make life sweeter!

It's that time of month again...Daring Baker time! (In case it seems so long since you last saw a DB challenge...you're right....I failed to do last month's challenge...) This month's challenge was cheesecake, a recipe from Jenny of JennyBakes.com. For me the challenge was to find a suitable pan to bake the cheesecake in because the recipe called for a water bath. And like most Dutch people, I only have springform baking tins. In the end I decided to go for a single use aluminum tart pan. It was not very high so I ended up with a not so high cheesecake. I made ⅔ of the recipe and that amount was exactly right for my pan.
The flavour combination of rosewater and rhubarb was something I planned to use for a different recipe but I couldn't think of something nice for the cheesecake.
I was glad the amount of rosewater was just right (for ⅔ of the original recipe I used 1 ½ tbs of rosewater and also 1 tbs of lemon juice). To make the rhubarb jelly I defrosted (and heated) the cooked and sweetened rhubarb I had in my freezer and strained it. Added 2 leaves of gelatine to 200 ml rhubarb juice for the mirror.
To make the mirror I cut my cheesecake with a cake ring, left the ring on and poured in the rhubarb mirror. Chilled it and removed the cake ring.
I must say that I was quite happy about the results, the rhubarb was a very pretty colour and the layer looks neat enough. Unfortunately my crust was a little soggy, I think that was because I poured the mirror on top of the cheesecake while it was still hot. I was afraid it would jellify quickly because the cheesecake came from the fridge and I didn't feel like creating a wonky mirror. Well at least it looked good ;)
As far as the taste was concerned, the rosewater tasted very good in the cheesecake but the rhubarb mirror wasn't strong enough to give a good rhubarb flavour to the cake. It was nice and tangy to contrast with the sweetness of the rest of the cake though.



The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.
You can find the recipe here.

When my best friend C and two other of my good friends were visiting a few weeks ago, C asked (demanded ;) me to make apple cake. Of course I complied ;) Very simple vanilla cakelets filled with chopped apple and decorated with sliced apple. Very simple but very good :)

For those of you who are curious how big I look 8 months pregnant (I look bigger in real life btw, my dad took a flattering picture ;)



Vanilla apple cakelets

makes 4 mini loafs

75 g (2 ¾ oz) butter
90 g (3 ¼ oz) light brown sugar
1 egg
½ ts vanilla paste
100 g (3 ½ oz) self raising flour
3 tbs (45 ml) creme fraiche or sour cream
1 ½ apple, half chopped and half sliced

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Butter 4 small loaf pans.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla paste and continue to mix for a couple of minutes. Mix on lowest speed while you add half the flour. Mix until combined. Add the creme fraiche or sour cream. Mix until combined. Add the other half of the flour. Mix until combined. Add the chopped apples. Mix until combined.
Divide the mixture over the 4 mini loaf pans. Arrange the sliced apples on top of the mixture. Bake for about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

This rich and sweet bread is baked for Easter in Croatia. Funny enough I've never eaten this bread before, even though I'm half Croatian. I guess it's because I've never been in Croatia during Easter. There are lots of variations on this bread and I made my own recipe mixing and matching from several recipes and then preparing it the way I thought it should. All the recipes I looked at were in Croatian and my Croatian isn't that good, especially not when technical baking stuff is described ;)
What I did was just mix the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Mix the liquid ingredients in another bowl and add this to the dry mix. Worked for me :) I guess 'real' yeast bakers would have done it differently and not melt the butter. But hey, I'm not a 'real' yeast baker :D
I let the dough proof in the fridge overnight (about 14 hours). I cut the dough in four and shaped the pieces into balls. They looked like balls but by the time they did a second proofing the shape they had after I cut them reappeared. So in the end they weren't as round as I liked.
The dough itself already smelled like heaven, during baking it smelled even better...YUM! And the taste was very, Very, VERY good! More of a cake than a bread. It took me 36 years to finally eat this typical Croatian Easter bread but I know I will be making it every year for Easter from now on. Beats the traditional Easter stollen we have in the Netherlands (not that I've ever made that myself).
My mum and dad will be here on Monday, see how my father reacts to the sirnica...

Oh yes I had some news too :) As of the beginning of July we will be relocating to Vienna, Austria for a period of 4 years. We're all looking forward to that! So we have some busy times ahead. First son number 3 will be born (my due date is May 21st) and soon after we'll leave for Vienna. We'll be living in an appartment hotel until we find something more permanent so unfortunately I won't be doing a lot of baking as my stuff will still be in boxes waiting for us to move to a real house. So maybe I should post a lot about fruit salads ;)
My eldest son R who is nearly 4 is really exited about the whole thing. Besides the move it will also be the first time he will be going to school. I don't know who is more excited about him going to school, him or me ;)

Oh yes, Happy Easter to those celebrating!



Sirnica (Croatian Easter bread)

makes 4

1 kg (2 lb 3 ½ oz) bread flour
250 g (9 oz) cane sugar
1 ts salt
14 g (½ oz) instant yeast (50 g / 1 ¾ oz fresh yeast)
250 g (9 oz) butter, melted and cooled (but still liquid)
2 tbs rakija (or grappa)
2 tbs dark rum
1 tbs rosewater
1 tbs vanilla extract
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
8 egg yolks
400 ml (13 ½ fl oz) milk, room temperature

1 egg, mixed with a little water
coarse (cane) sugar

Mix the flour, sugar, salt and instant yeast in a large bowl.
Mix the butter, rakija, rum, rosewater, vanilla extract, orange and lemon zest, egg yolks and milk together.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until mixed as good as you can. Continue mixing by hand until all the flour is incorporated. Take the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface. Knead for about 5 minutes, adding flour as needed so that the dough won't be very sticky.
Lightly oil a large bowl (large enough to hold the dough and have room for it to double in size). Put the dough in the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof in the fridge overnight.
Take the dough out of the bowl and press on it to release part of the gas. Cut the dough in 4 equal parts. Shape each part into a ball. Place the balls on a large baking tray or sheet that is covered with baking paper. Put the baking tray in a large plastic bag and allow the shaped dough to proof for another 2 ½ hours at room temperature or until grown 1 ½ times in size.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
Cut the top of the dough balls with a cross using a very sharp serrated knife. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle some coarse sugar on top.
Bake for about 45-50 minutes.
Allow the breads to cool on wire racks.

This post is submitted to Yeastspotting hosted by Zorra.

Yesterday a new role was bestowed upon me...I am an aunt! My SIL gave birth to a beautiful little girl yesterday evening. I haven't seen her yet but will be heading there in a few hours. Becoming a mom felt special but becoming an aunt feels nearly as special :) ...and I haven't even seen my niece in real life!
Funny thing was that a couple of days before she gave birth (and some days after her due date) I texted my SIL to tell her that I thought she was going to give birth on the 2nd of April and that it would be a girl :) It's so nice that it's a girl, because I only have boys (+ one on the way) and it's only my brother and me. My SIL only have nephews (4 of them) so the first girl there too :)
I still have 7 more weeks to go...and then I too will have me some of those sweet little feet :)



When I heard my SIL was in labour I started making cookies. In the Netherlands something called 'beschuit met muisje' is served when a baby is born. I made something based upon it: biscotti with 'muisjes' (anise seed sprinkles).
I used this recipe for the biscotti, made them smaller and thicker and left out the anise seeds. Just dipped them in melted white chocolate and pink & white 'muisjes'.
I made something similar here.