Creamy Cheesecake – “Käse-Sahne Torte”

Cheesecakes are popular in Germany. Unlike the German cheesecake I posted a few months ago, the filling in this creamy cheesecake is not baked but set in the fridge. However, it is also made of quark (a type of curd cheese) and not of cream cheese so it is fairly light (if this can be said of a cake containing a pint of whipping cream...). This cake tastes great chilled and it is therefore particularly good in summer. Fruit (especially all kinds of berries, but also cubed fresh apricots) can be added to the cream if you like. The filling is set with gelatine, so this is not suitable for vegetarians. This recipe is enough for a 26 cm springform tin. It is a bit fiddly, but it is pretty foolprool and has never gone wrong (knock on wood).

For the sponge base:

4 eggs

100 g sugar

Some vanilla seeds or vanilla extract

100 g plain flour

50 g corn flour

1 tsp baking powder

For the cheese filling:

250 ml milk

200 g sugar

4 egg yolks

Zest and juice of half a lemon

8 leaves of gelatine

500 ml whipping cream

500 g quark (low fat or fat free)

For the sponge cake: whisk the eggs and the sugar for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Sieve the flour, corn flour and baking powder on top and carefully fold into the eggs. Pour the mixture into a greased tin and bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes at 190 degrees. Leave to cool, remove from the tin and cut in half horizontally.

For the cheese filling: soak the gelatine leaves in cold water. Mix the milk, egg yolks, sugar and the lemon zest in a pot and bring to the boil. Squeeze the water from the soaked gelatine and dissolve it in the hot milk and egg mixture. Stir well and make sure there aren’t any lumps. Now leave the mixture to cool.

When the mixture is starting to set whip the cream. First stir the quark and lemon juice into the egg mixture and then carefully fold in the whipped cream.

If you own an adjustable cake ring fix the bottom layer of the sponge cake in the ring. If not, return the bottom layer of the sponge cake to the springform tin. Slightly oil the tin’s sides or line it with baking paper. Now smooth the creamy cheese mixture on top of the cake. Add the top layer of the sponge cake and press down very slightly. Leave to set in the fridge for at least three hours.

When the cake has set, remove the ring and dust the cake with icing sugar. This keeps in the fridge for a few days, but it can also be frozen.

Redcurrant cake - "Träubleskuchen"

The Träubleskuchen is a great Swabian summer tradition. It’s called Johannisbeerkuchen in non-dialect German and translates as redcurrant cake. This cake – like the rhubarb cake I posted a few weeks ago -  is what I would call an ‘adult cake’. I didn’t like it as a child, probably because its moist texture with the currants and almond meringue and its tartness are too complex for the childish palate. I quite like it now, many years later (although I continue to have a fondness for sponge cakes decorated with chocolate and smarties). Unfortunately, our two currant bushes in the garden did not yield enough fruit for an entire cake this year. I therefore waited until English-grown redcurrants were available in the supermarket. They have now arrived and the season is short, so I had to act quickly. I baked this recipe in a 24 cm round tin. It would also be enough, I think, for 25 or 30 cm square. 

For the pastry:

250 g plain flour

125 g butter

70 g caster sugar

1 egg yolk

For the filling:

About 400 g redcurrants

3 egg whites

3 egg yolks

150 g caster sugar plus one tablespoon of sugar

Some vanilla extract or seeds, if you like

100 g ground almonds

A handful of sliced almonds and breadcrumbs each

Quickly combine the pastry ingredients and knead until you have a firm ball of dough. Line a greased cake tin of your choice and prick the base with a fork in a few places. Put in the fridge and leave to rest for about 30 minutes.

 

When making the filling start by whisking the egg whites until stiff. Add the sugar spoon by spoon and continue whisking until the mixture is firm and silky. Add the ground almonds and vanilla and mix in well.

In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks with a tablespoon of sugar until creamy. Then fold in two thirds of the almond meringue mix and the redcurrants. Combine well. Remove the pastry shell from the oven and sprinkle the base with the breadcrumbs and sliced almonds. This prevents the base from getting soggy. Add the redcurrant mix and top with the rest of the almond meringue. Smooth the surface and bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 50 minutes. Check periodically so the top does not get too brown. If it does, cover with some aluminium foil. 

Leave to cool in the tin, but remove the cake when it is cold to avoid it from ‘sweating’ and getting soggy. This cake should be eaten fairly fresh. It is very moist and no amount of breadcrumbs can stop it from getting soggy after a couple of days. It tastes particularly good with whipped cream.

PS: A nice reader of the blog just pointed out that my blog so far did not offer a 'follow' option. I hadn't realised that this was the case. The 'follow this blog' function is now enabled and it is located on the left of the screen under the blog archive!

Summer fruit cake - 'Obstkuchen'

This cake evokes a lot of childhood memories of coffee and cake afternoons with friends and relatives. Fresh fruit cakes or tarts are hugely popular in Germany, especially in the summer. Almost any soft fruit of your choice can be used to top the cake (fresh is best, of course, but tinned apricots, peaches or pineapples are also a common sight). I love using fresh local berries at the moment. I even got to harvest 5 (five) strawberries and an entire 21 blackcurrants in my own garden earlier today: all the hard work is starting to pay off... For the cake in the picture I added some very non-regional (and probably not very seasonal) organic kiwi for a bit of a colour contrast.

This specific recipe is not exactly traditional. The most common base for a fresh fruit cake is the plain ‘Bisquit’ I used for my strawberry cake a few weeks ago. This is also the more low-calorie option, if you are so inclined. The cake in the picture consists of a nutty chocolate base and the fruit is stuck onto the cake with melted milk chocolate. I recommend it – the combination of chocolate and nuts with fresh fruit is divine. I don’t really know where the recipe has come from, but my mother used to (and still does) bake this very often.  I get the feeling that this comes from my auntie Klara, who also is the source of my nutty triangles recipe.

I baked the cake in a 24 cm round tin, but a larger tin (up to about 28 cm) can also be used if you prefer a thinner base. The base freezes well and the final product is actually assembled fairly quickly.

For the chocolate base:

100 g butter

3 eggs

100 g sugar

100 g almonds – partially ground and partially chopped

100 g dark chocolate, chopped into chunks

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

8 pieces of crisp bread or crispy bakes (in Germany this is called ‘Zwieback’ – bread twice baked. The nearest equivalent in the UK would be melba toast or rusks. I bought ‘crispy bakes’ in Sainsbury’s, which come in a round paper packet. These were perfect. But biscuits or anything fairly neutral tasting and crunchy can also be used).

1 teaspoon baking powder

For the topping:

100 g milk chocolate

Fresh or tinned fruit of your choice

For the glaze:

1 tablespoon corn flour or potato starch

2 tablespoons sugar

250 ml water or fruit juice

For the cake batter, whisk the butter with the eggs and the sugar until fairly fluffy.  Crush up the crisp bread/crispy bakes. I crush half of them to fine ‘dust’ and keep the other half as small chunks. Stir these and the rest of the ingredients into the butter, mixing well. Bake in a greased tin for about 20 – 25 minutes at 200 degrees. Leave to cool.

To assemble the cake: carefully melt the milk chocolate. Spread this evenly and thinly on top of the cooled cake. Now arrange the fruit on top of the melted chocolate. For the glaze, combine the starch flour and sugar and mix well with some of the liquid. Bring the rest of the liquid to the boil and gradually add the flour mix. Boil for a few seconds until it starts to thicken. Immediately spread this on top of the cake with the help of a spoon, starting from the middle. I place the cake in the fridge for a few minutes to allow the chocolate to harden and the glaze to set. 

 

Rhubarb cake with meringue - 'Rhabarberkuchen'

Yesterday I made an incredibly sour rhubarb crumble. I didn’t add enough sugar and there wasn’t any sweet custard, either, so it was barely edible. Today I gave rhubarb another go and I didn’t skimp on the sugar this time. This recipe is for a very traditional German summer cake. The rhubarb is baked in a sweet vanilla sponge and then topped with meringue for a bit of crunch and some extra sweetness. With some whipped cream it tastes particularly good. The recipe makes a 24cm round cake – it can easily be doubled for a larger square tin.

For the sponge:

125 g butter

125 g sugar

Seeds from one vanilla pod or some vanilla essence

1 egg and two egg yolks

125 g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

300 – 400 g rhubarb, peeled and cut into chunks

For the meringue:

2 egg whites

125 g sugar

For the sponge cake, mix the butter (at room temperature), sugar, eggs and vanilla until fairly fluffy. Combine the flour and the baking powder and fold into the batter. Spoon the batter into a greased cake tin and smooth the surface. Then add the rhubarb chunks. Bake this at about 200 degrees for 30 minutes.

In the meantime make the meringue. Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks and then slowly add the sugar. Continue whisking until the mixture is shiny and stiff. 

When the cake is baked remove it from the oven and add the meringue topping. You can just spoon it on top and swirl the surface with a fork, or you can pipe it on in a pattern of your choice. Return to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes or so at 200 degrees. The meringue should turn slightly golden, but it should not turn brown.

Strawberry cake - 'Erdbeerkuchen'

It’s been a quite while since I have posted my last cake on my blog. Two months in fact! It’s not that I haven’t done any baking at all, but the day job got in the way, alas, and I mainly kept to baking quick cakes and my sourdough bread. Things are a bit quieter now and I am excited about all the summery fruit that is now available (in spite of the less than summery weather). Following the long winter months with a fairly restricted selection of fruit (at least for those like me using mainly seasonal and regional ingredients) a whole new world of recipes has now become possible. I love all sorts of berries and summer fruit and I am hoping to bake as many cakes with these fresh ingredients while they last. In Germany the Erdbeerkuchen – strawberry cake – is a great summer favourite. There are lots of variations on the strawberry cake, of course, but this recipe is fairly traditional. The base, in German, is called ‘Bisquit’ and it is made mainly of eggs and flour. Unlike other sponge batters this does not contain butter or any other fat and it is therefore particularly light and fluffy. The Bisquit base is very versatile – it can be used with all kinds of other fruit (in the 1980s cakes with colourful tinned fruit – peaches, pineapples and mandarins – were all the rage) and it is also the recipe used for the famous Black Forest Gateaux. For the latter, 25 g of the corn flour is exchanged with cocoa powder to make it dark and chocolaty.

I baked the Bisquit base in a round springform tin 28 cm in size. When baked the base is about 6-7 cm high so it can be cut in half with a sharp knife. This means that the recipe is enough for two cakes – I usually wrap one in tin foil and freeze it for another cake.

For the base:

6 eggs

200 g sugar

Seeds of one vanilla pod or some vanilla extract

100 g flour

125 g corn flour

For the cream base:

2 heaped tablespoons of corn flour

2 heaped tablespoons of sugar

500 ml milk

For the glaze (this keeps the strawberries on the cake and also keeps the fruit fresh for longer):

1 tablespoon corn flour

2 tablespoons of sugar

250 ml water or fruit juice

About three punnets of strawberries

Some sliced almonds to decorate

For the Bisquit base divide the egg whites from the yolks. Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks and then slowly add the sugar. Continue whisking until creamy and shiny. Add the vanilla and the egg yolks one by one and combine well. Finally, mix the flour and corn flour and thoroughly fold into the egg mixture. Grease the bottom of a springform tin (do not grease the sides, because this makes the cake rise unevenly) and add the batter. Smooth the surface and bake at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes. Leave to cool. Cut the base in half horizontally with a sharp serrated knife (if the cake is very high and you prefer a thinner base you can also cut it into three rounds).

For the cream base mix the corn flour and sugar. Add some vanilla if you like. Pour about 100 ml of the milk into the flour and mix well – make sure there are no lumps. Bring the rest of the milk to the boil and then add the corn flour mix. Boil for about 2-3 minutes whisking continually. Leave to cool slightly (stirring every once in a while to prevent a skin from forming). 

Evenly smooth the cream onto the Bisquit base. This should not be too thick – you can eat the rest as a dessert, mixed with any leftover strawberries. Now top the cake with the strawberries. You can use small strawberries whole and cut the larger ones in half. 

Finally, prepare the glaze. Mix the corn flour and sugar with 250 ml cold water or juice and bring to the boil. Immediately pour this on the cake (starting in the middle) to cover the strawberries. This sets very quickly. Immediately decorate the edges of the cake with the sliced almonds.

The cream base can be replaced simply with whipped cream or clotted cream. If you do this I would not use the glaze (it would melt the cream) and I would eat the cake on the same day.

 

Granatsplitter

My boyfriend just told me that these little cakes are his favourite from all the things I have ever baked. OK, I have to admit that they taste and look very nice (even if I say so myself). However, they are very quick to make (unlike my 5-day sourdough adventures and other more complicated recipes) and the recipe was invented (not by me, but by German bakeries) for using up leftover cakes, biscuits and cream fillings. I didn’t add an English translation for the cakes in the title, because it is a bit weird. Literally translated, Granatsplitter denotes ‘shrapnel’, presumably to indicate their content of leftover cakes. But never mind. I have yet to meet somebody who doesn’t enjoy these.

Granatsplitter are a creamy cake mixture placed on a biscuit and covered in chocolate icing. The ingredients for the creamy mixture can be varied with whatever is available. The idea is to use up leftover cake or other sweet baked goods (sponge cake that has gone a bit hard, muffins, cheap or broken biscuits, fruit cake, pastry shells...) and to mix these with butter cream and any other ingredients that take your fancy or that you would like to get rid of (berries, jam, nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, et cetera). I previously made them with some of the butter cream, sponge cake and cherries leftover from my Donauwellen cake. The variations are endless, but here is the basic recipe I used for the cakes in the picture. It makes about 15 Granatsplitter.

15 small, round biscuits of your choice (ginger nuts are good, for example)

For the butter cream (alternatively, you can use leftover icing or butter cream, if you have it):

 20 g corn flour

3 tbsp sugar

Some vanilla extract (or seeds from one vanilla pod)

250 ml (1/4 litre) milk

125 g butter at room temperature

For the chocolate covering:

150 g chocolate of your choice (I used dark chocolate on the picture)

1 tbsp sunflower oil or 1 tbsp butter/margarine

Other ingredients for the filling:

Volume equivalent of about 5 thick slices of sponge cake and a few biscuits, if you like.

I also added some frozen raspberries

For the butter cream, mix the corn flour with the sugar and vanilla. Mix this with about half a glass of the milk (make sure there are no lumps). Bring the rest of the milk to the boil. Add the corn flour mix, whisk continuously, and boil for about 2 minutes. Leave this ‘custard’ to cool down to room temperature. When the butter and the custard have the same temperature (this is important, otherwise the mixture might curdle) whisk the butter with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Add the custard spoon by spoon and mix until you have smooth butter cream.

Crumble up the cake and/or biscuits you are using. Mix these with the butter cream and add any other ingredients you would like to use. For the Granatsplitter in the picture I added some frozen raspberries (the cream can be flavoured with cocoa powder of with a few spoons of rum, brandy or amaretto, if you want).

Now shape the mixture into balls to fit the diameter of the round biscuits you are using as a base. It is easiest to do this with an ice-cream scoop or with two large spoons. Place these balls on top of the biscuits and slightly press down.

Melt the chocolate (in a bain-marie or carefully in the microwave) and add the oil or butter (this is not essential, but I find that it makes the chocolate covering a bit softer and it is also less likely to go white). Dip each Granatsplitter in the chocolate to cover it completely. Leave the chocolate to set and keep in a tin in the fridge.

Cherry cake with semolina – 'Kirsch-Grieß Kuchen'

This is a very simple and traditional southern German recipe. Semolina, cherries and cinnamon are a classic combination and most German children will have grown up eating semolina pudding with cherries and a sprinkling of sugar and cinnamon on a regular basis. The flavours of this typical ‘comfort food’ are replicated in this cake. As discussed in my Donauwellen recipe a few months ago, morello cherries (called sour-cherries in Germany) can be bought in large jars in Lidl or Aldi in the UK. Of course, in summer the cake should be made with fresh cherries instead! This recipe is enough for a smallish (24 cm max) round baking tin. I baked it in a 20 cm x 30 cm rectangular tin.

100g semolina

100 g sugar

375 ml milk

80 g butter

3 egg yolks and 3 egg whites

80 g ground almonds

1 tsp cinnamon (or more, if you like)

1 jar morello cherries or a few hands full of fresh, pitted cherries

Put the semolina, sugar and milk in a pan, bring to the boil and cook for a few minutes until the semolina has absorbed all the liquid (the mixture should have the consistency of thick porridge). Add the butter, which will melt in the hot mixture. Once the butter has melted, stir in the three egg yolks and combine well. Leave the mixture to cool down.

Add the ground almonds and cinnamon and combine well, then mix in the cherries. If you are using a jar of cherries make sure you drain them well to stop the cake from going soggy (I dry them off on a few pieces of kitchen towel before adding them to the mixture). Finally, whisk the egg whites and carefully fold them in. Pour the batter into a well greased baking tin, smooth the surface and bake at 200 degrees for about 60 minutes. 

'Sunken' apple cake - 'Versunkener Apfelkuchen'

There is a ridiculous number of recipes for apple cakes in Germany. It’s a very popular type of cake and it is kind of odd, admittedly, that I have not yet posted a single one on my blog. As apples are one of the few local fruits available in the UK at the moment, I intend to make up for this. I am starting off with one of the quickest recipes for an apple cake – the famous sunken apple cake. This consists of a simple sponge base with apples, scored in a nice pattern and cut in half, making it moist and flavoursome. The cake does not take long to make and it usually doesn’t hang around the kitchen for long, because it goes down very well. Variations of the recipe below are possible. In particular, the flavour can be changed by replacing some of the flour with ground nuts. Hazelnuts, I find, are particularly tasty in this cake. 

This makes one large, round cake (I used a tin with a 28 cm diameter), but it can also be baked in a square tin.

250 g butter, soft at room temperature

130 g sugar

3 eggs

Some vanilla seeds or extract (optional)

200g plain flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

50 ml milk (or some milk and some rum)

4-5 eating apples, depending on their size

Cream the butter and the sugar and whisk until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one and continue whisking. Add the vanilla, if using. Mix the flour and the baking powder and blend into the butter mixture. Add the milk as required – the batter should not be liquid, but it should not be too dry either (it needs to be firm enough for the apples not to sink before you put the cake in the oven).

Grease a baking tin, add the batter and smooth the surface. Peel the apples, cut them in half and remove the core. Slice the surface of the apples with a sharp knife without cutting through the apple (the photo of the baked cake above shows best how this should be done). Place the apple halves on top of the batter and bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees for 40-50 minutes. 

Buttercake - 'Butterkuchen'

Buttercake, consisting of a fluffy yeast-dough base and topped with sweet and crunchy sliced almonds, is very traditional and often served with afternoon coffee or tea. If at all possible, the cake should be baked and eaten on the same day and it tastes best when it is still a little bit warm. The cake is very simple and easy to make, but its flavour is very delicate and it is not too sweet. Some single cream or whipping cream is poured on the cake when it comes out of the oven, making it moist and enhancing the buttery flavour. I really recommend using fresh yeast for this, as the yeasty flavour is central to this cake and dry yeast just does not taste quite as good. I buy my fresh yeast in larger batches on ebay, where it is sold by a number of professional bakers in England. The yeast I received was always very fresh and of excellent quality and arrived within a day of buying it. I immediately cut it into 20g portions when it arrives, wrap it in tin foil and keep it in the freezer. 

This makes one square or rectangular cake of about 25 by 25 cm or 20 by 30 cm. It cuts into about 12 slices. The recipe can easily be doubled  for a larger cake tin.

For the dough:

250 g plain flour

60 g sugar (or more, if you like it sweeter)

20 g fresh yeast (or one sachet dry)

125 ml milk

1 egg yolk

30 g butter

For the topping:

50 g sliced almonds

50 g sugar

50 g butter, cut into small pieces

100 ml single or whipping cream

Combine the flour and the sugar. Dissolve the fresh yeast in the milk and pour on top of the flour. Leave to stand for about 20 minutes. Add the egg yolk and melted butter and knead for a few minutes until you have a soft and fluffy ball of dough (if using dry yeast, just combine all dough ingredients straight away). Cover and leave to rise for at least 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Roll out the dough to fit your baking tin or tray (this should be greased). Leave to rise again for about 30 minutes. Punch some holes in the dough with the handle of a wooden cooking spoon (or use your fingers). Top the cake first with the sliced almonds, sprinkle on the sugar and finish with the butter, cut into very small pieces. Bake at 180 degrees for about 25 minutes. If you use a cake tin with a loose bottom I recommend placing this in a baking tray to avoid melting butter dripping into the oven.

Remove the cake from the oven and carefully pour on the cream – I punch a few more holes in the cake before I do so, to ensure that the cream is absorbed into the cake. Leave to cool slightly and eat while still warm. 

German Cheesecake – 'Käsekuchen'

German cheesecake is quite different from American-style cheesecake, which is most common in the UK. The German version is always baked and its main ingredient is quark – a soft cheese with a considerably lower fat content than Philadelphia cheese. The flavour of German cheesecake is not dissimilar to the American version, but its consistency is a lot lighter and fluffier. Until a few years ago quark was not really available in regular supermarkets in the UK. Now it is sold almost everywhere. I baked this with the non-fat version (making up for this with the addition of melted butter), but the more fatty curd cheese, which is similar in texture, can also be used. The amount of butter in the mix can be reduced in this case. I have read (but I have not tried this yet) that quark can be replaced with strained yoghurt if it is nowhere to be found. Thick yoghurt is placed in a sieve lined with a thin cotton tea towel and left to strain in the fridge overnight. The resulting consistency resembles that of quark. I am sure this will work, but I also think that the flavour will not quite be the same.

German cheesecake is one of my favourite cakes. It keeps for a few days and it can be varied according to taste. The very basic version, without any flavouring or additions, tastes great. The flavour can be altered with the addition of grated lemon peel or vanilla seeds or extract. Fruit can also be added. In winter, raisins or slices of poached pears are good. In summer, a handful of raspberries, blueberries, cherries or apricots make for a fruity alternative.

This makes one large cheesecake – I used a spring form with a 28 cm diameter.

For the pastry:

250 g plain flour

130 g cold butter

75 g sugar

1 egg yolk (plus two tbsp cold water, if required)

For the filling:

750 g quark cheese

65 g plain flour

175 g sugar

4 eggs

100 g melted butter

Quickly knead all pastry ingredients into a ball of dough. Leave to rest in the fridge for about 45 minutes. Grease a springform tin and line it with the thinly rolled out pastry.

For the filling divide the egg yolks from the egg whites. Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Mix the egg yolks with the quark cheese, flour and sugar. Add the melted butter and mix well. Finally, thoroughly fold in the whisked egg whites. You can add some vanilla seeds/extract or some grated lemon peel to flavour the cheesecake mixture. The cake in the picture contains some rum-soaked raisins and vanilla.

If using, add some raisins or fruit to the pastry shell. Add the cheesecake mixture and smooth the surface. Bake in the preheated oven for about 60 minutes at 180 degrees. Make sure the cake does not get too dark on top. If it does, it can be covered with some aluminium foil.

The cheesecake can rise quite a lot and tends to sink a bit in the middle when it cools down. I have found that it sinks less if it is left in the switched off oven for a while to cool down slowly (maybe open the door a little bit). Leave to cool completely before cutting.

Sand cake - 'Sandkuchen'

The ‘special’ ingredient in this recipe is not sand but corn flour, giving this cake its specific ‘sandy’ texture. To be honest (and as can be seen on the picture) this cake is nothing special, but the most basic of cakes. The Sandkuchen, however, is a very old and traditional recipe and the process of making the batter is quite different from other basic sponge cakes. The addition of corn flour, as well as whipped egg whites and melted butter, make it particularly fine and light. Its flavour is buttery with a subtle hint of lemon. It keeps for at least a week if stored in a tin and it tastes good with a cup of coffee or tea.

I mentioned another one of my attempts at making sand cake in my previous post. It all went wrong, because I filled too much batter in the cake tin and it ended up flooding my entire oven. Beware – this recipe contains very little baking powder, but it rises like crazy. Don’t be tempted to overfill the tin – about half full is enough. Instead of filling all the batter into my large loaf tin, this time I baked one large and one small loaf. This was just about right and there was no need to scrub the oven afterwards.

4 eggs and 2 additional egg yolks

300 g sugar

Finely grated zest from one organic lemon

2 egg whites

200 g flour

150 g corn flour

1 level tsp baking powder

320 g melted butter

Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and the sugar in a food processor or with an electric whisk for at least 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Whisk the egg whites to firm peaks and carefully fold into the egg mixture. Mix the flour, corn flour and baking powder and also fold into the egg mixture in stages (with about 4 additions). Make sure all the flour has been mixed in well. Finally, stir the melted butter (this can be slightly warm, but should not be hot) into the batter and combine well.

Pour the batter into greased and floured baking tin (do not overfill!) and bake for about 1 hour in the preheated oven at about 175 degrees. Prick with a match or wooden skewer to ensure the cake is baked all the way through.

Leave to rest in the tin for about 10 minutes then turn out of the tin and cool on a wire rack. When the cake is cold dust with icing sugar or decorate with chocolate (recommended). Wrap well in foil or store in a tin and this will keep for at least a week.

Linzer tart - 'Linzertorte'

New year, new recipes. Having been a bit slack over Christmas and the New Year – enjoying cakes and biscuits baked mostly by my parents for a change – I commenced my baking two weekends ago. I had only had a baking break of three weeks (and I did make a poppy seed cake and fruity crumble cake on Christmas Day, so it’s not that I didn’t practice at all), but it all went to pieces. My first cake of 2012 was the famous sand cake (Sandkuchen), but it went so wrong. It started off OK and the cake rose beautifully. But it just rose and rose and when it had covered most of my newly cleaned oven I had to take drastic measures that I don’t want to go into. The second cake I made was my mother’s excellent apple cake with a sour cream topping. This tasted good, but it just didn’t look anywhere near as nice as my mum’s, so it didn’t make it into the blog, either. Finally, this weekend, my baking started to recover. Following a German baked cheesecake that almost hit the mark, the Linzer tart came out top. So here it is: my first recipe of 2012.

Obviously, the Linzer tart is not German, but Austrian. However, it is an extremely popular cake all over Germany and in the south in particular. There are two basic variations of this cake. One is made with a sponge-cake type batter and the decorative grid is piped on. The other, and arguably most original and traditional variant (as in my recipe below), is made from pastry and the decoration is rolled out or cut instead. Although the Linzer tart is eaten all year round, I think it is particularly pleasant in the winter with its subtle flavour of cloves and cinnamon. In order to achieve the typically crumbly and soft texture it is important to wrap the tart in foil and cling film and to let it rest for about a week before it is consumed. The ‘original’ Linzer tart is characterised by a filling of red currant jam (called ‘Ribisel’ in Austria). As this is not widely available in the UK I usually use raspberry jam instead. Any jam or fruit jelly will work well, but I think one with a red colour looks best.

This recipe is for a 28 cm spring form:

For the pastry:

300 g plain flour

300 g ground nuts (a mixture of almonds and hazelnuts is best)

250 g sugar

1 egg and one extra egg yolk

300 g butter

2 large pinches of ground cloves

1 tsp cinnamon

For the filling and decoration:

250 g jam (red currant, if available, or raspberry)

1 egg yolk

Quickly combine the pastry ingredients. Wrap in cling film and leave the pastry to rest in the fridge for about 1 hour.

Roll out about 2/3 of the pastry and add to the greased spring form (press down evenly with your fingers if required). Roll the remaining pastry into a thin sausage (about the thickness of a pen). Line the circumference of the spring form with a length of this sausage to form a rim (this will prevent the jam from oozing out). Spread the jam on top of the cake and then use the remaining strips of pastry to decorate with a grid-like pattern. Brush the pastry rim and grid with egg yolk and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 50 minutes.  

Leave the tart to cool, then wrap in aluminium foil and cling film and leave to mature for about one week (or at least 2 days).

Poppy seed cake - 'Mohnkuchen'

This is the second recipe with poppy seed on my blog (the recipe for my poppy seed plait is here). Again, there is no story to go with this – it is only that I love poppy seeds in cakes and pastries (if you don’t, I recommend steering clear of this). I only have one warning: serious tooth brushing is required after eating this cake, especially if any kind of public speaking is on the cards. As I mentioned in my post on the poppy seed plait a few weeks ago the seeds need to be ground or crushed or they are unpleasant and gritty. If you can’t import ground poppy seed from Germany (or another central or east European country) a good food processor or spice grinder can do the job. With a bit of elbow grease the seeds can also be crushed with a pestle and mortar. This recipe should be baked in a round spring form of 23 – 26 cm. I used a 23 cm tin for a better poppy seed to pastry ratio.

For the pastry:

250g plain flour

80 g sugar

120 g butter
1 egg

½ tsp baking powder

Combine all ingredients and knead until you have a smooth ball of dough, leave to rest in the fridge.

For the filling:

40 g corn flour

4 tbsp sugar

1 vanilla pod

500 ml milk

250 g ground poppy seed

Swig of dark rum (or a handful of raisins soaked in rum)

Mix the corn flour and the sugar. Add a bit of the cold milk and whisk well until there are no lumps left. Boil the rest of the milk with the vanilla pod (seeds scraped into the milk). When it is boiling remove the vanilla pod and add the corn flour mixture. Boil for a minute or so whisking constantly until the mixture resembles thick custard. Add the poppy seed and rum (or raisins if using). Leave to cool slightly.

In the meantime make the crumple topping by combining the following:

100 g flour

70 g butter

70 g sugar

 Thinly roll out the pastry (this works best between two layers of cling film) and line the greased spring form. The rim should be about 3 cm high. Fill the pastry case with the poppy seed mixture and smooth the surface. Top with the crumble and bake at about 180 degrees for 60 minutes or until the crumbly top is golden brown. This cake is very moist and tastes even better on the second or third day.

Hazelnut cake - 'Nusskuchen'

This is a very simple sponge cake and I can’t really think of any interesting facts or anecdotes to go with it. It is just a classic and very popular recipe that I have already liked as a child and I still love now. The combination of roasted hazelnuts and a dash of brandy is a winner and absolutely delicious. This is another one of those things that I like for breakfast (yes, I like my breakfasts and no, I see nothing wrong with eating cake first thing in the morning). For this reason I tend to leave the cake plain as in the picture and I do not cover it with a nice milk-chocolate icing, which also makes a very good match. The cake is light and moist and keeps fresh for about a week in a tin. All ingredients should be at room temperature before the baking commences. I like baking this in a large loaf tin, but two smaller tins and other shapes also work.

 250g butter

200g sugar

Seeds from one vanilla pod

4 eggs

1 large dash of brandy

350g plain flour

2 heaped teaspoons baking powder

200g roasted hazelnuts, ground

150 ml milk

Whisk the butter, sugar and vanilla for several minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one and continue whisking. Add the brandy. Mix the flour, baking powder and hazelnuts. Alternate adding portions of the flour and the milk to the whisked butter and eggs. Combine well, but do not overwork the batter. Pour into a greased tin and bake at 180 degrees for about an hour.

Marble cake - Marmorkuchen

Marble cake is an absolute classic in Germany, and for good reason. I must have baked this for the first time when I was about 10 years old and I have made it hundreds of times since. One memorable occasion was my 18^th birthday when I started baking this cake not long before my guests arrived. I somehow managed to get my hair tangled up in the electric whisk, which destroyed my carefully styled hair. My mother, inexplicably, found this very funny and struggled to help me detach the whisk from my head for she was laughing so hard.  In my family opinions on the marble cake are divided. For me, and also for my dad, marble cake has been a firm and constant favourite and we would pick this over elaborate cream cakes or fruit tarts any day. We particularly like eating large slices of this for breakfast. Some people, including my mother, think that marble cake is a bit basic – boring, even. I can assure you that they are mistaken.

In Germany marble cakes tend to be baked in a ring-shaped tin as shown on the photo. However, they can also be baked in a regular square or rectangular cake tin. The recipe makes one large cake.

250g butter

280g sugar

4 eggs

Seeds from one vanilla pod

500g plain flour

2 heaped tsp baking powder

170 ml milk

4 tbsp cocoa powder

A good swig of dark rum or amaretto (or extra milk)

Whisk the butter with the sugar for about 10 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one and keep whisking. Mix in the vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix the flour with the baking powder. Alternate adding flour and milk to the egg mixture, whisking slowly. Once all the flour and milk have been added pour two thirds of the batter into a greased cake tin. Add the cocoa powder and rum (or other liquid) to the remaining batter and mix well. Pour the chocolate batter on top of the white batter and swirl carefully with a fork for a marble effect.

Bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 45 minutes. Prick the cake with a match or toothpick – if it comes out clean the cake is done.

Leave to cool for a few minutes then turn out of the tin. It can be served as it is, dusted with icing sugar, or covered with chocolate icing. It keeps fresh in a tin for several days and also freezes very well.

Poppy seed plait - 'Mohnzopf'

Sweetened and plaited breads are popular in Germany – for breakfast at the weekend (or on any other morning of the week if I get the chance), but also with coffee or tea in the afternoon. A favourite variation of mine is this plait filled with a sweet poppy seed mixture. It tastes and looks quite special (even if I say so myself), but it is actually quite easy to make. The poppy seed in the mix can be replaced with ground nuts - hazelnuts and/or almonds are best. Many different variations in flavour are possible with the addition of, for example, grated lemon zest, cinnamon, cocoa powder or even grated marzipan.

 

Poppy seeds are widely used in cakes and other sweet dishes in Central and Eastern Europe. It is not a problem to buy packets of poppy seed in the UK – I usually get mine from the organic supermarket. Unfortunately, I have never found ground poppy seed as needed for this plait and also for other cakes (such as my poppy seed cake). However, poppy seed can be ground (or at least bruised) in a decent food processor or even with a mortar and pestle). I don’t recommend using whole poppy seed, as this has quite an unpleasant, sandy texture.

I usually bake this plait in a large cake tin (about 30 cm long) to give it an even shape. It can be baked without a tin, but this will result in a flatter shaped loaf.

For the bread:

20 g fresh yeast (or 1 sachet dry)

130 ml milk

400 g plain flour

40 g sugar

70 g butter

1 egg

For the filling:

100 g ground poppy seeds

25 g semolina

60 g sugar

175 ml milk

Seeds of one vanilla pod

A good swig of rum (optional)

Dissolve the fresh yeast in the warm milk, add to the rest of the bread ingredients and knead to get a fairly firm ball of dough. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes.

In the meantime make the filling. Boil the milk with the sugar and vanilla, and then add the poppy seeds and semolina. Bring back to the boil briefly and set aside to allow the poppy seed and semolina to swell up and the mixture to cool down. Add the rum and mix well.

When the dough has risen roll it into a rectangle of about 20 by 30 cm. Evenly distribute the topping on the dough and roll up so you end up with a sausage about 30 cm long. Carefully cut this sausage down the middle with a serrated knife. Then twist the two halves into a braid and place in a greased cake tin. Cover and leave to rise again for about 30 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Fruity crumble cake - 'Streuselkuchen'

Streuselkuchen – cakes with a crumbly topping – are a great favourite in Germany and they come in many shapes and forms. A tasty and traditional variation is a sweet yeast-based cake topped with rich, buttery crumble. In bakeries this type of Streuselkuchen is often sold in big slabs or as individual round pastries that are plain or filled with a custard cream, poppy seeds and/or fruit. 

My favourite Streuselkuchen is a quick version without yeast that can be thrown together in only a few minutes. The recipe and the ingredients are simple, but its combination of flavour and texture has made this one of my favourite cakes. The cake can be baked in a round spring form (24-26 cm) or in a rectangular tin (30 by 20 cm). The basic mix can be combined with different fillings depending on what you like best and what is available. For the cake in the picture I used a tin of apricots (drained) and a tub of quark mixed with an egg, some sugar and vanilla.

For the base and crumble topping:

250g butter softened

200g sugar (or more if you like)

450 g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 pinch of salt

1 egg

Seeds of one vanilla pod

For the filling:

100g flaked almonds

Fruit of your choice (for example, apricots fresh or tinned; cherries fresh or tinned; raspberries fresh or frozen; sliced apples or pears or even a few tablespoons of fruit jam)

Optional: one tub of quark or curd cheese or mascarpone (suitable especially if you could do with putting on a few pounds), mixed with an egg and flavoured with sugar, vanilla or grated lemon zest.

Combine all ingredients for the base and crumble topping until well combined. The mixture should be in coarse crumbs. Press half of the mix into your greased cake tin. Top the base with half of the flaked almonds. This prevents the base from becoming soggy from the fruit. If using, spread the quark or mascarpone mixture on top of the almonds and/or top with your choice of fruit. Add the rest of the flaked almonds and crumble mix to cover the fruit. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 35-45 minutes.