Sunday baking - Lemon Raspberry Cake

{pined on Saturday, made on Sunday}

I am not a big fan of lemon cakes as I find them a bit sour and a bit boring really. But on Saturday I found the most delicious Raspberry Lemon cake on Pinterest and had to make it as both Lovely Husband and Lovely Little Big Daughter are big lemon cake eaters, bought from Starbucks that is, not home made…until today.

It was easy to make and the raspberries gave the cake such a lovely twist. I think next time I’ll swirl the raspberry mixture through out the cake rather than just on the top.

Now you see it...now you don't...

 You can find the recipe at Kitchen Confidante if you fancy making the cake…I chose the non alcohol version.

Wishing you a lovely week!

Love

Irina xx

Classic Cheesecake

 { an attempt at German baking}

Before I moved to Germany, I never came across a baked cheesecake. I love blueberry cheesecake, strawberry cheesecake, even tried making a chocolate and raspberry cheesecake ( very nice!), but they are all no-bake-leave-in-the-fridge varieties.

So I really wanted to make a baked cheesecake and after finding what seem to be (and indeed is) a very easy recipe, I gave it a go. Well, I used quark rather than creme cheese – note to self: stick to cream cheese; and I think I could have separated the eggs to give it a more fluffy texture. One thing is for sure, I will make it again, and hopefully one day it will reach the ultimate stage of cheesecakeness (that is not really a word, is it), and also that golden brown colour usually featured in the nice cook books. Some how mine turned a bit more on the brown rather than on the golden side.

Flipping through the pages of the latest issue of Marie Claire Idees definitely added an extra flavour to the cheesecake.

More on food - Lovely Little Daughter usually eats well, but even she has her phases, and sometimes I am not ready with dinner until 6pm, by which time I have a tired toddler and I need something quick and nice for here to eat. So lately she has been dining on cocktail type food, with a lot of colours and always featuring some of her all time favourite foods like olives, feta cheese, bread, tomatoes and eggs…

Wishing you all a lovely Monday!

Love

Irina xx

Another Rainy Day

{ Another Cake - Upside Down Apple and Cinnamon Cake}

The weather surprised us a bit yesterday so instead of going to the local park we ended up staying at home, sheltering from the rain. A few apples somehow ended up in our fruit basket so I decided to make an apple cake.

Lovely Husband was very pleased and saw his way through a quarter of the cake; I however did not find the cake so appealing. It tasted much better with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

Never the less it was easy to make so I guess I will try out a few different recipes to see which one works best especially as Apple time is fast approaching here in Germany.

 

Wishing you all a lovely week!

Love

Irina xx

P.S. And is it just me or does the cinnamon looks like its burnt.

Some muffins and more sewing

 

I have been a bit busy sewing for the forthcoming craft fair, and I can’t wait to show you photos but I am afraid you’ll have to wait a little bit more.

Today I decided to make some Yogurt and Honey muffins to put in the lunch boxes of Lovely Little Daughter and Lovely Husband. They turned out well but I should have put a bit more honey or maybe a bit of brown sugar…and maybe a bit more butter would have ensured the smooth removal of the paper…

A good tip I found in the BBC Good Food magazine if you are using honey, is to spread a bit of oil on the spoon you’ll be using. Wow, it works really well, not a drop of honey was left on the spoon. However I should have greased a bit the little pot I was using as I noticed at the end that some honey was left on the bottom.

 I don’t actually know why I have the brown sugar out! The recipe did not ask for any brown sugar.

 Have a yummy evening!

Love 

Irina xx

Summer Fruit Lollies

 

I wanted to make some fruit lollies for ages and these Watermelon, Organic Vanilla Yogurt and Cherries lollies are so sweet and absolutely yummy…

I only had red fruits this time but will try them again with other fruits as they were so easy to make…

Love

Irina xx

Mini muffins for little fingers

Lovely Little Daughter and I made some Mini Banana Muffins yesterday. Banana muffins are a big thing in our house as we always have bananas for porridge and I no longer throw them in the bin when they turn brown, now I make muffins. What did I do before I discovered banana muffins?!

The idea for muffins came when our daughter started to eat different foods and I wanted to give her something sweet but I really wanted to give her something a bit better than the different things I can buy from the bakery. Everything there seems to be made from wheat flower and surely uses white sugar. Making muffins for / with her is fun and it also allows me to make them a bit healthier by using brown flour and brown sugar and even add oat flakes. I always put less sugar than the recipe calls for and haven’t had a complaint so far.

We never tried mini ones, but they are perfect for little fingers and are gone in three bites…

Ingredients for 12:

Group 1:

2-3 tbsp melted butter or raps oil

1 tbsp milk

2-3 very ripe bananas – mashed

1 egg

Oat flakes – optional

½ cup brown sugar OR ¼ cup brown sugar + one tbsp spoon Golden Syrup

Group 2:

1 cup wholegrain flour

½ tea sp baking soda

¼ tea spoon baking powder

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 200C. Mix all Group 1 ingredients in one ball. In another ball mix all Group 2 ingredients. Add group 1 to group 2 and mix well. If needed add a tbsp of milk. Spoon the mixture into the paper cups and into your muffin tray. Bake for 25-30 min.

Hope you are having a nice Monday!

Love

Irina

I love new fabrics

I got lovely comments on my post “Delicious cake for a rainy day”, so before I show you the little pile of new fabrics that I acquired during our holiday in Northern Germany, I would like to share the recipe for the cake – it is fool proof, seriously tasty and easier that I ever thought! Try it!

From the book “Frame by frame – baking” purchased at Marks and Spencer’s and given to me as a Christmas gift by Lovely Mum two years ago…

Blueberry and Passionfruit Drizzle Squares (makes 9 squares)

Ingredients

150g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

2 eggs

175g golden caster sugar

175g slef raising flour

90ml milk

finely grated zest of one lemon

225g blueberries

Syrup:

4 ripe passionfruits

115g icing sugar, plus extra, sifted for dusting

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 190C and grease and base-line a 23cm cake tin.

Whisk the butter, eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy. Fold in the flour lightly and evenly.

Stir in the milk, lemon zest and 175g blueberries. Spread into the cake tin.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30min until firm and golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin.

Meanwhile make the syrup. Scoop the pulp from the passionfruit and rub through a sieve. Discard the pips.

Place the icing sugar and the passion fruit juice in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.

Prick the warm cake with a fork and spoon the syrup evenly over the surface.

Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin and cut into 9 squares. Enjoy!

And now back to sewing and fabrics…I picked up a few fabrics at the Dutch Fabric Market, a bought some in a shop called Charlotta’s in Hamburg and I discovered some lovely prints on sale at the Alster House in the centre of Hamburg.



Below are some simple combinations and I am still wondering what to do, but I really love the cars fabric and maybe I will cover some little buttons to sew onto a jumper or to use for some other decoration…

Off to make mini banana muffins...
 
Enjoy your Sunday!
 
Love,
Irina xx

Delicious cake for a rainy day




Hello everybody, we are back in Frankfurt after a lovely, although a bit rainy holiday at the Baltic Sea! It was the first proper holiday for Lovely Little Daughter and she was absolutely amazed by everything - she did a lot of sand digging, wave splashing, shell collecting, beach running, getting spoiled by Oma and Opa and generally exploring and expanding her little world. For us it was a pure pleasure to watch our little girl in her innocent quest of discovering!
Unfortunately the weather in Frankfurt is quite rainy, which is actually a very good excuse of staying at home and reading favourite blogs or making things - boy I missed sewing!

As you probably know Germany is the country of the gateau and there are hundreds of delicious sweet creations. It is not very easy to impress a German with a new cake but my Blueberry and Passion Fruit Drizzle Square is a sure winner, or so says Lovely Husband! Maybe he's just being kind...

Well the cake was deeelicious and I will post the recipe in the next few days.

And now off to crafting and making...

Love

Irina xx