Full chocolate cupcakes

For 6 cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon natron
1 teaspoon apple vinegar
1/2 cup of sparkling water
3 oz. apple puree (100g)
1/2 cup of cocoa
1/2 cup of oil
1/2 cup of grinded almonds
1 pinch of salt
some grinded vanilla

Mix the ingredients well. Flour and grease the cupcake pans; don't use paper moulds in this case. Bake at 320°F for about 25 minutes. Let cool down very well afterwards.

For the chocolate topping:

3 tablespoons margarine
1/2 sachet of pudding powder
4 tablespoons of chocolate drink (just the powder)
1-2 tablesponns cocoa
5 fl. oz. soy-milk (150ml)

Boil up the pudding with the milk and stir carefully in the chocolate drink and cocoa powder. During cooling down keep stirring to avoid a "skin" on the pudding. Beat the margarine foamy and fold it in the cooled custard.
Finally use a piping bag to decorate the cupcakes with the chocolate topping according to your flavor and aesthetics.

Vegan ragout

Yesterday we did our weekly family shopping and now all our cabinets are filled to burst. There are vegan whipped cream, vegan cheese, ragout and smaller snacks.
For today I decided to create something out of the ragout. I liked Zürcher Geschnetzeltes (Zurich-style veal stew) since I was a kid, and now I can get it even vegan :-)

For 3-4 portions:
1/2 cup wild rice
1/2 cup long grain rice

2 oz soy-ragout (70g)
1/2 red bellpepper
1 lb. fresh brown mushrooms (500g)
1/2 leek
1 tablespoon soy-sauce
1/2 lb. soy-cream (unsweetened) (250g)
Salt, pepper
Paprika, coriander

1 broccoli
1 tablespoon flaked almonds

We always mix wild and long grained rice, as I like the wild one but my friend prefers the less dry long grained one. Let it simmer with some selfmade or bought stock and two cups of water.

Scald the ragout with some stock and boiling water. Let it drawn for about 10 minutes, then drain it.
Slice the mushrooms and bellpepper and roast them with the ragout in olive oil. Season well, then add the sliced leek. As soon as everything is roasting deglaze with soy-sauce and fill up with cream. Let drawn with lid on at medium heat.

We had broccoli as side-dish. Therefore cut of the flowerets of the broccoli and boil them in salted water. Roast some almond flakes in vegan butter and add it to the broccoli right before serving.

Cheese sticks

These ones are really delicious. And if they are spared till cooled down, they fit perfectly to every salad, at a buffet, as a half-time snack or for dipping.

Vegan cheese isn't easy to find and contains often a lot of chemistry, which doesn't whet ones appetite. But I like the cheese I used here. Well, it doesn't melt like "real" cheese, but there are several tastes offered and it tastes well cold or cooked without any artificial aftertaste. For this recipe I decided for the spicey one. With this the sticks smell and taste lusty appetizingly.

For 20 sticks:
10 oz. puff pastry (300g)
1 bunch of mixed herbs (Chervil, Parsley, Dill, mint)
10 green olives marinaded
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 oz. vegan cheese (100g)
2 tablespoons vegan cream
white pepper and salt

Roll the pastry to a 10x14inch rectangle (25x35cm).

Chop the herbs and olives finely, shred the cheese and mix it with the olive oil and cream. Season well.
Halve the dough. Spread the herbs-cheese-mixture onto the one half, then lay the other on top. Cut the dough into 20 stripes. Bake them on a pan applied with baking paper for about 30 minutes at 360°F (190°C).

Ready! Feasting is that easy :-)

Bananasplit-Cupcakes

Sooner or later the summer will come back, but for those who want a banana-split rigth now I created this winterly version :-).

As you probably noticed I post much more recipes on my German blog than here, but if you would like to have translated one specific recipe of my German blog, just write me a comment and I translate it for you.

For 6-8 pieces:
3 oz. spelt flour (100g)
40g Rohrohrzucker
1 sachet. vanilla sugar
1/3 sachet baking powder
1 teaspoon starch
1/2 ripe banana
1 fl. oz oil (30ml)
3 fl .oz. sparkling water, unsweetened (100ml)

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and starch. Mash the banana with a fork. Add it to the flour and stir everything together with oil and sparkling water to a smooth dough.
Divide the dough onto paper baking cups and bake it at 320°F (160°C) for 20 minutes. Let cool properly.

For the topping:
10 oz. whipable cream (300g)
2 teaspoons cream stiffener/stabilizer
1 pinch of salt
2-3 tablespoons sugar
4 oz. dark chocolate (120g)

Whip the cream with the stabilizer and a pinch of salt. Trickle in the sugar. Melt the chocolate in a water bath and fold it into the cream. Fill the topping in an icing bag (star shaped nozzle) and squeeze the cream onto the cupcakes. Sprinkle some lemon juice over the banana slices and arrange them as deco. Or create sugar flowers and spread them over the cupcakes.

Happy winter!

Mini-Madeleines Apple-Cinnamon

As I re-discovered my love for Madeleines I just had have to bake them yesterday.

For 40 Mini-Madeleines (or 24 normal sized):
5 oz. flour (150g)
3 oz. selfmade vanilla sugar (100g)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
2 oz. apple purée (50g)
2 fl. oz. oil (60ml)
1 fl. oz. soy-drink / soy-milk (30ml)
1/4 apple, diced finely

1 tablespoon icing sugar
1 pinch of cinnamon

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. If you like you may add some grated lemon zest, that creates a just brilliant taste. Stir in the apple purée, oil and soy-milk and work it to a smooth dough. As the dough will be quite heavy you better use a wooden spoon rather than an egg whisk. That followed stir in the apple dices.

Bake the dough in Mini-Madeleine-pans at 425°F (220°C) for 3 minutes, then at 350°F (180°C) for another 3-6 minutes. If you use larger pans please adjust the baking time. If you don't have Madeleine pans you may also form small heaps on baking paper, that also works.

Mix the icing sugar with the cinnamon. Push the sweet ones out of the pans and dredge them with the sugar-cinammon-mix. Serve hot or cold.
By the way: the Madeleines keep fresh for about 5 days, if stored cool and dry in a well closed glass jar.

Potatoes pomodorini a la Toskana

I hope all of you enjoyed Christmas Eve and were togehter with your beloved ones. I just found some time and wanted to post an easy meal for the busy days between Christmas and New Year's Eve. This pan seared potatoes are delicious as hell and bring even at this temperatures the summer into the hearts :-)

For 3 portions:

10 oz tofu (300g)
1 big onion
3 big waxy potatoes
1 red paprika
1 zucchini
1 twig of cherry tomatoes
Salt, pepper, paprika
plenty of sage, rosemary

Mash the tofu with a fork and roast it with olive oil. Dice the onion and potatoes and add them, season to taste. Then cut the paprika and zucchini into small pieces and give them also into the pan. Pluck the sage and rosemary into small pieces and add them also.

Halve the tomatoes and fold them in. Ready is the meal...

Christmas-selection

This weekend I jumped into praline production. Not the first time this year, of course not :-)
Before the festive days I always prepare a little something for my teammates and this year I decided for a small selection of Christmas pralines. Everybody gets four different pralines in a sweet decor box. Admitted, this is the more elaborated version, but if you are preferring just one praline-type you don't have to do the other three, too.
The pralines from the left to the right: On the very left you see a white cream truffles with a ginger bread filling. In the back: a crunchy truffles, in the front: a sage cream truffles and on the right: a stacked-fudge, nutty and fruity.

Punch-praline

A happy first Advent to you all! The Advent wreath is on the table, the Christmassy tablecloth out of the cupboard and outside it's snowing - like ordered. Christmas is great, everyone is baking like crazy and I can keep a low profile ;-)

Freddy (my new oven) goes off like a rocket and so I cannot wait to get up in the morning to switch him on. I just baked Christmas-Brownies and now I am preparing dinner (pumpkin dumplings with vegan schnitzel and redwine sauce).

Yesterday I made these pralines. Finest dark chocolate filled with a cream of punch and white chocolate...hmmmm.

For 20 pcs.:

For the punch-essence:
8 fl. oz vegan redwine (250ml)
4 pinks
Cinnamon, cardamom, coriander
Grated rind of half a lemon
Juice and rind of a orange
5 tablespoons gelling sugar (or Pektin with raw cane sugar)

Boil up the redwine with spicery, orange juice and citrus zest. Stir in the gelling sugar and cook it like mentioned on the packing. Take it of the cooker and let it chill over nigth.
You need about 4-6 tablespoons (about the half) of the punch essence for the praline filling. The rest fits quite well into some cups of hibernal fruit tea.

For the punch-cream:

7 oz vegan cream (200g)
3-4 vegan white chocolate (100g)
1-2 oz coconut fat (25-50g)

Cool the cream well, then whip it. Melt and add the chocolate and coconut fat. The more fat you add, the stiffer gets the filling. Take 1 oz (25g) for the punch cream, if you prefer a mousse, take 2 oz (50g). At last stir in 4-6 tablespoons of previously made punch essence. Let the finished punch cream chill for 2-3 hours.

In the meantime you can prepare the chocolate mould:
8 oz dark chocolate (250g)

Temper the choclate. The lighter the choclate is, the less sensitve it is regarding heat and doesn't form unlovely streaks. Melt 5 oz of dark chocolate at 108°F (42°C), then add the remaining chocolate and cool it down too a bit below 86°F (30°C). Now it can be used.
Pour the chocolate into moulds and strip off the excessive mass, then let it drip off.
Cool the moulds for half an hour, then fill in the mousse/cream and let it chill for another half an hour. At last seal the bottom of the pralines with the remaining chocloate and let it cool of for at least one hour.

Now you know why I didn't manage to do anything else yesterday ;-). The permanent cooling, tempering and cooling again took the whole day. But the result was worth the effort. The chocolate cracks nicely and glazes terrifically!

Choco-Choco-Cookies

I am finally going to get a new kitchen - Yippeeeeee!
At least we scratched the old paper of the wall and threw out all the old kitchen units. Tomorrow we will paint it in new color and after a new floor the hardest part is over!
As I don't know how much I can bake the next couple of days I produced these cookies ahead.
Why they are called Choco-Choco-Cookies?
Well it's just because they are sooo choco-chocolately. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

For about 25 Cookies:
1/2 pound spelt flour (250g)
11 oz. raw cane sugar (160g)
3 oz. fine oat flakes (50g)
1,5 tablespoons cocoa
0,5 teaspoons baking powder
1 pinch of salt
Pulp of a vanilla pod
3 oz. of any crunchy choco muesli/cereal/granola (50g) (or again 3 oz. of oak flakes)
12 oz. vegan shortening (180g), room temperature
3 fl. oz soy-rice-drink (50ml) or any kind of vegan milk
7 oz. baking chocolate (100g)

Mix the flour, sugar, oat flakes, muesli, cocoa, baking powder, vanilla and salt. Work it together with the soy-rice-drink and the butter to a smooth dough.
Chop the choclate and stir it in the dough.
For the cookies: form balls of about 3 oz. (30g) on the baking sheet and flatten them. Bake them at 350°F (180°C) for about 12-16 minutes at top-bottom-heat.

Enjoy fall ;-)

Orange-almond-cake with maple syrup

My bosom friend had birthday and I of course put a lot of thought not only in her present but also into her birthday cake. I had to pre-bake the cake last Friday, as I had to work all Saturday long and the cream filling wouldn't have survived the long trip. Finally I decided for an orange-almond-cake with maple syrup. To get the appropriate height I baked two 6x6 inch (15x15cm) cake tins, drizzled some syrup and orange juice over it and put them together.

This juicy cake was hidding below the fondant:




For a 6x6 inch - cake:

7 oz. spelt flour (200g)
2 oz. shelled and skinned almonds (50g)
4 oz. raw cane sugar (120g)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of vanilla
1 teaspoon orange peel
2 fl. oz. oil (60ml)
7 fl. oz. sprinkled water, unsweetened (230ml)

Mix the flour, almonds, sugar, baking powder, vanilla and orange peel. Add the oil and sprinkled water and stir everything to a smooth dough. Use baking paper and bake the dough for about 45 minutes at 320°F (160°C).
Afterwards do the toothpick test and dredge it with the maple syrup and orange juice and let it good time to chill.

Fig-almond-cake

Hey Veggies,
I hope you enjoy my new layout. I finally managed to tranpose the layout of my German blog to my English blog as well. Additionally I added some more features as for example the search field or the related recipe finder. Enjoy yourselves!

Regarding this new recipe I am happy to be able to use figs again. They not only taste extraordinary delicious, but provide important mineral nutrients to us as well. Kalium, magnesium, phosphor, iron and vitamin B.

Originally it should become a tart but as I made too much filling it became a cake. If you prefer tartes just half the stuffing.

I again used a small 6 inch (16cm) spring pan.

For the base:
3 1/2 oz. flour (110g)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pinch of salt
2 oz. margarine (50g)
1 tablespoon soy-rice-drink

Work the ingredients with a fork till you are able to form a nice ball. Let the dough chill for about half an hour. Then roll it out and push it into the greased and floured pan. Form an edge of about 1/2 inch (1cm) so that the filling cannot flow away.
If you like an especially crusty dough you may bake it "blind". To do so you have to fill it with lentils and bake it at 350°F (180°C) for just 15 minutes. Don't forget to remove the lentils afterwards ;-).

Filling:
3 tablespoons vanilla custard
1 oz. margarine (30g)
1 oz. sugar (30g)
3 tablespoons soy-curds or vegan cream cheese
2 oz. peeled and grinded almonds (50g)
1/2 oz. sieved flour (20g)
1 pinch of salt
1-2 figs

You may use instant custard or create it on your own with 3 fl. oz. soy-rice-drink (100ml), 2 tablespoons of custard powder and 1 tablespoon sugar.
Give the custard some time to cool down, then add one by one the margarine, curd, sugar, flour, almonds and salt.

Pour the bulk onto the base and spread it smoothly.
Divide the figs, depending on the size, into 4 to 8 pieces, and coat the cake with it.

Bake it at 360°F (200°C) at upper+lower heat for 45 minutes. Let it chill for at least 1 hour before serving it.

I wouldn't have dreamed of it becoming that tasty *smack* :-)

Red wine cake with chocolate, cherry and nuts

Sorry for not posting the last weeks, but due to work, studies and my German blog I was kind of busy.

Since a week I am trying to bake this cake, but I couldn't find time. Besides a wedding cake I was engaged with my new ebook about cookies and my new calendar for 2013.

So please see here the totally delicious red wine cake with hazelnuts and a pinch of cinnamon. So delicious but not too sweet.

As always I used a 6 inch baking dish (16cm), this time a ring cake. That should make about 10 pieces and is therefore ideal for two sweet bears like me and my boyfriend. I like it directly out of the oven. If you prefer a fancier icing than powdered sugar you may add some cinnamon and port wine to it and create a semi-liquid icing ready to pour over the cooled cake.

6 oz. spelt flour (180g) (of course wheat flour does also work)
4 oz. grounded hazelnuts (125g)
1 tablespoon starch
1 tablespoon egg replacement (Orgran)
1 tablespoon cocoa
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla pulp
1 teaspoon natron
1 oz. raw cane sugar (30g)
3 oz. cherry jam (100g)
1/2 fl. oz. oil (20ml)
4 fl oz. red wine (130ml)
2 fl. oz. sparkling mineral water (70ml), unsweetened
2 oz. minced chocolate (65g)

Icing sugar for dusting

Mix the dry ingredients. Add the jam, oil, red wine, and mineral water and stir everything to a smooth dough. Mince the chocolate and fold it in.
Pour the dough in a greased pan and bake it in a pre-heated oven for about 45 minutes at 340°F (170°C).
Leave the cake in the pan to cool down, remove from tin and dust with icing sugar.