May 20, 2012

Upside Down Pineapple Cake

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This is a suitable cake for Spring. The pineapple used gives it a very refreshing taste, like a cool breeze! The pineapple juice also moistens the cake itself, giving it a more moist texture in the mouth. Nothing more to say about this cake, except that the decoration with strawberry adds a nice touch 🙂

Ingredients:

  • 5 eggs
  • 1 can of sliced pineapple (drained and juice kept)
  • 2 cups of sugar
  • 3 cups of flour + extra 1 tablespoon to dust the mold)
  • 1 cup pineapple juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 cup butter at room temperature + extra tablespoon to grease the mold)
  • 1/4 cup of honey ( or golden syrup)

Preparation:

  • Preheat the oven to 180C
  • Grease a 26 cm diameter round and deep tray, dust with flour, pour the honey then place the pineapples slices over
  • With an electric mixer, mix the eggs with vanilla until pale then add sugar and keep mixing until the sugar dissolves
  • Alternate adding flour with pineapple juice, mixing slowly,then add the baking powder; keep mixing for a few minutes
  • Place the mixture in the tray and bake in the oven for about 40 to 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean
  • Leave the cake in the tray for few minutes then turn it onto a wire rack to cool
  • Enjoy eating with fresh strawberry for decoration

ET VOILA .. C’EST TOUT 🙂

Filed Under: Breakfast, Dessert · Tagged: , , , , , ,
May 4, 2012

My 100th Post…….. Chocolate Cake With Snow White Frosting

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I cannot believe that today I am doing my hundredth post and I am very excited. When I first started nearly three months ago, I never thought that I would be doing this steadily and would reach my 100th post. But, I should thank my children and my family for their encouragement and their faith in me, and also all of you fellow bloggers for your support, comments and your sweet words, you all provided me with the motivation I needed to persevere. Every recipe I posted was  a new challenge that made me want to improve and to become a better blogger, or at least try.

And for the occasion of the 100th post today I thought I should celebrate it in a very special way. This is why I made this lovely chocolate cake. I hope you will like it… 🙂

Ingredients:For the cake

  • 150 grams icing sugar ( 1 cup and 1/3 cup)
  • 50 grams flour (1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon)
  • 50 grams  corn flour (1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
  • 150 grams butter, melted – plus 1 tablespoon to grease the cake tin
  • 6 eggs, separated plus 1 whole egg
  • 40 grams coconut shredded ( 1/2 cup)
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder, a pinch of salt

Preparation:

  • In a bowl mix the egg yolks with sugar, add the shredded coconut,  cocoa, whole egg, flour, baking powder, salt and corn flour and beat well
  • Preheat the oven to 180C
  • In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until firm, then fold into the previous mixture, then add the melted butter
  • Pour the cake mixture into the greased round cake tin, and bake in the middle rack of the oven for about 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer come out dry
  • Remove from the cake tin and let it cool completely on a wire rack, then slice it in half, it is now ready to be assembled

Ingredients for the decoration:

  • 200 grams of strawberry jam
  • 300 ml fresh cream
  • 2 tablespoons icing sugar
  • 100 grams cooking chocolate
  • 50 grams soft butter, 2 tablespoons icing sugar, 1 tablespoon cocoa plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • some fresh strawberry for decoration on the top

Decoration of the cake:

  • Put the jam on the bottom layer of the cake and cover it with the other half
  • Mix the fresh cream with the 2 tablespoons of icing sugar until thickens, then spread it on the top of the cake
  • Mix the butter with the 2 tablespoons of sugar, vanilla extract and the cocoa until smooth. Pipe it along the edge of the cake
  • Grate the cooking chocolate and spread over, finally put some strawberries for decoration

ET VOILA …C’EST TOUT… BON APPETIT:)

Filed Under: Dessert, Jam · Tagged: , , , , , ,
Mar 27, 2012

Lazy Cake (Biscuit au Chocolat)

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I love chocolate. I mean, I think I am addicted to chocolate. I always have some in the house. Every week, I have to make a chocolate cake, cupcake, biscuit with chocolate or anything else! My children also love it, especially my quadruple chocolate cake (maybe I’ll post it someday). Today I made this biscuit au chocolat, popularly known as Lazy Cake. Why did they call it lazy? Maybe because it doesn’t require any oven cooking, or maybe it can be made with simple ingredients. In any case, what counts is that it is DELICIOUS! 😀

Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cup of icing sugar
  • 8 tablespoons of cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 200 grams butter
  • about 250 grams of biscuit ( you can use any kind you like, I used petit beurre biscuit)

Preparation:

  • Beat the eggs until pale yellow, then add the vanilla and sugar while mixing
  • Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add it to the egg mixture, then add the cocoa slowly
  • Snap the biscuits into pieces by hand over the mixture and fold with a spoon to cover all the pieces of biscuit with the chocolate
  • Line a cake tin with plastic cling film and pour the cake mixture in. Press the cake down with a spoon while pouring
  • Cover the tin with cling film and refrigerate for at least 5 hours until set
  • When the cake is hard enough, remove the cling film and take out from the cake tin , place in a serving plate and slice it and you’re ready to enjoy. As simple as that

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT! 🙂

Filed Under: Breakfast, Dessert · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,
Mar 20, 2012

Fondant Au Chocolat

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Have you ever tried a Fondant Au Chocolat in a nice restaurant or coffee shop with a scoop of ice cream? The hot chocolate melting in your mouth, contrasting the cold of the ice cream and wished you can eat it any time you want at home? I did. I love the texture of this creamy chocolate and cannot stop myself from eating it even after a heavy dinner. I’ve tried so many recipes to find the perfect one that can satisfy my craving, until a few years back, I found a nice one in an old french magazine and I’ve tried it and I said “that’s the one I am looking for”!! It was perfectly delicious. My children also love it. I made it again today to share this lovely recipe with you. By the way you should be very careful about the cooking time, if you leave it one minute extra in the oven, you will not have the melting chocolate oozing out from inside the cake.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup of flour minus 1 tablespoon
  • 2 eggs+2 egg yolks
  • 1 cup of icing sugar minus 1 tablespoon
  • 100 grams butter
  • 100 black chocolate
  • pinch of salt

Preparation:

  • Preheat the oven to 210C
  • In a saucepanPlace the chocolate with the butter and the pinch of salt and let it melt on water bath for 5 minutes stirring continuously
  • In a bowl whisk the eggs with egg yolks until pale yellow
  • Add the flour to the eggs and mix well
  • Add the icing sugar now
  • Pour the mixture of chocolate-butter over the eggs and flour
  • Grease 6 small molds ( the cup cake ones will be perfect) and divide the mixture into them
  • Bake in the oven for 9 minutes,( you now it is done when the top of the cake is  not soft anymore
  • Eat while it is still warm. Or you can reheat them on the microwave for few seconds only

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT. BON APPETIT!

Filed Under: Dessert · Tagged: , , , , ,
Feb 14, 2012

Strawberry Tart

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Happy Valentine’s day to all of you! I wish each and every one of you love that encompasses your hearts beyond only this obscurely invented holiday 🙂

Strawberry Tart

As you may have noticed in the gift stores in your neighborhoods, LOVE is highly associated with the color red, the color of fire, passion, and STRAWBERRIES! The delicious strawberry resembling the kiss of a loved one. My gift to you this valentine’s day is to share with you a recipe for a strawberry tart, which I hope will ignite your taste buds and will make your kisses with your loved ones sweeter.

Ingredients:

  • 200 gs of all purpose flour
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 100 gs of butter
  • 1  coffee spoon of sugar
  • 500 gs of fresh strawberry

Preparation:

  • Mix the flour with salt and the sugar
  • Rub it with the soft butter until the flour becomes granulated
  • Put the water and knead the mixture with the fingers quickly, when the dough is soft wrap it in a plastic wrap and put it in the fridge to rest for about one hour
  • Preheat the oven on 200C
  • Roll the dough and put it in a greased  tart mold with loose buttom
  • Cover the top with waxing paper and put dried beans
  • Put in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes

In the meantime make the “creme patissiere”

Ingredients for the cream:

  • 1 liter of milk (about 4 cups)
  • 100 gs of sugar
  • 4egg yolk
  • 60 gs of corn starch (about 4 tablespoons)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

  • Boil the milk with the vanilla on low fire
  • In a bowl mix with the electric beater the egg yolk with the sugar until the sugar dissolve and the mixture becomes yellow pale color
  • Add the corn starch gradually to the egg mixture and whisk slowly, when  it becomes homogenous pour half of the boiled milk, mix slowly at the beginning, when the cream is soft mix faster
  • Put the cream mixture in the casserole of the milk on very low heat, always mixing, until the cream thickens
  • Put the fire off and don’t stop mixing to allow the cream to cool quickly
  • Put it in a plate and cover it with plastic wrap until needed
  • When the tart is cold remove it from the mold,cover it with the “creme patissiere”
  • Decorate with the strawberries
  • As a final touch, dissolve one bag of jello (strawberry flavor) with one cup of hot water and pour half of it over the strawberry

ET VOILA. C’EST TOUT:)

ENJOY VALENTINE’S ❤

Filed Under: Dessert · Tagged: , , , , , ,
Feb 10, 2012

Orange Cake with Chocolate Frosting

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Lucky you, I am posting double today 🙂

This recipe for the cake is very malleable for variations. Instead orange juice, you can use milk or lemon juice or even yogurt. Also, instead of making white cake like the one I made today, you can replace 3 tablespoons of flour with the same amount of cacao, and you will have a chocolate cake… BE CREATIVE and EXPERIMENT.

Ingredients:

  • 5 eggs
  • 1/2 cup of softened butter
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla  essence
  • 2 cups of granulated sugar
  • 3 cups of all purpose flour
  • 1 cup of orange juice
  • 3 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Preparation:

  • Preheat the oven at 180C.
  • Grease a cake round tin, then sprinkle it with flour
  • In a bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the eggs with the vanilla until pale
  • Add the the sugar and mix until completely dissolve
  • Now put the soft butter
  • Alternate the flour and the orange juice, mix well until the batter is soft and creamy, at the end add the baking powder and the chocolate chips
  • Put the mix in a cake tin and bake in the oven about 40 minutes. You know the cake is done when you insert a wood stick in it and it comes out dry
  • After its done, remove it and leave it in the tin few minutes to settle and then turn it onto a rack to cool completely

In the meantime prepare the chocolate frosting.

Ingredients for the frosting:

  • 1/2 cup of softened butter
  • 1 cup of icing sugar
  • 1 small teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 4 tablespoons of cacao

Preparation:

  • Mix all the ingredients together until smooth and creamy, and spread it all over the cake

ET VOILA.. C’EST TOUT

Filed Under: Dessert · Tagged: , , ,