Apricot Chocolate Cake

This cake came out not to be the most beautiful one.. however it's very chocolatey. 

Apricots are now in season and combining them with deep dark chocolate seemed a good idea. 

In fact the result is delicious.

To add some beauty in this post, I put some photos of my new home town, Verona. 

I simply love living here!!

APRICOT CHOCOLATE CAKE

300 g apricots

250 g dark chocolate

50 g butter

135 g (1,5dl) sugar

150 ml cream

3 eggs

Prepare a cake tin spreading butter on it. Clean the apricots, cut them in halves and place them the cutting part down on the bottom of the cake tin. 

In a bowl melt the dark chocolate and butter, add the sugar and cream mixing with a kitchen spoon. Add the eggs one by one still mixing until the it's all even. 

Pour the mix in the cake tin over the apricots and bake in the middle of the oven in 180 C for 15-20 minutes. 

Let cool.

Place the cake upside down on a serving plate, sprinkle a lot of icing sugar on it and serve with good coffee.

 

Strawberry Almond Cake

My sister graduated a couple of weeks ago, congratulations Maria!!
I couldn't go to her graduation party in Helsinki because I just moved to a new city here in Italy and started a new job.. 
But fortunately she came here to meet me together with our parents. Obviously I wanted to make a cake for her to celebrate <3

STRAWBERRY ALMOND CAKE

Base:

2 eggs 

125 g (1,5dl) sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

130 g (2dl) white flour

70 g (1dl) almond flour

50 ml milk

50 g melted butter

Frosting:

300 ml whipped cream

100 g strawberry flavoured pink icing sugar

+ pink confetti

+ fresh strawberries

Prepare a baking tin spreading some butter on it. 

Whisk the eggs with sugar until the foam is white and fluffy. In another bowl mix baking powder, vanilla sugar, white flour and almond flour. 

Start adding them in the first bowl, then add milk and melted butter, mixing carefully. Pour the mix in the baking tin and bake in the middle of the oven in 200 C for 15-20 minutes. Let the cake cool and place it upside down on a serving plate. 

For the topping whip the cream until its hard and add the icing sugar. If you can't find the pink one, you can also add some red colouring extract. 

Add the topping all over the cake and decorate with strawberries and confetti.

Place in the fridge for a while and serve.

Cognac Cake

This is an excellent recipe for whoever loves the combination of Cognac, coffee and dark chocolate!!

COGNAC CAKE

150 g dark chocolate

100 g butter

3 eggs

235 g (2,75dl) sugar

3 tablespoons espresso coffee

35 g (0,5dl)  cocoa powder

+ Cognac for moistening

Topping:

200 ml cream

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

+ sprinkles / chocolate flakes

Prepare a medium spring cake tin covering the bottom and two centimetres up the borders with a baking paper. In a bowl melt the dark chocolate and butter, add the sugar and let it melt in the mix too (heat some more if necessary). Start adding the eggs one by one, then espresso coffee and cocoa powder mixing carefully. 

Pour the mix in the cake tin and bake in the middle of the oven in 180 degrees for about 20 minutes. If it seems to cook quickly, remove beforehand, the cake is supposed to be moist. The centre of the cake should remain a bit lower and the borders higher creating a nest. Pour generously Cognac over the ready cake. 

To make absorb the liquid better, you can first make little holes on the the surface with a fork. 

When the cake has cooled, prepare the topping. Whip the cream and add both sugars. 

Decorate the cake with the whipped cream and sprinkles / chocolate flakes. 

Place in the fridge for an hour and serve cool. 

 

 

Salty Liquorice Mini Muffins

Since I've been in Italy I started to like salty liquorice, Finnish "salmiakki". I didn't like it before, usually I love just the sweetest things possible but I guess it has something to do with feeling at home.
Anyway, besides the candies, in Finland they also make salmiakki ice cream, salmiakki vodka and for example these chocolates with salmiakki filling. They give muffins an extra kick ;)


SALTY LIQUORICE MINI MUFFINS

Muffins:

2 eggs

145 g (1,5dl) sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

130 g (2dl) white flour

100 g butter

50 ml milk

150 g salty liquorice chocolates

Topping:

150 g icing sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

50 g melted butter

Preheat oven to 200 C. Prepare a mini muffin tin putting on paper liners.

In a bowl whisk eggs and sugar to a white foam. Mix together flour and baking powder. Start adding them together in the egg-sugar mixing carefully, then add milk, melted butter and melted chocolate. With a small spoon fill the muffin forms and bake in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes until they turn golden brown colour. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. For the topping mix icing sugar, cocoa powder and vanilla sugar. Add the melted butter and mix well. Place some topping on every muffin and put in the fridge for half an hour before serving.

 

Pink Pastries

Marzipan is one of my passions, I've loved it since I was a little girl.

My parents told me that one Christmas when I was three years old, we were at my Mom's aunt home and they had a gingerbread house (a very classic Scandinavian thing). Around this Christmas cookie house, "on the yard", there were small animals made of marzipan. I was obsessed with a little pink piggy and so worried that someone else was going to eat it before me, so I kept staring at it all evening. Obviously in the end it was given to me, I've always been spoiled :)

In these pastries I combine pink marzipan with my other weakness, marshmallows. 
Best served with sparking rosé wine.

PINK PASTRIES

250 g marzipan coloured as you wish (I prefer pink)

200 g marshmallows

150 g round thick cookies (chocolate chip/butter cookies)

+ sprinkles

Lay the cookies on a plate. In a clean surface cut the marzipan into pieces and make balls and then with the help of a rollingpin make thin (2mm) rounds. Use some icing sugar to make sure the marzipan doesn't get too sticky.

In a microwave melt the marshmallows on a deep plate in a medium heat checking frequently to make sure they don't burn. With a help of two big spoons place a big amount of marshmallow foam on a cookie. Continue to do this and in the end place gently the marzipan sheets on the pastry to cover it all way down. To make sure the sprinkles stay on the surface, moist the marzipan on top a bit with water and add the sprinkles on them. Place in the fridge for a while and serve :)