Tag: cakes


Dec
2016

Christmas Breakfast Cakes

categories: In My Life, Recipes

christmas-cakesThree days till Christmas! For me, a holiday that is not only about presents and wonderful food, but about spending time with my family and celebrating the birth of Christ. To me that is the real meaning of Christmas. Family, faith and love.
It’s been quite an eventful day today, the day before our Christmas break starts. I spent a good part of the morning chasing a stray dog with cheese and a spare leash, after no one bothered to do a thing. Not even the animal ambulance. I called them and they said they would only come if I managed to catch the dog. So I tried my best, enticing him with cheese, but I failed. After begging them to come and saying the dog wasn’t going to let me put him on a leash, they agreed. But at a certain point, he swiftly ran away and it was too late. I hope with all of me that he’ll be found. He was old and in pretty bad shape, I walked home in tears feeling defeated.
A Christmas card from our dear friends Marit and Kelvin put a smile on my face though, so I put on some Christmas music, cleaned the house and whipped up a batch of festive breakfast cakes for tomorrow morning. I really think you will love them. They have cranberries, apple, crisp pecans and a hint of almond.
It will be a busy day tomorrow, by the way! We’ll be driving to the organic butcher for our holiday meats and I still need to do some last minute shopping to take care of. I will also be meeting a lovely woman I met on Instagram a while ago — exciting!
But about those breakfast cakes… here’s the recipe!
Have a wonderful Christmas!

PS: You will need a large muffin tin of 3 1/2 x 1 1/2 in. Though this should work perfectly well in a normal muffin tin. Just start checking for doneness after 18 minutes or so.

 
Christmas Breakfast Cakes
Makes 4 cakes

  • 80g all purpose flour
  • 50g coarse cornmeal (polenta)
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 50g cranberries, chopped
  • 40g pecans, chopped
  • 1 small green apple, or 1/2 large, chopped
  • 100ml whole milk
  • 40ml mild olive oil
  • 1 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 80g granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • a glaze made with lemon juice and powdered sugar, or just powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 200C and grease 4 holes of the large muffin tin. Sprinkle with flour, shaking off any excess. In a large bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, cranberries, pecans and apple. In a small bowl, whisk the milk, olive oil, almond extract, granulated sugar and egg. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently combine. Divide the batter over the muffin holes and bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack. Unmold and make the glaze the way you like it. Drizzle over the cakes. You can also just dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy!


Feb
2015

Madeleines (with VIDEO!)

categories: Food History, Recipes

“She sent out for one of those short, plump little cakes called ‘petites madeleines,’ which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted scallop of a pilgrim’s shell. And soon, mechanically, weary after a dull day with the prospect of a depressing morrow, I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid, and the crumbs with it, touched my palate, a shudder ran through my whole body, and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary changes that were taking place. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses…”

That’s how Marcel Proust described the little cakes in his book Remembrance of Things Past. A sponge-like cookie/cake that has its own place in French literature, and is so delicious, too. What’s not to love about madeleines? Did I mention that baking them is a joy? Easy to make, and they leave your house full of the heavenly scent of butter and vanilla. Enjoy! PS: Hope you liked the film — be sure to subscribe!

Madeleines
mad1Makes about 2 dozen madeleines

  • 175 g butter, melted and cooled
  • 245g all-purpose flour
  • pinch of salt (preferably fleur de sel)
  • 4 eggs
  • 200g granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract
  • 3 tbsp ground almonds

Grease the madeleine tray with butter and dust with flour. Melt the butter and set aside to cool. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Beat the eggs and sugar until thick and pale. I usually do this in my Kitchen Aid mixer but a handheld mixer should work just fine. Add the vanilla extract to the cooled butter. Fold the flour through the eggs and sugar, then fold in the butter and vanilla and finally the ground almonds. Fill the madeleine shells ¾ full and pop in fridge for about an hour. Preheat your oven to 190°C and bake the madeleines for about 8-10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the tiny cakes spring back when gently pressed in the center. Cool on a wire rack before serving. You can experiment with lots of different flavors. Lemon zest is very common and used in many recipes, for example.

mad3