Berry Yeast Pastry

I once stayed at a pretty luxurious hotel and out of the amazing variety of morning cakes and pastries, I had a weakness to a relatively simple, not too sweet berry yeast pastry. It was so simple: a glazed yeast pastry baked with some berries on top of it. Luckily (or not), they didn’t have it every morning, so I could taste other great morning pastries they had. But this was definitely my favourite. Now that I master the art of making yeast dough, I had to use a little bit of imagination and create my own berry yeast pastry. And believe me, it didn’t require too much imagination or skills, because it’s that simple. Some notes:

• The amount of berries for the pastry is simply as many as you like it to be!
• Take the berries out of your freezer only when you’re about to use them. They have to be completely frozen when you stick it inside the dough, moments before you bake the pastry so they won’t mash when squeezed inside the dough.
• When working with a sweet yeast pastry, I sometimes dust my work surface with icing sugar rather than flour. There’ll be no complaints if the dough is just a little sweeter than it supposed to be (which is not too sweet anyway!).
• You can freeze the baked pastry and warm it up again in your oven when necessary.

You’ll need:

• 1 quantity of sweet yeast dough
• Frozen berries

For the Glaze:

• 30g butter
• 20g sugar
• 1 tbsp clear honey
• 1 tbsp cream
• 1 tsp lemon juice

How to:

Prepare the dough:

(1) Prepare the dough according to the instruction on the How to prepare a yeast dough post, steps 1-9

(2) Roll the dough into a cylinder, and divide into 2 uneven pieces (ratio should be approx. 1:3)

(3) Shape into two circles

(4) put each in a separate, greased bowl, cover with cling film

(5) Let rise in a warm place for 3-4 hours, or until the dough doubles itself

(6) once risen, flour a work surface and place the dough on it

(7) Use a rolling pin to shape the dough into circles the size of your tin

(8) use a wooden stick to make holes in the thiner circle. The size of the holes should match your berries size

(9) Place the thiner circle on top of the thicker one, set aside and prepare the glaze

Prepare the glaze:

(1) melt the butter in a small sauce pan

(2) Add the sugar, honey and cream and cook over a low-medium heat, until the sugar has dissolved

(3) Increase the heat, bring to the boil and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes

(4) Remove from the heat then add the lemon. Allow to cool A

Assemble the cake/pastry:

(1) Preheat the oven to 180c

(2) Back to the dough: stick the frozen berries into the holes on top of the combined dough. If they sticks out, use your finger to push it a little more into the dough

(3) Gently spread the glaze on top of the dough and berries

(4) Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the glazing is golden-brown

Poppy Seed Tart

Sadly, I grew up in a country with no real poppy seed tradition, and the only traditional poppy seed pastry contained a relatively disgusting poppy seed mix. Also, as a kid, the sight of that dark and unfamiliar filling inside my favourite shortbread-like filled cookie didn’t really help. So I gave poppy seeds up for almost 30 years! How sad! Luckily, my mom’s cheese cakes and vanilla roulades made up for it and I didn’t feel deprived, haha.

I re-discovered the poppy seeds and the great flavour, scent and crunchy texture they add to pastries and desserts, when I first visited Hungary, and ever since I’m trying to get more and more of it every time I visit. I’m Looking forward to the next visit, so I can try some more local poppy seed delicacies. In the meantime, I’m trying every recipe I find in order to make up for the lost years.

Pastry:

• 125g plain flour
• 60g butter, softened, not melted
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 60g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg

I normally use a food processor to prepare the pastry, even though a bowl and a pair of hands can do the job perfectly fine.

(1) Place the ingredients in a food processor and process until the pastry draws together in a ball

(2) If it feels too sticky, you can add some flour. If it feels too dry, though, you can add some water and further process

(3) Roll out the pastry and set aside

The filling:

• 500ml milk
• 75g butter
• 100g semolina
• 100g poppy seeds
• 75g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 eggs
• 50g curd cheese (alternative: Quark)
• 25g ground almonds
• 1/2 pear, peeled and grated

(1) Place the milk and the butter in a saucepan and bring to the boil

(2) Gradually stir in the semolina and poppy seeds

(3) Simmer over a low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the mixture becomes very thick and somewhat stable

(4) Remove from the heat and set aside to cool for at least 10 minutes

(5) Preheat the oven to 180c

(6) Roll out the pastry dough and fit it into the tin

(7) Bake blind for 10 minutes

(8) Remove the baking beans and bake for further 5 minutes, then remove the tin from the oven

(9)  Stir together the sugar, vanilla, eggs, cheese and almonds into the cooled poppy seed-semolina mixture

(10) Stir in the grated pear and mix well

(11) Pour the mixture evenly into the pastry base

(12) Place the tin in the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes

Serving:

Allow the cake to cool before serving.

The cake can be kept in the fridge for approximately 3-4 days.

When serving, dust some icing sugar before serving. Goes great with vanilla ice cream.

Apple Blackberry Tart

A great tart that can contain any seasonal fruit of your choice. I present a recipe combining apple and blackberries, but there are other interesting combinations that go very well together, such as nectarines and raspberries, pears and blackberries, pears and plums, apples and plums and more.

You’ll need:

• 23cm loosed bottom flan tin or 6 x 10cm loosed bottom flan tins

• 1 quantity of sweet shortcrust pastry dough

For the filling:

• 3 egg yolks
• 4 tbsp light brown sugar
• 200ml whipping or double cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 3-4 dessert apples
• 50g blackberries, fresh or frozen

How to:

(1) Prepare the sweet shortcrust pastry according to the instructions (steps 1-5)

(2) Preheat the oven to 190c

(3) Bake blind the shortcrust pastry according to the instructions (steps 6-11)

(4) Remove from the oven, and allow to cool

Prepare the filling while the dough is being baked:

(5) Peel, core and thinly slice the apples

(6) Whisk the egg yolks, brown sugar, cream and vanilla

(7) Once the pastry has cooled, arrange the apples and blackberries in it

(8) Pour the creamy mixture over and fill the tart shell

(9) Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar over the top

(10) bake for 35-40 minutes, or until set

(11) Allow to cool a little before serving

Serving: great with custard, vanilla cream or vanilla ice cream.

Best Muffin Recipe

No, this is not just a catchy headline, these muffins really turned to be the best I’ve ever baked.

The credentials for this recipe and tips go to Natalie Levin, a pastry chef. As a big fan (well, and a muffin lover, too) I decided to give this recipe a try and since I just loved these fabulous muffins, I must share!

Some muffins tips before you go and bake these little wonders:

• The following recipe will make 12 normal sized muffins and will require 5cm bottom diameter muffin paper cases.
• This can be a great basic muffin recipe, and blueberries can be replaced with almost any other berry or fruit of your choice (raspberries, apricots, nectarines etc).
• When stirring, use a wooden spoon and mix only until all ingredients blend together. Don’t over-mix, and this will give your muffins the right, dense texture that
• Bake the muffins immediately. The longer the mixture sits, it’ll contain less leavening power.
• Bake the muffins until a skewer inserted in to the centre comes out with moisty crumbs, not totally clean. That will keep them soft for few more days.
• If necessary, these muffins can be freeze up to a month.

You’ll need:

• 12 hole muffin tin lined with muffin cases

• 280g flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 2 medium eggs
• 150g sugar
• 70g butter, melted and cooled
• 200ml sour cream
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g white chocolate, melted (optional: chop 20g of the 100, to sprinkle – see step 6)
• 150g blueberries

How to:

(1) Preheat oven to 160c

(2) Sift flour and baking powder into a large bowl

(3) Add the eggs, sugar, melted butter, sour cream, salt and vanilla, and stir only enough to blend all ingredients

(4) Gently fold in the melted chocolate and raspberries

(5) Spoon the mixture into the paper cases

(6) Optional: sprinkle some chopped white chocolate on top of each muffin

(7) Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes, until well risen and a skewer inserted in to the centre comes out with moisty crumbs

(8) Transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool a little before serving

(9) Grab one muffin (or more) and enjoy each and every bite!

Jamie Oliver's Party Cake

Few weeks ago I was invited for a festive brunch at friends’ house (I think it was more like a mansion), and there were loads of great sweet treats. I was tasting almost all of the served dessert, yet,the most impressive item I had was a chocolate cake with cream filling and strawberries, made by a teenager. I’m telling you, if this is heaven, I promise to be good for the rest of my life!

She forgot the name of the cake, but she said the recipe is from Jamie Oliver’s The Return of the Naked Chef . I assumed the recipe can be found online pretty easily, even without knowing its name. How wrong was I! Then I figured that once I know the name of the cake, I’ll just find it online. And that’s exactly what i did. Last week, after a long day at the office, I found myself heading to a book store. I went up the stairs to the 2nd floor, where the cooking books can be found, and started looking for the book. Since it’s a Jamie Oliver book, it wasn’t too hard to find. It was hard, though to remain focused while surrounded with all the cooking book, so I spend quite a while at the store. And yes, of course I found that the amazing cake that made me perform this enquiry is simply named Party Cake. When I was home I found the recipe on one of the discussion groups on Jamie Oliver’s official website, and nowhere else! Mission accomplished! Or at least the first part of it!

After reviewing the recipe, I couldn’t help it and decided to modify it, but to be honest – I always do.  So I decided to make the base of the cake a little more moisty than it was supposed to be. I also decided to exchange some of the cream with mascarpone cheese, since it goes very well with strawberries.

A quick note: I admit this cake might take a little longer than the usual sponge cake, but it’s worth every minute of your time! But still, even though the recipe and instructions might look long, the cake is very simple to make and will take less time than you would think! Unless you bake for fun, then I say: take your time, and enjoy every moment, like I usually do!

A few tips:

• The base: Cut the cake horizontally only when it has cooled completely. By then it is less likely to break. And of course, you’re less likely to burn your fingers!
• The cream filling: If you can’t find mascarpone cheese or if it’s over-priced (which is a good enough reason!), you can stick to the original recipe and whip 500ml of double or whipping cream (the latter consists less fats).
• Start whipping the cream and cheese for the filling and assemble the cake when the base has cooled completely.
• The berries for filling: I couldn’t find fresh raspberries at the store the day I was shopping for the cake, so I got some blueberries instead. I also added some frozen raspberries to the filling, and it was as good.

So here’s my version of Jamie Oliver’s party cake:

You’ll need:

• 23cm springform tin or 20×20cm loose-bottom sandwich tins

For the base:

• 250g butter, softened
• 275g sugar
• 2 tbsp vanilla sugar
• 4 eggs
• 350g self raising flour
• 250g cream cheese
• 150g melted chocolate of your choice (dark, milk or a combination of both)
• 1 handful of flaked almonds (optional)

For the filling:

• 200ml whipping cream
• 4 tbsp sugar (or to taste)
• 200g Mascarpone cheese
• 250g strawberries
• 150g raspberries

For the chocolate Topping:

• 100g butter
• 100g milk or dark chocolate
• 100g icing sugar
• 3 tbsp milk

How to:

The base:

(1) Preheat the oven to 175c

(2) Cream the butter and both sugars together until pale and fluffy

(3) Gradually add the eggs

(4) Fold in the flour

(5) Fold in the cream cheese and milk

(6) Fold in the melted chocolate until incorporated

(7) Fold in the almonds

(8) Pour the cake mixture in the tin(s)

(9) Place the tin(s) in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes

(10) Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool a before assembling the cake

(11) Once the cake has cooled completely, cut it in two horizontally

The filling:

(1) Whip the cream and sugar to soft peaks

(2) Add the mascarpone cheese and mix until incorporated

(3) Spread the cream over the bottom half of the cake, then sprinkle the berries

(4) Place the other half of the cake on top of the filling and press down a little

(5) Run a knife around the edge of the cake to smooth it off

The chocolate topping:

(1) Melt the chocolate topping ingredients in a bowl over slightly simmering water

(2) Stir until blended well and remove from the heat

(3) Allow to cool for a few minutes

(4) Drizzle the chocolate topping over the assembled cake

(5) Allow the chocolate topping to firm up in your fridge before serving

You’ve done it! Now go and enjoy every bite, just don’t forget to share, even when you find it extremely hard!

Chocolate Pizza

Chocolate Overdose Ahead!

Here’s a recipe for real chocolate lovers. If there’s such thing as heaven for you guys, then this is it!

I say You and not Us, because turns out I’m not a big chocolate fan… We just had these pizzas yesterday, and I couldn’t stuff all this amount of chocolate, so I reduced it while eating… And each pizza had 40g of chocolate, which is less than half a chocolate bar of 100g. So eventually we shared the responsibility: one ate the chocolate and the other ate the pastry edges, dipping it in the melted chocolate that was left on my plate (guess who that was, haha!).

And please, don’t get me wrong, I loved the pizza, but I think next time I’ll have less chocolate for myself. I don’t like too sweet desserts anyway and this can explain why I love berry-desserts the most.

You’ll need:

• 1/2 quantity of sweet yeast pastry
• 150-200g chocolate(s) of your choice, roughly chopped

How to:

(1) Prepare the sweet yeast pastry according to the instructions

(2) Once the dough had risen and doubled its size, preheat the oven to 180c

(3) Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a family or personal size pizza(s). Use your hands if you’re skillful enough to use them for this purpose

(4) Place the pizza dough in the oven

(5) Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the base is golden-brown

(6) Remove the baked pasrty from the oven to a wire rack, turn the oven off, and keep it warm by leaving it closed

(7) Scatter the chopped chocolate on top of the pizza base

(8) Put the pizza back in the turned off oven for 2 minutes, to melt the chocolate

(9) Take the pizza out of the oven and use a spoon to smoothen and cream the melted chocolate

Decorate with chocolate flakes, nuts, coconut or any other topping that you have on mind! Serve immediately

Vanilla Raspberry Roulade

This is a cake my mom used to make during my childhood.  She always made two of them at the same time – one filled with vanilla cream and the other was chocolate. And they were pretty simple, there was the base and the cream, nothing else. Honestly, back then it was more than enough, especially since my mom never baked creamy cakes, so it felt like a special occasion when she decided to prepare the roulades!

When I started preparing the roulade myself (one at a time, since I have only 1 oven tin, while my mom used to have two!), I realized how simple it is to make. Much simpler than the cheesecake and sponge cake she was baking on (almost) a weekly basis. Yes, I really mean it. Actually, it’ll even take you longer to read through the recipe then prepare it.

Since I like berries so much, I added raspberries to the original vanilla filling. These can be replaced with any other berry of your choice. If you choose to fill with strawberries, you should slice or dice them first. You can even spread raspberry jam (or any other jam) or berries purée instead of the raspberries.

And if you prefer to keep it classic – base and cream, I say – go fo it!

I hope you’d enjoy it as much as we did!

You’ll need:

For the base:

• Your oven tin (30*35cm), covered with buttered baking paper

• 100g sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g plain flour
• 0.5 tsp baking powder
• lemon zest of half a lemon
• pinch of salt

For the filling:

• 50g Frozen raspberries (halve the big ones)
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp icing sugar

• 250ml cream
• 60ml milk
• 3 tbsp custard powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp sugar

The base:

(1) Preheat the oven to 180c

(2) Whip the eggs (yes, whites and yolks together) and vanilla using a mixer, and gradually add the sugar. Mix until foamy, approx 3 minutes (it should remain liquidy)

(3) Fold in the rest of the ingredients – flour, baking powder, lemon zest and salt

(4) Spread the mixture on the oven tin (it doesn’t have to cover it all, though)

(5) bake for 6-8 minutes, until the base turns lightly golden and spongy to touch.

(6) Remove from the oven and let cool before spreading the filling

The filling:

(1) Toss the raspberries, lemon juice and icing sugar in a small bowl, and set aside

(2) Whip the cream, custard powder, vanilla and sugar

(3) Separate the base from the baking paper, and spread the cream on the rougher side of it

(4) Scatter the raspberries on top of it

(5) Roll tightly into a roulade

The roulade tastes best after chilling in the fridge for several hours or even overnight. This will allow the roulade to soak some of the filling flavour.

Serving:

Dust with some icing sugar before serving. You can also serve with fresh berries on the side.

If you would like to cover your roulade with extra cream, you can whip 250ml of cream, 1 tbsp custard powder, 1 tsp vanilla extract and 2 tbsp sugar together. Then spread over the roulade.

Chocolate Muffins

This recipe is courtesy of Marta A (yes, Marta without h), the most talented food photographer I know. These were baked in her kitchen one afternoon, and while baked, and enjoying the new set and accessories of that particular photography location and the lighting at her apartment, which is much better than in mine. So I was trying to make the most out of it.

As I already mentioned, muffins are one of the easiest and quickest desserts ever, and everybody just love ‘em! And please, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong!

So how easy is the art of preparing the muffin batter? So easy, that I can put it together in one sentence: mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet in another, then pour the mixed wet ingredients in the mixed dry ones and mix until just incorporated.

The rest – spooning into the cases is just too much fun (especially the finger licking part) to be considered as part of the no too much time consuming process.

The pictured muffins are drizzled with some Irish cream frosting, and here’s how it’s done: Mix Irish cream and icing sugar in a 1:3 proportions (for example: 1 tbsp Irish cream, 3 tbsp icing sugar), and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes. Then mix again and pour over the muffins. that’s it.

For 12 muffins, you’ll need:

• 12 hole muffin tin or 2×6 hole muffin tins, lined with muffin cases

• 225g plain flour
• 60g cocoa powder
• 2tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 115g brown sugar
• 250ml buttermilk
• 100g chocolate chips (or chocolate bar, broken into chocolate chips-size pieces)
• 80ml vegetable oil (I prefer rape seed oil)
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs

How to:

(1) Preheat the oven to 200c

(2) Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a bowl, then add sugar and chocolate chips

(3) In another bowl, mix the buttermilk, eggs, oil and vanilla.

(4) Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients bowl, and pour the wet ingredients in

(5) Mix until just combined

(6) Fill 3/4 of each of the muffin cases with the muffin mixture

(7) Bake for 15 minutes or until firm

(8) Allow the muffin to cool a little on a wire rack before consuming

White Hot Chocolate

How to Sweeten and Warm Up a Cold Wintry Night

It’s a tradition. Every time we’re heading to Dublin’s city centre we treat ourselves with an amazing White Hot Chocolate drink at Butlers chocolate cafe’s.

The idea to start a homemade White Hot Chocolate tradition came during the big freeze. We stayed indoors during those cold weekends. Then we decided to try and make our White Hot Chocolate drink at home.

Brewing your own White Hot Chocolate is quick and simple, and requires very few, basic ingredients. If you are more of a milk chocolate enthusiast, you can replace the the white chocolate with it. If you like you drink to have a hint of coconut flavour, add 1 tsp of desiccated coconut after the chocolate had melted. Sieve the drink when pouring into the mugs. I have to confess, I like to eat the sweet warm coconut after sieving the drink.

Last note: the recipe I present is for two drinks, since part of the fun is to drink it with someone. Otherwise, just divide the portions.

You’ll need:

• 500ml milk
• 100g white chocolate, broken into pieces
• whipping cream
• Milk chocolate flakes or cinnamon powder (optional)

How to:

(1) Pour the milk into a small sauce pan over a medium-high heat

(2) Add the chocolate and bring it to the boil, stirring continuously

(3) Once boiling, remove from the heat

(4) Pour the drink into the mugs

(5) Whip the cream on top of the drink and sprinkle with some chocolate flakes or cinnamon powder. You can sprinkle some coconut as well

Drink responsibly and enjoy the sudden sweetness and warmth!