Cherry-ricotta cake (Třešňovo-tvarohová bublanina)

This desert is typical for summer months when cherry trees are full of juicy red cherries and the sky is blue and sun warms up your skin. This recipe could be use for any other fruits, especially summer berries are delicious in combination with light sweet sponge and creamy ricotta. There is nothing better than to enjoy summer sunshine with piece of fruity “bublanina” and refreshing lemonade.

6 yolks
200 g caster sugar
1/2 glass of water
1/2 glass of vegetable oil
240 g baking flour
1 baking powder
thick meringue from 6 egg whites
250 g ricotta cheese
80 g icing sugar
one yolk
zest from one lemon
1/4 kg cherries
icing sugar sprinkle final cake

Riccota filling (tvarohová náplň)

In a bowl simply mix well 250 g of ricotta (czech tvaroh) with one yolk, 80 g of icing sugar, zest from one lemon and mix well until sugar gets dissolved. Use directly for decorating of store some hours in cold.

The preparation is very easy and will not take much of your time. As usual you start by mixing egg yolks with sugar and water until all the sugar gets completely dissolved. Continue mixing while adding oil little by little. Then add flour and baking powder and prepare homogenous thick dough. To make the dough smoother and sponge more soft, prepare meringue from yolk eggs and mix it gently into dough. Then pour the dough onto baking tray that has been greased with butter and sprinkled by flour. Decorate the surface of the cake with ricotta filling and on the top put washed cherries. Bake for about 40 min at 180oC in a pre-heated oven. Let the cake to cool down, sprinkle it with sieved icing sugar and enjoy your relaxing sweet summer moment!

Chodský koláč

Rather large rounded cakes with various sweet fillings come from south-western part of the Czech Republic, that was always surrounded by Germany. Patriotic people of this region, called Chodové, used to work as guards protecting the border from potential invaders. Chodové maintained their culture and traditions from german influences. There are references in the literature from 19th century about processions of Chodové to nearby hill with church of St. Vicent. Procession were accompanied with celebrations and festivities. People used to dress up in their best traditional clothes and prepared large circle sweet cakes. Legends say that women used to wake up 3 times during the night to knead the growing dough for cakes. Fillings were prepared from poppy seeds, dark plum marmalade, ground and boiled nuts or ricotta (tvaroh). White creamy ricotta had to be located always in the centre of the round cake and the rest of the decorative ingredients reflected from which village the cake comes from. The ornament of the cake resembled the landscape of frontier countryside where plum marmalade or poppy seed filling represent pasture lands and forests, raisins and almonds then resembled houses.

2 dl milk
80 g caster sugar
3 yolks
25 g fresh yeast
120 g butter
pitch of salt
flour for rolling dough
1 beaten egg to brush surface of cake at the end
raisins, almonds and walnuts for decoration
filling from poppy seeds, ricotta and plum marmalade

Poppy seed filling

Grind about 200 g of poppy seeds in a mill or coffee grinder or just directly buy them finely ground. Combine oily poppy seeds with 250 ml of milk, 2 tablespoons of dark rum, 2 table spoons of honey and 60 g of vanilla sugar. 4 ground cloves could be added too. The mixture is then slowly cooked on low heat, being constantly stirred, until the sugar dissolves. Continue to cook and stir until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat and cool before use.

Ricottafilling (tvarohová náplň)

In a bowl simply mix well 0.5 kg of ricotta (czech tvaroh) with one yolk, 80 g of icing sugar, 2 tablespoons of dark rum and mix well until sugar gets dissolved. Then add gently meringue from one egg white and use directly for decorating of store some hours in cold.

Plum filling

For the best result use dark thick marmalade, in Czech republic called “povidla” and add for 400 g of povidla 4 tablespoons of dark rum and a bit of cinnamon.

Cake dough

Combine yeast, 1 spoon of sugar and 3 spoons of flour with warm but not hot milk and the surface with more flour. Let the yeast grow until the volume at least doubles. Meanwhile in a big bowl mix the rest of flour and sugar, pitch of salt, yolks and warm butter. Add the yeasts and knead well to have smooth and slightly sticky dough. Form a ball from it, sprinkle it with flour and the bowl cover with clear dish towel. Keep the dough in a warm place to let it grow more or less 2 hours. Then move the dough onto well floured work surface, divide it into several parts and from each of them roll smaller or bigger circle. Move the circles of future cakes into baking tray covered with baking paper. Using your fingers gently push and move the dough in a direction out from each circle towards its borders, so except the thick edges the dough is thin. Then finally decorate the cakes with the filling according to your taste and imagination. Don‘t forget to use raisins or almonds that can’t miss on authentic “chodský koláč”.  Brush the edges with beaten egg to give them nice gloss and put the tray into pre-heated oven on 200oC. Bake about 15-20 minutes until the edges of cakes turn golden-brown.

Mojito cheesecake

An ideal option as a light and refreshing desert for your summer party. If you prepare this original treat for your friends you will surely amaze them and become true cocktail queen 😉  

40 g unsalted butter
300 g almond or cacao biscuits
110 g caster sugar
juice of 4 limes
zest of 1 lemon
1 large cup of mint leaves
200 ml of white rum
250 g mascarpone
300 g cream cheese
Decoration: mint leaves, quarters of lemon slices, flower, grated white or dark chocolate

First crush all the biscuits in the food processor and mix the biscuits crumbs with melted butter. Press mixture to the base of 12 serving glasses and leave to chill in the fridge.
Meanwhile in a pan bring to the boil sugar and half of the volume of white rum. Stir until sugar gets completely dissolved, then simmer for about 5 minutes. Add juice of limes, zest of lemon, mint and  the rest of the rum. Remove form heat and let to infuse for about 20 minutes.
In a large bowl combine mascarpone with cream cheese. Strain syrup through a sieve, pressing down to extract as much flavour as possible. Whiz the syrup in a processor with mascarpone and cheese. Then just spoon into glasses. Chill for at least one hour to set. When ready to serve, garnish each glass with slice of lemon, mint leaves, flower or grated chocolate.

Black & white ricotta cake

One of my mum’s favorite. It is quite heavy but delicious and surely these sweet calories would make you happy 🙂

base:

40 dkg flour
1 tablespoon cacao powder
250 g unsalted butter
1.5 teaspoon of raising powder
1 yolk
3 tablespoons milk

ricotta filling:

3/4 kg ricotta
3 yolks
1 tablespoon of flour
30 g sugar
30 g vanilla sugar
zest from one bigger lemon
4 egg whites

In the food processor mix all ingredients for the base. Prepare well homogenous hard dough, form a small ball from it, wrap it in cling film and leave it in the fridge for one hour. Meanwhile in a large bowl combine ricotta, yolks, flour, sugar and lemon zest, make sure that sugar gets dissolve completely. Then separately whisk whites into solid meringue and slowly combine with ricotta cream.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC and prepare baking tray. Grease it with margarine and dust it with flour. Then take the hard dark dough for base from the fridge and grate it into small peaces over the surface of the tray to cover it homogeneously. On the top spread the ricotta cream and leave to bake about 40 minutes at 180ºC until the surface turns golden brown and cakes starts to smell nicely. Bon apetite!

Vanilla biscuits

Biscuits

500 g flour
250 g unsalted butter
1 whole egg
150 g sugar
1 spoon of vanilla essence

Decorative icing

200 g icing sugar
1 white part of large egg
1/4 of teaspoon of cream of tartar (potassium bitartrate)
few drops of lemon juice
Coloring of your choice

In the mixer whisk sugar with butter until it turns into smooth cream. Then add vanilla essence and egg and keep mixing. Sieve the flour and little by little add it to the mixture until the dough becomes homogenous and not sticky. Form a ball shape from it, wrap into cling film and leave about half an hour to rest in the fridge (but this step it not necessary, if you do not have enough time, just skip it). Then roll the dough on floured surface into about 4 mm thick layer. Using cookie cutters cut your favorite shapes, carefully place on the baking tray covered with baking paper. Bake in pre-heated owen on 180ºC for about 10-15 minutes until the biscuits become golden-brown. Be creative and use your phantasy to decorate your biscuits. Above I added really easy recipe for decorative icing that you can prepare by yourself in home. Simply combine all ingredients and whisk well in the mixer until it gets thick consistency similar to tooth paste. This icing is used for decorating the surfaces of cakes and biscuits. But nowadays there is plenty of decorative stuff available in specialized shops, including colors in gel or powder, stickers, edible glitter, edible lustre, colored icing and many more. So explore it, play and of course, enjoy it!

Fantastic chocolate cupcakes

The world of cupcakes is full of amazing colours, flavours and fancy shapes. Cupcakes appeared in the USA in 19^th century. They were called “cupcakes” for two reasons. Firstly, all ingredients were measured by volume in standard-size cups and second, the cakes were originally really baked in pottery cups. They become very popular because of quite easy preparation, very fast baking time (compared to large cakes that have to be in oven for about an hour) and many different possibilities for decorating them. Now cupcakes are real pop culture in the culinary world. I do not want to pretend to be specialist in baking cupcakes but I went to curse to learn at least the basics and here I want to share it with you.

12 CUPCAKES: 

120 g self-raising flour

140 g caster sugar

1 teaspoon rising powder

1 large egg

40 g soft unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

125 ml milk

50 g dark chocolate

 SWISS MERENQUE: 

2 egg whites

125 g white caster sugar

175 g soft unsalted butter

fruit paste of cacao powder

BUTTERCREAM:

125 g soft unsalted butter

250 g icing sugar

vanilla extract or coffee or pure cacao powder or fruit paste or gel colouring

Or fondant icing with various colourings

For preparing cupcakes first combine all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder and butter) in a large bowl. On the water bath melt dark chocolate, add milk and egg. Then stir the chocolate mixture into flour mixture until is well combined. Line the 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases and preheat the oven to 170^oC. Spoon the mixture into paper cases and bake about 15-20 minutes until cupcakes are well risen and golden brown on the surface. Remove from the oven and set aside until cupcakes cool down before starting decorating them.

For the easiest decoration use swiss merenque. First whisk egg whites with normal sugar on the water bath. Keep mixing for 4-5 minutes until sugar dissolves completely. Then let cool down and move mixture into the mixer. Add butter with fruit paste or cacao powder, mix well and decorate using pastry (piping) bag.

To prepare buttercream simply whisk butter with icing sugar in the mixer until it gets completely dissolved. To make buttercream more attractive add fruit paste, vanilla or coffee extract or some colourings. Store cream at cold and decorate using piping bag.

Or if you want to be even more playful you can decorate your cupcakes with fondant icing that can be combined with different colourings and aromas. There are so many accessory decorations available in specialized shop so be creative and follow your fantasy!

 

 

Vánočka – Czech Christmas Bread

Vánočka is one of the main symbols of czech traditional Christmas. Vánočka was baked in 18th century as a gift of craftsmen for their nobility. There are many variants, the most common has almonds and raisins but could be also flavored  with hazelnuts, anise or fennel. A coins used to be baked inside of Vánočka and it would bring good luck to a person who found it.
There is lot of symbolism in the shape of Vánočka. Here I prepare much simplified version with only 2 layers each consists of 3-strand braid. Originally there were 3 layers. One made of 4 strands that symbolize earth, sun, water and air. The second layer consists of 3 strands that represent wisdom, will and sense and finally the top layer with only two strands that stand for knowledge and love. Baking the Vánočka was always considered as art that in the past involved lot of rituals and rather weird rules. As an example – woman baking Vánočka could have been dressed only in white, with white apron and hat. She could not speak during baking and while the dough was rising she had to keep jumping up and down to make the dough rise better. Burned and cracked Vánočka would then bring bad luck to the house.
I believe you would have success with this recipe (with no need to jump, really) and the aroma of Christmas would beautifully spread out through your house. Enjoy it!

500 g plain flour
100 g butter
80 g sugar
250 ml milk
50 g fresh yeast
3 egg yolks
50 g dark raisins
40 g sliced almonds
zest of one big lemon
pitch of salt
1 beaten egg to brush surface of Vánočka at the end
icing sugar and 2 tablespoons of sliced almonds to sprinkle Vánočka  at the end

Separate milk half and half into two small cooking pots. In one of them prepare start yeast culture – crumble the fresh yeast into warm milk (should not be hotter then 37oC!), add one tea spoon of sugar, pitch of salt and one large spoon of flour. Stir a bit and leave to rise in a warm place until yeast will at least double the volume.  Meanwhile warm up milk and butter in the second pot until butter gets completely dissolved. Then take it off the heat and add to big bowl with flour, rest of the sugar, 3 egg yolks, lemon zest, sliced almonds  and raisins. Finally add yeast and mix well. Harder you work the mass, better it will rise. When the dough is smooth and sticky, make a round loaf of it, dust with flour and leave it in the bowl covered with clean dish towel. Let it rise in a warm place for 2 hours until the dough doubles its volume.
Move the dough onto lightly floured board. Divide into 3 large pieces and 3 smaller pieces. Roll each piece into a strand about 40 cm long. On the tray with baking sheet braid 3 large pieces loosely and pitch ends together. Then braid 3 thinner pieces as and place them carefully on the top of large braid tucking the ends underneath.  Cover with a cloth and let rise half an hour more in a warm place.
Heat oven to 170oC. Brush Vánočka with beaten egg and sprinkle with sliced almonds. Finally, puncture Vánočka at both ends and in the middle with wooden skewers to prevent warping of the dough on one side during baking.  Bake 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 150oC and bake 20 min longer. Let cool completely before slicing. Dust with icing sugar if desired.

Buchty (Czech sweet filled buns)

This is one of the most traditional pastries of czech cuisine. Nothing really snob or posh, rather typical for working class people from country. However the delicate aroma of freshly baked tray of these buns and their delicious taste can make anybody addicted to them. Existence of this pastry is dated to 17th century when the effect of growing fermenting yeast was described and first used in a kitchen. At those times buchty were mainly cooked in a hot water instead of being baked in an oven as they are nowadays. Also before they were more often salty or served with melted butter on the top. Now when your dough grows well and you cut it in small squares, you fill them with sweet filling (like fruit marmalade, sweet curd cheese, sweet filling from poppy seeds or from nuts, thick plum jam, raisins soaked in rum or cooked apples with cinnamon), close them in a shape of small balls and bake them.

100 g margarine
100 g icing sugar
2 yolks
500 g flour
1/2 l milk
30 g fresh yeast
2 teaspoons of rum
lemon zest
your favorite filling: fruit marmalade, sweet curd cheese, sweet filling from poppy seeds or from nuts, thick plum jam, raisins soaked in rum or cooked apples with cinnamon
2 table spoons of vegetable oil for brushing the buns
icing sugar for dusting

In electric mixer whisk two yolks, sugar, rum and margarine until you get smooth cream. Combine it with flour and continue kneading manually. Then prepare start culture of yeast – in the warm (but not hot) milk crumble the yeast and one or two teaspoons of sugar. Stir up and let the yeast grow for about 5-10 minutes. When the volume doubles, mix it gently with the dough. Now knead well the dough until it is completely homogenous and a bit sticky. Shape the dough into ball, place it in a large bowl, sprinkle its surface with a bit of flour, and cover with clean dish towel. Let the dough grow in a worm place for about 1 hour until it at least double the size. Move the dough onto well floured work surface. Roll it until it is about 0.4 cm tall. Cut the dough into squares (~ 8 x 8 cm), make a shallow hole in the middle of each square and place a teaspoon of your favorite filling in the centre of the square. Then carefully fold and close each buchta in a way that filling would not leak out. Prepare baking tray, grease it with margarine and dust it with flour. Place buns next to each other in the rows on the tray, brush them with vegetable oil, cover with dish towel and let them rest for additional 20 min. Then finally bake in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes at 200oC. Remove from the oven when the surface gets golden-brown color, dust with icing sugar and enjoy!

Breakfast for lovers

This desert consists of chocolate sponge, much lighter than typical chocolate brownies, thick vanilla custard, little bit of whipped cream and strawberries. Any doubts why I consider it as perfect sweet breakfast for lovers? Moreover this recipe is really simple and fast. Thus you can create delicious treat for somebody special and your cake will not be too heavy nor too sweet but surely brings lot of pleasure… 

RECIPE:

100 g margarine
100 g caster sugar
100 g flour
1.5 teaspoons of raising powder
2 medium eggs
25 g cocoa powder
2 tablespoons of milk
for custard: one packet of custard (vanilla cream)
                   half of the recommended volume of milk (usually 250 ml)
    40 g sugar
for topping: strawberries
whipped cream
    

Preheat oven to 180oC. Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix with an electric whisk until you get light and creamy cake mixture. Grease and line 20 cm round cake tin and pour the dough. Bake about 30-35 minutes until the cake springs back when lightly toughed. Let the cake cool down slowly in open oven. Meanwhile prepare custard by mixing the powder for vanilla cream with milk and sugar on low heat. When the cream starts to boil it gets rapidly very thick. Remove it from the heat, you can even transfer it to a cold bath and keep mixing it until the cream gets cold. Constant stirring is important to avoid lumps and creating dried crust on top of the cream. Spread the custard over the top of chocolate sponge cake, decorate with whipped cream, strawberries or any other fruits that you like. Bon appetite, enjoy…!

Beer apple strudel (Apfelstrudel)

One of the most popular pastries in Austria-Hungarian empire since 18th century until now. The oldest recipe for strudel is dated from the year 1696 and is saved in the municipal library of the Strudel’s capital – in Vienna. Apparently strudel is related to baklava and came to Austria via Turkish to Hungarian and than from Hungarian to Austrian cuisine.
Strudel consists of pastry jacket filled with grated cooking apples, sugar, cinnamon, raisins, hazelnuts and bread crumbs. The basic pastry is made from flour, oil or butter and salt, although there are many variations to this. Here for example I show you a pastry where oil and salt are replaced by dark beer. The dough should be thin and elastic, traditionally prepared by flogging against a table. Luckily we have nowadays good mixers that do the hard work for us.
The best is if you can serve your strudel warm and sprinkled a bit with icing sugar. In many countries strudel is served with different toppings like vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or custard. Strudel is usually accompanied by tea or coffee but in some Viennese cafe it is served as real treat with champagne.

RECIPE:

350 g flour
250 g margarine
12 spoons of dark beer
700 g cooking apples (crisp and aromatic)
juice from one small lemon
3-4 teaspoons of cinnamon
50 g raisins (better if they were marinated in rum overnight)
50 g hazelnuts or walnuts
80 g sugar
2 spoons of bread crumbs
1 egg
icing sugar for dusting

Pre-heat the oven to 180oC. In the mixer whisk well margarine with flour and dark beer until you get smooth and elastic dough. Make a ball from it and place it for about 20 min. to a pre-warmed casserole. Make sure the dough is kept in warm. Then if you are not ready to continue to roll it out, move the dough into fridge and leave to rest there until you can proceed further.
Meanwhile wash the apples (you can peel them if you prefer), cut them into quarters and remove the core. Then grate them into thin slices or just cut them into very small pieces in the mixer. Stir grated apples with cinnamon, juice from lemon (it prevents that cut apples turn brownish), raisins and nuts.
Separate the ball of strudel dough into two parts, sprinkle well the working surface with flour and roll the pastry into thin sheets (one sheet from each part of the dough). Spoon the apple mixture onto the pastry leaving 2 cm empty around the edges. Then very carefully roll up the pastry like a big cigar and move it onto greased baking tray. Brush the pastry with the mixture of whisk egg. Bake at 180oC for about 40-50 min. until the pastry is golden brown on the surface. Dust the warm cake with icing sugar and serve warm.