Tree surgeons are coming over tomorrow morning to take care of the conifers at the back of our garden. I will have some coffee for them, but I wanted something to go well with that coffee. I had some peaches in the fruit bowl that nobody was particularly interested in, a nectarine, some apricots, found a recipe in my recipe book called “Easy cake with fruit” and within 20 minutes ( plus 30 in the oven) produced a cake that’s  so nice, I’m wrapping it up and putting away, otherwise there won’t be much left for tomorrow.  I used 3 eggs, whole, which I’ve beaten with about 6 tbsps of sugar. Half a vanilla budyn, dry, half a tall glass of plain flour, some baking powder. Half a cube of butter, a bit less than that, as I decided to melt it in the microwave and it exploded there. So to the mixture of eggs, sugar and flour I added most of that half, kept some for a delicious crumbly topping. Those chopped peaches and apricots in, round tin ready, oven at 180 degrees. The crumbly topping was random as well. I chucked some sugar, some flour, some ground almonds and that remaining melted butter into the kitchen aid and after a few seconds it was ready to go onto the cake.

Fantastic smell in the kitchen, 30 minutes was all it took. Super good cake.

I felt like e cheesecake for a while now, couldn’t decide what kind to make, having purchased a lovely soft curd cheese in Polish deli. Something with pistachios was on my mind, but in the end I got tempted by Dorota’s offer of a light, baked, soufflet like thing, baked without a base. I had to try, left out the lemon glaze and made some rhubarb/apple topping, which I was hoping would break the sweetness.

375 g of the curd cheese, 25 g of soft butter, 3 egg yolks ( whites whipped separately), half a glass of sugar plus a vanilla sugar, as well as vanilla paste, double cream, about 1/4 of a glass, potato starch, 1,5 tbsps- generous ones. Half a glass of milk, but having read the reviews I was careful adding the milk to the mixture in the kitchen aid, as I was worried it would be too runny. Added a bit less.  Once combined, the whipped egg whites went in, incorporated gently and then into the small round tin, the bottom of which lined with baking paper. 150 degrees, about 1 hour.

The cheesecake has risen, then fell a bit, like the recipe said it would.

It cooled in the fridge throughout the afternoon, then I topped with cooked rhubarb and apple kinda compot.

I do like the lot. It it super light, moist and tricky to handle, but different and very pleasant to eat. I’m not sure if I’d rush to be making it again, I think the salted caramel cheesecake is unbeatable so far.  More than half of the cheese in the freezer though, so watch this space!

I’m currently reading the 5th installment of “Cukiernia pod Amorem”, where jagodzianki are mentioned far too often for someone like me, who loves baking and eating and who would be a regular customer in the said Cukiernia, if only it existed and was found around the corner. I had to try to make the jagodzianki, Wiola’s taste of childhood, as she said.  My Mum makes yeasty dough regularly, she likes making small buns and filling them up with wild blueberries, something one can only dream  about in the UK. In Poland, if summers are warm and one knows where to go, they can be picked in the woods. Dorotka in mojewypieki.com opted for American bluberries, available in the UK all the time, the reviews under the recipe were splendid, so last Sunday, with 30 degrees outside, I baked jagodzianki.

I started with denying my Mum’s golden rule, that yeasty dough MUST be made by hand and used my kitchen aid. I’ve made half a portion, worried I’d end up with a  ton of dough. 250 g of plain flour, some of which I used alongside 7 g of fresh yeast, 125 ml of warm milk and some sugar to make me a nice zaczyn, which only needed 5 minutes in the sun outside to foam up. 1 whole egg, a pinch of salt, vanilla sugar, 4 tbsps of caster sugar and then 40 g of melted and cooled butter. I found the dough extremely sticky and runny, so ended up adding 2 big tbsps of flour before I left the dough to rise for about 1,5 hour, till doubled. I then formed 8 oval buns, filled with bluberries sweetened and tossed with some potato starch. The buns were then left to rise further and finally baked in 200 degrees for 18-20 mins according to the recipe – mine took less and were still a bit too dark.

Now, I have to say they taste a lot better than they look. Before I glazed them Florian took one look and said “what happened here?”(grrrrrr!). But even 2 days later 2 remaining buns still taste good and will most likely go today.

Not bad, but not amazing.

Nuts is I,  as I fancy baking when it’s 32 degrees outside.  This was fun baking, as it didn’t require the oven.

I first tried these when my aunt, my Mum’s sister started baking them having purchased some sophisticated piece of machinery from the Russians on the market.  2 years ago I purchased one for Mum and one for myself, much simpler though, they look like panini toaster until you open them. Funky, not too expensive. Mum has used hers numerous times since then, mine sat in the attic until today, when I decided it is time to bake the nuts.

The recipe for the dough takes 1,5 tall glasses of flour, 2 egg yolks, 5 tbsps of sugar plus one vanilla sugar, 2 tbsps of sour cream, 75 g of butter, 0,5 tsp of bicarb soda and a splash of hazelnut vodka( optional). This was worked briefly and then made into mini gnocchi shaped things which then went into the nut maker and quickly baked. It takes some feel and some practice to make them small, cute and beautiful, I only started today, so I had to trim the edges on the majority of the nuts shells. Overall, the process is quick and pleasant.

The filling. 125 g of walnuts, which I first toasted ( Mum seemed a bit offended I’m screwing with her recipe, but I prefer nuts roasted first), then ground. 1/4 tall glass of water in the pan, 125 g of butter, half a glass of sugar and some vanilla sugar in, brought to the boil. A tbsp of cocoa. All slightly cooled, ground nuts in. A tall glass of powdered milk in. Initially the filling was a touch too runny, but it set nicely and I was able to transfer in to the piping bag and fill in the shells. I have a feeling they will taste better the next day, when the shells take some of the filling in and soften a touch. Room for improvement in terms of looks, but I’d also try with hazelnuts or maybe even  pecans??????!

Last night we hosted a little pizza bake off between myself and my brother. We’re both ambitious cooks, both claimed we make better pizza than the other, so last night we tried to settle this dispute with the help of friends, as audience, company, jury and of course- consumers.  Pankowscy came, bringing along Wiola’s brother Maciek and his wife Sandra, who happened to be turning 28 last night. Between us we put on the table 6 or 7 pizzas, all but one were eaten, enjoyed and our guests politely agreed that all were delicious and we must do  it again to maybe agree a verdict. The night before I baked a meringue, thinking we’d need something light and sweet after all the pizzas.  It was my first ever and it was freaking spectacular!!!! Crunchy and light, yet gooey and cloudy inside. 6 egg whites made it, 300 g of sugar slowly added while kitchen aid worked wonders, a splash of lemon juice, 2 tbsps of potato starch added at the end. Baked in 150 degrees for 5 minutes, then down to 110 and slowly baked for nearly 2 hours, cooled in the oven too. On the night topped with whipped cream, mixed berries, lime zest and crunched pistachios. I believe it lasted about 15 minutes.  Fantastic dessert and I can’t wait to be baking another!

On Dorota’s blog it’s called “brownie for kids”. It’s nothing like a brownie, but it’s very quick and easy to make, it’s light, delicious and I was able to recycle one of 2 remaining  chocolate Easter bunnies. Not much mess in the kitchen either, even though a 4 year old enthusiastic helper was involved in the making of it.

110 g of butter, melted, 110 g of chocolate added to it, I used 80 g of milk bunny and 20 g of dark chocolate., nicely combined till a thick, silky sauce appeared. 2 whole eggs gently whipped by hand with 90 g of sugar ( 110 in original recipe). Butter and choc mix added. 110 g of plain flour with 0,5 tsp baking powder added.  100 g of chopped walnuts. Into a lined tray, sprinkled with flaked almonds and into the oven. 170 degrees, 25 minutes.  Will be fab with black coffee. 🙂

Life is treating us so well lately, that at the end of the day, when the Child retires upstairs, one simply wants a mug of steaming tea and a slice of a fabulous cake.  Custard slice delivers. It’s not particularly challenging, it was the first time I’ve made custard with gelatine though. One thing- it’s quite difficult and messy to eat. Puff pastry looks great, but without a serrated knife one curses like a trucker.

Shop bought block of puff pastry, about 500 g, ready rolled out, divided in two, both sprinkled with icing sugar and flaked almonds- the almonds are a great idea, baked, they tasted great. They need to  be pressed gently into the pastry, then secured with baking paper, a heavy tray on top and into the oven for about 30 mins, 200 degrees, best to keep an eye on the edges, easy to burn.

In the meantime, the custard. I soaked 1,5 gelatine leaf, gently whipped 3 egg yolks and then added them to a mixture of 750 ml of milk, 250 ml of double cream, some vanilla paste, 100 g of corn flour, 25 g of custard powder( a first for me again, never bought it before), 100 g of sugar. All this, plus the yolks gently heated up, stirring all the time until nice and thick. Off the heat, gelatine in.

The baked pastry needed to be trimmed a little in order to fit in the tray nicely, custard onto it, pastry on top. Chilled for about 4 hours and was ready to eat.

I have to say that the custard when tasted still warm did not wow me. Not sure if it was that powder that made it taste artificial and cheap, but those hours in the fridge changed the taste for the better.  Nice one from goodfood.com. 🙂

First harvest of rhubarb from my garden this afternoon, as I craved a cake. Quickly looked through Dorota’s ideas, found what I needed, dug up some raspberries from the freezer and was ready to go. Relatively quick and very tasty cake to go with tea.

I used about 200 g of rhubarb, did not peel it, as fresh and young, chopped in small pieces. 100 g frozen raspberries, crumbled, no need to defrost.

For the cake- 1 whole egg and 1 yolk whipped up with 4 tbsps of sugar until pale and fluffy.  2 tbsps of ground almond and 3/4 glass of plain flour, a sprinkle of baking powder, some vanilla extract and then 60 g of melted and slightly cooled butter all added in and briefly combined. Onto the small tray with baking paper, flattened, fruit generously on top. And then a delicious crumble made of 90 g of ground almonds, 50 g of melted butter, 50 g of sugar, some if which was vanilla sugar. I ended up adding a sprinkle of flour to make it more crumbly.

Baked in 175 degrees for about 30-35 minutes, kitchen smelled like heaven.

This is the kind of baking I love- when Florek comes home, sticks a knife through the cake even before dinner and after dinner picks up that knife again. It will not last very long. Yum. 🙂

My lovely child has just turned 4, so a cake has been baked according to her very brief brief- the cake is to be green, end of.  I bought some matcha and was going to make a matcha sponge with some kind of strawberry topping. And then Dorotka published her latest entry in the blog and that was that. Matcha stayed in the jar, I purchased fresh baby spinach and got to work. From the whole portion in Dorota’s recipe I baked 2 separate sponges, used them both, but one was a bit too high, so I took 1cm off the top, cut 4 small bases with rings and I’m glad I did, cause my photos of the birthday cake were rubbish, while the mini ones I’m happy to show off.

So, for the 4 layer cake( 2 sponges and 2 mousses) I used 5 whole eggs, separated, whipped the whites with 6 tbsps of sugar, yolks in., one by one.  A puree of 120 g of baby spinach and 150 ml of sunflower oil was made, I pushed it though the sieve too, as it was not fine enough. Added into the airy egg mixture. 260 g of plain flour, 1 tsp of baking powder. Into the oven, 35 minutes in 160 degrees.

When baked and sliced, some lime juice was used to moisten the cakes.

650 g of fresh strawberries quickly cooked with 2 tbsps of sugar, blitzed into puree. A strawberry jelly in. All cooled till it begun to set and then 450 ml of cream got whipped and the strawberry mixture added.

Fun to bake, fun to assemble. Finished off with chopped pistachios and crumbs from the green cake.  The Child enjoyed the mousse the most, left the green base behind, unaware of the spinach content.  Not a piece was wasted by our guests. 🙂