Banana Bread is one of the american pastries that you don’t find in Europe. A fact that is not quite understandable to me since itstexture is simply amazing - and the chocolate and banana taste is not comparable to any other food. Delicious.
I tried banana bread at home to see if my friends and family like it. Instead of making an entire loaf of banana bread I decided to divide the batter into smaller portions and make medium sized muffins. Normally I am not much of a banana fan but banana bread tastes heavenly!
Have a wonderful day,
Annika
Banana Bread Muffins
(makes 15 medium sized muffins)
Ingredients
250 g/ 2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
½ cup butter
125 g/ 1 cup sugar
2 eggs
250 g/ 2 cups mashed ripe bananas
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp rum
125 g/ 1 cup chocolate, coarsely chopped
Chocolate Coating for the muffin frosting, optional
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius/ 350 degree Fahrenheit.
2. Mix all dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Beat butter and sugar until creamy and light.
4. Add the eggs.
5. Stir in the mashed rip bananas, lemon juice and rum until well incorporated.
6. Mix the dry ingredients in the banana-dough.
7. Fold in the coarsely chopped chocolate.
8. Pour the muffin dough into muffin molds.
9. Bake for 12 minutes.
10. Let muffins cool off.
11. Glaze muffins with chocolate coating.
I am still surrounded by books and single sheets of paper are everywhere in my room. On the bright side I only have 1,5 weeks of exam period left - on the negative side eight exams wait to be completed.
So I tried this cake last weekend. My dad was away for a few days and since Black Forest Cake is one of his favorite desserts I decided to make it to welcome him back.
It was the first time that I tried this rather intimidating cake. The taste was very good, the optics on the other hand are to be improved. My cake doesn’t resemble too much the cakes you get in German backeries. Oh well, I think that homemade cakes often beat the backery ones. Just more natural!
Have a wonderful and sunny day,
Annika
Black Forest Cake - Schwarzwälderkirschtorte
(makes 1 small cake (springform pan with a diameter of 20 cm))
Ingredients
3 eggs
Pinch salt
100 g/ 0.4 cups sugar
75 g/ 0.3 cup flour
20 g/ 0.1 cup + 3 tsp cornstarch
25 g/ 0.1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
250 g/ 1 cup sour cherries
75 ml/ 0.3 cup cherry juice
4 tbsp sugar
400 g/ 1.7 cup cream
1 packet whipped cream stabilizer
3 tbsp Kirsch
20 g/ 0.1 cup dark chocolate
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 160 degree Celsius/ 325 degree Fahrenheit.
2. For the sponge mixture, seperate the eggs.
3. Beat the egg whites with the pinch salt until stiff
4. Mix the egg yolks with 2 tbsp warm water and the sugar until foamy. The mixture should be thick and light.
5. Pour the egg yolk mixture on top of the egg whites.
6. Sift flour, 20 g cornstarch and unsweetened cocoa on top of it.
7. Fold in the egg yolks and the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula.
8. Pour the sponge mixture in the springform pan.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
10. Turn the springform pan upside down and let cool the sponge mixture.
11. When cooled, take out of the pan.
12. For the filling, wash and pit the cherries. (For the decoration, put 8 cherries aside)
13. Stir the rest of the cornstarch with 2 tbsp cherry juice.
14. Boil up the rest of the cherry juice, together with 2 tbsp sugar.
15. Add the cherries and boil up again.
16. Stir in the mixed cornstarch and boil up again.
17. Let the cherry mixture cool.
18. Cut the sponge mixture two times horizontaly, so that you have three thin layers of the sponge mixture.
19. Place one of them on a cake plate.
20. Beat the cream with the rest of the sugar and the packet of whipped cream stabilizer until stiff.
21. Spread a little bit of the cream on the first sponge mixture layer.
22. With the help of an icing bag, place three circles of whipped cream on the sponge mixture layer.
23. Fill the spaces inbetween the whipped cream circles with the cherry mixture.
24. Place the next spong mixture layer on top.
25. Soak the layer with half of the Kirsch.
26. Repeat the process of placing whipped cream circles and cherry mixture on the layer.
27. Place the third sponge mixture layer on the cake.
28. Soak it with the rest of the Kirsch.
29. Spread the remaining whipped cream on top and on the sides of the cake, so that the entire cake is covered with whipped cream.
30. Place the 8 cherries on top of the cake.
31. Plane off chippings of the dark chocolate and sprinkle them on the cake.
32. Chill cake for at least two hours.
