A rainbow of tastes

Chocolate Babka and “The Dinner Party” Do you remember that one episode of Seinfeld with  Chocolate Babka  ? It was “ The Dinner Party ” episode who introduced me to this deliciousness. I remember this one very well after so many years. The “team” goes to a dinner party and Elaine says they shouldn’t go empty handed, so she decide to buy a bottle of wine and a chocolate babka to bring to the party. While Kramer and George’s responsibility is to buy the wine, Elaine and Jerry stop at a bakery to take the babka. But as always, everything goes wrong and they have to settle for a “lesser” babka: the cinnamon one :). And this was the first time I heard about babka. I must say that I was so curious about its taste back then, but silly me… I totally forgot about it. Until few days ago when, when while browsing through my magazines, I found an interesting pistachio babka recipe. I immediately remembered that Seinfeld episod...

Best Homemade Chocolate Brownies Who doesn’t love a good  Chocolate brownie ? But have you ever noticed how difficult it is to find a recipe that has everything you want in a brownie? So, for many years I’ve tried to find the best recipe without any luck. Until now! 🙂 This is the best homemade brownie I have tried.  It is fudgy and gooey, but also dark, intense and super chocolaty. This recipe is super easy, with truly spectacular results and you are definitely going to love it! Ingredients for Chocolate Brownies : 226 g salted butter, plus more for pan 340 g good quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 3 large eggs, room temperature 1 1/4 cups brown sugar (I used half coconut and half brown sugar) 1  cup pecan halves, coarsely chopped 2 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder 3.4 g instant espresso powder (optional) half a teaspoon vanilla powder 50 g dark or milk ...

D-shaped Cream Tart with white chocolate mousse On every social media, when searching for Cream Tart, you will find some pretty amazing looking cakes. They are cut into numbers or letters and even shapes and are also known as “Number Cake” or “Letter / Alphabet Cake”. This unique twist on the traditional cakes is actually not new. It’s been around for years, but lately has become very popular on Instagram and especially in Adi Klinghofer’s feed, a talented Israeli baker ( @adikosh123 ). Check her out as her desserts are pure art. Simply WOW!  The Cream Tart is made of delicious cookie layers filled with your choice of frosting (filling) and, of course, always topped with edible flowers, herbs, fresh berries, small pieces of chocolate, candies, meringues and macarons, etc. When I fist saw one of these cakes, I fell in love instantly. How could anyone not to! They look perfect, aren’t they?! But I must say that I was also curious ...

Moroccan Almond Pastries – M’hanncha Cake What is M’hanncha?   M’hanncha, a Moroccan Almond Pastry (snake), is a traditional dessert from Morocco made from rolled filo pastry stuffed with almond frangipane infused with exotic flavours and coiled like a serpent.  This snake cake can be made in very large sizes and served at different gatherings but also in smaller and individual portions.  M’hanncha Cake is very tasty and delicate dessert, with a perfect texture, crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle. Also, the flavours are in perfect balance with the texture, so as a conclusion: it’s a treat that you should not miss; you won’t regret it! 🙂 The ingredients below are for 2 medium cakes. Ingredients for M’hanncha Cake: 100 g almond meal 1 egg 100 g butter, room temperature 100 g icing sugar 1 tablespoon all purpose flour 1 tablespoon rosewater few dried rose petals (optional) lemon and orange zest 4 large sheets of fresh filo pastry few p...

Lækkerier magazine and Macarookies Few days back I saw an amazingly well made danish magazine. After a bit of browsing through out its pages I decided to buy it. Great idea! It is called “ Lækkerier ” and it’s filled with recipes for some delicious and great looking desserts and breads. Its name actually can be translated into “Delights or Delicacy” and let me tell you that this magazine has lots of delights, the only drawback is the difficulty of some of those recipes. Many of them require culinary and baking training and skills, however there are few that can be successfully made also by amateurs. And in today’s post I am trying to write about 1 recipe that everyone can make. But first few more words about this magazine. This edition theme is: “Grøn” which means “Green”. So all the recipes presented in this edition of the Lækkerier magazine are made with green ingredients, like: matcha powder, pistachio, pumpkin seeds, mint, basil, and other herbs, squash, spinach, kiwi, avocado...

Chocolate Easter Egg Nest Cake Who doesn’t love a simple, yet tasty dessert for Easter? Especially when decorated accordingly to Easter theme! Making this cake was the perfect excuse to buy these delicious and pretty good looking mini candy coated eggs. Don’t you think they look perfect? And they really taste amazing. How and where did I find these cute eggs? As a matter of fact, I bought these from Italy, just one day before returning to Denmark from a 16 days holiday spent in the country of pizza and pastas. Once I’ve seen them, I thought they will look good on a cake. So, after I eventually decided on the turquoise colour (the decision was hard, as they had lots of beautiful colours) and I instantly thought on how my Easter Cake should look like: dark layers and egg nest, turquoise frosting and candy coated eggs. Below is the recipe I’ve used to make this cake and as for the egg nest, check out this amazing youtube tutorial  on how to make it.  It’s a bit messy but qu...

Homemade Gluten Free Cookies These easy-to-make homemade Gluten Free Cookie s are simply everyone’s favourite! They are crunchy around the edges, soft in the centre and moreover, the entire family and all the friends will love them! If you don’t want your cookies gluten free, then you might choose any other type of flour to substitute the gluten free oats. The ingredients below are for aprox. 20-24 fairly large pieces. Ingredients for Homemade Gluten Free Cookies: 300 g Muscovado sugar (or other brown sugar) 250 g unsalted butter, softened  2 eggs  340 g gluten free old-fashioned oats, processed into a fine meal (or gluten free oat flour) 6 g salt  5 g baking powder 100 g dark chocolate  How to make Homemade Gluten Free Cookies: Preheat oven to 160 °C . Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine oatmeal flour with baking powder. Mix well and set asid...

Macarons with dark chocolate buttercream My first Macarons ever with a very decent result! They even have feet :). I’m a huge fan of the classic French macarons, however I never thought to give them a try. Honestly, I’ve always felt intimidating by them. Few days ago, Dragos asked me to bake him some macarons. Oh boy, so much research and work to make this impressive cookie. So, back to Dragos' request. Of course, I could not refuse him and after a lot of reading I decided to bake some macarons. I was so happy with the result, I even danced when I saw the feet of my macarons. But before I dug in, I searched the internet and read everything I had to know about how to make the perfect macarons, how they should look when proper done, how important is to measure the ingredients and how to keep them fresh. There are lots of amazing video tutorials, detailed techniques and recipes that’ll come out perfect every time. I am truly happy and confident to try to make macarons again...

Moldavian Mucenici - A Traditional Romanian Pastry Dessert Moldavian Mucenici are also a Romanian dessert, from Moldavian region. They are  similar to the Muntenian Mucenici  as they are both eaten traditionally on March, 9 when it is celebrated an old Orthodox tradition: the 40 Christian martyrs that were sentenced to death by freezing in a cold lake.  In this case, the dough shaped like figure 8 is much bigger in size and is baked instead of boiled in water. They are served with crushed walnuts and honey and flavoured with lemon or orange zest. The ingredients below are for 8-9 servings Ingredients for Moldavian Mucenici dough: 500 g all purpose flour 100 g granulated sugar 7 g active dry yeast or 25 g fresh yeast 1/3 cup neutral oil 1 cup almond milk (can be easily replaced with water), lukewarm a pinch of salt 1 teaspoon lemon zest 1 tablespoon vanilla extract Ingredients for Moldavian Mucenici syrup : 1 cup water 150 g sugar zest f...

Mucenici Muntenesti – A Traditional Romanian Dessert This nice Romanian dessert is eaten traditionally on March,9 when it is celebrated an old Orthodox tradition: the 40 Christian martyrs that were sentenced to death by freezing in a cold lake. The bowl of sweet and spiced liquid symbolise the lake, while the small 8 shaped figures are the martyrs (mucenic means martyr in Romanian), thrown into that lake. The below ingredients are for aprox. 150 pieces (4 small serving cups). Ingredients for the Mucenici dough : 150 g all purpose flour 80 ml hot water a pinch of salt Ingredients for boiling and serving Mucenici: 2 l of water zest from an orange zest from a lemon rum and vanilla extract 6 tablespoons of caster sugar (or honey if you prefer) 4-5 tablespoons of chopped walnuts cinnamon How to make Mucenici: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a large bowl, mix flour with salt. Make a hole in the centre and add i...

Baklava Rolls With Honey and Rose Syrup Baklava is a very popular sweet and nutty dessert originating in the Middle East. It consists of layers made of filo pastry and chopped nuts, soaked in honey or sugar syrup. The syrup can be flavoured with rose water or orange blossom water. It tastes best when made ahead to allow the filo pastry to soak up the syrup. It should be enjoyed in small quantities, served cold or at room temperature and paired with a strong, black coffee 🙂 This Honey Baklava is a strong combination of walnuts, almonds and pistachio nuts, honey, lemon juice and spices. And the best part is that our baklava is sugar free as we use honey instead of refined sugar. Although, it is not a very difficult recipe to make, it requires lot of time to prepare it so you’ll have to start early if you want to make it 🙂 If you prefer a more vegan friendly alternative, swap the butter for a very mild olive oil (or a neutral oil), honey with maple or agave syrup an...

Mini Rose Chocolate Cake           With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, Dragos and I, wanted to share with you a very cute and flavory dessert, filled with an amazing floral aroma: the mini rose cakes. Roses are a symbol of love, therefore a very appropriate flavour for the celebration of love. I hope you all enjoy this recipe! The bellow ingredients are for 4 mini cakes, depending on the size of your cake rings. However you can always adjust the quantities to make more or less portions. Ingredients for Mini Rose Chocolate Cake: For the cake batter: 1/2 all purpose flour 1/3 cup cocoa powder 4 large eggs, separated 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/3 cup granulated sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup water 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon vanilla extract For the frosting: 250 g Mascarpone cheese 3/4 cup icing sugar 2 teaspoons rosewater 1/2 tablespoon milk 1 to 2 drops  Pink Gel Food Color...