Almond Apricot Cake

Ingredients:

Corpus

250 g almond flour

80 g brown sugar
50 g spelt flour

140 g melted butter

2 eggs

Topping

50 g melted butter

450 g apricots, halved and pitted

50 g whole almonds, skinless

3 tbsp brown sugar

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This was another of her weekend baking experiments that worked out pretty nicely. It's been already a while ago at the time of apricot season.

The original recipe included classic flour and crushed almonds that she substituted with the almond flour and a bit of spelt flour. Preheat the over for 200 C, mix all the corpus ingredients together which creates a kind of a paste mixture and place it onto a baking paper in a form. Place the apricot halves onto the corpus, fill them with whole almonds, brush them with melted butter and sprinkle with the brown sugar. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes until the apricots are nicely caramelized and the corpus has golden color and crunchy rounds. Serve with whipped cream if you wish.

Bon Appetit!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup agave syrup or honey or maple syrup

1 egg

Pinch of cinnamon

1 tbsp almond flakes

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She first saw this recipe on Timbo's blog, it was the simplest and most genius recipe she ever came across and wanted to try it as soon as possible. And so when the very well known sugar cravings arrived one afternoon, she mixed all the ingredients together along with the pinch of cinnamon, spooned the mix on a baking plate with laid baking paper, sprinkled a few almond flakes on top and baked it in 170 C pre-heated oven for about 10 minutes. The amount created about 12 cookies. After the cookies cool off, you can decorate with melted chocolate  The taste would never give out that there is no flower in it.

Bon Appetit!

Chocolate Fondant

Ingredients:

250 g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

175 g butter

80 g sugar

5 eggs

75 g flour

pinch of salt

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She tried this chocolate cake already a while ago, she found the recipe in Czech Elle from October 2013 and wanted to surprise him with a sweet treat. Preheat oven to 210 degrees Celsius; butter the bottom of the baking form. Put the pieces of chocolate along with butter and melt it either in microwave or in water / steam bath and stir together until smooth texture achieved. Beat whole eggs together with sugar until they create a sort of foam and double their volume. Add slowly the flour and the chocolate-butter mixture, stir together and pour into the buttered form. Bake for about 10 minutes depending on the form and how high is the dough. The fondant should be soft and runny in the middle so you are influencing its structure by the timing. If you'd like to have the fondant firmer, bake it longer.

Bon Appetit!

Cherry-Yogurt Crumble Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup of cherries, pitted

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup flower

1 cup sugar

1 cup white yogurt

1/2 pack baking powder

pinch of salt

a bit of butter, flower and sugar for crumb topping

icing sugar

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Super easy cake that can be used with any seasonal fruit - cherries, strawberries, apricots, plums or even rhubarb. Sift the flour and baking powder in a bowl, add pinch of salt, spices, sugar and stir gently. Beat the  eggs into the bowl, add yogurt and mix together until the mixture is soft and compact. Pour the batter into the pan. Top up with the crumb which can be created by squeezing the butter with sugar and flour together until it creates crumbs. Place in preheated oven. Bake for about 30 mins at 180C. If needed, try if the batter is baked inside by using wooden skewer. Once ready, take out from the oven and let cool off for a bit.

Bon Appetit!

Carrot Cake With Walnuts And Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

Cake

3 cups carrot, finely grated

3 eggs

1 pack baking powder

2 cups flour

1 cup (brown) sugar

1/2 cup walnut oil

1/4 cup walnuts, grounded

1/4 cup raisins

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Pinch of ginger powder and nutmeg

Unsulted butter and a bit of flower for the pan

Pinch of salt

Frosting

1-2 cups icing sugar

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 pack Philadelphia cheese spread

1 teaspoon lemon zest plus some lemon juice

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This cake never disappoints. Great for all occasions, be it birthday or Sunday afternoon treat with a nice cup of coffee. Butter and flour a round deep cake pan and set aside. Preheat oven to some 180°C. Sift the flour and baking powder in a bowl, add pinch of salt, spices, grated walnuts, sugar and raisins and stir gently. At last put the grated carrot, eggs and oil into the bowl and mix together until the mixture is soft and compact. Pour the batter into the pan and place in preheated oven. Bake for about 45 mins. Once ready, take out from the oven and let cool off. Prepare the frosting by simply mixing all the ingredients for frosting together. Apply in a thicker layer on the top of the cake.

Bon Appetit!

Pumpkin Pancakes With Raisins

Ingredients:

1/2 half of small pumpkin, peeled and diced

1 cup of flower

1 egg

1/2 cup of milk

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp raisins

1 teaspoon cinnamon

butter or oil

pinch of salt

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This was an amazing morning treat from the boyfriend. Try to make pancakes in Caribbean style, they are delicious! Cook the pumpkin until really soft and mash them so they create pure. Add the flower, egg, milk, sugar, raisins, cinnamon and pinch of salt and create a slightly liquid mixture. Smear a tiny bit of butter or oil on a frying pan and fry pancakes one by one until they have golden color. The pancakes themselves are already quite sweet so the best is to serve them with some fresh fruit or creme fraiche, as you like it.

Bon Appetit!

The Upside Down Apple French Tart

Ingredients:

Pastry

1 1/3 cups flour

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup butter

3 tbsp cold water

dash salt

Filling (for a smaller pie plate)

3-4 big apples, peeled and sliced into moon shape, quite thinly

2 cups sugar

4 tbsp butter

inside from 1 small vanilla bean

3 tbsp almond flakes

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This delicious cake is a bit more time consuming and difficult to make but brings a certain feeling of satisfaction and pride when finished successfully, of course along with satisfaction of your taste buds:

Sift the flour, sugar and salt together. Add the butter, cut in small cubes, along with the water and knead the mixture until it forms thick dough. Transfer the dough into a plastic bag and put it in a fridge to rest for about half an hour. You can peel and cut the apples while waiting for the dough to rest.

After half an hour preheat the oven to about 220-250C. Take a pie plate, lightly grease the plate with butter and cover the bottom with sugar fully, so no surface is seen, add the vanilla extract. Place the pie plate in the oven and let the sugar caramelize for about 15 mins. The sugar should melt and have a slightly brown color. Towards the end of the caramelizing, take out the dough from the fridge and roll it into a circle shape. Take the pie plate carefully out of the oven and place the apple slices around to form a circle, fill the rest with more apple slices. Sprinkle a bit of sugar over the apples and add a few thin slices of butter. Cover the apples with the dough, tuck the ends of the dough down inside the pie plate (NOT outside), pressing it firmly so that the filling is completely sealed in. Prick the dough a few times with fork so that steam can get out while baking. Bake the cake for about 15-20 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Afterward take it out from the oven and let it cool off. Place a dinner plate over the top of the cake and turn it upside down. This can get a bit messy, so be extra cautious. Once flipped over, you can sprinkle some almond flakes over the top. Tip: You can make this cake also with pears. Serve with creme fraiche, whipped cream or ice cream as you prefer.

Bon Appetit!

Chocolate Soufflés

Ingredients for 6 servings:

200g dark chocolate, chopped

150g butter, cut into cubes plus a bit extra for buttering the ramekins

6 eggs

175g sugar

125g plain flour

Alternatively 1 orange - zest, grated and 3 tbsp orange juice

6 ramekins (as on picture)

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These delicious chocolate soufflés (with orange flavor) attained a great success as a dessert during a Christmas dinner with friends. They can also serve as a little sweet treat for your beloved ones:

Heat the oven to 180C. Butter 6 medium ramekins. Melt the chocolate with the butter in a bowl over simmering water or in a microwave. Beat the eggs with the sugar until they are very light and fluffy and then fold in the flour carefully. Finally fold in the chocolate mixture and stir gently together. Alternatively, the orange juice and zest can be added at this point for a flavored version of the soufflés. Divide the mixture between the ramekins. Bake for 8-12 minutes, the soufflés should rise and form a firm crust but they should still remain slightly runny in the middle. These soufflés are served in the ramekins and can be accompanied by  ice cream, whipped cream or different sorts of fruit.

Bon Appetit!

Recipe altered from BBC GoodFood