LEMON, ALMOND & RED FRUiT CAKE

I made a brunch for 15 people this week-end! I wished I had more time so I would have made descent pictures and video recipes but this is the only recipe that will come out of this well acclaimed brunch. (And i'm not bragging. I mean I am but i'm just trying to truly transcribe the general mood of the event :p) This time, brunch rimed with garlic potatoes, tomato beans, bagels, scones, pancakes, granola, brioche and more. I know it's cruel to just talk about it but I'll make a brunch section one day I promess!

So let's talk about this cake. Almonds brings a very dense and comforting texture. It's very moist, flavorful and it changes from the usual tea cakes. Instead of one big cake you can also make individual ones. In that case, you will make about 8 small ones with this recipe and the cooking time will be about 30min.

iNGREDiENTS:

• 250 gr butter
• 280 gr sugar
• 100 gr flour
• 250 gr ground almonds
• 5 eggs
• grated zest of 2 lemons + 60 ml of juice
• 150 gr red fruits (I used a frozen mix but you can use only raspberries or blueberries if you like. and fresh is always better of course)

RECiPE:

• Preheat your oven at 170°C (350°F)
• Mix flour and ground almonds and set aside.
• Using an electric mixer, or by hand, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
• Break eggs and mix lightly in a bowl.
• Gradually add beaten eggs to sugar and butter mixture, beating well until each little addition of eggs.
• Add almonds and flour mixture. Stir.
• Add lemon zest + lemon juice + fruits.
• Butter a bakingpan and fill with cake batter.
• Bake for about one hour or until an inserted knife comes out clean of the middle of the cake.
• ET VOiLÀ!

APPLE AND ORANGE TEA CAKE

This cake is a variation of a cake I make all the time. It's a butter/oil free tea cake with apple and orange zest. So no butter, no oil but a lovely and creamy mascarpone cheese, mostly used to make the famous Italian Tiramisu. Mascarpone gives a light and moist texture to the cake, and the orange zest a nice perfumed flavour. This recipe is really simple to make and you will only need one bowl. So if you are tired of doing the dishes, this is for you!

iNGREDiENTS:

• 250 gr mascarpone
• 220 gr organic cane sugar (preferable but not essential)
• 250 gr all purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• zest of half a lemon
• 1 small orange (zest + juice of half of the orange)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 big apple
• 1 pear (the pear will bring more moistness to the cake)

RECiPE:

• Preheat your oven at 180°C (350°F)
• In a bowl, stir together: mascarpone + sugar + eggs, until creamy.
• Add: flour + baking powder and stir again.
• Add the lemon and orange zest + juice of half the orange. Stir again.
• Peel and core the apple and the pear and cut them in pieces. This time I cut them in thin small slices but depending on how you like it, you can also make big pieces.
• Add them to the batter and stir one last time.
• Put the batter into a prepared baking pan (greased with butter). 

• Bake from 40 to 60 minutes, when a skewer will come out clean, it's done. The baking time will really depend on your oven and cake pan size. Start checking after 30 minutes. You might have to cover the cake with foil after about 30min to stop the top from over-browning.
• ET VOiLÀ!

CHOUQUETTES (CHOUX PUFFS)

  

In France you can find Chouquettes in most bakeries. They are fluffy, delicious and not complicated to make. It's basically "pâte à choux" (puff pastry) with pearl sugar on top. Plus, once you know how to make the choux, you can use them for Profiteroles as well (you know, with vanilla ice cream inside and chocolate sauce on top).

iNGREDiENTS:

-makes about 40 choux-

• 125 gr of water
• 125 gr milk
• a pinch of salt
• 25 gr sugar (organic cane sugar is the best)
• a pinch of vanilla sugar
• 100 gr butter
• 140 gr all purpose flour
• 4 eggs
• pearl sugar (you can buy some in a bakery)

RECiPE:

• Preheat your oven at 175°C (350°F)
• In a saucepan boil: water + milk + sugar + salt + butter.
• Stir in flour and cook for two minutes.
• Transfer to the mixer with the paddle attachment and mix for three minutes. (by hand works as well)
• Add the eggs, one at a time while you keep mixing.
• Scrape into a piping bag, fitted with a 12mm nozzle. And pipe little balls, around 3cm wide and 2cm high over a baking sheet. If you don't have a piping bag, you can just use a plastic one (used to froze food) or make little balls with 2 spoons. In that case, pick up the dough with one spoon and scrap it onto the baking sheet with the other.
• Sprinkle with pearl sugar. Be generous as some will fall off as the puff up in the oven.  And press them in gently so they stick to the dough.
• Bake for 35mintues or until the puffs are lightly golden-brown.
• ET VOiLA!

GRANOLA

This recipe is based on Gwyneth Paltrow's Granola recipe. I arranged it according to my taste. I love Gwyneth's cookbook. She likes to focus on healthy yet delicious recipes. I find it totally in consistency with this blog.

iNGREDiENTS:

• 150 gr oats (not instant and not steel-cut)
• 70 gr raw, whole almonds
• 4 Tabespoons pumpkin seeds
• 4 Tabespoons sunflower seeds
• a pinch of cinnamon
• a pinch of salt
• 100ml of maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil (any vegetable oil is fine)
• 60 gr of cranberries (you can use any dry fruit that you like: raisins, apricot, figues)

RECiPE:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
• Roughly cut the almonds (do not skip this step or your almonds won't be as caramelized)
• In a bowl stir together all the ingredients except for the cranberries: oats + pumpkin and sunflower seeds + chopped almonds + cinnamon + salt +  oil + maple syrup + agave nectar.
• Spread the granola out on parchment paper.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Once baked, let it cool for a while and then add the cranberries.
• ET VOiLA !

The Granola will keep well for 2-3 months in an airtight container.