Pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting

November is Movember month for men and is Pumpkin month for Laura. I really like pumpkin in all its forms and shapes, whether as cake, pie, soup, purée, muffin etc, and that started when I used to live in the US. I chose a nice big "Cucurbita moschata" pumpkin (musquée de Provence), made a purée out of it, and then used it to bake a wonderful pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting.

This cake is made in a Bundt cake form and is extremely easy to execute. Once you have your stock of pumpkin purée, it takes 10 min to mix and prepare the batter. Then you need to wait 1h30 or so for the cake to bake and to cool down, and then another 10 min for the frosting. Try it now, it's the perfect season and great as afternoon snack with coffee or tea. Enjoy :-D

Recipe for a big pumpkin cake
(divide all amounts by 2 for a 25 cm-long cake)

2 dl brown sugar
2 dl white sugar
2.4 dl fat (oil or melted butter)*
5 dl pumpkin purée**
4 eggs

Mix fat, sugar, and pumpkin. Add eggs one by one while beating.
* I do half colza oil half melted butter, for something more moist use only oil and for something more dry use only butter.

4.8 dl flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2-3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add to wet mix while beating. Pour batter into a floured + buttered Bundt cake shape. Bake in the oven 50-55 min at 180 C. Unmold the cake and let it cool down.

Cream cheese frosting

113 g cream cheese
60 g (4 tbsp) butter at room T
4.8 dl powder sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
some milk
pecan nuts or walnuts

Beat up cream cheese and butter together. Add powder sugar + cinnamon and beat. Add a few drops of milk to make the mix more fluid if necessary. Spread the frosting on top of the cake and decorate with some walnuts or pecan nuts.

**Pumpkin purée

Cut + clean a pumpkin (remove the seeds). Bake in the oven on parchment paper with a little bit of oil until soft (approximately 1 hour at 180 C. Peel off the skin, mix the pumpkin in a bowl without adding anything. Et voila! A great base for cakes and soups.

La tarte Tatin

Many years ago when I was at Yale, I was taught how to make tarte Tatin (an upside-down caramelized apple tart). It was a quick and easy approximate recipe which I clearly never was able to reproduce. So I went on to try different recipes to get the same result but was never quite satisfied. Until last week! The major issue was the caramel: it has to be really well done, dark enough to get nicely caramelized apples but not overcooked either unless your apples become bitter and ruin your tart.

The choice of apples is debatable but I would go for hard apples that do not give rise to a compote when cooked, so either granny smith or greenish golden apples. Also you need a nice tarte Tatin form that can go both on a hot plate and in the oven (avoid spring forms as caramel can easily leak out from edges). I hope you enjoy this recipe, it is one of my favorites, and I would say this tarte Tatin is even better than the one I was taught to make :-)

Recipe for the tarte Tatin (28 cm)

Shortcrust dough:
240 g flour
salt
sugar
137 g butter
1 dl cold water

Mix flour, sugar, salt. Cut cold butter in pieces, add to flour and mix with your fingers to make crumbs. Add cold water and mix fast with a wooden spoon. Make the dough, cover and refrigerate it 30 min.

12-15 apples
(I have tried and liked Gala and Pink Lady apples, Boscoop apples are not good here but rather for compote, and Granny Smith apples are too hard and sour)

Peel apples and cut them in 2 (in quarters if you prefer).

Caramel:
150 g butter
300 g sugar

Place sugar and pieces of butter in a Tatin form. Place the form on a warm plate and let sugar and butter melt on medium/high heat (3-4/6). Mix with a wooden spoon until obtaining caramel: remove the form from the heat source when you are happy with the color. Note: it will go from light yellow when melting to amber color when sugar fuses, to light brown when the caramel starts forming: then it only gets darker with time. I like a real brown color such that apples will have that color once baked (but if you let your caramel darken too much it will become bitter).

Place apples really tight together (vertically) on the caramel in the Tatin form (and fill possible holes in between apples with more apples because when they bake apples shrink and you don't want random empty spaces in your tart). Put the form back on the fire and let apples bake and get impregnated with the caramel for 7-8min on high heat (5-6/6). Put aside and sprinkle the apples with some cinnamon.

Roll out the dough on a floured table (approx 4 mm thick) and transfer onto the Tatin form on top of the apples. Fold in the edges of the dough such that it does not go on the form itself. Bake in the oven 35 min at 180-200 C. Flip the tart over when still warm (else the apples will stick to the form).

Serve lukewarm as is or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, I think it is even better :-D Enjoy!!!

Linzer Torte

The other day I made some shortbread biscuits with different jams and my friend said "Ah you made a Linzer Torte?". No I did not but after her question I realized I like that cake and never tried to make it before. Also, given that the dough contains hazelnut, I thought I might prefer it over plain shortbread.

So I went ahead and made a Linzer Torte, an Austrian cake also known as the oldest known cake in the world! It's composed of crumbly hazelnut short pastry, filled with raspberry or redcurrant jam, and then decorated with criss-crossed short pastry strips. It is relatively easy to make but takes a bit of time because the dough has to sit in the fridge 30 min and baking is approximately 40 min.

Linzer Torte Recipe:

Dough:
150 g butter, room T
150 g sugar
1 pinch of salt
1 egg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch of cloves
zest of 1/2 lemon
150 g flour
150 g ground hazelnuts

Filling:
200 g raspberry or redcurrant jam*
1 beaten egg
some extra flour (4-5 tbsp)

In a bowl beat up butter. Add sugar and salt and mix. Add the egg, spices, and lemon zest and beat up. Add pre-mixed flour and hazelnuts and mix together into a dough (sticky). Cover and leave in the fridge for at least 30 min.

Weigh your refrigerated dough and prepare a springform

Transfer a bit over 1/3 of the dough onto the base of the form

Roll out the dough directly on the base of the springform

The dough covers the whole base of the springform

Put back the edge of the springform

Take another 1/3 of the dough and add 1-2 tbsp flour

Roll out dough by hand to make two sticks

Transfer dough sticks to form edge of the cake

Flatten the dough edge a bit with a fork

Fill the space between the base and the edge with raspberry jam

Take last 1/3 of dough and add 1-2 tbsp flour

Roll it out onto a heavily floured table and cut out 2cm-wide stripes

Transfer stripes to cake (make them a bit long and then cut the extra dough with scissors)

Transfer 2nd layer of stripes making a lattice (diamond-shaped holes)

Paint the dough with a beaten egg

The baked Linzer Torte has a nice golden color

 
Weigh your dough (it should be around 670 g) and prepare a 22 cmspringform (greased and floured). Roll out a bit more than 1/3 of the dough (230 g or so) onto the base of the springform and then put the edge of the springform back on.
Take another 1/3 of the dough and add 1-2 tbsp flour to make it less sticky. Roll it out into 2 thin sticks to make the edge of the cake all around. Flatten it nicely and regularly with a fork (not too flat because it is the edge of the cake).
Fill the space between the dough base and the edge with raspberry jam.
Take the last 1/3 of the dough, add 1-2 tbsp flour to it and roll it out on a (very) floured table. Cut out 2 cm wide strips and decorate the cake with them making a lattice design (diamond shaped holes):
- You can use a wide knife to help transfer the stripes
- Make the stripes a bit longer than needed and then cut the extra dough with scissors
- Start with a middle stripe and then add a stripe to the right and one to the left; repeat for the stripes on top
Paint the cake (dough) with a beaten egg.
Bake in the oven 40 min at 180 C.
Serve lukewarm or cold as dessert or with coffee or tea in the afternoon. Enjoy!

*You can use another red fruit jam if you prefer
**If you have dough leftover use it for a mini-Linzer torte :-)

mini-Linzer Torte in a mini-cocotte

References: 
Betti Bossy http://www.bettybossi.ch/fr/Rezepte/ShowRezept/BB_BBZI111015_0029A-40-fr?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Swissmilk http://www.swissmilk.ch/fr/recettes/LM201003_14/tourte-de-linz.html?qd=1&qt=tourte%20linz&nr=1

Caramelized upside-down pear cake

One weekend not so long ago I was invited to my friend's house in the South of France. Upon our arrival, we were greeted with a wonderful soft pear cake,  called "fondant aux poires" for it was melting in the mouth. Pears are caramelized in a tatin tart form then the dough is added and the cake baked. After baking, the cake is flipped and appears caramelized all over. So good!

Recipe for a 28cm cake form (in parentheses for a 24-25cm form)

225 g flour (180)
5 eggs (4)
250 g + 63 g butter (200 + 50)
250 g + 63 g sugar (200 + 50)
1 pack baking powder
2 packs vanilla sugar
1 kg canned pears

In a cake form (not a spring form, rather one for tatin tarts) put 63 g butter and 63 g sugar. Turn the heat on and let it caramelize a bit while stirring continuously. Remove the juice from the pears and add the pear halves upside-down (the inside up).
Melt 250 g butter and in a bowl add together with all other ingredients. Mix and pour on the pears in the form. Bake at 180 C 30 min in the middle of the oven, then 15 min in the lower part of the oven. Let the cake cool down for a few min and then flip it upside down onto a plate. Et voila!

Plum tart for Jeûne Fédéral

Two weeks ago was the Jeûne Fédéral in Switzerland and according to the tradition a plum tart should be the only food for lunch that day. Since I had a day off I decided to make a plum tart two ways: one tart with fruits only and one with a cream-egg filling on top of the fruits. Both were very good, but my favorite is the plain fruit tart, which is also much more appealing to the eye I find.

Recipe for a big plum tart (~26 cm)

Pâte brisée (shortcrust dough):
220 g flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
120 g cold butter
1 dl cold water

1 kg plums
5 tbsp ground hazelnuts (or almonds if you prefer)

Mix salt, sugar, flour in a bowl. Add butter and mix with your hands to make crumbs. Add water and mix rapidly with a wooden spoon. Refrigerate the dough under cover for at least 30 min.

Clean the plums and cut them in four quarters. Prepare a tart form by buttering and flouring it. Roll out the dough on a floured table and transfer to the tart form. Prick it with a fork. Cover the dough with ground hazelnuts. Place plum quarters tightly next to each other and sprinkle them with sugar. Bake in the oven 30-40 min at 200 C.
Enjoy it lukewarm and serve it with some whipped cream!


Small plum tart with filling (~18 cm)

Filling:
1 egg
1 dl cream
1 tbsp sugar

Half all the ingredients and follow the recipe above. After placing the plums on the tart, mix egg, cream, and sugar, and pour on the fruits. Bake as described above.

Prinsesstårta for my birthday

Today is my birthday so I made myself a Prinsesstårta (Princess cake in Swedish) :-D

The Princess Cake contains multiple layers of sponge cake, raspberry jam, vanilla cream, whipped cream, and marzipan. It is usually green (the marzipan) and decorated with powder sugar. This cake is the traditional birthday cake in Sweden and is also eaten at other celebrations, such as weddings, in which case the marzipan is white.

I thought it would be difficult to make but it was ok. The only tricky part is cutting the sponge cake in 3 layers. I prepared it last night so it would have time to cool down in the fridge until the next morning. It takes a bit of time because both the cake and the vanilla cream have to cool down before use so plan 3 hours. I bought already-made green marzipan but you can do it yourself, I'm sure it's better and less sweet.

Try it and impress someone you love for their birthday!

Recipe of the Princess Cake (Prinsesstårta)

Spongecake:

3 eggs
3 dl sugar
1 dl warm water
3 dl flour
1.5 tsp baking powder

Mix eggs and sugar until white. Add the warm water at the end while beating. Add flour and baking powder (mixed together). Transfer the dough into a buttered and floured springform. Bake in the middle of the oven 30 min at 175C. Allow the cake to cool down.

Vanilla cream:

2 dl milk
1 dl cream
2 eggyolks
1 tbsp sugar
1.5 tbsp maizena
1 vanilla pod (seeds)

Heat up milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla seeds in a saucepan until it boils, then turn the heat off. Add eggyolks and maizena, whisk until the cream thickens (on the warm plate). Filter the cream through a sieve and let the cream cool down. Then incorporate half of the whipped cream (below) into the vanilla cream and carefully mix.

Filling and decoration:

5 dl cream, whipped up
raspberry jam
round sheet of green marzipan
powder sugar
marzipan rose and petals

Layering:

Cut the sponge cake in 3 layers. As bottom, use an end with the baked side up. Spread raspberry jam on it and then one half of the vanilla cream on top. Repeat the 3 layers (again with a baked end of the cake upwards so the jam and cream don't soak into the cake too much). Finish with the 3rd layer (middle part of the sponge cake).  Spread the whipped cream on top, trying to make it rounded, and cover the sides of the cake with cream as well. Carefully cover the cake with the sheet of marzipan and make small incisions on the sides of the marzipan to adjust it to the cake. Decorate the cake with some powder sugar and marzipan flowers. Et voilà, the Princess Cake is done!

References: http://www.odense-marcipan.se/inspiration/recept/festligt/373-princesstarta
http://recept.se/artiklar/hur-man-gor-prinsesstarta
http://www.recept.nu/Pages/RecipePrintPage.aspx?printPageId=66538#

Blueberry muffins

Someone very special to me asked me to bake blueberry muffins. So here was my next project! How hard can it be? Some dough and some blueberries? Well it turned out to be more challenging than initially thought. I tried many different recipes, which I found either too dry, too light, too eggy, or without enough blueberries. In the end I came up with my own recipe which is a compilation and adaptation of a few recipes (referenced below).

These blueberry muffins take 10 min to prepare and 20 more min in the oven to bake. They're soft and moist, and have lots and lots of blueberries. The crumble on top adds some crispiness to the muffins and I think they're very good! You could easily replace the blueberries with other berries, such as raspberries, currants, or cherries.
Try the recipe, taste them and let me know what you think :-D

Recipe for blueberry muffins (12-14 p)

500 g blueberries (of which 80-100 g crushed)

Dough:

320 g flour
3 tsp baking powder
150 g sugar
2 tsp vanillin sugar
2.6 dl cream (35%)
70 ml canola oil
2 eggs

Crumble:

20 g butter
2.5 tbsp flour
4 tbsp brown sugar
some cinnamon

Mix all ingredients for the crumble by hand and reserve in the fridge. For the dough, mix all dry ingredients in a bowl and mix all wet ingredients in another bowl. Mix both wet and dry ingredients with a fork just enough to be roughly mixed and add the crushed blueberries. Fill muffin forms halfway. Add half of the blueberries. Add the remaining dough to the form and then the remaining blueberries (press them in). Sprinkle the crumble on top and bake 20 min at 200 C.

References: http://lescafesdudelice.canalblog.com/archives/2009/11/29/15973899.html
http://www.paperblog.fr/930964/seduite-par-bob-le-meilleur-muffin-a-la-myrtille/
http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/2868/Jordan-Marshs-Blueberry-Muffins.html