CHOCOLATE VANILLA MARBLE CAKE

Just by writing this blog post and looking at the picture here above I am already craving another marble cake loaf. I bet that just by looking at this picture, loads of memories are brought back to your mind. Am I right? We all remember marble cake from our childhood; it's a classic. I mostly had them at kids' birthday parties or at school, when someone brought cake. In my teenage years, we sold loads of cake to collect money for school excursions or just a good cause; or as my German teacher used to call it 'Getting fat for a good cause'. 

But besides making me dive into memories, the classic marble cake is to me a synonym to comfort food. We often refer to comfort food when talking about hearty and mostly greasy dishes, but for me, and yes this is definitely linked to my giant sweet tooth, comfort food is mostly composed of cookies and cake. This is probably mostly due to the fact that I feel like it takes only a small piece of cake or one or two cookies to comfort you. But who will ever have only a tiny portion of mac n cheese? Right.. nobody. 

For one loaf you need:

280g flour

180g butter

380g sugar

250ml milk

2 eggs

1tbsp baking powder

30g cocoa powder

1tbsp vanilla extract

1 pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180°

Whisk together the butter and sugar on full speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, then the milk and the vanilla extract. Pour in the flour, then add the baking powder and the salt. Mix until you get homogenous batter. 

Separate the batter into two smaller bowls. Add the cocoa powder to one and mix again. 

Fill the cake mold with the help of two ladles (or normal tablespoons, depending on the pattern you want to obtain) altering the vanilla and chocolate batter. When both batters are gone, take a fork, put it into the dough at one end of the mold and push it to the other end. Now you got the final swirl.

Bake for 50 minutes. 

Enjoy!!!!

CHOCOLATE - PISTACHIO MARBLE CAKE

This cake is the more sophisticated version of a childhood classic. I am sure you do all remember the marble cake from the kids' birthday parties you were invited to in your childhood. When I think of kids' birthday parties, I think of the four classics you would always get for these occasions namely the hazelnut cake, the orange & lemon cakes as well as my favorite; the marble cake. Even though I don't remember the games of these parties anymore, I still remember the cakes.  I always like to share this kind of memories. What were your favorite cakes as a kid??? Maybe you can just comment this post and share what was your all-time favorite?

Every once in a while I still bake a marble cake as it's perfect for a Sunday brunch, a coffee break in the afternoon or just a sweet moment in between. However, I felt like it was time to go for something more sophisticated. As for pasta I always go for a trio, for desserts I prefer more tastes in one plate as well. I was not sure whether to put a cinnamon twist in the chocolate part or to add rum to the vanilla batter. As you notice, nothing of this ever happened. 

There exist as many variations of marble cake as there exist family recipe books. I am sure that every mother, grandmother, godmother, aunt or sister has one classic and a personalized version of this cake in their homes. The simple fact that you pass on a recipe let's it wander and develop. This is why I love to share my recipes so much. Some get back to you with their results and may inspire you back. This is also what I like so much about baking enthusiasts. They always go for more. While serving you a classic, they come with a 'you have to taste this, I added….'. 

For one loaf you need:

130g butter

6 eggs

420g sugar

200ml liquid cream

320g flour

40 cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

50g pistachios

2 tsp honey

2tbs water

salt

******

Preheat the oven to 150°

First prepare the chocolate batter.

Whisk together 65g butter, 220g sugar and three eggs until you get a fluffy dough. Pour 100ml liquid cream to it and mix again. Now add a pinch of salt, the baking powder and the cocoa powder. Mix again until you get even dough.

For the pistachio batter, first start preparing the pistachio cream. 

In a saucepan, boil the water with 20g of sugar and the honey. Meanwhile, mix the pistachios in a blender until you obtain a fine powder. Pour the honey syrup on the nuts and mix again until it gets creamy. 

In another bowl, whisk together the remaining butter, eggs and sugar. Add the pistachio cream and mix again. Pour the remaining cream to it, mix, then add the flour, another pinch of salt and the baking powder. Mix again until you get even dough

Fill the cake mold with the help of two ladles (or normal soup spoons, depending on the pattern you want to get) alternating the pistachio and chocolate batter. When both batters are gone, take a fork, put into the dough at one end of the mold and push it to the other end. Now you got the final swirl.

Bake for one hour. Check with the point of the knife if the cake is ready. If it comes out with some wet batter, crumbs or stickiness on it, the cake needs to bake a little bit more time. Depending on the material of the cake mold it might take some 10 minutes more.

If it comes out dry, take it out of the oven and remove it from the mold. Let it cool down until you serve it. 

Enjoy!!! RESIST

CHOCOLATE BAILEYS CAKE

Do you know that feeling when you work on a chocolate cake recipe, taste the outcome and think: wow this is the best chocolate cake I have ever made. When it comes to chocolate cake I am really hard to please. Chocolate cake is my favorite cake, but it really has to have the right texture, the right amount of chocolate and also most importantly the right balance between chocolate and sugar. It should neither be too sweet nor to bitter. Only recently I've tasted one of the best chocolate cakes in my life, and if I am lucky enough, my colleague will hand the recipe over to me so I can try it for very special occasions. When I tasted his birthday cake, I was just amazed. With half of the cake in my belly, I was wondering what made this chocolate cake so special. It took quite a while until I found out. But I would say, as mentioned above it is the balance between chocolate and sugar; neither too sweet, nor too bitter.

I am not too much of a fan of boozy cakes, except for Rum and Baileys. I love rum truffles and all kind of baileys treats. When I was in high school, a friend of mine gave me this delicious chocolate cake recipe, which my grandpa then took as a base for his chocolate ganache cake. I inherited the recipe and added an extra note, notably the Baileys note. I was experimenting several times with the amount of Baileys until I finally came to the end result of this cake.

I took it too work, and within seconds it was fully approved. Three quarter of the cake were gone in only one afternoon. Fair enough, I saved the last quarter for my parents, to let them see what I transformed grandpa's cake into. I found it would be a perfect Christmas recipe, because of the booziness on one hand and the lovely Baileys taste on the other, which makes a great treat for the festive season.

For the cake you need:

160g butter

100g good quality dark chocolate

200g brown sugar

45g cocoa powder

180ml Baileys

180g flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

3 eggs

****

For the ganache you need: 

200g dark chocolate

120ml liquid cream

80ml Baileys

Preheat the oven to 175°

Chop the chocolate first, then take 100g for the cake. In a saucepan, heat the butter and chocolate over medium heat until completely melted. Add the sugar, cocoa powder as well as the Baileys and whisk together until you get a silky and lump-free mixture. Remove from heat and cool for a few minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Add the chocolate mixture and mix until you get an even dough. Add the eggs and mix again. Now you can pour the dough into a buttered cake tin and bake for 40-45 minutes. 

****

In a saucepan, bring the liquid cream and Baileys to a simmer. Add the remaining chocolate and stir regularly until it has completely molten. 

Set the liquid ganache aside at room temperature. Stir every now and then, to avoid clumps, until thick enough to spread over the cake. 

Enjoy!!!
RESIST

White Chocolate Blueberry Cupcakes

WHITE CHOCOLATE BLUEBERRY CUPCAKES

You know that moment when you are looking for a really nice recipe to celebrate friendship? I was experimenting a bit these days and those little cupcakes are the fruit of my efforts. There is no such pleasure than welcoming friends with freshly baked cake. However, practically speaking, little cupcakes leave way more choice when to devour them. Whether it be with a great coffee at home, or on the go as a little companion during the country visit.

It is definitely no secret that white chocolate and berries make a lovely combo. To keep it seasonal, I opted for blueberries. Markets are full of blueberries, which launch a wave of recipe ideas in my head every time I do food shopping. 'Yet another blueberry recipe' I imagine some of you think. Well, that's part of the challenge, to take old recipes and give them a relook, or rather a retaste. 

I really cannot complain. I had them tasted by the German fan-block at the World Cup finals; I spoilt some of my colleagues as well. They have all agreed that they are delicious. Mission accomplished I would say… and the journey to blueberry heaven can continue. 

For 18 cupcakes you need:

125g plain yogurt

240g flour

180g sugar

4 medium eggs

120g butter

50g white chocolate

200g blueberries

2 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 165°

In a large bowl whisk together the ingredients in the following order: yogurt, flour, baking powder, eggs, sugar and butter. Mix until you obtain fluffy dough. 

Chop the chocolate, and then add it to the dough as well as the blueberries.  

Place the paper cups into the cupcake molds. Pour the dough into the molds and bake for 25 minutes.

Enjoy!!!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I have the feeling that at the moment everyone is talking about red velvet cupcakes. And especially for Valentine's Day all the food blogs were full of red velvet cupcakes, brownies, cake pops and so on. So I got curious, and wondered what is so special about that red sweet dessert. 

I started checking out recipes, and in the first place I thought, well except from the food coloring there is nothing special about these cupcakes. And then two weeks ago, again, a friend was talking about red velvet cupcakes. This is when I thought: OK you have to try them.

But which recipe would now be the perfect recipe? Most of the recipes I found were quite similar, except for the frosting. Either there was too much sugar, or too much butter, or too much food coloring. I have to say, usually I don't like artificial colors when it comes to food. Especially these flashy blue or green ones. But I decided to give it a try.

I just purchased a book called "Cantine California" which has a lot of American recipes in it. I don't know if you already know the concept. It's a truck in Paris, moving from one square to another, selling American tradition with French quality of food. As far as I understood is the Author and Manager of the concept an American who grew up in France and tried to combine French quality with American tradition. So far I can say I am convinced of the recipe, and I will try a lot more from that book.

For 12 cupcakes you need:

60g butter

150g sugar

125g flour

1 big egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1pinch of salt

1tsp baking powder

10g cocoa powder

1tbs red food coloring

12cl buttermilk

1/2 tsp white vinegar

1/2 tsp baking soda

For the icing:

330g cream cheese

100g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180°

In a large bowl soften the butter with a hand mixer. Then add the sugar and mix again until you get a light mixture. Now you can add the egg and the vanilla extract and mix again. In another bowl whisk together the flour, the salt, the baking powder and the cocoa powder. Add to the butter mixture. In a small bowl mix the buttermilk and the food coloring and pour onto the dough. Aside, you should now mix the baking soda and the vinegar and then add them to the dough. Take the hand mixer again and mix until you get an even dough. 

Put cupcake cases into your cupcake mold and pour the dough up to 2/3 into the cupcake forms and bake for 25 minutes.

Let them cool down 10 minutes in the mold before putting them on a baking rack.

For the icing mix the vanilla extract, the cream cheese and the icing sugar until you get an even mixture. Fill the latter into an icing bag and start decorating the cupcakes. Usually I put a little decoration on the cupcakes but this time I chose not to do because I tried to form a rose-like icing

Enjoy!!!!!

Raspberry white Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

WHITE CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY CUPCAKES

There would be no perfect birthday without cupcakes. Already my cupcake friend Anne sent me a lovely cupcake postcard with even lovelier birthday wishes. So thank you first of all. I have to mention her when I talk about cupcake happiness, because she was the one who opened the world of cupcakes to me. Yes, cupcakes are not only a good-looking dessert; no they also have emotional value. And on this special day, my birthday, which I am supposed to enjoy, and I definitely do, cupcakes have to be part of it.

I guess you got it. I love cupcakes. And for former birthdays, my friends offered me recipe books of all kinds, indicating the best looking and the tastiest cupcake recipes. The one I chose is a combination I really like: white chocolate and raspberries. I allowed myself to change the recipe a little bit. Normally I am not that courageious when it comes to baking. With cooking no problem, but with baking I am always a bit hesitating to change things. But so far, I cannot complain about the outcome.

Anne, if by chance you read this during your holidays, please do know that I would have given a lot to share these with you!!!! But for all the others, I am totally willing to share with you. The only thing you have to know is, that you have to be fast enough otherwise there won't be any left. I can tell from experience, that they disappear quite quickly. 

For 18 cupcakes you need:

225g butter

225g sugar

225g flour

1 ts baking powder

4 eggs

18 raspberries

100g white chocolate chips

For the icing you need:

200g cream cheese

175g icing sugar

1 ts vanilla extract

3 tbs butter

18 raspberries

Preheat the oven to 175°

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, the sugar and the butter. Then add the flour and the baking powder. Now you can add the white chocolate chips.

Place the paper muffin cups into the mold and add 1tbs of dough. Then add one raspberry onto the dough and fill the muffin cup 3/4 full with dough again. Bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes.

********

Whisk the cream cheese and the icing sugar together. Add the butter and the vanilla extract until you get a creamy paste. Put the icing cream for 10 minutes into the fridge. Then decorate the cupcakes. To put another fruit element on top, decorate each cupcake with a raspberry.

Enjoy!!!

Passion Fruit Cupcakes

PASSION FRUIT CUPCAKES

Passion fruit Cupcakes for PassionMeetsCreativity Fans.

I know, I promised April would be a savoury month. Don't worry there are three lovely dishes coming ahead but I thought as spring keeps spoiling us so much I should post a cupcake that is on the par with the weather. 

Don't they look like little sunshines? For me they totally do. The recipe differs a little bit from the previous recipes because with every bite you have the feeling that summer comes closer. I love passion fruit this is the reason why I had to shoot the pictures quite quickly. Otherwise there wouldn't have been any leftovers for the blog.

I brought some of the cupcakes to work and the feedback was very good. There is a lot of food sharing going on in the office but this was, at least so far, the lightest dessert anyone brought. People felt less guitly I guess, especially after the Oreo cupcakes. So if you are looking for a lighter dessert or teatime treat you should not miss the passion fruit cupcakes. 

I decided to change the original recipe a little bit, which was only a vanilla cupcake with the passion fruit topping. I found that there has to be a little more passion in these little cupcakes. That's why I decided to put another passion fruit into the dough. Of course this changes the consistency of the cake, but the taste is really perfect.

For 12 cupcakes you need: 

 150g butter

150g sugar

150g flour

3 eggs

1/2 ts baking powder

1 ts vanilla extract

5 passionfruits

150ml liquid cream

150g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180°

In a large bowl whisk together the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and vanilla extract with the hand mixer or around 1 minute. When obtained an even dough add the pulp of one passion fruit. Mix again. The dough will slightly change its texture, but this is normal.

Put the cupcake cases into your cupcake mold and pour the dough up to 2/3 into the cupcake forms and bake for 25 minutes.

******

While the cupcakes are cooling down you can prepare the cream. Cut 2 more passion fruits in two and put their pulp in a bowl. Mix the pulp with the liquid cream and 1 Tbsp of icing sugar. 

Take the cupcakes out of the cases and cut them in two. Spread the  cream on the bottom half and  top with the other half.

*******

Last but not least, take the pulp of the two remaining passionfruits and add the icing sugar. Mix until you get an even mixture. Coat the cupcakes with the icing.

Enjoy!!!!

ads: shirt elephant

Oreo Cupcakes

OREO CUPCAKES

According to the newest statistics Oreos still remain the world’s favourite cookies! This is definitely not a surprise, especially because the use of the dark chocolate and milky cream cookie varies a lot. They appear in cheesecakes, cupcakes, milkshakes and the more adventurous even put them into chocolate chip cookies.  

This Sunday I decided to go for the cupcake version of the world’s beloved cookie. At the beginning I couldn’t really imagine what the outcome would be like. How do the Oreo-crumps stand out of the strong vanilla flavour of the cupcake dough itself? And wouldn’t the frosting be too sweet for this little cupcake? The answer is clearly: NO! I have eaten a lot of cupcakes so far and I dare to say that the Oreo cupcakes are one of my favourites.

There is not much more to say except that they’re perfect. Soft yet crunchy is the cupcake and the frosting is creamy yet not too heavy. From my family to my friends to the office colleagues, this is by far the best feedback I got regarding my beloved cupcakes! So if you’re a fan yourself, do not hesitate to recreate these little delights.

And now hurry to the recipe, your friends and family are secretly waiting for them already!

For 16 Cupcakes you need:

230g butter

230g sugar

220g flour

1 ts baking powder

4 eggs

1ts vanilla extract

10 crushed Oreos

Preheat the oven to 175°

In a large bowl whisk together the softened butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, vanilla extract and the eggs. Beat them fast until you get an even dough. Now carefully incorporate the Oreo crumbs.

Put the cupcake cases into your cupcake mold and pour the dough up to 2/3 into the cupcake forms and bake for 20 minutes. 

 ******

For the icing:

350g icing sugar

220g butter

1 pinch of salt

10 Oreos cut into little pieces

Whisk the icing sugar, the butter and the pinch of salt together for about two minutes until you get a silky mix. Carefully add the Oreo pieces. Take a knife and decorate the cupcakes.

Enjoy!!!!!

Coffee Walnut Cupcakes

COFFEE WALNUT CUPCAKES

Since the birth of Passion meets Creativity, I have only lived 6 months in Luxembourg. And from these six months I travelled 2. So let's say for 4 months I have been back for good. My family but especially also my friends are following very closely what happens on the blog and on the Passion meets Creativity's Facebook Page. 

However it occurred, that not many of them had the chance to taste the things I prepare. Well this is mostly due to the fact that I prepare things on Sundays and until the next gathering my family or those which I meet on the first week-days as well as my colleagues from work ate all of it.

This is why I decided I would organize a little Passion meets Creativity Feast. This is basically a win win situation. I mean, I can prepare 3 kinds of cakes, cupcakes, tarts etc... and it will be eaten for sure afterwards and my friends can taste as much as they want. The first feast was a great success I'd say, so this calls for another round. 

The winner of this event was the Oreo Cupcake. Those following me on Facebook know what I am talking about. For the others just have a look at this picture.  The Oreo Cupcake was the winner. And the Coffee Walnut Cupcake definitely deserves the second place. What I really like about the Coffee Walnut Cupcake is the fact that it is crunchy and soft at a time. I chose to crush the walnuts not into too little pieces so it keeps a certain crunchiness. 

The coffee buttercream is not heavy at all and still has a well-defined taste. I have a new icing bag, so this was also the first time I was decorating with it and I have to admit I am quite proud. I was always wondering how they get this well-defined decoration on a cupcake and now I find out. There's still space for improvement but for a first I am already happy.

For 12 Cupcakes you need:

4 tbsp espresso

125g butter

125g brown sugar

2 eggs

150g flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

50g crushed walnuts

For the icing

4 tsp espresso

100g butter

150g icing sugar

walnuts for decoration

Preheat the oven to 180°

Prepare a cup of espresso. In a large bowl whisk together the butter, the eggs, the sugar, the baking soda and the flour until you get an even dough. Now add the chopped walnuts and mix again. Finally add the espresso and mix for at least one minute. 

Pour the dough into the cupcake molds and bake for 20 minutes

Meanwhile you can prepare the icing. Whisk together the butter and the icing sugar. When obtained  a silky cream add the espresso. Mix again. 

******

Let the cupcakes cool down before you start decorating the cupcakes. With your icing bag put the cream on top and decorate with a walnut.

Enjoy!!!!

CHOCOLATE - SPECULOOS CUPCAKES

CHOCOLATE - SPECULOOS CUPCAKES

It's been a while since I last posted on my foodblog. This is not due to a lack of motivation, but I was traveling a lot during my last month in Belgrade. Moreover the extreme heat in general and the high temperatures in my flat, didn't motivate me to put something into the oven. As our air conditioner couldn't handle the natural heat I didn't really dare to test its competences with artificial heat. But now I am back in Luxembourg, home sweet cold home!

My love for cupcakes started when I went to see a good friend in Paris back in 2010. She really loves cupcakes too and took me to that lovely little cupcake place near Pigale called Chloé S. As pink is one of my favorite colors I liked the place immediately. From the counter to the cutlery everything is pink. It's a really cosy place and the staff is really friendly. You can also buy cupcake accessories in the shop.

Chloé S. has become really successful with her little cupcake shop. She published her first book in March 2012 and I couldn't wait to buy it.

This is only the first cupcake recipe of a long long long long series!!

For 20 cupcakes you need :

140g flour

6 eggs

1/2 bag baking powder

160g sugar

400g dark chocolate

240g butter

1 jar of speculoos spread

For the icing you need:

250g soft butter

3 tbs icing sugar

1 tbs speculoos spread

5 speculoos biscuits

 Preheat the oven to 165°

Dough:

In a middle-sized bowl whisk together the flour and the baking powder. In a large bowl beat the eggs and add the sugar. Melt the chocolate over a hot water bath, then add it to the eggs and sugar mixture. Mix the three ingredients very well and add the butter. Finally add the flour & baking powder mix.

Place the paper muffin cups into the mold and add 1tbs of dough. Then add a tsp of speculoos spread onto the dough and fill the muffin cup 3/4 full with chocolate dough again. Bake the cupcakes for 15 to 20 minutes.

Icing:

Mix the soft butter and the icing sugar until you get an even mixture. Then add the speculoos spread and mix again. Fill this mixture into a pastry bag and start decorating your cupcakes. Place a piece of speculoos biscuit on top of every cupcake.

Enjoy!