Banana Walnut Cake

With a couple of brown bananas in our fruit bowl, it was about time to make some cake!

Banana Walnut Cake
(Ø 20cm)

Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas
2 eggs
1,75 dl olive oil
3 tbsp milk
300 gr sugar
150 gr all-purpose flour
10 gr baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
0,5 tsp ground ginger
100 gr walnuts, coarsely chopped

Preparation:
1.) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2.) Mash the bananas in a medium sized bowl.
3.) Add the eggs, oil and milk and stir.
4.) Add the sugar and stir.
5.) Add the flour and spices and stir.
6.) Add the walnuts and stir.
7.) Transfer the dough into a springform lined with baking parchment.
8.) Bake the cake on the lower rack of the oven for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake needle comes out clean.
9.) Set aside on a rack to cool down.

Enjoy!

Blackberry Apple Crumble Cake

With the weather changing along with the season, it won't be long until the market stalls in the city centre disappear almost as sudden as they arrived in spring. So last Friday I took advantage of the opportunity of still being able to get some fresh berries at the market. The selection definitely had shrunk, but I got a couple of baskets of blackberries - especially because only hours before I had found a recipe for Blackberry Apple Crumble Cake on the website of BBC's Good Food Magazine.

I made it on Sunday, as we were expecting the in-laws to drop by for dinner. Well, guess what? The doorbell rang the second I took the cake out of the oven. Great timing! I served the cake lukewarm with vanilla ice cream. In one word......DELICIOUS!!!

Blackberry Apple Crumble Cake
(Ø 20 cm; serves 8)

Ingredients:
- for the cake:
175 gr butter
150 gr golden caster sugar, pluss 1 tbsp
3 eggs, beaten
200 gr all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
150 gr crème fraîche
150 gr blackberries
4 apples, peeled, cored and cut into 8 wedges each

- for the crumble:
50 gr butter
50 gr brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
75 gr all-purpose flour
50 gr hazelnuts, roughly chopped

- to serve:
3-4 tbsp clear honey or maple syrup
vanilla ice cream or crème fraîche

1.) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2.) Butter and line a Ø 20 cm springform tin with baking parchment.
3.) Make the crumble topping by melting the flour. Then mix in the brown sugar, cinnamon, flour and chopped hazelnuts. Stir well and set aside.
4.) Heat 25 gr of butter in a large frying pan. Add 1 tbsp of caster sugar and the apple wedges. Cook for about 10 minutes until the apples are tender and golden. Set aside and cool.
5.) Beat together in a large bowl the remaining butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy.
6.) Gradually mix in the eggs.
7.) Using a large metal spoon, fold in the flour and baking powder.
8.) Add the crème fraiche and mix until smooth.
9.) Spoon roughly two-thirds of the cake mixture into the tin, spread level and scatter over one-third of the crumble mixture.
10.) Top with the remaining cake mixture and level again, then scatter over another third of the crumble mixture.
11.) Arrange the apple wedges and blackberries on top, and top with the remaining crumble.
12.) Bake on the lower rack of the oven for about 1,5 hours. Loosely cover the top of the cake with a sheet of baking parchment or foil halfway through the cooking time if it is browning too quickly.
13.) Cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes and then transfer to a serving plate.
14.) Drizzle warm honey over the cake.
15.) Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or crème fraîche.

Enjoy!!!

Apricot Chocolate Cake

Ever since I got my iPhone 4, I have been hooked on one specific App. I take a peak at it during lunch break at work, I take a peak at it at the supermarket.... It's an App provided by one of the Norwegian dairy brands - Tine - that has recipes for all types of dishes..... cakes and desserts as well.

So today, during lunch break, I decided to try one of the recipes, as I had most of the ingredients lying around in one of the kitchen cupboards anyway.... Apricot Chocolate Cake was going to be made!

The cake tastes really good and has a great texture as well, but as you can see from the photo above.... all the apricot and chocolate bits sank right to the bottom of the cake. Hmmm....how to solve this problem? Well, according to my colleague who is a professionally trained chef, I could solve this in several ways. Either by dusting the bits with a bit of flour before adding them to the dough, or by not adding them to the dough and just adding them first when the cake tin has been filled halfway. Anyway, here is the recipe:

Apricot Chocolate Cake
(makes one loaf)

Ingredients:
2 eggs, at room temperature
200 gr of flour
1,5 dl of whole milk
125 gr of butter, melted
250 gr of all-purpose flour
1,5 tsp of baking powder
0,5 tsp of vanilla sugar
50 gr of chocolate (70 %)
125 gr of dried apricots

1.) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2.) Butter and dust with flour a loaf tin of 1,5 liters.
3.) Mix the eggs and the sugar for about 10 minutes in a large-sized bowl, until it becomes a light and airy mixture.
4.) Melt the butter and add the milk to the melted butter.
5.) Mix the baking powder and vanilla sugar into the all-purpose flour.
6.) Add the flour mixture and the butter/milk mixture to the egg/sugar mixture, until it forms a dough.
7.) Chop the apricots and the chocolate into small pieces, and add to the dough.
8.) Fill the loaf tin with the mixture, and bake for 45 minutes on the middle rack of the oven.
9.) Check with a cake needle or a skewer whether the cake is done (no dough should stick to the needle / skewer when you pull it out after sticking it into the cake).
10.) Leave on a rack to cool, first 5 minutes in the loaf tin, after that without.

Enjoy!

Coffee Walnut Cake

Today we'll be going out to the farm to celebrate (with sour cream porridge) that this year's grass harvest is done, and my father-in-law's 61st birthday (with lots of cake!). Whereas in The Netherlands it is the tradition that the person celebrating his or her birthday provides cake to the guests, here in Norway it seems to me that the tradition is the other way around - that the guests bring cake for the one we celebrate. Anyway, a great occasion to test out a new recipe - so I made Coffee Walnut Cake!

The recipe was originally for one layer covered with buttercream frosting, but it look so tiny to me - not at all like a big birthday cake.... So I made another layer to stack on top with buttercream frosting in between. Well....after carving a pretty big piece of the cake and having a bite or two or three....I understood that one layer would have done appetite-wise...This cake is rich!!!

Coffee Walnut Cake
(makes 1 cake of Ø 24 cm, consisting of 2 layers)

Ingredients:
- for the cake layers:
340 gr butter, at room temperature
280 gr sugar
6 eggs
280 gr self-rising flour
160 gr walnuts, chopped
5 tsp of instant coffee, dissolved in 2 tbsp of boiling water

- for the buttercream frosting:
4 tsp of instant coffee, dissolved in 4 tbsp of warm milk
190 gr butter, at room temperature
250 gr confectioner's sugar/powdered sugar

1.) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2.) Grease or line with baking parchment two springform pans of 24 cm in diameter.
3.) Start making the dough for the cake layers by mixing the butter with the sugar in a large bowl, until the mixture becomes light and creamy.
4.) Add the eggs one at a time.
5.) Sieve the self-rising flour and stir it into the butter/sugar mixture.
6.) Add the chopped walnuts and the coffee, and stir it into the mixture.
7. ) Divide the dough over the two springform pans.
8.) Bake the cakes 20 to 25 minutes on the middle rack of the oven.
9.) Leave on a rack to cool down.

10.) Make the frosting by mixing the butter, powdered sugar and coffee mixture.
11.) When the cakes have cooled down, spread a little frosting on top of one of the layers.
12.) Stack the other layer on top.
13.) Cover the rest of the cake with the remaining frosting.
14.) Decorate with walnuts (and chocolate).

Enjoy!

Banana Bread

Yesterday afternoon I made Banana Bread, to have a snack to bring with me to work today...and because I had four very ripe bananas lying on the countertop. It was either to use them in a Banana Bread or to throw them away... Well, Banana Bread it was...!

Banana Bread
(makes 1 loaf)

Ingredients:

170 gr all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
115 gr butter, melted
100 gr sugar
2 eggs
4 very ripe bananas, mashed
75 gr raisins
50 gr hazelnuts or walnuts
1 tsp vanilla essence

1.) Preheat the oven to 165 degrees Celsius.
2.) Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium-sized bowl and mix well.
3.) In another bowl mix the melted butter and the sugar until blended. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
4.) Mash the bananas and add to the butter/sugar mixture.
5.) Stir in the raisins, nuts and the vanilla essence.
6.) Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and stir well.
7.) Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and scrape the dough into the loaf pan.
8.) Bake in the middle of the oven for approximately 1 hour (check with a toothpick or skewer whether the loaf is ready; the skewer should come out clean).
9.) Leave the loaf in the pan and put on a rack to cool.

Enjoy!

Rhubarb Pie

A couple of days ago, on a visit to the farm of my in-laws, I snatched with me a couple of kilos of rhubarb. I just love rhubarb! It really gives me the feeling of summer. Today I used some of the rhubarb to make Rhubarb Pie. Yummie!

Rhubarb Pie
( Ø 24 cm)

For the pastry dough:
100 gr butter
3 dl sugar
1 egg
1,5 dl cream (27%)
3 dl all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder

For the filling:
dried bread crumbs
6 rhubarb stems
1 dl sugar

For the egg glaze:
1 egg

1.) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2.) Mix the butter, flour, sugar and baking powder (preferably in a food processor), add the egg and then pour in the cream until the mixture starts to become a dough. If the dough turns out sticky, add more flour. (I didn't use a food processor, and I needed to add more flour)
3.) Let the dough rest in the fridge for 30 to 60 minutes.
4.) Line the bottom of a springform pan (Ø 24 cm) with baking parchment, and butter the sides.
5.) Use half of the dough to cover the bottom and sides of the springform pan. You can either just use your hands, or roll the dough out on a flour-covered surface and transfer to the springform pan.
6.) Put the springform pan into the fridge.
7.) Clean and trim the rhubarb stems, and cut them into pieces of 2 cm.
8.) Mix the rhubarb with 1 dl of sugar. Sprinkle the bottom of the dough-covered springform pan with dried bread crumbs, and then fill the form with the rhubarb sugar mixture. (The dried bread crumbs will absorb some of the moisture from the rhubarb so that the bottom of the pie won't get soggy).
9.) Use the rest of the dough to roll into strips and cover the pie with these.

10.) Whisk the egg, and brush the strips and sides of the pie with it.
11.) Bake for 40 to 45 minutes on the lower rack of the oven.
12.)  Let the pie cool down first in the springform pan, then on a rack. Serve luke warm with vanilla ice cream or vanilla sauce.

Enjoy!

Oreo Dream Cake

It's strange...but I still remember the first time I tasted an Oreo cookie. I was about thirteen years old and it was the first time I was in the United States. The friends we were visiting, probably thought that the tall and skinny girl from The Netherlands could use a couple more pounds and introduced me to all kinds of American sweets among which Twinkies, Ding Dongs and last but not least....Oreo cookies.

Of all the different sweets I got to taste, Oreo cookies definitely were my favourites. Not just because of the taste, but also because of the whole ritual of eating the cookie. I can't just pick up an Oreo cookie and eat it just like that. I have twist the two chocolate cookies opposite ways until one of them is released - then I lick the cream off, stick the cookies back together, dip them in milk (if milk is readily available) and finally...eat the cookies.

Oreo cookies were introduced to Norway in 2004 by "Deli de Luca" - a cross between a deli, a newsstand and a convenience store. The cookies became a hit, especially when fancy cafés started to use them to make Oreo Dream Cake - a type of cheesecake. With a lot of Norwegians loving to bake, it didn't take long before the larger supermarket chains began selling Oreo cookies as well. Whereas Deli de Luca only has stores in the larger cities, the supermarket chains made sure the cookies were available throughout the whole country. In 2005 the import of Oreo cookies came to a halt, which led to the launching of "Dots" - an Oreo cookie rip-off made by the Norwegian cookie company "Sætre"- in February this year. Finally I could make Oreo Dream Cake again.... or Dots Dream Cake to be precise.

Oreo Dream Cake
(cake tin Ø 24 cm)

450 gr Oreo cookies / Dots
100 gr butter, melted
225 gr Philadelfia cream cheese
2,5 dl confectioner's sugar
7 dl cream (27 % fat)
2 eggs
3 tbsp sugar
250 gr dark chocolate

1.) Keep 5 Oreo cookies aside for decorating the cake. Put the rest of the cookies into a plastic bag and crush them using a rolling pin.

2.) Mix the cookie crumbs with the melted butter in a bowl.

3.) Put the cookie butter mixture into a cake tin (Ø 24 cm) lined with baking parchment and spread out to cover the whole bottom of the cake tin. This will be the bottom of the cake.

4.) Mix the Philadelfia cream cheese with the confectioner's sugar until light and creamy.

5.) Whip 3,5 dl of the cream. When whipped, mix in the Philadelfia mixture.

6.) Use half of the Philadelfia cream mixture to cover the bottom of the cake. Keep the rest aside until later.

7.) Melt the chocolate au bain marie and let it cool down a bit.

8.) Whisk the eggs and sugar for approximately 5 minutes until light and airy.

9.) Whip the rest of the cream in another bowl.

10.) Fold the whipped cream into the egg/sugar mixture.

11.) Gentle fold the melted chocolate into the mixture.

12.) Use all of the chocolate mixture to cover the Philadelfia cream mixture in the cake tin.

13.) Cover the chocolate mixture with the rest of the Philadelfia cream mixture.

14.) Chill and serve. (The cake is at it's best when it has rested in the fridge for 24 hours. It can also be put into the freezer, to be served as an ice cake.) Before serving, crush the remaining Oreo cookies and drissle on top of the cake for decoration.

Enjoy!