
14. Take the bowl out of the oven. Push the dough in with your fist and let the air out.
15. Cover the bowl again and put it back in the oven. Let the dough raise again. The second time is quicker, about 50-60 minutes.
16. Grease the pans with margarine, butter or cooking spray.
17. Fill the pans to 3/4 with dough. Grease your hands a little, so the dough won't stick to them. Tear out portions of the dough, try to get the right amount at one go. Pull the dough to a ball. Make the top as smooth as possible, cause it will stay like this. Especially with the cake pan you should make sure to really form a ball or the end result will be too flat.
18. Put a baking sheet at the bottom position of the oven and a baking rack in the middle. Put the muffin pan on the rack, place it wholly on the left or right side. Put the cake pan on the sheet, place it on the opposite side to the muffin pan. This way both pans will get heat from the top and the bottom.
19. Let the dough raise again, but this time uncovered. It will take 30-40 minutes.
20. Close the oven door and set it to 180°C/360°F.
21. Bake for 10 minutes, possibly turn the muffin pan if the dough doesn't bake evenly. Swap the places of the two pans. This way the muffins will get more heat from the bottom and the cake will get a nice dark gold-brown color at the top.
22. Bake the muffins for 3 more minutes and the cake for 5 minutes.

The finished paskas should be dark gold-brown on top and light gold-brown on the sides.

Royal Icing 

2 egg whites
250 g icing sugar
5 g citric acid

1. Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff.
2. Add half of the sugar and beat it in.
3. Add the rest of the sugar and the citric acid and beat it in.

To Assemble

Sprinkles of your choice

1. The icing should be finished when the pans come out of the oven.
2. Take the cakes out of the pans and put them on a cooling rack. Keep going, don't let them cool down!!
3. Dip the top of the cakes into the icing, let the superfluous icing drip of. Use a spoon to spread the icing on the bigger cake.
4. Take a break every few cakes to decorate them with the sprinkles. If you wait to long the icing will be to dry and the sprinkles won't stick.
5. Let the cakes cool down, at best over night.

Bon appétit!!

Easter Egg Mini-Cakes

I found this the week before easter. I just had to try it out. It is a lot of work but so worth it. 

And it was actually easier to make the hole than I thought.
I used a roulade skewer to drill the hole into the egg. And it was easy to make it bigger with a corkscrew bottle opener.
But I thought for next year I try out a hand drill to make a cleaner hole.

Another good thing about the eggs is that the cake stays moist for a while. At least I think it would stay that way for a few days. All the ones I made were gone the first day, so it's all just speculation.

When you color them you should use Eater Egg Colors which don't require to dunk them into water or something similar.
The shell should be really clean or the color won't hold and you will get an uneven result.

We tried to pull a little prank on my uncle with them. Just laid one of the eggs on his plate and tried to encourage him to eat it without telling him that it's not really an egg. Of cause he noticed that something wasn't right with our behavior and he refused to eat it. Well it ended with him sulking and not even trying one of them.
But it was a big hit with my cousin. He ate three in succession. And considering that he doesn't eat all that many sweets I see it as a big compliment.

My brother took the last five eggs with him to some friends. In the evening they came over to the house. They too liked the eggs. One liked them so much she ate it with the shell. She didn't realise it was a real egg and not some kind of sweet. At first I thought she was joking. But nope she really meant it.
I had a good laugh.

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Easter Egg Mini-Cakes 

Cake Batter

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
1 cup sugar
113 g butter, soft
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
lemon essence

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 and lemon essence 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 

1 egg
240 g cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
yellow food coloring

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.
 

To Assemble

24 eggs, hollowed
24 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 three of the eggs separately. Two for the cake batter and one 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.
6. Leave the shells, with the opening downwards, on some paper towels to dry.
7. Tear 24 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 1/4 with the cake batter.
13. Fill each egg to 1/2 with the cream cheese batter. The batter should be to fluid for a piping bag, so just carefully pour it from the bowl or use a spoon.
14. Fill each egg to 3/4 with the cake batter.
15. Bake the eggs for about 20 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 to cool down on a cooling rack.
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 some kind of 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 cake batter which is needless or has some color on it.

The egg shells and the batter are enough for two muffin pans.

Bon appétit!!