For the Love of Food

Last week I promised that I would reveal to you the hidden location of these meringue mushrooms and the walnut forest. Well, they’re sitting on top of what is, currently, one of the proudest moments in my baking history.

That is, they are on top of a six layer Fall hummingbird cake that I made. Originally, this would have been my 8th Project Foodblog post, but, I am sad to announce, that I didn’t make it to round 8.  However, I am quite proud that I made it this far

So, you are probably asking yourself at this point:

a – what is a Fall hummingbird cake

and

b – why is this one of the proudest moments in your (my) baking history??

You may be familiar with the traditional hummingbird cake. It’s deliciously sweet, is filled with bananas, pineapple, and pecans, and has more granulated sugar than flour in it. It’s sweet. And, it’s good.

So, why mess with something so fantastic?

why not!

I went ahead and substituted half of the bananas with homemade pumpkin puré (by volume) and the pecans with walnuts (because walnuts are in seasonal over abundance in Europe right now). In the end, I created a cake as delicious as the original with the added flavor of pumpkin pie…hence the name the Fall Hummingbird Cake.

And, to answer your second question, this is why I am so proud of myself:

That (3,5 years ago) was my first and last attempt at a multi-layered cake covered in frosting. Then, I chocked my oozing cake off to lack of knowledge and a bad recipe. Now, after much research…and a lot more practice…I am pretty sure that the recipe I used 3,5 years ago was perfectly fine and that I just should have planned to make the cake over 2 days instead of 2 hours. In the case of a mulit-layered cake, patience is key.

Now, I’m not saying that my cake is perfect – it does taste perfect – but I would love to achieve something that looks more like a professional cake next time and less like a hill. And, yes, there definitely will be a next time.

And, for those of you who would love a meringue mushroom forest on top of your cake, you can find my recipe (with accompanying video) here. Just remember to add the mushrooms at the last minute with a dab of some left over frosting. Then, sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

You will love the look on everyone’s face when they see this cake! It brought big smiles to my kids as well as the 5 guests we had over that evening and the 3 friends we visited the next day…it’s a big cake.   And, if the cake is too large for you to finish in a few days, slice it up, bag it, and freeze it…then you can enjoy it at your leisure for months to come.

The original recipe, and my inspiration for this cake can be found here. Sweetapolita used 8″ round cake tins, and I only have 1 10″ round spring form which is why my recipe yields 4 cakes and not 6. I intend to remedy this as soon as a find a place that sell cake tins in town. I definitely need something smaller in diameter and at least 3 or 4 so it doesn’t take me 4 hours to bake 4 cakes (for 8 layers). I ended up with 6 because I became impatient and my first cake crumbled.

The cake recipe comes together really quickly, but turning it into a multi-layered, beautifully frosted cake, takes time and patience.  Don’t let that frighten you – it is amazing what you can do with practice and time.

Cakes
Ingredients:
780 grams Flour
800 grams Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon
6 Eggs, lightly beaten
2 Cups Sunflower Oil
4 teaspoons Vanilla extract
220 grams Walnuts, finely chopped
454 grams canned crushed pineapple (with the juice)
2 Cups mashed Bananas (about 5-6 Bananas)
2 Cups homemade Pumpkin Puré

Directions:
Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).

Prepare 4 10″ round cake pans by spraying the bottoms and the sides with cooking spray and then lining the bottom of each pan with a cut-out round piece of parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together – by hand – the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside.

In another bowl, combine the eggs, oil, vanilla, walnuts, pineapple, bananas, and pumpkin puré. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and mix well until everything has incorporated.

Pour the batter, in equal measure, into your prepared cake tins, and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean.

Remove to a wire rack and let sit for 20 minutes – do not remove earlier or your cakes will crumble! Once 20 minutes have elapsed, turn over the baking tins onto the rack to remove the cake, peel off the parchment paper, and let the cake completely cool.

Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap each cake with plastic wrap and let chill in the refrigerator over night.

…the next day

Prepare the frosting (see recipe bellow) and then continue.

Remove your cake rounds from the refrigerator and prepare to cut each round in half. To do so you will need a large cutting board and a long serrated knife. Before cutting through the cake, score all along the edge of the cake where you wish to cut, then, with even, sawing strokes, cut each round in half.

Place 1 cake half top-side down on your cake plate (I used the removable bottom of my tart pan) and place a few scoops of frosting on it – spread so that it is evenly coated, then top with another cake half and repeat until all layers are used up.

Now your cake is ready to be crumb coated – which means that you need to cover the cake with a this layer of frosting on all sides and the top to seal in the crumbs – it does not have to look pretty – and then refrigerate for 1 hour before proceeding.

…1 hour later

Remove from refrigerator and cover with the final (pretty) coat of frosting. Refrigerate over night before slicing.

…the next day (again)

Remove from refrigerator just before serving. Slice, serve, and watch everyone smile and enjoy the silence of delicious cake.

Serves 28.

Frosting
Ingredients:
230 grams Butter, at room temperature
2 kg Powdered Sugar (yes – that’s 4 just over 4 pounds!)
4 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
907 grams Cream Cheese, cut into chunks, cold

Directions:
In an electric mixer with whisk attachment, cream the butter and sugar until just combined. Add the vanilla extract and all the cream cheese and whisk on medium speed for about 4 minutes. Turn the speed to high for one more minute, and it’s done.

I love cute notions – especially edible ones – so when I saw meringue mushrooms on Sweetapolita, I knew I just had to make them.

I had never made meringue mushrooms until a week ago.  At first it was very frustrating.  I had great directions, but still found myself lost and not knowing, for example, what stiff peaks were supposed to look like despite endlessly staring at Google Images.

My first batch was a flop and took 7 hours of baking to get the meringue to harden, and it deflated beyond salvage when I added the cocoa powder to make chocolate ones.  With my second batch I tried a whole knew recipe, but it came out so very hard that it wasn’t really fun to eat – crunch, crunch.  My third batch looked promising, but after some egg yolk slipped into the egg white, I had to beat it for 30 minutes to get soft peaks and bake 5 hours to get it to harden.  And, somehow – I’m not the kind of person who gives up easily – I decided to try a fourth time, and, even though I used the same recipe as the first and third times, I was able to pull it off perfectly without a hitch…even when I mixed into cocoa powder and matcha green tea powder.

The mushrooms are ever so light and fluffy, but still rich and chocolaty.

I think it wouldn’t have taken 4 times to perfect had I had some visual guidance.  And, I would like to share my hard earned knowledge with you in this video that I made with my husband’s cell phone for this week’s Project Foodblog Challenge:

Comeback next week to find out what I did with my meringue mushrooms. And, yes, it has to do with this mushroom and walnut forest.

And, for those of you, like myself, who like a quick reference text version of the recipe: Continue Reading »

Way back when my husband and I were just married, we used to go on picnics all the time. My husband’s work route took him through a park, and after work on nice warm days, I would meet half way and we would have a picnic for dinner.

Now that we have two wonderful children, our picnics revolve around play grounds and sandboxes more than they do around food. So, since Foodbuzz asked us to blog about a meal on the go for this weeks Project Foodblog challenge, I decided to recreate a picnic for two.

On one of our previous visits to Prague, we discovered 94-year-old Deli in the heart of Downtown that has some of the most unique and delicious sandwiches I’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying. Today, I would like to share the experience of a true Bohemian picnic with you.

The region of Germany that I live in is right next to Bohemia – which is in the western part of the Czech Republic, and much of the Bohemian culture extends into Bavaria. And, my butcher’s family just happens to be from Bohemia, so I asked for some advice as to what would be a typical Bohemian picnic meal to complement my potato salad and roast beef sandwiches. His mother-in-law came out from the back where she usually helps prepare take-away food, and shared some advice with me.  We settled on Brussels sprout salad, rice pudding with preserved, sour cherries, and elderflower spritzer.  My Bohemian picnic was starting to come to life.

And, with the surprisingly sunny weather we had this weekend, we were able to head on over to our community garden for a nice picnic dinner for two – while the kids played in the playground, of course!  I really love the scent of fresh air with my meal – it makes everything taste better.

Potato salad is a very classic picnic dish, but it’s much more fun – and delicious – when it’s in a sandwich.  It transforms a dry piece of bread into a deliciously creamy sandwich.  You can top it off with any deli meat of your liking; my favorite is roast beef because, not only does it taste good, but I have many wonderful childhood memories attached it it.  Then, go ahead and add some tomato, hard boiled egg, and pickle, and you have yourself the perfect Bohemian sandwich.

To complement the flavors and textures of my creamy potato salad and roast beef sandwich, I made a Brussels sprout salad.  I actually grew-up eating this same dish at home – even though I’m not Bohemian – with one major difference.  They add sugar.  I was really worried that this would over sweeten the Brussels sprouts and make them taste gross, but I was quite wrong.  And, although I still prefer my mother’s tangy version, this one is quite palatable and a really big hit with the kids.  My son was begging me for more after 2 helpings!

To help wash everything down, I chose to make an elderflower spritzer.  True, beer is very Bohemian, but I wanted something lighter that would offset the savory flavors of the sandwich.  This was actually the first time I had ever used and tasted elderflower syrup, and I was pleasantly surprised by its fragrant flavor.

To crown the meal, we enjoyed rice pudding topped off with the sour cheery pie filling that I canned this summer.  Traditionally, you would use sour cherries preserved in their own juices, but I find the creamier pie filling preserves the consistency of the rice pudding instead of turning it into a watery mess.

The general rule of a Bohemian picnic is to use what’s available to you.  Don’t have access to roast beef?  Use ham.  Or, go vegetarian and leave the deli meat out all together.  Not a big fan of Brussels sprouts?  You can make the same delicious salad using cauliflower.  Did you miss-out on the 3 weeks of the year when sour cherries are in season?  No problem, you can also top off your rice pudding with preserved plums, raspberries, or apples.  Use what you have in your pantry or what is in season and local.  Never heard of elderflowers and they don’t grow in your region?  Make a simple syrup with fresh petals and herbs available to you: rose petals, orange or lemon blossoms, lemon verbena leaves, lavender flowers, hibiscus flowers, mint leaves, vanilla bean …the list goes on and on.  Mrs. Willomitzer shared with me that when there was no wine they even made a simple syrup out of red wine vinegar and drank that mixed with water.  Creativity is key.

So, get your creative juices flowing, get cooking, pack your awesome Project Foodblog cooler or picnic basket, and take the time to have a Bohemian picnic. Continue Reading »

This week I shared with you how to make a delicious blue crusted buffalo crumble pizza. Today, it is your turn to help me out and vote for my post to help me win!

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The last day to vote is Thursday, October 21st!

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We really like pizza around here. Back when I only had one kid, we used to make pizza all the time. Now, I have a second child and not as much time during the day to make my favorite homemade pizza dough. So, when Foodbuzz asked us to put our own spin on pizza for Project Foodblog’s fifth challenge, I was happy to get baking again.

I decided to make a pizza that revolved around two of my favorite ingredients: chicken wings and ranch dressing, but not in a form that you would normally suspect.

Continue Reading »

This week I shared with you how to roast, process, and enjoy raw coffee beans at home. Today, it is your turn to help me out and vote for my post to help me win!

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The last day to vote is Thursday, October 14th!

The project foodblog challenge has driven me to seek out new and interesting ingredients at stores and parts of town that I had never previously visited.  This week’s challenge brought me to a wig shop in Nuremberg.  When my friend told me that I had to go to wig shop for raw coffee beans, I took a double take at her email.  So, in the spirit of trying out something new, I made my way past all the wigs and hair weave and bought some raw Ethiopian  coffee beans.

A while back I had the pleasure of watching a colleague preform an Ethiopian coffee ceremony in our community garden, and since roasting coffee is not something we take the time to do everyday, I thought it would be a fun adventure.

I have to say that I really enjoy learning something new (and I bet you do too!).  Did you know that raw coffee beans smell like a cross between freshly pulled garden weeds and a far, far off hint of ground coffee??  I also learned that the coffee smell that sends all of us flocking to the nearest café does not come about during roasting, but rather while grinding.

This was definitely a lot of fun and easy to do.  The “hardest” part was finding the raw coffee beans.  Now, let me show you how it’s done!

Continue Reading »

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Now, I have hosted many parties in my short life: impromptu dinner parties, lunch parties, brunch parties, garden parties, winter solstice parties, children’s birthday parties, Thanksgiving parties…I could go on for quite a while.  But, I’ve never hosted a luxurious dinner party.  So, when Foodbuzz challenged us to host a luxurious dinner party I hit the web to get ideas on how to host one.

To my utter surprise, there is not a lot of information out there on how to host a luxurious dinner party – needless to say a small intimate dinner party.  There is plenty of information on how to throw huge and elegant wedding bashes, but since I cannot seat 100+ in my home, I had to turn to other sources.

I quickly emailed the two people I knew would have detailed thoughts as to what a luxurious dinner party would entail.  Could I hold it in my home since my dining table is in my kitchen?  Would I need a server?  These are just some of the questions I had.  Surprisingly – well, maybe not – I got quite different answers from both sources, but good advice none the less.

So, what do you need to put together a luxurious dinner party?? Continue Reading »

When Foodbuzz asked us to pick a cuisine that was from another culture – and outside of our comfort zone – I had to think really hard.  First I had to think of where I have never traveled to- I have traveled to quite a few countries -  AND then also take out all the cuisines of countries I regularly “travel to” in my kitchen (Chinese, North African, Japanese, etc).  Picking something outside of my comfort zone is also pretty hard since I generally enjoy all foods.  BUT, everyone has something they’re just not so keen on.

Two foods that I am generally less comfortable eating are anything with curry and fish.  Fish is generally eaten everywhere in the world, but there are places in the world that eat more fish than others.  So, I pulled out my map (I’m a geographer and always have  a map handy) and started looking for someplace I’d never been, never had cuisine from that region, and predominantly ate fish.  Soon my finger was circling around Iceland.

I’ve never been to Iceland, but have always wanted to go.  It just seems so beautiful there with it’s majestic mountains and fjords.  And, they eat fish – lots of fish.  Dry fish, salted fish, cooked fish, smoked fish, baked fish…fish, fish, fish – and sheep heads (and other body parts).  This was it – I was already starting to feel nervous – I would have to not only make a fish dish, but most of the recipes looked through either had disgusting looking food in their pictures, or no picture at all.  I opted for a recipe with no picture so that I wouldn’t have any bias as to what it would look like, and tried to keep calm.

I decided on a recipe for fish soup since I’d never had fish in a soup before and I’m all about trying new things.  I read through many many recipes, and settled on one that had many interesting ingredients, but was quick to prepare.

And, to my utter surprise – it was good.  It had a wonderfully mild flavor, and I promptly found myself at the end of my second bowl.  My husband was not so thrilled – he doesn’t like anything that has to do with fish.  Luckily, my older son is head over heals for fish and was able to share in the delight with me.  I also went ahead and packaged some up for a friend of mine who always brings me different soups to try, and she called my in the evening to get the recipe.

This soup is good.

Continue Reading »

Last week I shared with you my love of blogging and why I would make a great food blog star.  Today, it is your turn to help me out and vote for my post to help me win!

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The last day to vote is Thursday, September 23!