Carrot cake;)

Carrot cake is one of my favorite things...it combines my favorite spices and the outcome is just...a perfect combination of taste, smell and texture (the best carrot cake has to be moist)!

So I found a recipe which I changed a little: In this post i will use the changed version, the one I used myself!

Music Suggestion: Carrot Cake & Wine by Stereophonics

Decoration Suggestion: If you do not like cream cheese icing, go for some maple syrup and pecans

For the carrot cake you need:

500 gr carrots peeled and cut into pieces

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon (I put more)

1 tsp gloves (in powder)

1 Tbsp orange zest

3/4 cups pecans

4 large eggs at room temperature

1 1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup walnut oil ( I used ground nut oil)

For the frosting:

200 gr cream cheese

65 gr butter

1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 Tbsp almond extract

400 ml icing sugar

Optional decoration: 

Food color

Marzipan

1. In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt & the spices

2. Chop the carrots in the food processor

(they have to be like this:)

3. In the food processor now put the eggs, the sugar...

4. and add the oils slowly slowly..

5. Add the egg, sugar, oils mixture to the flour mix 

6. Add the chopped carrots, the nuts (some people also add raisins) 

7. Pour the batter in a pan and bake for 50 min at 180° C

8. The Frosting: beat the butter(room temperature) 3 min add the cream cheese, gradually add sugar, vanilla and almond extract. (If you need more liquid you can use he juice of half lemon)

Put the frosting in the fridge.

Optional: Some food color...

Some marzipan;) to make decoration carrots!

And...lights
Camera

Spoon... Go!

Good luck!

From the heart,

Anna

(Swiss) Roll with condensed milk

Hi all!

Swiss Roll is something well known! This swiss roll however...is my favorite!

It was the first time I made it and I made some mistakes but I still decided to post it so 

that you learn from my mistakes;)

What you need:

For the filling...

1 can of condensed milk

or if you want you can fill it with whatever jam you have around!

For the dough: (a friend's recipe;)

4 eggs

125 gr. sugar

125 gr. flour

1. Start by boiling the condensed milk for 2 hours with the can in a deep pot! But be careful that the can is always covered with water so that it doesn't explode!

2. After beat the 4 eggs with the sugar for 15' min!

 3. Sift the flour

4. And when the eggs and sugar become like this in the mixer...

5. Start adding the sifted flour little by little...

6. Pour the batter in a pan...NOW 1st mistake: I put it in a small pan because  I though the batter was little... PUT it in a BIGGER pan:) The outcome has to be thin...

7. 2nd mistake: Caution! Even if it looks unbaked take it out of the oven in only 15 min. It is ready even if it does not look like:) So bake at 175° C for 15 min

8. Turn it upside down on a rack to cool and remove the paper

9. This is how it should look

10. Let it cool completely!

11. After the boiling the condensed milk should look like that, golden brown...

 12. Spread it 

13. Roll it..and enjoy one heaven's taste;)

14. Enjoy a little bit more...

If i was more careful...the dough would be more thin and elastic therefore better result in rooling...But the taste was not harmed;)

From the heart,

Anna

Baked brie or Brie en Croute!

Cheese is always a matter of taste...

Different kinds for different tastes..but this is definitely a good one!

Brie de Meaux is the father of all soft-white cheeses. It was first recorded in 774AD when the gourmet and soldier Charlemagne tasted in Brie and ordered two batches to be sent to him annualy in Aix. 

But you can find is almost everywhere now:) and it is a very good starter and a great treat!

What you need for baked brie:

3 (small) sheets of puff pastry that you can find in all super market

Of course you can make your own dough...(I will post one recipe for that, later this month)

1 egg (optional)

1 Tbsp. water

1 Brie cheese round

For the filling:

In this recipe I used:

1/2 cup sour cherry jam

1/3 cup chopped almonds

BUT this is where you can improvise:

Others have used whatever jam they have,

rosemary, cinnamon & honey...and an endless list of other things:)

So use your imagination...

Let pastry at room temperature for about 40 min until it is easy to handle and unfold it on a lightly floured  surface.

Stir cherries and almonds or whatever you have in mind;)

Now there is a challenge: You can either spread the mixture directly  onto the center of the pastry... Or on the brie as I did in the pic:)

And turn it onto the pastry jam side down...

Brush the pastry with the egg & water mixture and then fold the pastry and press edges:)

Turn it upside down and  decorate if you wish:)) with the remaining pastry you may have and the cookie cutters you love...

Even though it is already spring I decided to add some snowflakes!

Bake for 20-25 min until the dough become gold... 200° C and let it stand for about 35-40 min before you serve!

Miam...

Suggestion: Serve with crackers, pickled grapes, or just a bottle of red wine room temperature...

From the heart,

Anna

Suomalaiset Munkit (Finnish Donuts)

Dear all, 

If you ever come to Finland this is one of the things that you really have to try:) I have had many different kinds of donuts throughout my life...But these ones I consider the best so far...

So my Finnish friend Anna revealed the top secret of her ancestors for your eyes only:)

What you need for the munkit: 

(this portion makes about 36)

500ml milk

50g fresh yeast

2 eggs

1,5 teaspoons salt

150ml sugar

4 teaspoons cardamom

1,2-1,4 litres flour

100g butter

oil for frying (you need so much that it's about 5-10cm thick in the pan)

normal caster sugar for coating

1. Heat up the milk to body temperature

2 Melt the yeast in the milk

3. Mix in the eggs, sugar, salt, cardamom and about half of the flour. Stir until smooth.

4. Add soft (room-temperature) butter

5. Gradually add the rest of the flour while mixing by hand (or by machine, if available :). 

Kneed until the dough starts coming off your hands.

6. Cover with a cloth and let rise up to twice the size(about an hour)

Take the air out:)

7. Roll the dough into small balls and stick your finder in the middle to make a hole.

Until it looks like this

This is the kind of tool you need!

8. Heat up the oil in a steady pan. It's hot enough when a small bit of dough or bread rises up 

immediately to the surface and starts sizzling.

9. Fry the buns in the oil, few at a time, until they are golden brown on both sides(takes about a

minute, but depends on the temperature of the oil, so keep an eye on the colour rather  

than time)

10. When ready, take them out of the oil and let them drain for a while on some kitchen paper.

After that, when they are still warm but no longer burn your fingers, roll them around in sugar. The sugar doesn't stick anymore when they've fully cooled down. You can also coat them more donut-like in sugar frosting (picture:)

And Enjoy..

A lot of them..

And a little bit more...

Use also whatever decoration you like!

From the heart,

Anna & Anna