tosca cake

It's my godmother's birthday and nameday this week, and although I had initially planned to go visit during this time, that didn't quite happen. I'll be up north in Lapland later in the month and in December, though, and am looking forward to all that. In the meantime, I thought I'd share this recipe of one of my godmother's favourites.

(bday) chocolate and raspberry mousse cake

Since it's still my birthmonth, I thought I'd share a little birthday cake recipe. Or any-occasion cake recipe, really. The cake has a bit of a messy look to it, but I like that and it is really good!

two mumin kaffe moments

 If you didn't know it already, I love the Moomins and I have always loved the Moomins. I grew up in the 90s Moomin boom and am very happy to be living in the current Moomin boom now, as it means there's so many exciting Moomin things and products. The latest Moomin thing I've gotten into are the Mumin Kaffes (i.e. Moomin cafés) by visiting two of them in Helsinki last Friday. (Yes, two in one day!)

mother's day cheesecake

It's Mother's Day this Sunday (I'm sure you know), and as my mum and I are in different countries once again, we won't get to spend any time together. (I have sent her a card and a little something, though!) If you can, you should try and see your mum, though, so why not show your appreciation in the form of this excellent cake! I made this for the first time for my birthday in 2015 and have since baked this a few times. Which is saying a lot: no matter how good something I bake is, I rarely do the same thing more than once as I like trying new recipes. But this is one of those recipes that have made it into my repertoire, and it really is good! This is also the first baked cheesecake that I've both baked and tasted. While it wasn't perhaps life-changing, this cake can be capable of producing an eye roll of pleasure.

BERRY CHEESECAKE

For the base
125g butter
1½dl sugar
1 egg
2½dl plain flour
1dl potato flour
½tsp baking powder

For the filling
600g cream cheese
1½dl sugar
1tbs vanilla sugar
3 eggs
1dl double cream
1dl corn starch
5dl berries of your choice (I usually use raspberries and blueberries!)

I. Whisk the butter and the sugar into a foam and add the egg. Mix the dry ingredients together, and add into the foam through a sieve. Mix until smooth.

II. Cover the bottom of a springform pan with greaseproof paper and butter the edges. Pat the dough into the pan.

III. Add the sugar and the vanilla sugar into the cream cheese. Add eggs, cream, corn starch, and mix until smooth. Carefully mix the berries into the mixture. Pour onto the dough inside the pan.

IV. Bake in a 175°C oven, on a lower level, for approximately 45 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave the cake inside the oven for 30 more minutes. Let it cool, remove from pan and enjoy!

eliza acton's apple soup

 It's been such a long time since I last posted any recipes or things like that, so here's something of the kind but something different at the same time. Yes, you read right; apple soup. Yes, it's a savoury soup made of apples. It is as strange as it sounds, but it also tastes quite good! I had this with my mum quite a while ago, and although for me it's definitely something I'm not used to (le mother seemed to really like it!) I think I will be making this again. Before writing this I did a bit of research on le internet, and I found soups with apples in them, but used only together with other ingredients, like broccoli or carrot, to add some extra flavour. So if you fancy being brave and trying something new, this would be the perfect thing. The recipe is from one of my favourite cook books at my mum's place, and it suggests serving the soup with rice. I don't know if you're meant to have it separately or put it in the soup, so we had rice in a gravy boat, haha! And we also had Karelian rice pasties because we were in Finland and I love a good Karelian rice pasty. It's also suggested on a menu list for May, so now's pretty much the best time to try and eat this lil' soup.

 This is how you make it:

~340g (cooking) apples
2 pints beef/mutton/vegetable stock
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Salt and pepper
4 tablespoons (long grain) rice

If you've actually made a proper stock, remove any fat from the surface. Wash the apples and chop them roughly, without removing peel or core. Bring the stock to the boil in a large pan, add the apples and cover the pan with a lid. Simmer the soup over low heat until the apples are tender. Pour the soup through a sieve, but try to get as much of the pulp as possible through as well. (I suppose, as the book is from the 70s, you could now actually just remove the core of the apple and then use a food processor, a blender or something like that at this point, I just wasn't that clever when I was making this, haha!) Stir in the ginger and season with salt and ground pepper. Re-heat the soup and remove any scum. (What a nasty-sounding word, but you know, all the foam &c. And again if you use modern kitchen appliances, this might not be necessary..) While the soup is cooking, boil the rice in plenty of salted water. Drain thoroughly and keep the rice warm. Spoon the soup into bowls, and serve the rice separately.

Hope you like it if you ever decide to give this a go!

biscuit time

I made these chocolate oat biscuits sometime around Easter, and since I took photos it seemed silly not to share. These are possibly one of the simplest things to bake but that is what you want from your baked goods at times. Just something nice&quick to satisfy your wee cravings for sweet things! Somehow I associate oats with healthiness, despite the sugar and other ingredients, and cannot say no to a lil' biscuit anyway. And I suppose it isn't even surprising that I was watching Buffy while baking and eating these, hehe! Here's what you need and do, though:

3dl oats
1½dl sugar
2tbs plain flour
1½tbs cocoa powder
1tsp baking powder
1tsp vanilla
3/4dl melted butter
1 egg
For decoration: white baking chocolate & sprinkles

Mix the dry ingredients together. (Also, I didn't actually use the vanilla and don't think it's that essential!) Add butter (or similar substitute) and egg, and mix until smooth. With two teaspoons lift the mixture onto a baking tray lined with baking sheet in small knobs. Bake in 200°C for 5-7min and let cool on the tray. If you want to, decorate with melted white chocolate and sprinkles!

just give me all the bacon and eggs you have

I have pretty much a month's Easter holiday and, as I have no plans, all this free time could (and still can) lead into me staying in bed watching plenty of TV shows. So yesterday I decided to do something constructive instead and baked. I've so many recipes to try, and if you so fancy, I'll share even more of them with you! This cream cheese and bacon tart is one of my favourite things to bake. I think I have three different bacon tart/pie/quiche/pancake/whatever recipes that I use regularly, but this is definitely my favourite. And bacon is my favourite, too.

Ingredients:
Shortcrust pastry (I make my own, but any kind is fine!)
4 rashes streaky bacon
1 egg
3 egg yolks
225g cream cheese
1,5dl double cream
salt&black pepper
3 sliced tomatoes (skinned if you can bother)
chopped chives

1. Line your flan ring/tart tin with the pastry. Once you've cut, fried and dried the bacon, arrange in the bottom of the pastry case.

2. Beat the egg and yolks, add the softened cream cheese and beat until smooth. Gradually beat in the cream and season with salt&pepper.

3. Pour the mixture over the bacon and arrange the tomatoes on top.

4. Bake in the centre of the oven (200°C) for 20min, lower heat to 180°C and bake for a further 10min.

5. Enjoy the tart garnished with chopped chives!

Hope your week and April (!) has started well♥!

P.S. I do know that I'm not actually using a proper tin for this tart, but it did turn out alright. You should have an 8inch one for the amount of filling used and I'd recommend not having a tin this shallow. A lot of my baking things are at my mum's or are my mum's; either way, it's sad.

tea time

I don't like tea. How very un-British of me. (But to be fair, my mum is Finnish and loves tea, and dad who was English never drank tea.) I had to change my ways and have a cuppa though, as mum sent me the cutest tea ever. This is possibly the first time I've had tea in more than five years, haha! But with cute names, yummy-smelling flavours and pictures of the Moomins, how could I say no? "Moominmamma's Magic Potion" with rhubarb and strawberry flavours. "Sweetheart" with wild strawberry flavour. "I should know!" with lemon flavour. And "Go for it!" with blueberry muffin flavour. Sounds so good! I've only tried the blueberry muffin one and, as always with tea, was disappointed. Why does it smell so good and then the taste is such a let down and nowhere near the amazing smell? But I suppose tea drinkers would like these anyway. I'm just not one of those people!

Have a good weekend, all you lovelies♥!

too many reaching for a piece of cake

Before the Easter break my flatmate, Angel, and I baked a wee apple pie, using this recipe. She had never tried making an apple pie, so it was pretty fun! Sometimes I forget how different people are and actually found it astonishing that someone hadn't done some basic baking like this. Then I realized that a lot of people don't bake at all. I can't understand why! Baking is one of my favourite things and most things I've tried taste far better when they are self-made. All in all, it was a good wee pie. Seems like I've been posting a lot of recipes/things I've baked (ok, only two), and I still have a few things I fancy trying. Sometimes I just get really excited about baking and cooking and don't want to do anything else!

rum banana bread

I've been meaning to bake this banana bread for ages, and finally got around to it. In the original recipe there's coconut, but I don't really care for coconut, so mine's just plain rum banana bread. This actually is the first banana bread I ever made and the first I've ever tasted. As I didn't know what to expect, I can't really compare it with anything, but I think it wasn't too bad!

And I hope you're all having a beautiful Easter time, dolls♥! I'm just going to eat chicken (is that an Easter thing, I don't ken?) and loads of chocolate, plus a Finnish Easter delicacy, mämmi. And I'm also going to finish my Harry Potter -marathon. As far as I'm concerned, Easter's sorted!

french pear cake

 I was asked for the recipe of this French pear cake so here it is! It's from this French cook book with the most amazing looking foods, mmm. I've made this only a few times but everyone seems to enjoy a piece. I made one for my graduation party as well:-)

 

You'll need:

150g butter

4dl plain flour

1tbs sugar

1 small egg

And for the filling:

4 pears

squeezed lemon juice

250g almond paste

2 small eggs

golden syrup

 

 1. Mix the butter, flour and sugar together. Add the egg and mix quickly. If necessary, add 1tbs of water to make a dough. Place in the fridge in a plastic bag for at least an hour. (The book says you can keep it in the fridge for several days if you like so, but I'd advice it's best to take it out after the hour. It's easier to work with!)

2. Roll the dough out quite thin and line a pie plate with it. Prick the bottom with a fork.

3. (I've used tinned pears, but fresh ones are always better! The cake tastes just fine with tinned ones, though.) Skin the pears and cut them into half. Cut slits on the pears lengthwise and place them as "a star" on the dough. Squeeze some lemon juice on them, so they won't lose their colour.

4. Beat up the eggs and grease the cake's edges. Then mix the rest of the eggs with the almond paste. (I've used less almond paste than in the recipe, ~200g. Also, I find it easier if you microwave the paste lightly before mixing with the eggs!) Put the mixture around the pears in knobs. Bake in the middle of the oven (175C) for ~40min. Smear some syrup over the pears once you take the cake out of the oven.

 

Hope you'll try the recipe and fancy this little cake♥!

P.S. I'm away to Turku again this evening, so I'll see you in a couple of days!

food, glorious food

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like food. Actually, I think it must be unnatural not to like food. This year I've spent more time in the kitchen than ever, and can't believe how much I've been missing out. There's so much to learn about cooking and so much to eat.
The first three pictures are from Mother's Day, yesterday. Mama's one lucky gal to have such lovely children like me (and my sister and brother), as we celebrate both British and Finnish date for Mother's Day! Yesterday, I just cooked a wee meal for her which made her pleased all the same.
And the last two are today's tea. As it's my MFM day I tried a new veggie meal. I made baked pasta with tomatoes and mozzarella, using this Jamie Oliver recipe. Can I just say I love Jamie Oliver? He's so enthusiastic about what he does, and that's a quality I like in any person. Mama seemed to like the pasta, but I'm pretty sure the taste will still improve whilst I practice and try it again.

make your life a little bit sweeter

 

 

Some weeks ago I made this vanilla syrup, following these instructions  from A Beautiful Mess. I use it mainly for coffee, but it goes well with hot chocolate too and mama occasionally puts it in her tea. Don't think there's any limit on in what you can pour it into! Flavoured coffees can be so good, and with your own syrups it's possible to have one whenever you want. I'm quite sure I'll be trying to make some other flavours soon:-) And also I need to find some prettier bottles or dispensers for my syrups!

oat biscuits and rum

 

3oz plain flour

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

3oz demerara sugar

3oz porridge oats

3oz butter

1 tablespoon rum

1 tablespoon golden syrup

 

Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, sugar and oats.

 

Melt the butter with the syrup and rum, pour into the flour mixture.

 

Shape into balls, bake in 160C for 25min.

This is how I spent the other night. The recipe is from "The Cookery Year", it's a great book! Only after finishing I realized that 'shape into balls' doesn't mean actual balls, but circles. Anyway, the shape doesn't affect the taste! And as the recipe included rum, thought I'd have some rum&coke as well, even though we never have ice.. And to stay in the theme, I watched "The Rum Diary".

Hope you all had an amazing weekend♥!