Hedonists in the Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (Elif) — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 02:24:00 +0000

We started a tradition of tea parties a while ago, where we meet at somebody's house, bring lots of baked goodness and indulge in deserts and tea, while chatting or watching a movie, mostly an Audrey Hepburn one. My friend Connie was hosting one of those now-traditional tea parties the other day and it was right before out friend Honey's birthday, so I thought I would bake a birthday cake for Honey. The sad part is, I started to feel kind of sick and had to leave early, before we got to the cake and sparkling wine part! So I never got to taste this cake, but the reports have been very positive. It's a bit labor-intensive, so I don't know if I'll be making it again anytime soon, but it sure looked and smelled (and allegedly, tasted) very good.

Cake:

3 tbsp hot melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 eggs
2/3 cup sugar

Orange syrup:

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tbsp Grand Marnier

Chocolate mousse:

6 ounces (175 grams) semisweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
3 large egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the pan (9-inch). Whisk together eggs and sugar, heat them up until lukewarm, then beat with a mixer until reaches whipped cream consistency (about 5 min). Sift the flour and the cocoa on top of the egg mixture slowly, stirring in between. Melt the butter and add to the mixture together with vanilla extract. Bake for about 20-25 min.

Mousse: Whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form and put in the refrigerator. Put the egg yolks in a container. in a sauce pan,mix the sugar and the water, bring to a boil and keep stirring over the heat for a while until turns into a sugar syrup, then pour the egg yolks slowly into the syrup while stirring continuously. Beat the mixture with a mixer until it becomes whitish in color and doubles in size. Melt the chocolate and wait until it cools down to be lukewarm. Add the chocolate into the egg mixture, beat with a mixer until the mixture is cool. Fold this mixture into the refrigerated whipping cream.

Cut the cake in half, soak both half with the orange syrup, then spread the chocolate mousse between the layers and on top. The mousse was runny at the beginning but it did get more solid after refrigerating.

noreply@blogger.com (Nur) — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 09:18:00 +0000

We're just back from skiing in east Turkey (Sarikamis). It was a great time, and back from there, I decided to make something that is from that region (well, east Turkey is large, so more or less...) This is a perfect winter soup (yes, it is still quite cold in Netherlands - sob sob). It can be quite light if you use low-fat youghurt and boullion but of course, if you want it to taste really good you should use regular yoghurt (preferably Turkish/Greek/Bulgarian yoghurt or whatever they call that kind of yoghurt where you live). I have read somewhere that this recipe is very old, going back almost thousand years back till Seljuk times. They used to dry a combination of eggs and yoghurt to make it, and obviously used self-made pasta (called tutmach) but this is a simple modern recipe, adapted by me a little. Enjoy!!!

Tutmach Soup

250 grams yogurt
30 grams flour
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground blackpepper
3 teaspoons salt
1 lt boullion (home made, or the liquid version of commercial boullion)
80 grams small macaroni/vermicelli (100 gram when using fresh macaroni)
300 grams cooked green lentils
4 cloves garlic
to top: (optional)
butter
paprika powder/paste (i.e. sambal oelek)
dried mint leaves

1. Mix eggs and flour. Add yoghurt, cumin, black pepper, salt and keep mixing until homogeneous.
2. Add 1 liter of water to the boullion and cook. Add the macaroni and keep boiling until the macaroni is half-cooked (watch out of you are using fresh macaroni, just 1 over minute can be enough!)
3. Take some of the cooking liquid, add to the egg-youghurt mixture and mix quickly. Repeat this a few times so that the egg-yoghurt mixture is half-mixed with the hot soup. Then add the mixture to the soup and stir. (If you add the mixture directly to the soup, the egg will cook in pieces and you will not get the creamy texture that we are aiming at)
4. Cook, stirring regularly, for about 5 minutes.
5. Add the cooked lentils, cook another five minutes at low heat.
6. Turn off the heat. Crush the garlic and add to the soup. Stir.
7. If you want to include the topping (which is very tasty but definitely adds some fat and calories!): Melt butter (about one spooonful for 3-4 people) and add the hot red pepper to it. Traditionally, we use thick pieces of dried red peppers for this (pul biber), but you can also use cayenne pepper or some hot sauce. Let the butter and pepper heat together for a short while, don't burn the butter but make sure it starts to color.
8. Pour the soup into plates. Add some butter mixture on top and some dried mint leaves. Eat warm with some fresh bread!

noreply@blogger.com (Elif) — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 23:18:00 +0000

If you love chocolate (and if you don't, what are you doing looking at this blog anyways?), you probably love chocolate truffles too. They are actually much yummier than chocolate, I think, with their soft texture and rich chocolate flavor. When you make them, the reason becomes obvious, of course: It's all the fat content! But they are really delicious, and making them is really fun, as you can get creative and make many varieties (and lick off the chocolate from your hands in the end!).

Chocolate Truffles

230g semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
3/4 c. whipping cream
2 tsp unsalted butter

Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Heat butter and cream at medium heat, bring to a boil. Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate pieces, stir and whisk until smooth. Put the mixture in a container and refrigerate until firm. You can also add some sort of liqueur (about 2 tsp) while whisking the other ingredients. I usually like to put the mixture in 3 separate containers, add two different liqueurs to two of them, and leave one alcohol-free. I have tried rum, cointreau and Irish cream so far, my favorite was cointreau.

Once the mixture is firm, comes the fun part. You need to roll them into little balls, and cover them with something like toasted nuts, icing sugar (I prefer this for rum and cointreau, as it balances the bitter taste from the liqueur), processed cocoa, ground coffee (I find it much better to cover the plain ones with coffee than the Irish cream mixture) or sprinkles, if you're in a colorful mood. I sometimes also take whole nuts and make the rolls around them, but covering is a must regardless, in order to keep the round shape.

Enjoy!

noreply@blogger.com (Elif) — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 15:47:00 +0000

Recently, I discovered that I really like Thai food and I can train myself to take the level of spiciness involved in a mild-medium Thai dish. Most restaurants in Edmonton are willing to sacrifice some authenticity for the comfort of your taste buds and crying is a socially-acceptable reaction in most of them, so I am doing quite ok with the eating-out experience. But I just wanted to create some Thai-like food for days when I am not willing to hurt myself -either physically or psychologically-, and here's my creation:

Lemon-Grass Chicken for Babies

3 chicken breasts, cut into pieces
1/2 medium white onion, diced
2 tsp fresh ginger, cut into small pieces
2 cloves of garlic,minced
5 sticks of lemon grass
1 small carrot, cut into small pieces
1 cup sugar-snap peas, each cut in half
1/2 cup canned baby corn
Salt
Cayenne pepper, if you insist on being hard-core

In a medium frying pan, fry the chicken and onions for about 3 min, mix in minced garlic and ginger, cook for another 3 min, add in the carrots, stir and cover. Cook until the chicken breasts look white and the onions are soft. Cut away the hard ends of the lemon grass, and peel the hard outside layer. Cut the remaining parts into about 3cm long pieces and bruise them with a tenderizer (or end of a knife, or any other hard object you fancy). Stir the lemongrass into the frying pan, cook until all the ingredients are almost completely cooked,and finally, add in the baby corn and peas, salt (cayenne pepper) to taste cook for another 2-3min. I really like the flavour of lemongrass, but I must warn you that in this recipe, the flavor is not subtle at all, so if you prefer a subtle taste, you might want to reduce the amount to 3 or 4 sticks. I also like everything really softly-cooked, except for the peas, which I like a little crunchy. If you prefer them softer, you might want to drop them in a little earlier. Another nice addition could be roasted almonds, which I planned to include while making this, but forgot to add :)

I put the lemongrass chicken on some coconut rice. I simply buy some coconut milk and replace half of the normal amount of water I use when making rice with the coconut milk, it gives a perfect result. Needless to say, try to buy the heavy coconut milk for the best taste :) Also, I prefer to use long-grain rice rather than sticky rice for this, as the coconut milk already makes it pretty sticky in the end.

Enjoy!

noreply@blogger.com (Elif) — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 04:55:00 +0000

Kisir is a Turkish salad made with bulgur wheat (usually available in organic food stores and in the oriental food aisles of some grocery stores), very common especially in the southern / southeastern parts of Turkey. It is commonly served as a cold starter before any meal, with raki or as a salad in any type of gathering. It is usually served with leaves of lettuce on the side, and sometimes eaten by wrapping a couple of spoons of the salad in a lettuce leaf. Most people add quite a bit of cayenne pepper and make it pretty spicy (which is probably how the original recipe is supposed to be), but I prefer it with just a hint of spice or no spice at all.

Another note is on the sour pomegrenate extract, which is also pretty common in the southern and southeastern parts of Turkey. So far I have seen this only at the Greek supermarket north of downtown in Edmonton, but it might be available in specialty stores selling Mediterranian food. It is a very sour and concentrated liquid with a dark red - brownish color. It tastes awful by itself but adds a wonderful flavour to salads, especially this one. Moreover, it improves the appearence quite a bit by making it look a little darker. So, if pomegrenate extract is available, it wins my vote over lemon juice.

KISIR

2 cups bulgur wheat

1 small onion

6 green onions

3 tomatoes

1 green bell pepper

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh dill weed

Juice of 1 lemon or 2 tbs of sour pomegrenate extract

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp cayenne pepper

Salt to taste

Put the bulgur wheat in a cooking pot, add 2 cups of boiling water, cover and leave to simmer. Chop the onions, tomatoes and peppers finely. When the bulgur wheat absorbs all the water, add in the cayenne pepper, salt and the onions, mix well and knead with hands like kneading dough. Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well and let cool down. The salad is usually served at room temprature.

noreply@blogger.com (Elif) — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 06:00:00 +0000

These raspberry bars are really good if you like chewy, but would rather go for cruncy... They are sort of chewy at the buttom and very crunchy at the top. I also really like the mixture of hazelnuts and raspberries, my two favorite flavors in cookies (well, ok, maybe chocolate comes before the raspberry. I recently discovered that this recipe works really well with gluten-free flour too!

Raspberry Bars

3/4 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 cup hazelnuts (chopped)

1 cup raspberry preserves

Heat oven to 350 Fahrenheit (175 Celcius), butter the baking pan (I use a 9 inch - round pan, so anything close in size should be ok). Cream the butter and sugar at room temprature, beat in the egg after the mixture is completely homogenous. Add the flour, mix just until blended. Add the nuts and again, avoid mixing unnecessarily long.

Press about 2/3 of the mixture at the buttom of the pan, spread the raspberry preserve on top and crumble the remaining dough on top (you can add some extra flour to this portion if it seems to be too moist to be crumbled). Bake for about an hour, until the top is light brown.

noreply@blogger.com (Elif) — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 17:06:00 +0000

I am a huge fan of chicken! Well, yes, I know, it doesn't have too much of a taste of its own... But I guess that's what I like about it the most: It is so open to take flavours of sauces, vegetables, herbs and spices, and then, add to the flavor in its own way. Here's a recipe for braised chicken thighs that has been modified from a recipe in one of the older issues of Fine Cooking Magazine. You can basicly add/delete anything from this recipe, use different meats, different vegetables etc. But the key to good-looking, good-tasting braised chicken seems to be following a couple of basic steps:

1. Brown the chicken first on medium to high heat, adding salt and pepper. This gives the chicken a nice brownish color, helps the meat to become a little tastier especially if you're using relatively dry parts such as breasts, and gives the meat some time to absorb the taste of pepper and salt.

2.Deglaze the pan with some sort of tasty, flavourful liquid, such as white/red wine, soy sauce, chicken stock, vegetable stock, or a mixtue of those (you can also try replacing wine with a bit of balsamic vinegar for a stronger taste, in which case you need to add some sugar to the mixture). Deglazing helps to mix the browned and caramalized tasteful mixtures at the buttom of the pan to mix in the sauce and makes it several times more flavorful.

3. Cover the pan and let the chicken and all the vegetables cook together in the liquid at low to medium heat. You can also choose to simmer the mixture in the oven, which in my opinion, makes it even tastier.

Braised Chicken Thighs

6 pearl onions, peeled

6 chicken thighs

Salt and pepper

Vegetable oil or light olive oil, about 2 tbs.

8 white mushrooms, sliced

3-4 bacon strips, cut on two

1 carrot, sliced

1/2 cup white wine

3/4 cup chicken broth

Thyme

Put the stove to medium-high heat, heat the oil in a pan, then place the chicken on it, add salt and pepper, cover the pan and cook until one side of the thighs are browned. Turn the thighs and add the bacon, onions, carrots and a little later, the mushrooms, cook until the other side of the thighs are browned. When the chicken is brwon, remove the chicken and add the bacon, cook bacon and vegetables together until the bacon is crisp. Add the wine and thyme, bring to a boil, scraping the brown pieces at the buttom with a wooden spoon. Add the chicken back, pouring the chicken stock, boil all of them together until the liquid is reduced to about half its original amount, reduce heat and let it simmer until there's very little liquid left. I like it with mashed potatoes, as I did in the picture, but it would work with rice too. I like drinking minerally, light white wines with it, like the Pieropan Soave in the picture, for which I don't remember the vintage. It just seems to work for me because it kind of balances the extremely strong flavor from the braised chicken, but really, what do I know?...

For the chicken stock, I prefer to make my own stock, which means eating chicken and mayonaisse sandwiches for a while afterwards :) But if you prefer to buy chicken stock, try to choose the ones that have reduced salt. If you can't find one, you might want to consider not adding any other salt when browning the chicken, because these things are pretty damn salty.

Enjoy!

noreply@blogger.com (Nur) — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 06:11:00 +0000

Weekend is the time for being home and re-charging, which I do best when I cook - and even better when I bake. Last try was these cookies, which were just created based on a few recipes and turned out quite well. I cut them before cooking but next time will shape them into round with my hands so that the edges get nice and crispy. Needless to say, they are also much healthier than any cookie you'll buy in the shop.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 egg
65 grams brown sugar
100 milliliters vegetable oil
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
130 grams flour, whole-grain wheat
200 grams oatmeal
50 grams chocolate chips

Cream eggs, sugars, oil, and milk.

Mix in baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

Mix in flour.

Stir in oats, then chocolate chips. Shape with hand or spread on a greased oven plate and cut.

Bake at 190 degrees C. for 18-20 minutes

noreply@blogger.com (Nur) — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 15:49:00 +0000

This is a great vegetarian dish, which I make quite regularly. It's very nice when served on a bed of lettuce, I usually buy the small Roman lettuce (they sell it in Holland under the name 'little gem', in the AH). The lettuce serves as a small dish and balances the spicy taste of the lentil balls. The amount of herbs and spices can be varied according to the taste. In fact I usually use more herbs than given here.

Lentil balls

2 cups red lentils
1 1/2 cups fine bulgur
3 onions, chopped fine
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons cumin
50 grams dill, chopped fine
50 grams flat-leaf parsley, chopped fine
100 grams spring onions, chopped fine
1 tablespoon tomato paste

Sautee the onions in olive oil until golden.

Check the lentils for stones, cook them with 3-4 glasses water. While still hot, add the bulgur and stir. Cover the pan and let it rest.

After the bulgur is soft (5-10 minutes), add the sauteed onions, salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, cumin, tomato paste. Mix it all and knead it with your hand until it's a homogeneous mixture. At this point you can freeze part of the mixture, and follow the remaining steps after it has thawed (never freeze it after adding fresh herbs!).

Finally add the herbs and spring onions. Make small long balls of the mixture and serve on lettuce leaves.

noreply@blogger.com (Nur) — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 21:16:00 +0000

When you look at the photo, you may think that I'll be telling you about some meat dish today. But no, the whole story is in fact about the light-colored puree that's under the meat. This is called Hunkar Begendi in Turkish, which literally means 'the sultan liked it' - I think you'll agree with him if you make this. Hunkar begendi (or shortly begendi) is a real Ottoman Palace dish, created possibly in the 17th century. It's not difficult to make at all, and will accompany most meat or chicken dishes very well, although it's traditionally served with a lamb stew (which is not what I did, as you can see in the photo). As in most simple dishes, the tirck is to get good ingredients, in this case aubergines. I usually don't have so much luck in this in Holland, but I can manage by taking away seeds and dark parts once they are grilled. Another thing you must make sure is not using any really sharp cheese. In case you can not find kasar or kashkaval cheese, use a mild cheese such as young Gouda cheese. Don't use for instance parmiggiano or old Dutch cheeses. The cheese should be young and mild, the main idea here is to make the bechamel sauce compensate for the slight sharpness of the aubergines, and still let aubergines to play the main role.

Hunkar Begendi

4 eggplants, whole
25 grams butter
1 tablespoon flour
350 milliliters milk
2 tablespoons cheese, grated
salt

Grill aubergines whole, with the skin over the flame, turning a few times, until the outside is black and the inside feeld soft to the touch. Optionally, you can prick a few holes in the skin and put them in the oven (the flame method yield a very nice subtle smoke taste). While still warm, peel the skin off and cut the aubergines in very small pieces. If there are large seeds try to remove them as much as possible. After this crush the aubergines into a puree with the back of a wooden spoon.

Melt the butter in a pan. Add the flour and cook stirring for 3-4 minutes.

Add the milk in small portions, stirring continuously. Cook until a thick bechamel sauce is formed.

Add the aubergines and cheese. Cook over low heat, stirring for 5-6 minutes.

Season with salt and serve warm, with a lamb or beef stew, grilled chicken or any other meat dish.

noreply@blogger.com (Nur) — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 21:49:00 +0000

For a while now, I have been wanting to try out a main dish with pumpkins. I figured out that a vegetable with a sweet taste should fit well with a hot sauce so made this Thai curry. Matsaman curry is usually made with potatoes, carrots and read meat, as far as I know. I used pumpkin and added some peas. Like many stew kind of dishes, this was even better the day after. We really liked the combination, although I have no pretences at all of having made an otantic Thai dish. If you want to try it, look for Matsaman curry paste in Asian shops. If you can not get it, the red or green curry paste can also be worth a try.

Matsaman Curry with Pumpkin

500 gr. beef in cubes
600 gr. pumkin, peeled and cut in small cubes
600 gr. peas
3 onions, cut in small pieces
50 gr matsaman curry paste
3 tbsp vegetable oil
750 ml coconut milk
1 tbsp tamarind paste
brown sugar to taste
Thai fish sauce to taste
coriander and spring onions to sprinkle on top (optional)

Wash and shell the peas (if you are using canned or frozen peas, use less, around 450 gr). Stir the curry paste and vegetable oil on medium heat for a few minutes, until the paste starts to dissolve. Add the meat, increase the heat and cook stirring until the outside of the meat pieces is brown. Add the onion and stir-cook for a minute. Pour the coconut milk, bring to cook, and cook at low heat until the meat pieces become soft. Add tamarind paste, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon fish sauce and the pumpkin pieces. After a few minutes, add the peas. Cook until the peas and pumpkin are soft. Taste before taking off the heat and add fish sauce and brown sugar if needed (if it's too hot you can add a little extra sugar and if you like it saltier add a little fish sauce). Sprinkle with coriander and spring onion pieces, and serve with steamed jasmin rice.

noreply@blogger.com (Nur) — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 22:18:00 +0000

Before everyone starts to think we are only eating desserts over here, let me explain: quince dessert one of my favorites and now is again that happy time of the year when you can get them in the shops. So last weekend I paid a visit to the local Turkish shop to buy quinces (as well as other favorite autumn things such as chestnuts) and here's the result. Simple but delicious...

Quince Dessert (Ayva Tatlisi)

1 kg quinces
300 gr sugar
150 ml water

1. Peel the quinces and divide in half or quarters. Cut out the cores. Arrange in a shallow saucepan. Take out 7-8 quince seeds out of the cores and sprinkle over the quinces. These will help give the quinces a golden color and also make the syrup a little thicker.
2. Sprinkle the sugar over and add the water.
3. Bring to boil and cook over low heat until the quinces are tender.
4. When cooled put in the fridge.
5. Serve cold with kaymak or mascarpone.... and enjoy!

For non-Turks: kaymak is a very thick cream served mostly with desserts in Turkey. The closest I find here is mascarpone, which also fits very well with other, dough-based Turkish desserts.

P.S. When this dessert was finished, I was left with some syrup which I didn't want to throw away. So I cooked it with the quince seeds still in it, and it became this delicious jam-like thing you see in the picture below. The pectine in the seeds makes it thick, but not too jelly-like. We really liked the taste as well as the color, so I'm planning to make the quince dessert with more syrup from now on ;-)

noreply@blogger.com (Nur) — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 03:05:00 +0000

Is pasta a student's best friend in the kitchen? Definitely! No offense for the yummy macaroni & cheese Kraft Dinner, but you gotta get a little more creative sometimes. Here's my humble creation:

What you need:

750 gr lean ground beef or an equal amount of veggie ground beef alternative
2 long celery stalks (makes about 1.5 cups chopped)
1 medium onion
1 carrot
1 red bell pepper
400 gr white mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic
Tomato paste
Salt, pepper, basil, thyme, parsley flakes

How to:

Put the ground beef, chopped onions, chooped celery stalks and chopped carrots in a large cooking pan. Cook on medium heat for about 5-6 mins, add the chopped red pepper. Put the lid on and cook untill all the ingredients are softened (but still not completely soft), finally add chopped mushrooms and pressed (or minced) garlic, mix in tomato paste (I like it with lots of tomato paste!), salt and pepper to taste, some parsley flakes, thyme and lots of basil. Cook covered for another 5 to 10 minutes after mixing in the mushrooms. If you use a veggie alternative instead of ground beef (which is the case in the picture), you need to start with some vegetable oil in the pan, cook all the vegetables as above and add the beef alternative together with the mushrooms. Yummy when you sprinkle with some parmesan cheese when serving...

Posted by: Elif

noreply@blogger.com (Nur) — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 14:14:00 +0000

Speaking of of chocolate cake....

Yesterday was my birthday, so I took the opportunity to try out two cake ideas I had. One was trying my favorite simple white layered cake recipe with raspberries and a nice decoration. The other was to try my favorite chocolate cake with some orange juice, orange peel and a large amount of Cointreau thus to yield a chocolate cake infused with some intense orange aroma. Furthermore, I wanted to combine this with a thin, very dark and bright chocolate icing. I'm giving the recipes below exactly as I made them. The original recipes are from an old, well-known Turkish cookbook called Bereketli Olsun, probably the book most young people take with them when they leave home, because so many recipes our mothers make come from this book. The pictures could have been way better, the one above is the one I made this morning. The ones of yesterday are quite blurry, that's what happens when you start making photos after a few glasses of wine!!!

Raspberry Layer Cake

6 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup + 2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp lemon juice
lemon peel
vanilla sugar
round cake mold of 26cm diameter

Butter the cake mold (I line it first with parchment paper). Heat the oven to 185 degrees. Pass the flour through a thin sieve and set is aside (you can use the special sieves sold for this purpose but I just use a regular all-purpose one). Beat the sugar and the eggs until the mixture is very thick and quite white (around 10 minutes at highest speed of the mixer). Add lemon peel, lemon juice and vanilla sugar and mix shortly. Then take a wooden spoon and stir the flour through the cake with swift upward movements. The idea is not to make the cake be pressed too much, losing all the air we just pumped into it while mixing. This is quite important for the rising ot the case, especially if you live somewhere close to sea level like me, you have to be even more careful. As soon as all the flour has been stirred into the cake mixture, pour the mixture into the mold and bake in the oven. The total baking time takes around half hour. Try not to open the oven in the first 20 minutes, as this can stop the cake rising. Also, it is useful to give the heat only from the bottom for the first 5-10 minutes. After around 25 minutes, check the cake by inserting a knife in the middle. If the knife comes out clean, the cake is ready.

Let the cake stand for a few minutes, then take it out of the mold and let it steam out, preferably on a cake cooling rack (still have to buy one of those!).

For the filling:

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 tbsp flour
1 lt milk
vanilla sugar
100 gr butter
1 kg raspberries (set a bunch aside for decorating)
1 cup water-sugar mixture to wet the cake

Mix eggs, sugar and flour in a steel pan, until the mix becomes homogeneous. Add the milk slowly and stir. Cook stirring continuously, until short after the mixture begins to boil. Turn off the heat, stir in the butter and the vanilla sugar. Let it cool down stirring regularly.

To assemble the cake, set aside less than half of the cream and mix it with the raspberries, crushing the berries slightly. I used frozen and thawed raspberries so they were already slightly mushy. Cut the cake horizontally in two, take the first layer and wet it with water-sugar mixture. Spread the raspberry cream on it and put the second layer. Similarly, wet this layer too and spread the rest of the cream over the cake. What I did is also mix a few raspberries into this cream, it got a very nice pink color but I noticed afterwards that it was too light. And the taste was not really affected. Next time I'd mix the raspberries with all the cream - it's much simpler and the color would be better too.

To decorate the cake, I put a thin pink gelatine layer on top and decorated with sugar pearls. I put some raspberries on top too. In fact I tried to make the gelatine layer with rasberry juice but it just wouldn't get hard, I think raspberries are similar to kiwi's and bananas: they don't get jelly because of some mysterious chemical reason. I should look this up sometime.

We drank a Montbazillac 2003 dessert wine with this cake, as adviced by the wine shop, but I did not find it a very good match: the wine was much sweeter than the cake itself and less fragrant than I expected (there was supposed to be some raspberry aromas but I smelled only citrus). Next time we'll try another wine.

Chocolate Layer Cake
- with orange peel infuse

6 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
2-3 tbsp cacao powder
1 tbsp orange juice
orange peel
vanilla sugar
round cake mold of 26cm diameter

In fact this is the same sponge cake as the above, except for the cacao and extra sugar (needed because of the cacao). Prepare the cake in the same way as above recipe, treat the cacao power similar to flour.

Chocolate filling:

1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp flour
1/2 lt milk
vanilla sugar
3 tbsp cacao powder
50 gr butter
1/2 cup Cointreau

Again, this filling is similar to the one of the raspberry cake but you wouldn't know it when you eat the cake. The preparation is similar, just add the cacao powder at the same time as the flour.

When both the cake and the filling are ready, assemble the cake in two layers. Dilute the Cointreau with same amount of water (or you could use orange juice - I used water). If you want a really wet cake you can even add more, you'll be surprised how good this cake absorbs the liquid. With the amount I give here it is not really wet but slightly moist, the way I like it. Spread all of the filling between the two layers, because the dark bright chocolate icing will come on top!!!

Dark bright chocolate icing

50 gr very dark chocolate (I used Lindt's 99%)
50 gr butter
50 gr milk
1 tbsp powder sugar
2 sheets of gelatine

Let the gelatine soften in some water (room temperature). Heat the milk together with the butter and the sugar. Turn off the fire and add the choclate in small pieces. Stir until the chocolate is dissolved and everything is one homogeneous mass. Take the gelatine out of the water, squeeze the water out and add to the chocolate mixture. Stir until the gelatine is dissolved. Let the icing cool down a few minutes, but not too long because it should still be fluid when we use it. When it is ready, pour over the cake starting from the middle. You can leave it like that or decorate with orange peel.

noreply@blogger.com (Nur) — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 16:23:00 +0000

Hey all people who take taste buds seriously!

We just decided to start this blog to share our super-serious ideas, pictures and stories with all those for whom the word "kitchen" lies just a step away from the word "hedonism" in the cognitive associative network (or whatever other cool names the cognitive psychologists give to that nowadays). So share with us your recipes, dining experiences, ideas and all the secret pleasures that reside in the darkest corners of your mind (mmmmmmm, chocolate cake).

ENJOY! :)