Carrot Cake

First of all, I have to apologize to every one, and especially to my blog, for being absent for such a long time. I was sick and couldn't even stand straight, yet write a blog entry. But, I am back and ready for blogging again! 

My dad bought some amazing organic carrots the other day and they were so beautiful and tasty. I am a great carrot cake lover and when I saw those gorgeous carrots I had to make a carrot cake. What I don't like that much is the butter frosting you can see on so many cakes and cupcakes. I mean, frostings have to be light and fluffy, not buttery and rich. So, here is my ultimate cake frosting which I love to add to so many cakes and cupcakes because it is so light and tasty. The special ingredient is Greek yoghurt. I am a Greek yoghurt addict and just love to experiment with it. As a matter of fact, did you know you can substitute almost every oil/butter/cheese with the same amount of Greek yoghurt? You should try it. But first, try this gorgeous carrot cake.

Recipe adapted from here.

You need:

For the cake:

2 cups flour

2 tea spoons baking soda

2 tea spoons baking powder

1/2 tea spoon salt

3 tea spoons ground cinnamon

1/2 tea spoon nutmeg

4 eggs

1 1/4 cup oil

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 tea spoons vanilla

3 cups grated carrots

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan.

In a large bowl, combine the oil, sugars, vanilla, and eggs together and blend well with a mixer.

In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Gradually add the flour to the sugar and egg mixture and mix well.

Stir in the grated carrots. Pour into prepared pan.  

Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Let it cool and spread the frosting on top.

For the frosting:

1 cup Greek Yoghurt

2 table spoons honey

Mix the yoghurt with the honey and spread evenly over cooled cake. Enjoy!

Pudding Tiramisu

My best friend came for a visit last weekend and my cookie/candy drawer was empty so I had to quickly make a yummy dessert for her. When people randomly pay me a visit and expect something good I always make my famous pudding tiramisu. It is a great treat for coffee lovers and it is made within minutes.

You need:

2 packages instant Vanilla OR Chocolate OR both Pudding

Lady fingers

2 cups of brewed coffe, sweetened

Prepare a baking dish, the size you want the tiramisu to be (I use a bigger sized dish, maybe 25x20 cm or so) and start layering the tiramisu. First layer are the lady fingers, which you arrange in the dish, side by side and pour a small amount of coffe over them, I use 1 table spoon for each lady finger. Be careful because you don't want those lady fingers to fall apart when cooled. The next layer is a pudding layer - just cook the pudding according the instructions on the package and smear a good amount of it on the lady fingers. Continue to do so, finishing with a pudding layer. Chill for an hour or over night if you have time. You can top the tiramisu with whipped cream or fresh fruit.

New York-Style Cheesecake

Do you like celebrity chefs and their recipes? I have to admit that I absolutely love their cookbooks and tv shows. One of my favorite tv chefs is Annabel Langbein. She makes wonderful dishes in no time and I love her tips and accent, of course :)

She has this new cookbook called Free Range in the City and you can download a preview on her website. I fell in love with the New York Cheesecake because it requires just a few ingredients. I have to say I was a bit worried because the cake is crustless and as a crust-lover I used to think cheesecakes and cookie crusts are best friends. Boy, was I wrong! You can believe me when I say that this is the BEST cheesecake I have ever eaten. It is so moist and refreshing, you don't need a crust. I put a couple of fresh nectarines on top just for some fruity taste, but you can make it plain or add any fruit you like.

You need:

500 grams cream cheese

500 grams sour cream

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 tea spoons vanilla

finely grated zest of 1/2 a lemon

2 table spoons lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 150°C and line a 23cm cake form with baking paper, grease the sides with a little butter. Place all ingredients in a mixer or in a bigger bowl and mix it all up, until creamy. This should last for a minute or so. Now pour the mixture into the prepared cake form and bake for 1 1/4 hours, then turn off the oven and leave the door open for another hour. Then take the cake out of the oven and let it cool. You can top the cake with fresh fruit or enjoy it plain.

Nutella Cake

Do you like Nutella? I LOVE it! Seriously, I could eat it every day till the rest of my life. I always buy a big jar of Nutella and I don't want to admit how many days it lasts. 

Nothing is better than a slice of whole grain bread with Nutella on top. If you like Nutella and love cakes, you should deffinitely try this Nutella cake. The recipe is an old classic, which a friend of mine found on the internet. Whenever a family member celebrates his birthday, they demand this cake. It is so so amazing and really easy to do.

You need:

For the batter:

6 eggs

120 grams sugar

180 grams flour

1 tea spoon baking powder

1 tea spoon vanilla

5 generous table spoons Nutella

Plus 

1/2 cup of water

5 table spoons sugar

For the filling:

2 cups heavy cream

4 generous table spoons Nutella

Prepare two medium sized mixing bowls and crack the eggs, putting the yolks in one bowl and whites in the other. Put half of the sugar to the egg yolks and mix until creamy. Put the other half of the sugar to the egg whites and mix until you get a stiff meringue. Set aside. 

Now mix the Nutella into the yolk sugar mixture and gradually add the meringue. Mix carefully, you don't want to overmix the batter. Now combine the flour and baking powder, sift and fold in the batter mixture. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake on 180°C for 25 minutes. When baked, remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely. 

Once cool, remove from the tin and cut twice through the sponge, so you get three equal sponges. Put the first sponge on a cake plate and moisten it with the mixture of water and sugar. For the filling, beat the heavy cream and add the Nutella. Be careful to not overmix it. The filling should be light and fluffy, not liquid or too hard. Smear a third of the filling on the sponge and put the next sponge on top. Do the same on this layer, finishing with the filling, which you smear all over the cake. Cool in the fridge for two hours, or overnight.

Mexican Lasagna

September is flying by so fast, I can't believe it is Fall already. Even though I hate those crisp, cold September days, I love to cook something really tasty when I come home. When I think of comfort food, I think of a spicy, Mexican dish. I love tortillas and everything spicy and hot actually, and this is my favourite tortilla dish. 

The recipe can be found here and it is from Eva Longoria's Eva's Kitchen which is a good cookbook, I think. I can't imagine her cooking all those dishes she has in the book, however. 

The recipe is pretty easy and you can prepare the lasagna a night before and just put it in the oven the following day. 

Pflaumenkuchen

I am back from my trip to Cologne. The past month has been the best in my life; I have learnt so much, experienced millions of things and most importantly - I have met the most amazing people. If anyone of you guys are reading this, please remember that you are all lovely people and I could talk to you for hours and hours straight. Ich kann es kaum erwarten euch wieder zu sehen! Bleibt so wie ihr seid!

So, back to my "normal" life. Our plum tree is so generous that I have problems eating all of the plums. My friends, family and my boss benefit from this since they all got a lot of plums recently. This Pflaumenkuchen reminds me of my days in Cologne, where I ate an amazing slice of Pflaumenkuchen and this is my recreation.

You need:

For the dough

300 grams flour

20 grams butter

1 egg

10 grams sugar

For the filling

900 grams plums, pits removed

2 tea spoons cinnamon

For the crumbly topping

320 grams flour

200 grams sugar

200 grams cold butter

Combine all of the ingredients above and mix with a wooden spoon. Now knead the dough for a couple of minutes, form into a ball and set aside. Leave to rest for 30 minutes. In the meantime prepare the filling; put the plums into a small bowl and dust with cinnammon. You can also add sugar to the plums, if you wish but I prefer them plain because they are naturally sweet. After the dough has rested, roll it out (cca. 2 centimeters thin) and put in a pie dish. Put the filling on top and set aside. Make the crumbling topping by putting all of the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and mix with an electric mixer on full speed for a couple of minutes, until crumbs start to form. Top the pie with it and bake for 45 minutes on 180°C.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I don't like overripe bananas. They don't look very appealing to me, even though they can still be eaten. I know most of you will think I am so picky, but overripe bananas are nothing more than an ingredient for a dessert to me. 

I had two sad looking bananas in my kitchen the other day and I couldn't decide what to do with them. I didn't want to overheat the house by turning on the oven, but when I saw this recipe I just had to.

This is my first time ever baking a banana bread. I am always reserved when it comes to desserts with bananas because the flavor is mostly too dominant and I don't like that. I have to say this is my favorite banana recipe so far because it is so moist and tastes great, the bananas are not dominant and the chocolate chips make the bread so chocolaty and amazing. That is why I call it a chocolate chip banana bread, with the chocolate on first place because you can never have enough chocolate chips in it.

You need:

2 ripe bananas, smashed

1 cup chocolate chips

1/3 cup melted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup flour

1 egg, beaten

1 tea spoon vanilla

1 tea spoon baking soda

dash of salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease a loaf pan. Smash the bananas in a mixing bowl and add the butter. Mix in the sugar, egg and vanilla. Stir and add the baking soda, salt and flour. Mix well and finally mix in the choc chips. Pour batter in a loaf pan and bake for 55 minutes.