Journey to the sweet side: summer

"Hey, this is one of your top 5 desserts!" This may be my ultimate favourite thing to hear from my family, particularly if the dessert in question is a product of my imagination and it turns out it is not just edible, but super delicious.

Following a recipe is one thing and for the most part, things will turn out just as they should. I also think that I have acquired at least that much experience to be confident enough that I can tweak a recipe to better suit my taste and need. I have also kinda made up recipes before by taking together pieces of different recipes and putting them together to form a new recipe (remember my amazing raspberry entremet). But making up a recipe from scratch .... that is a whole new territory.

To go with the summer heat, I envisioned a moist tropical cake, combining pineapple and coconut for that summery feel. To celebrate this baking success, this cannot be just a coconut pineapple cake, it needs a name. So I christened it the Tropicana. Viva la Tropicana! Viva summer! (Ha ha Spanish is not my thing)

Oh and another bonus to this cake? It is completely dairy free!

For a 16 cm/6 inch cake:
2 eggs
100 g brown sugar
1 packet of vanilla sugar or 1 vanilla bean
40 ml oil
20 ml water
20 ml + 1 tsp rum
6 g baking powder
50 g flour
50 g + couple of tbsp dessicated coconut
can of canned pineapple (pineapple rounds)
20 g cornstarch
600 g coconut whipping cream

Separate the eggs and whisk the egg whites to a stiff meringue. Add brown sugar and vanilla to the egg yolks and whisk them together so that they double in size and get really pale in colour.

Add the oil to the yolks and whisk. Continue with the water and rum and lastly with the baking powder, flour and coconut. Fold in your meringue and transfer to a baking pan, lined with baking paper.

Bake at 175° C until the top is golden brown, but you need to test whether the cake is done with a toothpick. If the batter still sticks to the toothpick, cove the cake with tin foil so the top won't burn and check it every 5-10 minutes.

Drain the canned pineapple (don't throw away the juice, we'll need it later) and slice the pineapple rounds into pieces (you will probably have some leftover rounds). You can of course use fresh pineapple, if it is in season, but I just didn't want to bother with the peeling and the cutting. Whip the coconut whipping cream as instructed on the packaging.

You should get around 350 ml leftover pineapple juice from draining the pineapples. Just in case, check what it says on the label. Usually the amount of pineapple and the amount of juice are specified on the side of the can. Measure out 20 - 30 ml juice for later. Also measure out a few tablespoons of juice t mix with the cornstarch. Once the cornstarch has dissolved, heat the juice and add the cornstarch mixture. Cook for a few minutes and you will see the juice getting more translucent and thick. Let it cool to room temperature. This will be part of our cake filling.

Once the cake and the pineapple filling are cooled, everything is set for assembly. Cut the cake into three rounds. Place the first round on the serving plate and line it with a cake ring. If you have it, also use the acetate foil, but don't worry, this works just fine without it.

Mix the pineapple juice, which we saved from before with a teaspoon of rum. Lightly brush the cake round with this mixture, then add approx 4 to 5 tablespoons of the pineapple filling and top with chopped pineapple.

Top the pineapple with coconut whipping cream and sprinkle with coconut.

Repeat with the second cake round. Brush the third round with pineapple juice mix just like the previous two, but don't top it with pineapple filling. Instead mix the leftover filling with leftover whipping cream. Use this mixture to frost the top and the sides of the cake. Actually I suggest letting everything set and settle for a few hours in the fridge with the cake ring still on, before attempting to remove it and to frost the outside of the cake. Sprinkle the whole cake with coconut.

julij 21, 2016

I don't think that cake pops need any special introduction. For me they are are a parents friendly way of measuring out your kids' sugar intake. One after lunch and maybe one more because they look at me really nicely and said that they are soooooo good :) Still these can be really sweet. So my mind goes into overdrive. There must be a more kid friendly out there. The idea is to replace the middle of the pop with fresh fruit. My trusty friend Pinterest doesn't yield many results, which is surprising given the number of cake pop pins floating around there. Google isn't any better. Well I guess I'll have to be the test bunny (buhuhu ... not).

Select a fruit and cut it into appropriately sized pieces. I tried it with strawberries and bananas and both worked fine. You can also use whole strawberries, but choose smaller ones, otherwise your cake pops will be way too big and might fall off the stick.

Cut the fruit into rounds and then cut them into quarters or thirds. This should give you a decent sized base for the cake pops. Make the cake pop mix, which for me is some leftover chocolate cake, mixed with melted dark chocolate an mascarpone cheese. I am usually just eyeballing it with the ingredient amounts. If the mix falls apart in you hand, add more mascarpone or melted chocolate. If you can make a ball in your hand, the mix is just fine. If it feels too sticky, add more cake. Measure out the mix in your hand, make it into a ball and smash it down like a pancake. Place a piece of fruit on the pancake and then fold it around the fruit, making it into a ball. Roll it around you palms to seal any holes. Let the pops cool in the fridge.

Finish the cake pops as usual, first melting some chocolate, dipping a stick into it and securing it into the pop. Be more careful with the banana filled ones, since banana is more soft than strawberry or usual cake pop mix. Dip the cake pops into the chocolate and decorate.

If you are feeling extra creative, use those whole strawberries and don't make the pops into balls, but instead just follow the natural shape of the strawberry, which will result in a cone shaped pop. This is a perfect base for a rose, since it is the same shape as a rose bud. The petals are made with white chocolate ganache using ratio of 3 : 1 for chocolate : cream and a petal piping tip.

This is how this beauty looks from the inside ... mmmmm. It is not just healthier, but for my taste, it is definitely a more tasty version of the regular cake pop. I'll be definitely making these for my kids' next birthday.

cake pops chocolate fruit kids summer

julij 21, 2016

My mom has been spoiling me with mangoes again. Not with those kind of greenish and hard, but with those fantastically red and soft mmmmmm. While they may be more common elsewhere, here you have to find a small grocer and look him really nicely. In return you'll get one of these beauties, while turning a blind eye at how much they are going to cost you. A cheaper and usually just as suitable solution would be to use canned mangoes, which work fine and can be always found at a local supermarket.

This will not be a typical mousse, mainly because of the added yogurt. It is just the right balance between sweet and fresh and just what you need on a warm summer afternoon. And is is super easy to make too.

For 6 servings:
2 mangoes
1 plain yogurt (180 ml)
1 cream (200 ml)
confectioner's sugar (to taste)
4 sheets of gelatin

Peel the mangoes and cut one whole and a half of the second into pieces. Leave one half whole for later. I already wrote about the easiest way how to peel a mango, but it was in my Slovene blog. Even if you do know a word of Slovene (which I will assume you don't) the post is pretty self-explanatory, so no worries. Just be sure to position the mango correctly. The post however will only be helpful for the part where you need the pieces of mango. You'll still need to use a peeler or a knife if you want to peel the remaining half, which we wan to preserve whole. If a mango is nice and ripe, you could also just spoon it out of the peel.

Soak the gelatin sheets in cold water. Puree the mango and heat it up in a small pot. Squeeze the extra water from the gelatin and add it to the mango puree. Stir until the gelatin has completely dissolve. Let the puree cool to room temperature. Whip the cream with confectioners sugar (one spoon was enough for me) until firm peeks form and combine with yogurt. Once the puree is cool enough, add the cream-yogurt mixture and stir to combine. Leave in the fridge to set for a couple of hours.

If you want to serve this dessert as a cream, you can completely leave out the gelatin. 4 gelatin sheets or an equivalent in powder (approx 6 g or 2 tsp) is just enough for the cream become more mousse like and it holds its shape when spooned onto a plate. If you wanted to have more like a panna cota /jello style dessert, you would need to increase the gelatin amount, otherwise you will have trouble demoulding it on the plate. Establishing how much gelatin is just right was actually just a fluke, because this was all I was left with, after I forgot to buy on y last store trip. Yeah well "tudi slepa kura zrno najde". No idea what I am talking about?! It is a Slovene proverb, literally translated into "even a blind chicken find a grain", meaning that every once in a while everyone will get lucky. I certainly lucked out here, because this turned out super creamy and just like a mousse should be.

Spoon the mousse on the plate and decorate with slices of leftover mango.