Leaving for London...

I'm leaving today! In 30 minutes, to be exact. This week, I received The Versatile Blogger Award from Baby Boberg Bump blog! Thanks so much for considering me! I wanted to share my award with 15 other bloggers and tell you seven random things about myself, but I ran out of time (what a surprise). So you'll have to wait until I come back, which will be next Wednesday.

I hope the plane doesn't crash and that I don't get lost in the big city! Of course I won't take my laptop with me because I need those precious kilograms of my luggage to bring home all the things I'm going to buy. I'm still an optimist about that.

Yes, this is my cat, taking a nap in my suitcase, as usual. Unfortunately I can't take him with me because he's too heavy (not fat, just big boned, of course). He always gives it a try though.

Yesterday I went to the movies and saw the national premiere of Knight and Day. For free! It was a funny movie, but I would never have paid to watch it, lol. I think the god of cinema (if such a god exists, maybe they had one in ancient Greece) wanted me to have those tickets for free, because on Sunday, I'm going to BFI IMAX to watch Inception. I've never been to an IMAX cinema. And, it's the largest screen in Europe! It was painful paying 16 € for a ticket, but I hope it'll be worth it, since many critics liked the film.

So, I'm leaving you all now, for a week. I probably won't have access to a computer or internet. I hope you'll all be having a great time like I will (I hope)! In the mean time, try making the Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake, because it's really good. I, of course, will be enjoying various cupcakes from London bakeries! Muahahahahahahahahaha!

Daring Bakers' Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake

You might have noticed that I love ice cream! Until now, I thought I needed an ice cream maker (or even better, a Kitchenaid Artisan with the ice cream attachment) to make it and I didn't even think of trying to make some ice cream without it. This challenge really opened my eyes!

The July 2010 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita's world - life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that's then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

Swiss Rolls


6 medium sized eggs
1 cup (225 g) caster sugar + extra for rolling
6 tbsp (45 g) all purpose (plain) flour
5 tbsp (40 g) cocoa powder, sifted together with flour
2 tbsp (30 ml) boiling water
a little oil for brushing the pans

For the filling:
2 cups (500 ml) whipping cream
1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces or 1 tsp vanilla extract
5 tbsp (70 g) caster sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) approximately. Brush the baking pans (11 inches by 9 inches) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat until very thick, when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.
3. Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.
4. Divide the mixture among two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.
5. Place a pan in the centre of the preheated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch.
6. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it. 
7. Turn the cake onto the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.
8. Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.
9. Repeat the same for the next cake as well.
10. Grind together the vanilla pieces and sugar in a food processor till nicely mixed together. If you're using vanilla extract, just grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar and extract to the cream.
11. In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and beat till very thick.
12. Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes.
13. Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of 1/2 an inch should be fine).
14. Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

Vanilla Ice cream

2 1/2 cups (625 ml) whipping cream

1 vanilla bean, minced or 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract

1/2 cup (115 g) granulated sugar

1. Grind together the sugar and vanilla in a food processor.
2. In a mixing bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and whisk lightly until everything is mixed together. If you're using the vanilla extract, grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar along with the vanilla extract to the cream.
3. Pour into a freezer friendly container and freeze until firm around the edges. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.

Hot Fudge Sauce

1 cup (230 g) caster sugar

3 tbsp (24 g) cocoa powder

2 tbsp (15 g) cornstarch

1 1/2 cup (355 ml) water

1 tbsp (14 g) butter

1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract

1. In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornflour and water.
2. Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).
3. Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool.

Chocolate Ice Cream

2 cups (500 ml) whipping cream

1 cup (230 g) caster sugar

3 tbsp (24 g) cocoa powder

1. Grind together the sugar and the cocoa powder in a food processor.
2. In a saucepan, add all the ingredients and whisk lightly.
3. Place the pan over heat and keep stirring till it begins to bubble around the edges.
4. Remove from heat and cool completely before transferring to a freezer friendly container till firm around the edges. If you are using an ice cream maker, churn the ice cream according to the manufacturer's instructions, after the mixture has cooled completely.
5. Remove from freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.

Assembly 

1. Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices (approximately 2 cm each).
2. Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film / plastic wrap.
3. Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).
4. Soften the vanilla ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm (at least 1 hour).
5. Add the fudge sauce over the vanilla ice cream, cover and freeze till firm (at least 1 hour).
6. Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours until completely set.
7. Remove the plastic cover and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.
8. Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water.

I really enjoyed making the ice cream. Swiss roll, not so much. It was really fragile and it was hard to spread the whipped cream in it and roll it so it would look beautiful.

I only made half of the recipe, as usual, because we have a small freezer and it wouldn't hold the bigger bowl. The Swiss roll was literally stuffed with whipped cream, so, as you can see in the picture at the top of the post, there was a lot of cream on the surface. But don't worry, it didn't affect the flavor. The vanilla ice cream was the easiest to make and it froze quickly. The chocolate, however, took ages to freeze and in the end I just left it in the freezer and left home because I had some errands to run. When I came home 4 hours ago it was frozen solid, but I didn't mind because it tasted good anyway. 

I assembled the cake and then only froze it for 10 minutes because I had some very hungry guests over. As a result, the chocolate melted a little and it wasn't as solid as it should be, but it tasted wonderful. Even my mother, who doesn't like ice cream, said it was delicious, so that must mean something. And the pattern on the top (from the Swiss rolls) was amazing! It was really hard to make the whole cake in a day though...I started around 10 in the morning and we started eating it at 8 in the evening... a little melted. Next time I'll definitely spend some more time on making of the ice cream and allow it to set completely.

It was my favorite challenge so far and I'm certain that I'll be making ice cream again, with or without the Swiss roll. It's just so much easier than I imagined! I can't wait to try another flavor, maybe even mix some Sacher torte in there... so many possibilities!

Look: 4/5 (my mistake though - next time I'll make less whipped cream)

Taste: 5/5

Approximate cost: 11 € for the whole cake, 5.5 € for half of it

London!

Finally, after 19 years of traveling with parents, I'm going on vacation! To London! By myself! Well, almost by myself. I do have company. But I made all the arrangements and reservations myself, so that's pretty awesome (I <3 my Visa credit card!). It won't be my first time in London though. I've already been there for a few hours (10 years ago) on a layover, but I don't recall anything special, because the city was so big and I was too young to care. I have a few photos from that day and that's how I know that it was raining. What a surprise!

(Although I have to add that Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, is one of the wettest capitals in Europe with 157 rainy days, as opposed to London that only gets 106 rainy days a year. I found that out a few months ago and I was shocked! I had no idea I was living in a city that got more rain than THE rainy London!)

Lately, (thinking about) traveling has become one of the most important things in my life. I've been to many cities with my parents, but now I want to see the world by myself too. The thing about me and traveling is that if I don't know anything about a city (or even a country), I think ''There's probably nothing worth seeing and I'm not interested anyway...'' And then when I read a book or watch a movie with that city in it I'm all OMG NEED TO GO THERE NOW. That usually happens when I hear someone's going on a vacation there.  This really isn't great for my tiny wallet and the job I don't have.

London seems to be the perfect choice for my first real trip, since there are two low-cost airlines flying there from less than an hour away from where I live. And the flights are cheap. Especially if you check the prices every day and wait for special discounts. I wasn't that lucky; I didn't manage to get a 1 € ticket, but those are very rare anyway. The ticket price was still a bargain if we consider that our national carrier charges from 200 € to a ridiculous 600 € for a return flight (and they don't even fly to Heathrow). I could fly to Los Angeles and back for that kind of money! 

Since I've never tasted a real cupcake (not made by me of course!), one of my main objectives in London is to get one and eat it. Well, maybe not just one. I've done some research about the best bakeries and the plan (for now) is to visit these:

• The Hummingbird Bakery
• Buttercup Cake Shop
• Primrose Bakery

This is where I ran out of ideas. I checked some of the top 10 bakery lists, but most of them don't have a store (they only deliver). I'm sure there are some not-as-famous bakeries that offer cupcakes just as good or even better than the mainstream ones, so if you live in London or know any good bakeries there, please let me know! (And I wouldn't mind eating cakes either. Or anything else sweet.) I'm leaving on Thursday, so you have two days to set me on the right path.

I'm also very excited because I'll finally be able to try Krispy Kreme donuts (there's a store right in the airport, you know, just for the tiny chance that I'll be hungry when I get off the plane) and Ben & Jerry's ice cream! In case you were worried, no, I'm not going to spend ALL my money on food. I want to go shopping for clothes too. But from what I've heard, everything is very expensive, so I hope I'll at least be able to buy a pair of shoes. Or two. 

The baking part of me is hoping I'll be returning home with lots of sprinkles and candy melts and cupcake liners! And who would blame it/him - I totally understand.

Upside-down Peach Cake

My mother likes peaches. Last week she had the opportunity to get a lot of them (and I mean A LOT) from a farmer and of course she did. So we suddenly had around 20 pounds of peaches at home. They weren't all ripe yet, but their time was coming... It has been a peachy week! Lol. Since we had so many, I thought I should bake something with peaches in it, just to make use of some of them, because peaches can quickly become boring, if you eat them every day for breakfast, after lunch and for dinner. 

Luckily for me, Rose Levy Beranbaum has an Apple cake recipe in Heavenly Cakes that can easily be converted into a Peach cake. It didn't include any special ingredients, so I only had to purchase sour cream and I could get started.

This was the third recipe from Heavenly Cakes that I tried and none of the other two went so well, so I hoped that at least this one would come out tasting good. Otherwise I would probably start thinking I'm weird because everyone else loves this book and I just can't get anything from it to work!

I had to peel the peaches (my first time), soak them in lemon juice and then build the bottom of the cake with them. That went very well, considering how slippery peaches are! On top of that, I put the batter that I made from the usual ingredients - eggs, flour, sugar and butter. 

After baking, the cake was really thin, but tasty. The whole apartment smelled nice because of it. I really succeeded with Rose's recipe this time and I'm really happy about it, because I was worried that something would go wrong - again. It was the first time that I made anything with fruit - except for those blueberry muffins that I made 7 years ago and they don't count.

As of right now, the cake has been at room temperature for two days (only one piece of it actually, that I have been saving, because the rest of the cake was devoured very quickly...) and it still tastes good. The peaches have shrunk a little though, but it didn't affect the taste. I'm certain that I'm going to make this cake again soon, because it's the perfect recipe with peaches (so far) and we still have a lot of them in the fridge. If you have some peaches at home (I only used 3 for the cake), I strongly suggest making it. If you have Rose's book of course. If not, there are some pretty similar recipes on the internet, so you could try those. I really liked the taste of peaches in this cake. If you have any great recipes with peaches, let me know so I can try them!

Look: 4/5
Taste: 4/5
Approximate cost: 5.00 €

My list of Rose Levy Beranbaum's Heavenly Cakes' recipes

Sacher Ice Cream

As I've mentioned before, I'm taking this month off. I'm not thinking about school or doing any other heavy thinking (is that even an expression?) whatsoever. At all. As one would expect, I spent the last four days on the beach. Those days literally felt like living in hell. The air temperature was 34°C (93°F) and that of the water was 30°C (86°F), which is the highest water temperature ever. It's the hottest summer we've ever had. I usually go swimming when it becomes too hot from all the sunbathing, but these days, I really don't know what's worse, staying out of the water or going in. The most obvious decision would be to stay at home with the air conditioning on, but I need to spend some quality time out of the house this month, so I won't be sad when the summer season is over in September.

The most valuable lesson I have learned in the last few days is that one of the best ways to survive the high temperatures is eating ice cream. The thing about me and ice cream is, I like chocolate flavor and it loves me back. I don't try other flavors, because they never live up to their spectacular names. I used to order blueberry ice cream but then I got tired of it. I also tried cookies. And vanilla, which is, in my opinion, the most boring ice cream they could have ever invented. In the 19 years of my existence I once ordered Nutella ice cream and was terribly disappointed because the share of Nutella in it was about 0.0001% (seriously). There was also the one time when I tried the bubble gum flavor. It was disgusting. 

I think I've made it clear why I keep ordering chocolate ice cream.

But there is one café, Cacao, right on the beach, where they always have about 40 different flavors of ice cream. Some of them change over time and some of them are forever (like my beloved classic - chocolate). There are the regular ones and the special ones, like the Bounty flavor, or the Kinder Maxi King flavor, Tiramisu... and Sacher torte! 

Can you guess which one I ordered? I probably haven't mentioned yet, but I'm a huge fan of Sacher torte. Mostly homemade, because I find the bought ones really strong, a bit too strong for my taste, and the marmalades used in them are often weird. My mother used to make really good Sacher torte, but then she stopped. I still don't know why. Anyway, the ice cream! That was one giant scoop of chocolate, cake and marmalade, all mixed into a lump of creamy goodness, with giant pieces of cake and solid chunks of chocolate in it. The photo doesn't do it justice, because I took it with my mobile phone. It wouldn't have lasted until I got home, and I don't usually bring my camera to the beach. So you'll just have to believe me. This is the best ice cream I have ever tasted. It looks like regular chocolate ice cream, but it's not. Today, I persuaded my parents to go out and get some ice cream and they both listened to me (it doesn't happen very often, really) and ordered the Sacher flavor. Needless to say, they loved it, although it was a little too strong for them. It is a really strong flavor, I admit. But nothing is too strong for me, so I ate their leftovers too. Because my metabolism is awesome.

One scoop of ice cream in Cacao costs 1.30€, which makes it one of the most expensive ice creams in town, but the scoops are really generous. And their selection of around 40 flavors makes it worth it. I'm so going there every day from now on. You know, to cope with the high temperatures. 

Daring Bakers' Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

June was a busy month for me, so as you might have noticed, I didn't have time to post (or make) the Daring Bakers' challenge. I have already done the July challenge though. But that's still a secret!

Reading about the challenge was the first time in my life I had ever heard about Pavlova. In case you haven't either, it's a dessert and it's named after the ballet dancer Ana Pavlova. It was created in Australia or New Zealand (it's still not clear where) when the dancer was on tour there. The dessert has a meringue base and can be decorated with whipped cream and fruit, or, as in this case, with chocolate. 

The June 2010 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.

Chocolate Meringue (for the Pavlova)

3 large egg whites

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp (110 grams) white granulated sugar

1/4 cup (30 grams) confectioners sugar

1/3 cup (30 grams) cocoa powder

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 200°F (95°C). Line two baking sheets with silpat or parchment paper and set aside.
2. Put the egg whites in a bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar about 1 tablespoon at a time until stiff peaks form (the whites should be firm but moist).
3. Sift the confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder over the egg whites and fold the dry ingredients into the white. (This looks like it will not happen. Fold gently and it will eventually come together.)
4. Fill a pastry bag with the meringue. Pipe the meringue into whatever shapes you desire. Alternatively, you could just free form your shapes and level them a bit with the back of a spoon.
5. Bake for 2-3 hours until the meringues become dry and crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse (for the top of the Pavlova base)

1 1/2 cups (355 ml) heavy cream

grated zest of 1 average sized lemon

9 ounces (255 grams) 72% chocolate, chopped

1 2/3 cups (390 ml) mascarpone

pinch of nutmeg

2 tbsp (30 ml) Grand Marnier or orange juice

1. Put 1/2 cup (120 ml) of the heavy cream and the lemon zest in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once warm, add the chocolate and whish until melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let sit at room temperature until cool.
2. Place the mascarpone, the remaining cup of cream and nutmeg in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone is loose. Add the Grand Marnier and whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks. Do not overbeat as the mascarpone will break!
3. Mix about 1/4 of the mascarpone mixture into the chocolate to lighten. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated. Fill a pastry bag with the mousse. Again, you could just free form mousse on top of the pavlova.

Mascarpone Cream (for drizzling)

1 recipe creme anglaise

1/2 cup (120 ml) mascarpone

2 tbsp (30 ml) Sambucca (optional)

1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream

1. Prepare the creme anglaise. Slowly whisk in the mascarpone and the Sambucca and let the mixture cool. Put the cream in a bowl and beat with electric mixer until very soft peaks are formed. Fold the cream into the mascarpone mixture.

Pavlova with the still-liquid-mousse

Creme Anglaise (a component of the Mascarpone Cream)

1 cup (235 ml) whole milk

1 cup (235 ml) heavy cream

1 vanilla bean, split or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

6 large egg yolks

6 tbsp (75 g) sugar

1. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns pale yellow.
2. Combine the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan over medium high heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. Take off the heat.
3. Pour about 1/2 cup of the hot liquid into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to keep from making scrambled eggs. Pour the yolk mixture into the pan with the remaining cream mixture and put the heat back on medium. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. Do not overcook!
4. Remove the mixture from the heat and strain it through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is thoroughly chilled, about 2 hours or overnight.

Assembly

Pipe the mousse onto the pavlovas and drizzle with mascarpone cream over the top. Dust with confectioners' sugar and fresh fruit if desired.

Pavlova with hardened mousse

Where to start with this one? I had some difficulties baking the meringue base, although it was one of the easiest batters to pipe. The problem was that the recipe doesn't say exactly how long you have to bake it and I was making pavlovas for the first time in my life, so I didn't know what they were supposed to look and taste like. I baked them for 2 hours and then turned off the oven because they seemed dry. And I was right; they were really dry, right to the core. I'm not sure that's how they are supposed to be. I made them from two egg whites and there were six pavlovas, so if you make them from 3 egg whites there are going to be 9. 

The chocolate mascarpone mousse took some time to harden, but the taste was quite good. However, when I was making the Creme Anglaise, I only used the remaining two yolks, because I didn't want to end up with spare egg whites in the fridge. In the end I was left with a whole cup of the mascarpone cream which is supposed to be for drizzling. Right now I'm not sure I understand what drizzling really means. I could ''drizzle'' this cream on 30 pavlovas and I still don't know if that would use it all up. So I'm left wondering, what would happen if I made 3 times as much (if I used six egg yolks)? I'm really glad I didn't. Overall, this was quite an expensive dessert, the most expensive I have ever done. Luckily I only made 1/3 of it. I was a little disappointed by the Pavlova, since I expected something so heavenly, but nevertheless, it wasn't bad. If I ever make it again, I'll try the original, not-chocolate one.

Look: 3/5
Taste: 4/5
Approximate cost: 15.70 €

Summer! And a cake.

It's finally summer! After a month and a half of studying for my exams, school is finally over (until the end of August) and I can spend 3 weeks doing what I want and not thinking about school!

This is awesome.

However, I now feel an emptiness inside, because I suddenly have some free time! (Yay!) I'm not used to that since I always have something to do for school. When I have to study, I can always think of hundreds of things I would rather do. But right now, I can't think of anything.

I've been doing some things that I never found the time to do before. First of all, I want to inform you all that you can now become a fan of my blog on Facebook and get updates when I post! I also have a Twitter account now. (A bit of shameless self-promotion there...) And...I'm working on an About page! I'm having a hard time writing something about myself and that's why I don't have one yet.

Anyway, I haven't baked anything since May! I really missed it, but now I finally have time and I am going to bake. A lot. I recently received the Martha Stewart Living recipe books, four of them. I just had to buy them because with Martha, you can never go wrong (judging by experience). I can't wait to use them because nothing compares to opening an actual book and searching for a recipe in it.

And now for the cake part. This is a delicious cake and it's my comfort food for days, when I take exams and realize that I'll fail them. I could also eat it every single day. I buy it in the supermarket and it's really cheap, compared to other cakes (less than 2 € for a piece). Last year, when I discovered it, I could only eat a half of it in one sitting, but now I can devour it whole, by myself. I can't even wait until after lunch, I usually just eat it while I'm cooking.

It's called the ''Cookie cake'' because it has a tiny Leibniz chocolate cookie on it. And as you can see, it has 7 layers. The chocolate layer on the bottom is the best. There's some yellow cake, some chocolate cake, the crumb, and the rest is frosting. Chocolate, vanilla, I don't even know what it's made of. It's just so good when you taste the whole cake with all the seven layers... Nom.

I wish I had the recipe. Until then, I'll just keep buying it on days when I'm feeling down. Do you have a favorite cake that you always eat to feel better? (I have plenty, this is just the cheapest of all, lol). Let me know!