Pear Cornmeal Pound Cake

We all have a caring, loving and probably sometimes a little crazy mother. I do really love and appreciate mine, but there are times where I just could smile at and hug her because nobody else, or maybe in this case some, would do things like that.
Ok, let me tell you: It was on a nice Sunday and I had bought ingredients for a pretty extravagant and long lasting baking afternoon, including one single cake. I started baking, messing up and mistaking but after some really nice hours in our kitchen I had created a monstrously tasting and looking mix-every-sweet-treat-you-love together cake. It was a little too much mixing in the end, so this recipe won't end up on this blog.
While waiting for that first cake to thicken and to chill, my mother came every ten minutes into the kitchen and asked wether it is already time eating my Sunday afternoon activity. Sadly I had to tell her that she probably would have to wait until the next day, because the thickening process took way longer than expected.

The next thing I heard was a desperately sounding voice reaching my ears: "I was looking forward to your cake the whole day. I even kept myself from making one today. If I can't try this one today you will actually see me stealing a piece."

What was I supposed to do after those words? It was absolutely impossible for me to ruin the cake by eating it at this moment in this undone state. So the only possibility to make my mom happy again, was baking another cake. The only problem: It was Sunday night, we didn't have that many more ingredients for an emergency cake at home and I still had school work to do. There simply was no way leading around baking a second cake. So I searched the pantry for edible contents and came up with a simple but delicious pear cornmeal pound cake.
It was actually that good, I brought a second one into class a couple of days later.

Pear Cornmeal Pound Cake

serves 1 9x5-inch loaf

Ingredients:
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cornmeal (90g)
1 cup all-purpose flour (130g)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened (110g)
1/2 cup granulated sugar plus 2 teaspoons, divided (100g)
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup yogurt (120g)
2 ripe pears, chopped


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom and sides of one 9 x 5-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out excess.
In a medium bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and 1 cup of sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time until just incorporated. Add the vanilla and yogurt; beat at medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl as needed. Fold in 1 1/2 pears.
Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth surface with a spatula. Slice the remaining half pear into ¼-inch-thick slices. Place pear slices straight down the center of the loaf. Sprinkle loaf with remaining 2 teaspoons of granulated sugar.
Bake in preheated oven 55-60 minutes until golden brown or toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool bread in pan on wire rack 15 minutes, then remove loaf from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

Adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

Basel, Switzerland

What do you think of when someone tells you about Switzerland?
I am sure chocolate, cheese and the Alps are in your list. But honestly, Switzerland is so much more. I have visited Basel for a couple of days recently and I love it.
Now, that I finally uploaded all my pictures I want to share some special Swiss food with you:

1. Gilgen Bakery

This is one of the smallest and cutes bakeries I have ever seen. But it is fascinating how many cakes and pastries the little shop holds. There is no way of passing the store without noticing, which they made sure of with leaving the door open and letting the fragrance fill the whole street.

Once you are in there you can get any traditional pastry you would like. From plum pies to Linzertortes and Crumb cakes. And the ladies working there will take it right from the display window, because everything is made that same day.

2. Book presentation and vegan buffet

During my stay I also went to a presentation about a book, containing drawings and poems. The author is a Swiss environmental activist, walks around the whole world and makes people aware of reusable energy and sustainability. The past year he started drawing and writing poems to each of his pictures. Because of his various trips he knows a lot of people from all different parts of the world and I was meeting people from Europe, America and Africa. It was great.

After he talked about his book and how it came to become a book, there was a buffet set up with a lot of vegan crackers, fruits, sandwiches and at least eight cakes. The crackers were garnished with different vegetable or nut spreads and really good. I could have eating the whole buffet, if there weren't other guests. He made everything himself the same day and the decorating was with the best fall ornaments and flowers you can think of. So this definitely was a great event to go to. 

3. Typical Swiss dessert (Vermicell) 

There is this one dessert, which I could eat every day. Since I have been a little girl this is on my top ranked dessert list. I have to admit not everyone likes it, it is made of chestnuts and comes with whipped cream. Until now they are only sold in Switzerland so this is the must have when I visit. Translated into English means Vermicelles little worms. And you can imagine as a little girl I was thrilled about saying: "Look mom, I am eating worms!" 

4. Mövenpick ice cream

Probably the most famous ice cream is Mövenpick. They don't only have ice cream places and restaurants, they also have first class hotels. But I am sure everything they do is first class. Sadly it was raining a whole day, so I found an open door at the Mövenpick restaurant. It was packed! I really had a hard time finding a free table. Finally there was a nice waitress showing me a free table with the ice cream menu right in the middle. How did they know? So I looked through the noble book and found the one ice cream made for me: Caramelita. One scoop Caramel and one scoop Maple Walnut, garnished with whipped cream, caramelized nuts and caramel sauce. 

 

5. Tibits - A vegetarian restaurant

Vegetarian restaurants are becoming more and more popular. I don't exactly know why. Maybe it's because people want to eat healthy or there are just more vegetarians those days. Or simply because there are so many delicious things you can choose from. Tibits is a place where this is the case! 

 

You take a tray and a plate in the beginning, you go around the buffet once, twice, maybe three times until you start putting food on your plate because you can't decide on which looks the best and is absolutely worth taking and then you look for a nice table and enjoy. 

This is my perfect plate

I obviously liked it a lot ;)

Fudgy Chocolate Tarts

Just look at those creamy tartlets. Their richness can't be topped by any other chocolate dessert. I mean, this is consisting of almost pure chocolate and six other ingredients.
Those nutritious little sweets are raw and gluten free. But honestly, you won't think of that when you only take one bite. Because after one single bite you think there is nothing more exciting in this world. The combination between the chocolate and the faint tasting of the maple syrup in both the crust and the filling is making this dessert a little mysteriously.

I made those goodies for my friend's birthday and it took me a long long time, until I got the notification of them being all gone. And normally this is not something I have to wait for long.

I secretly stole a tartlet from her pile to taste - come on, I don't want to give her something tasting bad- so I can say for sure, it takes a couple of starts to finish it.
But as filling they may be, it is almost a magical moment when this moist chocolate filling arrives your mouth and tongue. All the melted chocolate moments of your life combine in this one single spoon. And it is worth it.


Fugdy Chocolate Tarts
(Serves 4-3" tarts or 18 small tartlets)

Ingredients:

Crust

1 1/2 cups almond meal (finely ground)
 (145g)
6 tablespoons dark cocoa powder (such as green and blacks)

3 tablespoons maple syrup

3 tablespoons coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Filling
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (230g)
3/4 cups heavy cream (170g)
1/3 cup maple syrup (110g)

Directions:

Pour all of crust ingredients into the bowl of a food processor.
Process until all ingredients are blended.
Divide crust into four servings and press crust in the bottom and up sides of oiled tartelette pans.
For the filling place the chocolate in a bowl of a stand mixer (the bowl must be heatproof!); set aside.
Whisk together the cream and hones and bring to a boil over medium heat.
Pour the cream mixture over the reserved chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Refrigerate uncovered, stirring occasionally, until cooled to room temperature, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Place the bowl on a stand mixer and fit the mixer with a paddle attachment. Beat on high speed until the chocolate mixture is lighter in color and fluffy in texture, about 1 minute. Immediately pour into tarts, the whipped fudge filling will harden and be difficult to spread as it sits.

Adapted from Deliciously Organic

Cappuccino Muffins

I don't like Cappuccino, nor Espresso, nor Latte Macchiato... Simply I don't like coffee.
Now you are wondering why in the world is she making Cappuccino Muffins then? I'll tell you why: there are other people who desperately reach for any type of coffee. I am sure you know at least one person of that kind. Those people feel the deep desire of coffee as soon as they get up and it won't stop until there is almost as much coffee as blood in their veins.

The person I can contribute the the coffee-addicts is my mother. And she is the one I made those muffins for.
Somehow she became my dose of coffee-love. There is no other explanation why there is absolutely no sympathy between coffee and my taste buds.

Back to the muffins, they are not only consisting of coffee but also of little chocolate chips, who cooperate so well with the coffee taste (as I was told). Of course I tried half a muffin so I can one more time say that there won't be a deep friendship between the coffee and me. But the chocolate chips were good.
At least my mom loved every single muffin and if this is possible she bonded even more with the coffee.


Cappuccino Muffins
(Makes 12 medium sized muffins)

Ingredients:

Muffins
2 cups flour (190g)
2 tablespoons baking powder
3/4 cup caster sugar (170g)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 cup milk (240g)
2 tablespoons instant coffee powder
1/2 cup butter (110g)
1 egg
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (100g)

Cappuccino Topping

6-8 oz mascarpone cheese (230g)
1 tablespoon caster sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon instant coffee powder
¼ cup hazelnut brittle (50g)

Directions:

Preheat the oven onto 375º F / 180ºC.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan and leave to cool. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder and sugar.
Crack the egg into a medium sized bowl and add the milk and coffee granules and stir until the coffee is dissolved. Pour this coffee mixture onto the flour/sugar and add the melted butter.
Stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. Fill the muffin cases with the mixture, do not over-fill, about 2/3 full.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until springy to the touch. Cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before putting the muffins onto a wire rack to cool.
For the topping: In a medium bowl, mix the mascarpone cheese, vanilla sugar and coffee powder together until blended. I just use a spoon to mix.
Spread onto muffins and sprinkle with the brittle.

Adapted from Cherrapeno

Raspberry Vanilla Coffee Cake

I love Coffee Cakes. They are so deliciously, crumbly and yet so easy to make. In my opinion you can eat Coffee Cakes every time of the day. It's not too sweet for breakfast (maybe I am the only person with this thought). As a dessert for lunch and dinner not too heavy. And of course for coffee - and - cake - time is this cake simply created for.
As a Coffee Cake lover I can't just bake a plain Coffee Cake  every time I feel like eating one. Then I start thinking about the perfect recipe. But I have to admit I am really lazy sometimes and don't want to be too creative in the kitchen. That doesn't mean the decorating and picture taking part. Just the thinking one. There is always so much to think of and the hardest point in life: decision making. Everything you do involves a decision, have you ever thought of that?

Anyways, enough about decisions, although there was the one of picking a recipe today...
But I managed this task in my life :)
And this cake even is a perfect breakfast treat. It has this super moist texture and is definitely not too sweet for a comfy weekend breakfast.

Raspberry Vanilla Coffee Cake
(makes 10 slices)

Ingredients:


1 cup milk of choice (240g)
1/2 cup vanilla-flavored yogurt (such as Wholesoy or Silk) (115g)
1 tbsp ground flax (5g)
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (6g)
3 tbsp coconut or veg oil (30g)
2 cups spelt flour, all-purpose, or Bob’s gf (250g)
2/3 cups xylitol or sugar (or sucanat) (130g)
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/16 tsp pure stevia, or 2 extra tbsp sugar (or 2 NuNaturals packets)
1 2/3 cups raspberries (230g)
1/3 cup more raspberries (50g)
optional: chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F, and grease a 9 1/2-in spring-form pan. Combine first 5 ingredients and whisk. Set aside.
In a separate, large measuring bowl, combine all remaining ingredients except the final 1/3 cup raspberries, and stir well.
Pour wet into dry and stir until evenly combined (don’t overmix).
Pour into the prepared pan, then sprinkle the remaining berries on top.
Bake 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out relatively clean.
Cool the raspberry coffee cake in the pan on a wire rack, 15 minutes, then remove the sides of the pan.
Adapted from chocolate-covered Katie

The Amalfi Coast

Well, I finally uploaded all my pictures from my trip to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. It was so much fun finally being in a hundred degree area and sweating, while visiting old ruins and houses. But I didn't mind the sun and the weather at all, that's totally me, enjoying the heat and the warm sun rays on my arms. The cold is simply my biggest enemy. 

The first night we took our own little tour around Sorrento and I found this café filled up to the ceiling with all kinds of pastry. And not the healthy types of desserts, but just too yummy to ignore it. 
I guess, I took like a billion pictures and I was the typical tourist the waiters loved to make fun of. But who cares, it just looked amazing!

Spending a week in Italy you are forced to eat ice cream as often as you pass an ice cream store. I almost had more ice cream than other food. Especially when I discovered this spinning ice cream wheel. It was almost like a tiny carousel only made for delicious ice cream varieties. 

On our last night we went out for a really fancy dinner to a restaurant offering homemade pasta with Ricotta cheese and tomato sauce. The sauce still had tomato chunks mixed in and we could taste the freshness (if this is possible). 

For dessert we ordered Profiteroles. Completely dipped in hot chocolate with whipped cream. The filling inside was so moist and the pastry so fluffy: It was the perfect end for our trip.