Chocolate Cherry Sorbet with Cherry Compote

I know I’m overdue to write a new post for my blog. I have many excuses why it has taken me so long: the California wildfires, an unexpected medical diagnosis, as well as my friends, house, and garden all needing attention. What it really boils down to is major procrastination. It’s not that I haven’t anything to post, as I have cooked many meals in my partially remodeled kitchen. I love my new countertops, my new sink, and my pull-out drawers.

I made some delicious beef short ribs with cauliflower gratin for a friend who just moved back into her house after evacuating from the Bonny Doon wildfire. The fire had burned her fence and woodpile, but left her house intact. She had hitched her horse trailer in the middle of the night to save her horse and donkey. I had several other friends who had to evacuate, but luckily nobody lost their homes.

So, let’s get back to my kitchen and cooking. I made different recipes with zucchinis and yellow squash from my garden. My favorites are zucchini cakes and zucchini carpaccio. The recipe for the cakes are here and the carpaccio is easy to make. Slice a small yellow squash with a mandoline, put them on a plate, sprinkle some raspberry vinegar and good olive oil over the squash. Put it on a bed of lettuce if you like. Season with coarse salt, pepper, and some fresh thyme and you have a great salad. Now you can add whatever you want.

For my book club dinner, I went all out. I served my over-the-top crepes filled with salmon and fennel. It was delicious and everybody enjoyed the alfresco dining on my outdoor deck. It was a gorgeous evening and we didn’t talk a lot about books. We just enjoyed each other’s company, one of those rare treats in these times of COVID. There were only five of us, which made it easier to keep the 6-foot distance.

For dessert, I decided to make a French apple cake by Dorie Greenspan from her book Around My French Table. David Lebovitz adopted and posted the recipe on his blog, which I really enjoy reading. He now lives in Paris but used to be the baker for Chez Panisse in Berkley. It's a delicious and easy-to-make recipe. I have made it several times and everybody sees to enjoy it. Please do not omit the rum in this recipe, as it what really makes the cake. Because I didn’t have any rum, I used some of the liquid from my Rumtopf (fruit preserved in rum). In my humble opinion, this cake needs to be served with some whipped cream.
Click here for the recipe

Of course, there is always my German Apple cake which I have baked for decades.
Click here for the recipe.

You may also like my apple strudel cake, another favorite of mine.
Click here for the recipe.

Do not omit the rum, as it adds richness and flavor to the cake. But if you do not want to bake with alcohol, double the amount of vanilla. Epicurious is posting the same recipe calling it Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake. There are many helpful comments on the post like substituting calvados for rum. I am going to stick with the rum but it would be interesting to find out. This is a beginners cake, so anyone can bake it and it is done in no time—perfect for the home cook. It is important to use a variety of apples for flavor and taste. I like playing with recipes, so I added my own twist. I used the apple peels to make a thick syrup that I added to the cake after it was baked, which is totally optional.

Recipe for French Apple cake

Ingredients:

A 9-inch Cake pan with a removable bottom.

3/4 cup (110g) flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
4 large different kind of apples (4-5 cups)
2 large eggs at room temperature
3/4 cup (150g) sugar
3 TBS dark rum
½ tsp vanilla extract
8 TBS (115g) butter, melted, then cooled
1 TBS lemon juice

Apple Syrup (optional)

peels from the apples
¼ cup sugar
½ cinnamon stick
2 cups of water

Directions:

The cake:
Melt the butter in the microwave and let it cool. Preheat the oven to 350˚ Fahrenheit (180˚ Celsius) and put your rack in the middle of the oven. Spray or butter a 9-inch (20-23cm ) baking pan with a removable bottom. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Peel and core the apples. Save the apple peels. Dice the apples into bite-size pieces and sprinkle with lemon juice. Beat the eggs with an electric mixer until foamy. Then add the sugar and beat until smooth. Add the rum and the vanilla and mix together. Stir in half the flour mixture, then half of the melted butter. Repeat with the rest of the flour and butter. Just stir enough to combine the ingredients. With a spatula, fold in the apple pieces, making sure they are well coated with the batter. Scrape the mixture into the baking pan. Smooth the top with your spatula. Put the pan on a baking sheet and bake for about 50 minutes (up to an hour) until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cake cool for about 5 minutes, run a knife around the edges to loosen the cake and carefully remove the sides of the cake pan.
If you make the syrup with the apple peels, sprinkle it on top of the cake. Serve the cake with whipped cream. Ok, you can use ice cream if you prefer..

The syrup:
2 cups apple peels (packed in).
¼ cup sugar
2 cups water
While the cake is baking, cook the apple peels for about 10-20 minutes. Strain the liquid through a sieve into a bowl. Put the syrup back into the pot and boil to reduce the liquid until it becomes a thick syrup. Spoon onto the the top of the cake.

Cooking the apple peels in water and straining them also makes a great apple juice.

Recipe by Dorie Greenspan adapted by David Lebovitz
posted by ©Sunnycovechef.com

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Alice Waters' Blueberry and Lemon Tart

9/8/2020

Here we are, Labor Day has passed, summer is almost over. Recent weeks have been devastating for Santa Cruz County and California with huge fires burning and thousands of people evacuated. Many people lost their homes and all their belongings and some lost their lives. My heart goes out to all of them. For a couple of days Santa Cruz had the worst air quality in the world. My husband and I decided to go to our mountain cabin. I packed some personal stuff, just in case. I also took one of my favorite cookbooks called Chez Panisse Fruit by Alice Waters that had not been packed away during my remodel. From this book I would like to share a scrumptious recipe for a blueberry lemon tart. I have made many recipes from this book and have never been disappointed. I make her apricot jam every year and never get tired of it. I like everything about this book, the recipes, the layout, and the illustrations. I also have been fortunate enough to eat at Chez Panisse in Berkley many times. Alice Waters is a great cook and shares her talent with children and young adults, which I think is wonderful. She was a pioneer in the farm-to-table movement.

I baked the lemon tart twice, once in the first week of August and then again last week. Even my husband who usually goes for the sweeter versions when it comes to dessert liked this tart.

The flavors in this tart are phenomenal, with the crispness and rich butter flavor of the páte sucrée, and the sweet tart flavor of the blueberries combined with the zesty lemon curd. It is a perfect combination for your taste buds. If you bake this, I hope you enjoy this tart as much as we have.

If you are interested in some different lemony or blueberry desserts click on the photo for my blogpost and the recipe.

An easy to make German sheet cake with blueberries

A rustic galette made with raspberries and blueberries

The pâte sucrée is easy to make. I baked mine a day before I added the filling. You might have some leftover dough, which you can be used to a cookie a cookie or two. If you have enough you can make a mini tart. The eggs and butter should be at room temperature. You can use an 11-inch round tart pan with a removable button or 8 individual 4-inch tart pans. I think this tart would also look good in a rectangular tart pan. The dough is easy to work with. I think frozen blueberries would be fine in this recipe.

Ingredients:

The Páte Sucrée
¼ pound (113 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature
½ cup ( 100g) sugar
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
1 ¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

The Lemon Curd

grated zest of two lemons
juice of two lemons (about 6 TBS )
3 TBS water
½ cup (100 g ) sugar
¼ pound (1 stick ) (113 g) butter
¼ tsp salt
3 whole eggs
3 yolks

The Blueberry Topping

3 cups blueberries (500g)
¼ cup sugar
2 TBS water

Directions:

The Pâte Sucrée:
With a mixer, beat the butter and sugar until creamy, about two to three minutes. Add the salt, vanilla and egg yolk and mix until combined. Add the flour and mix for a short time. Put the dough on a dry surface, and with the palm of your hand, push the dough away from you until you get a ball that holds together. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and flatten it into a disk. Chill the dough for several hours or overnight. Take the dough out of he refrigerator and let it stand for a a few minutes to soften a little. Roll out a 13-inch disc of dough between two square pieces of floured parchment paper or two sheets of plastic wrap (which I prefer). Loosen the sheets while rolling it out, so it won’t stick to the paper. Flip the dough around while rolling it out and keep loosening the plastic wrap to prevent sticking. Roll out the 13-inch circle of dough that is 1/8 inch thick. Chill the dough with the wrap for a few minutes. Remove the plastic wrap and roll the dough around a pin to put it in the tart shell. Alice Waters gives instructions to only remove one sheet and flip the dough into the tart pan and then remove the second sheet. I think both methods will work. Use any dough scraps to patch any cracks. Chill the tart in the freezer for ten minutes before baking. Put the tart directly from the freezer into a preheated 350˙F oven and bake for about 15 minutes until slightly golden.

Lemon Curd
Slowly over a low heat, heat the lemon juice, water, sugar, and salt in a heavy bottomed saucepan until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Whisk the whole eggs and egg yolks in a bowl and very slowly drizzle the lemon mixture into the egg mixture stirring constantly. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over a low heat while stirring all the time, scraping the bottom of the pot until the curd thickens, about 5 minutes. Be careful with your heat so the mixture doesn’t curdle. Strain the curd through a fine sieve and pour it into the baked tart shell while still warm. Spread evenly.

Blueberry Topping
Divide the blueberries into 1½ cups each and put half of the three cups into a saucepan. Add the water and sugar and cook over a medium heat for about five minutes, smashing the blueberries with a wooden until they turn into a thick jam. Fold the remaining cup and a half of blueberries into the jam, and heat for about a minute to warm them. Spoon the blueberry topping evenly over the lemon curd. Cool until the curd has set. My tart tasted the best the following day.

Guten Appetit!
recipe by Alice Waters
posted by ©Sunnycovechef.com

2 Comments

Plum Tart or Zwetschgenkuchen

9/27/2019

4 Comments

When I see plums I always think of the Italian prune plum tree we had at our farm in Germany where these plums are called Zwetschgen. When the fruit ripened in mid September we would make Zwetschgenmus (plum jam) and everybody baked Zwetschgenkuchen on large trays. They dough was usually a yeast dough with different toppings for the plums. My favorite was a custard topping which is called Schmandkuchen. One day I would like to bake it in my village and get advice from all those old cooks and bakery friends. In the meantime I found this wonderful recipe on YouTube that is easy to make and all my American friends liked it. The shortbread dough is used for the crust and the streusel.

The Zwetsche , a European plum ( Prunus domestica) has many different names, in France it is called quetsche, here in the US they are called Italian Prune Plums and sometime Empress Plums. These plums are small and dense with purple skin, easy to pit (freestone pits) and have yellow flesh. There is something magical that happens to this egg shaped, somewhat bland tasting Italian plum when you bake it, it becomes a sweet gooey delight, in cakes, in jams, and dumplings. As was the case with my cake.

I am writing this while eating small slivers of this tasty treat. My doctor tells me to stay away from sweets and I do most of the time but there are times when these rules don’t apply. This cake brings back memories from my childhood in Germany, where Zwetschgenkuchen was a seasonal treat . My mother liked the simple version, adding plums with a little bit of sugar to a sheet yeast cake. Sometimes she splurged and put a custard on top of the cake. I remember stuffing myself and being told to share. My friend, aunt Frieda, that lived on the next farm made the best sheet cakes ever in a wooden pizza oven where she also baked her bread. I would sit on her wood box watching her cook. Oh, those childhood memories.

Some more of my recipes using plums. The plum jam is tart but full of flavor. It's baked in the oven so you don't have to sweat over a hot stove and there is no stirring. Click on the photos below for the recipe.

Spiced Plum Jam

Marian Burros Plum Torte

Here is the link to the YouTube video where I found this recipe. It's in German but Thomas speaks very slowly and it is fun to watch him make the tart. I think this would be a great project for young cooks.

When buying Italian Prune Plums get the hard ones, some of the soft ones will be rotten inside and always buy more, just in case. These plums don’t have a long shelf life, that’s why a lot of stores don’t carry them.You can use another variety of plums if you are unable to get Italian plums.

Ingredients:
A 12 inch cake or tart pan with removable bottom
This tart makes 10 generous slices, 12 small ones.

14 oz. (3 cups) (400g) white flour
8 oz. (2 sticks) (230g) cold butter
4.5 oz. ( a generous ½ cup) (130g) sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder (7g)
1 egg and 1 egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 TBS. lemon zest
a pinch of salt
2 Ib. of Italian prune plums or other plums.
3 TBS. Turbinado raw cane sugar

Directions:
Generously butter a 12 inch tart or cake pan with a removable bottom.
Sift the flour with the baking powder. Cut the cold butter into smallish cubes. Put the sugar and lemon zest in the food processor, pulse for 30 seconds to mix the lemon zest into the sugar. Add the flour, butter, eggs, and a pinch of salt. Pulse until the butter is broken into small pieces . Pour the dough onto a surface and put a little less than 1/3 aside for the streusel. Kneed the the dough with your palms until it comes together. Start pressing pieces of the dough into the tart pan and flatten them with your hands. Build the dough up to the sides and chill the tart for at least 30 minutes.
In the meantime wash the plums and remove the pits from the plums by cutting them half open but leaving them in one piece. Sprinkle them with the cane sugar and let them stand for a few minutes. Take the tart out of the fridge and arrange the plums in a circular fashion starting on the outside. Sprinkle the tart with the streusel. Both times I baked the tart I had some leftover streusel that I froze for later use.
Bake the tart on a baking sheet to prevent the juices from spilling into the oven. Bake at 350 degree Fahrenheit (180 Celsius) in a preheated oven for 50-60 minutes. You want the dough to slightly brown and some of the plum juices being released and bubbling.
Cool the tart for about an hour on a cooling rack. If you want you can sprinkle some powdered sugar over the tart. The tart tasted great a day later.

Guten Appetit!
recipe by Pour Le Plaisir - Thomas kocht
translated and adapted by ©Sunnycovechef.com

4 Comments

An Ode to Purple Plums and Marian Burros' Recipe for Plum Torte

9/27/2018

Fall has arrived and I have been happily cooking away in my kitchen with my new-found treasure Zwetchgen, a small unassuming purple plum that is called Italian plum in this country. In their natural state these plums have very little flavor and taste bland—but once baked, they transform into a treat , perfumed, tart, and sweet. I made several batches of my plum butter and I am thrilled to have them in my pantry (garage). The flavor is amazing, rich and earthy. But I also made several cakes.

Every September, from 1983-1989 the New York Times printed Marian Burros’ recipe for plum torte. Here is a link to the recipe (and I love reading all the comments). I have made this cake twice now, and have adjusted the recipe to my taste. I also baked a tart with a custard that my Swiss friend made for me in Switzerland. It was delicious and I hope to post it one of these days. My French girlfriend made a tarte aux quetsches, unfortunately I didn't get to taste it. Zwetschgenkuchen in Germany is usually baked with a lot of plums and a yeast-based sheet cake. Marian Burros’ Plum Torte recipe is a no-fuss, easy-to-make dessert. It is similar to other cake recipes with fruit that I have made many times. My tasters approved, but my fussy husband thought it was a little dry.

I also like using plums for my galette. Click for the recipe here.

The original recipe called for a cup of sugar. I only used ½ cup, but to make up for the lack of sweetness, I sprinkled the top with 4 tablespoons of turbinado sugar that gave the cake a crunchy crust. Apparently, this cake freezes well when double-wrapped in foil and placed in a plastic bag. But I have not tried this. If you want to be fancy, you can grind the lemon zest with the sugar in a food processor.

Ingredients:

½ cup white sugar
½ cup softened butter
1 cup unbleached flour
1tsp baking powder
2 eggs (room temperature)
a pinch of salt
½ tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon zest
2 heaping TBS of Greek yogurt
10-12 pitted purple plums
3 TBS turbindino sugar
lemon juice

Directions:

Butter a 9 or 10-inch pan with a removable bottom
Wash the plums, then pit them and halve them
Heat the oven to 350 degrees

Sift the flour with the baking powder
Cream the butter in a bowl until fluffy. Add one egg at a time, then add the lemon zest (if you didn’t grind it with the sugar), and the vanilla. Mix until well combined. Add the baking powder mixture and yogurt, then mix until blended.
Scrape the batter into a springform pan. Place the plums skin-side up on top of the cake. Sprinkle generously with turbinado sugar and sprinkle with some lemon juice.

Bake the cake for approximately one hour on the bottom shelf of your stove. The cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake.

Let the cake cool and enjoy.

Recipe from Marian Burros New York Times recipe
adapted by © sunnycovechef.com

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German Cherry or Apple Cake

3/1/2018

There is nothing fancy about this peasant version of an apple or cherry cake, but you will enjoy every bite of it and not feel guilty. The apples are not thoroughly baked and the cake tastes like pound cake, although I am trying to make it more moist by playing with the recipe. You can enjoy it for breakfast or any time of the day. It is perfect for beginning bakers. If you don’t want to use apples, use cherries. Pitted Morello cherries in a jar can be substituted for apples. I tried frozen cherries but I didn't like them as much as the Morello cherries from Trader Joe's.

This apple or cherry cake is not overly sweet with only ½ cup of sugar but is full of fruit and flavor. I have baked this cake many times and have never gotten tired of it. The recipe is from an old Dr. Oetker cookbook that I brought with me when I came to this country in the seventies. The Dr.Oetker brand is a 100-year-old family-owned business where you can find products like vanilla sugar, puddings or baking powder here in the United States.

My very first cookbooks were three Dr. Oetker cookbooks. For my 16th birthday, my girlfriend Gabrielle, my mom and I made a cold buffet from the title picture of one of the books. I had promised my dad some leftovers, but there was nothing left at the end of the party. To this day, I wish I had put some food away for my sweet, hard-working dad, who will always be the love of my life. He was a gentle and loving man who was born into a horrible time in German history. He loved visiting me here in California and would have stayed longer if my mother hadn’t been homesick for her village.

If you want a richer and pie like German apple cake try my Apple Strudel Cake

If you measure the flour with a cup, make sure you add the flour by the spoonful and level it off with a knife. This will give you a more accurate measurement than scooping it out with the measuring cup, which compacts the flour. But you don’t need to do this with sugar.

Ingredients:

8 TBS (120 grams or 4 oz.) butter
4 oz (½ cup + 2 TBS or 120 grams) sugar
1/8 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp lemon juice
7 ½ oz ( 1 ½ cup or 200g ) all purpose flour
3 small eggs
2 tsp baking powder a
a pinch of salt
4 TBS buttermilk , yogurt, or regular milk

1 pound frozen or canned cherries
or 4 large apples

powdered sugar

Directions:

Bring the eggs and butter to room temperature.
Grease a 9-inch springform pan with a removable bottom and preheat the oven to 375˙ Fahrenheit.

Cream the soft butter, then add the sugar in thirds and mix until fluffy for about 5 minutes, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl .

Stir in the eggs one at a time beating a minute each. Mix the flour with the baking powder and add in thirds.
Mix in the buttermilk and scoop the dough into the prepared pan.

Add the well drained cherries in a single layer.
If you are using apples, peel and cut them into quarters. With a small knife, make fan-shaped cuts on the top of the apple (lengthwise) and sprinkle them with lemon juice. Arrange the apples in a circle on top of the cake with one piece in the middle.

Bake the cake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the dough. Cool the cake and sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Guten Appetit!
Recipe by ©Sunnycovechef

2 Comments

German Strawberry Shortbread Tart- Erdbeertorte

6/4/2017

This is a German strawberry cake that is easy to make and brings out the fruity flavor of strawberries.

On my last trip to Germany I was invited to a birthday celebration of my mother's friend and neighbor, Helga. Our families have been friends as long as I can remember. As a child I used to visit them all the time, sitting in their kitchen and watching the women prepare food. I felt like part of their family. It was a peaceful household where I would go when when I wanted to be somewhere else. Helga was a good friend to my mother and visited her regularly and brought her food. My mom would always tell me on the phone that Helga had brought her some herring salad (one of my mom’s favorites), soup or whatever she’d cooked that day. I am so grateful for the kindness and caring she gave my mother. Helga’s husband, Willie, was my father’s friend and both of them farmed together. My father, a gentle and kind soul, mentored young Willie, who always liked to tease young girls like me. On warm summer nights, with the windows open, he and his friend would lull me to sleep by playing their violins, which made up for the teasing during the day.

Blackberry Forest Cake

Egg Liqueur Torte ( Eierlikörtorte)

Let’s get back to the birthday party and the afternoon coffee and cake. In rural Germany a birthday party usually starts around four in the afternoon with Kaffee and Kuchen (coffee and cake). Later in the evening, a hot meal is served. Sometimes, a savory hot meal is served for lunch and then followed by coffee and cake. For Helga’s birthday, all her friends had baked a fancy cake for her occasion. Of course I had to sample each of them and they were all delicious. I managed to get some of the recipes and hope to post them in the future when I have more time—and strawberries are not in season.

For this post, I chose a common German cake that can be bought in almost any German supermarket, already baked (like a piecrust in this country). I don't care much for the commercial variety, preferring to bake my own. These cakes are called Tortenboden or Obstkuchenboden (try to pronounce that!) which translated means “the bottom for a cake” like you would use for a strawberry shortcake. This cake has fluted edges and the bottom is indented to create an edge. I used a Chef Tell dessert pan by Nordic Ware. I often use it to make flan. Any cake pan will do, and it will taste just as good. Once you bake this shortcake, you can be creative and use any fresh fruit you want. I remember way back when my aunt made it with kiwis and it was delicious. In my recipe I decided to use vanilla pudding for the bottom. Creme anglaise would be fantastic but I wanted to keep it simple and easy to make. Personally, I think it is just as good with a layer of strawberry jam. My husband preferred the one with the custard. In Germany, the cake is covered with a glaze that you can buy. Here in the US, you can buy Dr. Oetker’s glaze for fresh fruit tarts at Cost Plus or Walmart. It comes in small individual packages. I made my own glaze by using some sweetened strawberry/rhubarb juice that I cooked and thickened with pectin. Even though the glaze is traditionally used, I think you can do without it. What makes this cake even tastier is a dollop of Schlag (whipped cream). I sprinkled a handful of slivered almonds over my cake and added some blueberries for color.

My German visitors enjoyed my baked shrimp with quinoa and peas. Its a great dish for warmer days.

Click on the photo for the recipe

Strawberries are in season right now. Here are some recipes from my blog. Click on the photo to see the recipe.

Strawberry Punch

Strawberry Ice Cream

Strawberry Rhubarb Cake

Robert's Strawberry and Rhubarb Pie

Strawberry Rhubarb Hazelnut Crisp

The tart and the custard can be prepared a day ahead of time. The pan has to be thoroughly buttered and then dusted with flour to prevent the cake from sticking. The eggs and butter need to be at room temperature. The original German recipe called for an 11-inch cake pan, although I used a 9-inch form and had enough dough left to make three little mini-tarts. My strawberries were very large, but smaller ones would be fine too. For the butter, I like to use European-style butter like Kerrygold. For the glaze, I used some sweetened strawberry and rhubarb juice, but you can use cherry juice or any dark fruit juice. There will be some leftover pudding and strawberries, which makes a great snack.

the glaze

the filling

A German baking pan

The baked inverted tart

Ingredients

The tart :

1 ½ sticks (13 TBS) butter (180g) at room temperature
1 cup (180g) sugar
3 eggs (at room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup flour (180g)
1 tsp baking powder

The filling:

1 package 6½ -cup Jello Cook-and-Serve pudding & pie filling1½ - 2 pounds of strawberries.

The glaze:

3/4 cup fruit juice
3 TBS sugar
1 TBS powdered pectin

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350˚F/ 180˚C.

The tart

Cover all the surface of the baking pan thoroughly with softened butter.
Sprinkle with flour, shaking off the excess.

Beat the soft butter in a stand-up mixer with the whisk attachment. Add the sugar and beat until creamy for several minutes. Add the vanilla extract and one egg at a time, continuing to beat after each addition until the dough is well combined. In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder and add to the dough in several additions. Add the dough into a well-greased and floured cake pan. Smooth the top of the cake.
Bake the cake in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes.
Allow the cake to cool slightly and very carefully remove the cake. I ran a knife around the edges before turning it over. Let the cake cool completely. At this point, you can keep it wrapped in the fridge for a day.

The pudding:

Prepare the pudding according to the directions on the package. You want your pudding to be stiff. This can also be done a day ahead of time.

The glaze:

Whisk together the sugar and the powdered pectin. In a small pan, bring the juice to a boil and drizzle the sugar-pectin mixture into the boiling juice whisking constantly. Boil for 2 minutes. Cool until just barely warm. Drizzle the glaze over the strawberry tart.

Assembling the tart :

Rinse and dry the strawberries. Cut the top off each strawberry to make a flat edge. Spread about a cup of pudding over the cake, leaving the edges free. Beginning on the outside of the cake, arrange the strawberries in a circle with the cut side down. Play with this a little bit and have fun. Drizzle the cooled glaze over the strawberries and allow to set for an hour before serving. The torte can be kept in the fridge covered for a couple of days. Before serving, whip some cream and decorate the cake with it or just serve it on the side.

Guten Appetit
recipe from a German website
adapted by ©Sunnycovechef

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Linzer Torte and Goodbye 2016

12/27/2016

With this Linzer torte, I wish you all a happy and peaceful 2017, filled with love, happiness, sweetness and renewed hope. May you all find fulfillment and joy in this crazy world. I am so happy to share some of my life with you through my blog. Thank you all for visiting and encouraging me with your comments and friendship. It is greatly appreciated.
My love to all of you.

It seems that I am crazy about nuts these days. It has become my go-to snack during the day. But most of all, I use them in baking as I often substitute nuts for flour. For weeks, I have been trying different recipes for Linzer torte, a cake that gets its name from the town of Linz in northern Austria. This lattice-topped torte, filled with jam and a crunchy nutty crust, is a delight for the taste buds. It’s a crumbly, nutty affair that can be eaten any time of the day. I finally chose an Austrian version from a baker who inherited the recipe from her mother. I also tried a recipe from a well-known American chef who used roasted almonds and powdered sugar. I am much happier with the recipe I am sharing with you. According to Wikipedia, Linzer torte is said to be the oldest cake in the world (a fact much debated around the dinner table). Although interesting, it is not necessarily a reason to bake it. I was drawn to this cookie-like torte because of its taste and texture. It does improve with age and you can make it three days ahead of time. In my humble opinion, it needs to be served with whipped cream. I made this torte for my girlfriend’s birthday party. I served small pieces with a good amount of whipped cream (someone whipped the cream by hand and it was so good). Every last crumb was eaten, and several people went back for seconds.

The only difficult part is making the lattice crust. I put the strips on (without putting them into a lattice pattern) because my crust was crumbly. Traditionally, this torte is made with red currant marmalade. I used seedless raspberry jam mixed with red currant jam in one of my tortes. In my final version, I used one cup of seedless raspberry fruit spread mixed with ¼ a cup of my strawberry jam to give it some extra flavor. I used Kerrygold butter. You need an 11-inch tart form with removable bottom. This is best served in smaller slices with a big slug of whipped cream. It will serve 12-14 people.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup (8 3/4oz, 250g) almonds (will yield 2 cups of ground almonds)

1 cup (7oz, 200g) sugar

2 cups (8 5/8 oz, 250g) all-purpose flour

14 TBS (8oz, 200g) chilled European butter (a bit less than 2 sticks)

3 egg yolks

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

a pinch of salt

1 tsp grated lemon peel

2 TBS lemon juice

1 TBS mineral water

1¼ cup seedless raspberry jam (or a mixture of raspberry and red currant jam)

sweetened, whipped cream

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Finely grind the almonds in a food processor with 3 TBS flour. The nuts should have the texture of coarse cornmeal. Be careful not to turn them into nut butter.

Add the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking powder into the food processor, pulsing until well combined.

Cut the chilled butter into 1-inch chunks and add to the food processor with 2 of the egg yolks. Pulse until the dough comes together. My food processor was filled to the rim.

If you don't have a food processor or would like to do it by hand, sieve the flour with the the cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and baking powder onto a clean surface with a hole in the middle. Buy pre-ground almonds and add to the flour. Put the chilled and cut butter on top of the flour. Add the egg yolks in the hole. Starting from the outside, mix the ingredients into a ball using the palm of your hands to mix the butter and egg yolk. This will make a crumbly crust.

Divide the dough into two equal parts and put each piece onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Cover both parts with additional plastic wrap and roll one into a disc shape and the other into a rectangular piece. Chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour or overnight.
In the meantime, mix the jam (or jams) with the lemon juice to make it smooth and spreadable.
Mix the leftover egg yolk with the mineral water.

Roll out the round piece between two pieces of plastic wrap into a 12-inch circle. Remove the top layer of plastic wrap and invert the dough into the buttered or oil-sprayed tart form. Remove the other piece of plastic wrap and press the dough with your hands into the tart shell making it nice and smooth.

Roll out the other half of the dough between two pieces of plastic wrap into a rectangular piece (about 12-inches). Cut intro strips about 3/4-inch x 12-inch. If the dough becomes soft, put in into the freezer to firm up.

Spread the jam evenly into the shell. Lay strips across the the top in a lattice pattern. My dough didn't cooperate, so I did the best I could. By the time I baked the torte, you could barely see the imperfection. Brush the lattice dough (not the jam part) with the egg yolk and mineral water mixture and bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for about 45 minutes. Or until the jam starts to bubble.

Guten Appetit
recipe from a German-speaking website
adapted by ©sunnycovechef

A happy and healthy New Year from Sunny Cove Beach

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Almond Pear Tart

11/3/2016

Whenever I bake this tart, I pretend I am in Paris. I’m in one of those neighborhood bakeries smelling the scent of sweet pastry and fresh baguettes. I am taking my wrapped tart to one of the benches in the park near Notre Dame and savor every bite while life unfolds in front of me.

But I am not in Paris, I am in Santa Cruz and it is time to share this delicious tart recipe with you. Let’s go back to the IFBC (International Food Blogger’s Conference) in Sacramento that I attended this past summer. While there, my friend Deb (who writes a blog called “East Of Eden”) and I went on an a pre-conference excursion to the California Endive farm and Stillwater Orchards, a pear orchard in the Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta. The delta is a labyrinth of sloughs and an estuary in Northern California. It’s gorgeous country with small rural towns, islands, and tributaries flowing throughout. Most of the land has been claimed by agriculture, pears being one of the fruits grown. There is a Pear Fair in the small town of Locke. Our visit at the end of July was wonderful. The pears were on the trees, ripe and ready to be harvested. After a tour of the orchard, we had a picnic lunch under a giant oak tree. The dessert was a delicious pear crumble.

We all got a bag of pears to take home. I decided to make my pear tart with them. This tart recipe has been a family treasure for many years. Yet I am always in search of the perfect crust. For the blog post, I decided to use a pastry crust known as pâte sucrée, a rich and sweet pastry with a crisp cookie-like texture.

I always buy some extra pears and make sure that they are ripe. I use Bartlett pears that are juicy. I grind the almonds in my Vita Mix , or you can use a food processor

Ingredients:
A 10-11 inch tart shell with a removable bottom.
This tart makes 8-10 servings.

Pastry
10 TBS (140 g) softened butter
a pinch of sea salt
½ cup (55 g) powdered sugar
1 large egg at room temperature
1 vanilla bean or ½ tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cup ( 220g) all-purpose flour

The Filling:
4-5 soft ripe pears depending on size. (Bartlett’s are a good choice.)
6TBS (90g) soft butter
½ cup (90g) sugar
1 egg
1 cup (110g) ground almonds
1 vanille bean or ½ tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp almond extract
1-2 TBS Turbinado sugar or ¼ cup apricot jam

Directions:
Slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with a knife or spoon. Grease the tart shell with butter.

The Pastry:
In a stand-up mixer (fitted with a paddle attachment), blend the softened butter and salt. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla seeds, almond extract ,and beat until combined. Mix in half the flour until just absorbed and add the remaining flour and mix until a ball forms. Do not over mix. Flatten the dough into a circle, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour. The dough has to be well-chilled before being used. The dough can be refrigerated for up to five days and frozen for a month.

Almond Cream:
Cream the butter and sugar in a stand-up mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until fluffy. Add the scooped-out vanilla bean seeds, almond extract and egg and beat until combined. Gently, on a low speed, mix in the ground almonds.

Assembling the Tart:
Lightly butter a 10-11inch (25 cm)) tart pan with a removable bottom. Roll out the dough between two pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper. Pull off one piece of wrap and invert it onto the greased tart pan. Evenly pat the dough onto the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Put the tart pan in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes. Prick the tart with a fork. Spread the almond cream evenly into the pastry shell and return it to the fridge for another 10 minutes.

Peel the pears, cut into halves and remove the cores. Cut each half lengthwise into ¼-inch slices, being careful not to cut through the stem end. Arrange 6 halves spoke fashion on top of the almond filling, placing one half of the pear in the center. Depending on the size of the pears I sometimes cut off the ends to fit the pear half into the tart. Sprinkle the tart with 1- 2 TBS of raw turbinado sugar. Bake the tart in the middle of a preheated oven at 355 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until the filling and pears are slightly browned on the top.

The tart should have a golden brown color when it’s done. Instead of sprinkling the tart with raw sugar you can heat up about ¼ cup apricot jam pour it through a sieve, and brush it over the warm tart.

Guten Appetit
recipe by©Sunnycovechef

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Lemon Pudding Cake

2/13/2016

A light and refreshing desert with a pudding like texture and a crunchy crust. This cake is easy to make.

Right now my lemon trees are full of lemons. I have been picking them as soon as they are ripe and sharing them with friends and neighbors. Actually, my lemon trees are a hedge along the driveway in front of my garage facing a busy street. Often people take some, which I usually don't mind until last year when someone came and picked all my lemons. I was not a happy camper because these lemons are my treasure and I take pride in caring for them. My favorite are the Meyer’s lemons with their thin aromatic peel and fleshy fruit that is sweeter than others. They are a cross between a lemon and a mandarin or orange. Frank Nicholas Meyer, an employee of the United States Department of Agriculture, brought a plant in 1908 from China.
Wouldn't you know, it was Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley who made it popular in the 1990s.

I have a jar of preserved lemons in my fridge and a bowl of lemons on my kitchen counter. When I run out of my own lemons, I get some from a mature tree in my neighbor, Josephine’s, garden. She graciously shares them with me. The recipe I'm going to share with you comes from Deborah Madison's cookbook The Savory Way. This one, in addition to her Greens cookbook, have recipes from her days as a chef at Greens, a wonderful vegetarian restaurant near the waterfront at Fort Mason in San Francisco. This restaurant was a pioneer of the farm-to-table movement almost 30 years ago. Anyway, I have used these two cookbooks for many years and they have never failed me. I have made this lemon pudding cake many times and always get rave reviews. It is easy to make and has a sweet and lemony flavor. I serve it with some fruit, like raspberries or blueberries, and sometimes with a dollop of whipped cream.

Here are some more desserts using lemons . Click on the photos for the recipe.

My Lemon and Buttermilk Sorbet is easy to make. It is refreshing any time of the year. A light treat after a heavy meal.

This Almond Lemon Cake has a distinct lemony taste because whole cooked lemons are being used. The almonds add crunch and one can taste a hint of ginger , a delight for the senses.

A compact bread infused with lemon juice. Take a break in the afternoon and have a piece of this tasty cake with a cup of tea.

I use low-fat milk for this recipe. If you want a richer flavor, use whole milk or half and half. Sprinkling the raw sugar over the cake gives it a delightful crunch.

Ingredients

4 TBS softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 ½ to 2 TBS lemon zest
4 eggs at room temperature
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 TBS unbleached white flour
1 cup milk , or half and half
a few gratings of nutmeg
1/8 tsp. salt
1 TBS raw cane sugar (Turbinado)

Directions

Heat a kettle of water and bring it to a boil.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Grease a 12”x7”x2” pan.
Grind the sugar with the lemon zest in a food processor for 30 seconds.
Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites with the salt until soft peaks form, and set aside. The reason I do the egg whites first is because I use my standup mixer and I am too lazy to wash the bowl to beat the whites after I make the dough.

Cream the soft butter with the sugar, then add egg yolks, one at a time, until the dough has doubled and is light yellow. This will take several minutes. Stir in the lemon juice, then add the flour, milk, and nutmeg. Carefully, with a spatula using a rotating motion, fold half of the egg whites into the batter and then the other half. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and set into a larger pan to hold the water for the water bath. In essence, it’s like steaming it and baking it at the same time. Once in the oven, add enough hot water to come halfway up the sides. Bake for 15 minutes, then carefully pull out the pans and sprinkle with the raw sugar. Continue to bake for about 25-30 minutes until the cake is lightly browned. Cool and serve either tepid or chilled.

Guten Appetit!
Recipe by Deborah Madison
adapted by © Sunnycovechef

2 Comments

German Strawberry Rhubarb Meringue Cake

9/6/2015

A German cake that will please your palate

Capitola is about three miles down the road from where I live. It is a cute little seaside village that attracts many visitors from near and far. Each Labor Day there is a Begonia Festival. Local businesses, friends and families decorate floats with begonias and parade them down Soquel Creek under a bridge into a lagoon near the beach. It is a lot of fun and a wonderful Labor Day tradition. The floats are all uniquely beautiful—how can they not be with all those beautiful flowers? This festival has been going on since 1951. Major growers of these tuberous begonias are located in the Santa Cruz area and in late summer they are in spectacular bloom.

Originally, I had planned to post an Italian giant cookie cake. I will do that next. Last Sunday, Ronald, my strawberry farmer, had some beautiful ones and sold me a whole flat: 12 pint baskets of strawberries just picked that morning, sweet and juicy. I had already made strawberry jam from an entire flat the previous week, so I used half of the strawberries to make more jam. We ate quite a few fresh ones and sliced some for my husband’s morning cereal. I had two baskets left. I also had some green rhubarb in my dried out tiny garden. After a quick search on the internet, I found a German recipe I like and this cake was born. It was easy to make and I couldn't stop eating it after it came out of the oven. My husband said it was not his favorite, but he still managed to eat quite a bit. I hope you enjoy this cake as much as I did.

Ingredients

10 TBS (150 g) softened butter
1¼ cup (150g) all purpose flour
1½ TBS baking powder
½ heaping cup (80g) cornstarch
1 cup (150g) brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 egg yolk

½ cup sliced almonds
1 TBS sugar

14 ounces (400g) rhubarb
14 ounces (400g) strawberries

4 egg whites
a pinch of salt
1/3 cup (60g) sugar
½ cup + 2 TBS (80g) powdered sugar
2 TBS lemon juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 375º Fahrenheit (200º Celsius).
Grease a 9½-inch round cake pan with a removable bottom.
Clean and peel the rhubarb and cut it into ½-inch pieces.
Wash and slice large strawberries into halves, leaving the small ones whole.
Beat soft butter and brown sugar in an electric mixer for 5-8 minutes, until the dough doubles. Add the two eggs and the egg yolk, one at a time. Mix the flour with the cornstarch and baking powder and add to the dough in 2 or 3 portions. Put the dough into the greased cake pan and flatten it with a spatula. Mix the almonds with the tablespoon of sugar and sprinkle it over the dough. Put the rhubarb on top of the almonds.

Bake the cake for 30-40 minutes. I used the convection bake function on my oven and I baked my cake on the lower rack. If you don’t have that function, you will have to bake it longer. Make sure you don't burn the cake, as I almost did. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for little while.

Beat the 4 egg whites with the pinch of salt until very stiff, add the 1/3 cup of sugar, the powdered sugar, the lemon juice and continue to beat for a couple of minutes.
Add the strawberries to the cake and then the meringue. Bake at 375º for 15 minutes until the meringue is lightly colored. Test the cake to see if it is baked in the middle by inserting a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done.

Let the cake cool a bit and remove the sides of the pan. I used a knife to cut around the inside of the cake form before releasing the cake pan.

Guten Appetit
Recipe translated from chefkoch.de
adapted by © sunnycovechef.com

2 Comments

Lemon Almond Cake

4/25/2015

Lemon Almond Cake

It will be Easter in a couple of days. To me, Easter is my favorite holiday. It means that spring is just around the corner, as the days get longer with so many signs of new beginnings. And it means that the days of darkness are in the past.

It is also the time when I usually travel to Germany. I always looked forward to seeing my German family and celebrate Easter with them. My little village has traditions that get repeated every year. One of my favorite ones is the bonfire on the night of Easter Sunday. It is an old pagan ritual meant to chase away winter and its evil spirits and welcome spring. Today, it is mainly a social gathering to drink beer and eat sausages and apples. The belief is that the apples ensure good health for the coming year, but what about the sausage and the beer?

There is also a tradition of having a big Easter dinner on Sunday or Monday. Easter lamb, chicken or eggs are typical meals. My family always has a brunch after the kids finished their Easter egg hunt. Many houses and town squares are decorated nicely with bunnies and eggs. This year I’m not going to Germany. I will stay at home here in Santa Cruz and go to an annual Easter party on the mountain with my girlfriend and her family. We will also celebrate an upcoming marriage and a birthday. There will always be new beginnings.

This cake has a distinct lemony taste because whole lemons are being used. The almonds add crunch and one can taste a hint of candied ginger, a delight for the senses.

Years ago, a genius cook made up this recipe using whole lemons and Sunset magazine printed it. It is a nutty, chewy, not-too-sweet cake with the flavor of whole lemons including the rind. If you want sweet lemon bars, you picked the wrong recipe. This cake is not sweet and does not taste like a regular lemon desert. Since this recipe uses the whole lemon, you get a very lemony somewhat bitter flavor. To mellow out the flavor, the lemons are cooked and then used in the recipe. I have made this cake many times and most of my family and friends like it, but not everybody likes the distinct bitter lemon flavor. So you wonder, “Why is she posting it?” The answer is because I love the flavor and texture of this cake, so it has a worthy place in my cooking repertoire.

The cake lasts for several days and tastes even better the next day. The almonds add a crunchy, chewy quality to the cake that I love. How will you know if you like it or not? If you like orange or lemon marmalade, you will probably like this desert.

If you want another choice for a lemon dessert, try my lemon bread. It is a more traditional recipe since it uses only the juice of the lemon. I would be very interested what you think about my choices. By the way, my niece, who was visiting me from Germany requested lemon bars, the sweeter the better. I made most of her favorite food while she was here, like butternut squash lasagne with hazelnuts, which I will post soon.

Happy Easter
Fröhliche Ostern

Boiling the lemons

The quartered lemons

The lemon purée

Ingredients

12 ounces Meyer lemons (3 large ones)
1 tsp butter (for greasing the pan)
½ cup all-purpose flour
1½ cup whole almonds
5 eggs at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp almond extract
¼ cup candied or crystallized ginger, finely diced

The Glaze
½ cup powered sugar
1 TBS lemon juice and thin slices ol lemons for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 350˚

Butter and flour a 9-inch pan with removable rim.

Pulse almonds in a food processor until the nuts resemble coarse cornmeal. Add flour and salt and pulse to combine. Put in a bowl.

Cover the lemons with cold water and bring to a boil. Simmer the lemon at low heat for 20 or more minutes.

When the lemons are soft drain them and let them cool down.
Once the lemons are cool, cut them into quarters and gently remove seeds . Do this on a plate to keep all the juices.
Pulse the lemons in a food processor until they become a smooth, thick purée.

With a mixer beat the egg yolks with he sugar until thick and pale yellow. Stir in the lemon purée, extract, and candied ginger. Add almond mixture and stir to combine.

Beat egg whites until they form firm peaks. Gently fold egg whites into batter. Spread batter in prepared pan.

Bake until edges of cake to pull away from the sides of the pan, about one hour. Cool on rack for 15 minutes , then remove from pan and cool completely.

In a bowl , combine powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Spread the glaze over cake and decorate with lemon slices or whatever you like. This is a fun activity for kids.

Guten Appetit!
recipe by Carolyn Gratton Eichin
adapted by Sunnycovechef.com

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Chocolate Tart

10/22/2014

An easy recipe for chocolate lovers with only three tablespoons of sugar added.

We are spending some time at our cabin in the Sierras and my sister-in-law and her family are coming to dinner. My husband is barbecuing his famous rack of lamb. Usually, I make my stuffed tomatoes with them, but as we were driving up the mountain, we bought fresh corn at a food stand. It had just been picked. So the menu changed, and we are now having corn and tiny potatoes with the rack of lamb. Everything is barbecued by the Grillmeister (master of grilling) himself. That leaves me in charge of the salad and dessert. Early this morning, the woodpecker woke me up (he thinks our cabin tastes yummy). This time of the day is the best for getting halfway decent cell phone reception, so I looked for some recipes involving raspberries. I had brought some beautiful organic ones up the mountains and even after an occasional nibble, I had some left. I came upon an old Gourmet magazine that I used as a reference. I did use their tart crust recipe, but thought it could be improved. The ganache was outstanding; I used orange chocolate and my orange marmalade. The original recipe called for Kahlua or coffee-flavored liqueur, but I used creme cassis instead. Everybody loved it and ate a lot. The mountains give you a healthy appetite.

Fast forward and I'm home again. This time, instead of using a 9-inch tart form, I made individual tarts. I also used a different crust recipe. This was simpler and less sugary. I think it complements the chocolate flavor. This is not a sweet dessert. The whole recipe has only two tablespoons of sugar in the crust, as well as the sugar that was added to the chocolate. What it does have is a strong, full chocolate flavor. It is divine! If you are a chocolate lover, this recipe Is for you. It is important that you use very good-quality chocolate. I love to cook with Lindt chocolate and I found an orange dark chocolate called theo at Whole Foods. This chocolate and my orange marmalade add a citrus taste to the chocolate ganache.

Pinecrest Lake

Our little cabin in the woods

Two weeks later, and I'm still not happy with my crust. Everybody liked it, but I'm on the search for the perfect crust. It’s the German in me. The second crust recipe was very easy to make, a little bit more flaky and complemented the strong chocolate flavor. I made the second crust one more time using the food processor and cooling the dough a little more before baking. Voila! I had a winner. I ran out of orange marmalade and used plum jam instead, and for the chocolate I used cherry-flavored chocolate with tiny pieces of almonds in them—very nice with a wonderful flavor and the tart is delicious without the raspberries. I just like to have a little nibble when I have a cup of tea. You will be able to make this tart in no time, yes it is easy to make.

The rolled out dough

Adding the ganache to the baked crust

Enjoy!

My collection of tartlet forms

Blind baking the tartlets by adding some weight to the dough.

Cooling the tartlets before adding the ganache

Ingredients:

The pâte brisée (crust):
1 9-inch tart form with removable bottom
8 TBS chilled butter (113 g ) cut into ½ inch cubes
1 generous cups of flour (140 g)
2 TBS sugar
a pinch of salt
3 TBS ice water

Ganache:
6 ounces best quality bittersweet chocolate
cut into small pieces
½ cup whipping cream
1tsp vanilla
1 ½ tsp Creme Cassis or other flavored liquor
½ cup orange marmelade
Raspberries (optional)

Directions:

The crust:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Sift flour,salt , and sugar into food processor. Using on/off to pulse, mix flour mixture. Add butter and process with the on/off a until coarse meal forms. Add 3 TBS of ice water and mix until moist clumps form. Add another tablespoon of ice water if needed. Gather dough into a ball , flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.
Roll out dough among two pieces of floured plastic wrap, put into 9-inch tart form with a removable bottom and trim overhang. Freeze for 10 minutes . Bake crust until golden about 20 minutes; cool.

The Ganache:
In a small heavy sauce pan bring the cream to a boil. Immediately pour over the chocolate and stir until smooth. Stir in the cassis , vanilla and marmalade. Pour ganache into cooled crust and smooth top. Cool the tart and decorate with raspberries before serving.

Guten Appetit!
recipe by ©sunnycovechef.com

0 Comments

Apple Strudel Cake

9/20/2014

6 Comments

Apple strudel cake or Apfelkuchen as we call it in Germany is a delicious mouth-watering treat to celebrate the change of season or any other occasion.

The French have their apple tart, in the United States we have our apple pie, and in Germany there is Apfelstrudel (apple strudel) or Apfelkuchen (apple cake).
I combine the two and make apple strudel cake. This is the closest thing to an apple strudel without a tremendous amount of work, expertise, and the time it takes to make an apple strudel. The filling has cinnamon, apples, almonds, and raisins, just like an apple strudel. The crust is flaky and buttery and complements the filling nicely. This cake is an old friend of mine, as I have baked it for many years. It is a treat that my family and friends always enjoy. My hubby loves eating it with vanilla ice cream. I prefer Schlag (whipped cream). The cake improves with age and is a great party or dinner pleaser.

My friend, Robert, has beautiful apples in his garden that I used for this cake. Any firm, tart, not-too-juicy apple will do. I used Gravensteins.

I enjoy making this cake by hand. It is like playing in the sand box, but if you don't want to get your hands dirty, you can make the dough in a food processor. Just make sure you don't over mix the dough. Mix the dry ingredients first, add the butter and egg, and use the on/off control on the food processor to mix. Flatten the dough by hand into two disks, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.

The rolled out dough

The filling

The cake is ready to be baked

Putting the ingredients on a slab

Mixing the dough

The dough