Happy Birthday, K.!

Happy Birthday and at least one hundred kilos of luck!



Postcard by Eine der Guten, tape by habitat.

Hazelnut Cake

Absolutely delicious hazelnut cake at Café Eigel in Cologne. It's good that I took a photo to remember how delicious it was...

Nougat

I love this tiny present that my mother gave to me. It looks like a tiny book, but it is a little box with nougats and chocolate (by Guido Gobino) inside and it can be closed with a magnet. It's so lovely!

Muesli!

my muesli to go --> www.mymuesli.com

Home is where the light is

Royal Burgundy Cake (Burgunderkönigskuchen)

A couple of years ago, I got this fantastic pan made of silicon, which is called "Lüneburg" and is an replica of an original from the German Guelphs of the 18th century. This recipe was in the package, but I slightly changed it.

For one small cake:

For the dough:                                             For the icing:

250g butter                                                 150g icing sugar
200g sugar                                                  150 ml Burgundy (or other) red wine
4 eggs                                                         a bit of cherry jam
125 ml Burgundy (or other) red wine            sugared cherries for decoration
250g flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. cacao powder
100g finely chopped dark chocolate

Cream together butter, sugar and cinnamon.Mix eggs and alternativly flour, baking powder and cocoa powder with the butter mixture. Add the red wine and finally the chopped chocolate. Place dough in the pan. Bake the cake for about 15 minutes at 180 degrees, then 35 minutes at 160 degrees.

When the cake is cooled down, brush the cake with heated cherry jam.Mix the icing sugar with the red wine and brush the cake with it. Decorate the cake with the cherries.

Madeleines

I love madeleines so much that one time a bought a French madeleine pan and a sweet little book about madeleines in Paris. There are a million ways to pimp up the recipe but I think the simple ones are the best.

For 18 madeleines: 
150g wheat flour
125g butter (at room temperature)
150g sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. baking powder

1. Mix the eggs with the sugar until you get a creamy dough.
2. Add the flour and the baking powder.
3. Add eggs and milk.
4. Leave the dough for about 30 minutes in the fridge.
5. Fill the pan with the dough.
6. Preheat the oven at 220 degrees and bake the madeleines for 3-4 minutes, reduce temperature (180 degrees) and bake for 4-6 until the madeleines are golden brown.
7. Leave the madeleines to cool down (although they taste so delicious, when they are still warm and I can never resist tasting one...)

Dream

All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

Edgar Allen Poe

Goodbye Christmas?

Christmas time is my favourite time of the year. Although I like winter in general, December is such a special time and always over far to soon. I love reading in the lights of my Christmas tree with a cup of tea. It is so cozy. Well, I will keep my tree as long as possible, but maybe close my curtains so that people don't think I am that crazy.

Last glimpses of Christmas

In the streets Christmas already starts to fade. Shop owners put away their Christmas decoration and start to sell all the sad reindeers nobody wanted to buy during Christmas time for half price. People pack away their decoration and throw out their Christmas tree. But there still are some christmassy things to see and some nice lights to enjoy.

    
  1. Wolkenburg, Cologne, 2. Gingebread house, 3. Christmas bird, 4. Wolkenburg, Cologne

Happy new year!

May 2012 be year full of creativity, beauty and baking!