The following cake recipes can be tweaked with any dried fruits or nuts you desire, and topped with your favorite icing.
By PASCALE PEREZ-RUBINBERRY CUPCAKES WITH STREUSEL TOPPING(photo credit: PASCALE PEREZ-RUBIN)
I love baking. I especially enjoy trying out new concoctions and creating new and unique cakes with raw materials I’ve never tried before. I’m constantly browsing through specialty stores searching for interesting-shaped pans and especially sharp carving knives so that I can form cakes in the exact shape I desire.
Although we are quickly approaching Shavuot – and it’s never too early to begin thinking about the wonderful dairy delights we can prepare for the occasion – it’d be a shame not to have any nice, tasty cakes to eat over the next few Shabbatot. To that end, I’m offering here a few super-easy cakes that you can prepare in a snap so that our family members are happy to be home for the weekend.
The following cake recipes can be tweaked with any dried fruits or nuts you desire, and topped with your favorite icing. And if you bake them in a fun-shaped pan, then with no extra work you’ve prepared a creative delicacy everyone will be excited to taste.
BERRY CUPCAKES WITH STREUSEL TOPPING
Makes 10 to 12 cupcakes.
50 g. butter or margarine
40 g. (¹⁄3 cup) canola oil
3 eggs
200 g. (¹⁄3 cup) sugar
250 g. (1¾ cups) flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. ground almonds
150 g. sour cream (or orange juice or coconut milk for pareve version)
50 ml. milk (or water or almond milk for pareve version)
½ cup frozen mixed wild berries
Streusel topping:
50 g. butter or margarine
50 g. demerara sugar
½ cup flour mixed with 1 Tbsp. corn flour, sifted (can substitute 2 Tbsp. with ground almonds)
Berry sauce:
1 package frozen mixed wild berries (save ½ to ¾ cup on the side)
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. brown sugar (you can add more if desired)
Juice from ½ lemon
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 Tbsp. corn flour
¼ cup water
Melt butter in a glass bowl in the microwave by heating for a few seconds at a time. Add the oil and mix well. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip eggs. Gradually add the sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Place the mixer bowl on your work surface and add the flour, baking powder, and ground almonds. Mix gently. Gently fold in the butter and then the sour cream, milk and mix gently. Pour mixture into well-greased cupcake linings. Sprinkle reserved berries on top and gently push them into mixture.
In a separate bowl, mix streusel ingredients with your hands. Sprinkle on top of cupcakes.
Bake in an oven that has been preheated to 170°C (340°F) for 50 to 60 minutes. Remove and let cool on wire rack.
To prepare the sauce, add the berries, sugar, lemon juice and zest in a pot and heat over medium flame for five minutes.
In a separate bowl, mix corn flour with water until smooth and then pour into pot while stirring. Cook for two to three more minutes until sauce thickens. Stir every so often.
Remove from flame and let cool. Take cupcakes out of baking tray and put each one on a separate plate. Drizzle sauce over cupcakes and serve.PISTACHIO, LEMON AND GINGER RING (Credit: PASCALE PEREZ-RUBIN)
PISTACHIO, LEMON AND GINGER RING
Use a 20-cm. diameter Kugelhopf bundt pan.
Syrup:
1 small lemon
3 Tbsp. sugar
¼ cup (50 ml.) water
1 Tbsp. freshly grated ginger
Dough:
50 g. butter
40 g. (¹⁄3 cup) canola oil
3 eggs
200 g. (¹⁄3 cup) sugar
250 g. (1¾ cup) flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
150 g. sour cream (or orange juice or coconut milk for pareve version)
50 ml. milk (or juice, water or almond milk for pareve version)
2 Tbsp. roasted ground pistachios
Before baking:
2 Tbsp. honey
White chocolate ganache:
½ container (125 ml.) sweet cream
1½ bars (150 g.) of white chocolate
Toppings:
1 Tbsp. chopped pistachios
Dried rose petals
Wash and scrub lemon. Slice it thinly, remove seeds and place in pot. Add the sugar and water. Stir and cook for 30 minutes until soft and syrupy. Remove from flame and let cool. Add the ginger and blend together with liquids.
Melt the butter in a glass bowl in the microwave for a few seconds at a time. Remove and add the oil. Stir well. Using an electric mixer (or you can mix by hand) beat the eggs on high speed and then gradually add the sugar. Whip until stiff peaks form. Add the flour, baking powder and butter and mix again.
Add the sour cream, milk and pistachios and mix again. Fold in the lemon and ginger syrup and mix well. Pour into a well-greased pan (make sure the oil has reached every nook and cranny so that the cake will separate easily after it’s finished baking. Flatten batter and then drizzle with honey.
Bake in an oven that has been preheated to 170°C (340°F) for 50 to 60 minutes until a toothpick that is inserted in the middle comes out dry and clean. Place on a wire rack to cool and then flip over cake onto a large serving platter.
To prepare the white chocolate ganache, place the sweet cream and the chocolate pieces in a glass bowl. Heat in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds. Stir until smooth.
I like to prepare the ganache so that it’s not too thick, but you are welcome to add a bit more chocolate until it reaches the desired consistency. And if it becomes too thick, just add a bit more cream. You can let it cool down before icing the cake if you want, which is easier. Let the ganache drip over the sides of the cake and then sprinkle with pistachios and rose petals on top. CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH ALMOND AND CINNAMON CRUMBLE (Credit: PASCALE PEREZ-RUBIN)CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH ALMOND AND CINNAMON CRUMBLE
Use a 22-cm. rectangular pan.
50 g. bittersweet chocolate
50 g. butter
50 ml. canola oil
5 eggs, separated into whites and yolks
150 ml. water
30 g. cocoa powder
200 g. sugar
150 g. flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
½ cup or handful of chocolate chips
Almond and cinnamon crumble:
25 g. butter
50 g. demerara sugar
¼ cup mixed flour, sifted
2 Tbsp. ground almonds
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. cocoa powder
Melt the chocolate, butter and oil in a pot over a bain marie (water bath or double boiler). Let it cool a little and then beat in the egg yolks. Mix until smooth.
In a separate pot, melt the cocoa powder in water over a medium flame. Bring to a boil and then let it cool a little before adding to the chocolate mixture. Mix well.
In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites and then gradually add the sugar. Continue whipping until stiff peaks form.
Fold the flour and baking powder into the egg whites, and then gradually fold in the chocolate mixture too. Add the chocolate chips and stir. Pour into a baking dish that is covered with baking paper, making sure that at least 1 to 2 cm. of baking paper hangs over the edge so that you’ll be able to easily remove the cake when it’s finished baking. Flatten mixture.
In a separate bowl, mix all the crumble ingredients together using your hands and then sprinkle evenly on top of cake.
Bake in an oven that has been preheated to 170° (340°F) for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick stuck into the middle of the cake comes out clean and dry. Let cool on a wire rack.
Lift the cake out of the pan using the baking paper and place on a work surface. Cut into equal-sized squares and cover with chocolate chips.
