Chocolate and Coconut Cream Muffins

I've graduated school - whohoooo!! Oh, my, it's almost unbelievable how anxiously, happy, sad andexcited I've actually waited for this sentence to be written down ;-).

12 years of achievement or failure, of late night studies and early pre-exam mornings, of adventurous class trips or boring math classes are over. And I almost never thought to say (or write) this sentence myself, but this time went fast! Hard to believe, that I'm no longer the excited little first grader who can't wait to learn reading and writing or the lazy 8th grader feeling like latin ain't my business.

Banana Nut Brownies

157680 hours, that’s a whole lot. Or call it 6570 days or 938.57 weeks. Whichever way you look at it, it’s a gigantic number of not only time, but also love, laughter, grief and life lived. 18 years to be exact (I’m a math geek, sorry for that). And yes, that’s the number I’m turning today (not-so-silent hint, hehe). I think it’s crazy to think of myself as an adult from now on. Not because I’m still childish (okay, at times I might be so, but those are blinks of seconds in close circles with only my best of friends…) but moreover because I’ve looked up to so many for so long, all the ones turning 18 or older just thinking how wise they must be how much they must know about their future, seeming to have life all checked out and planned already.

The truth is… It’s nothing like that! Yet it is the greatest time ever, taking leap of faiths, enjoying every second and bursting into all of life’s wonderful miraculous moments with full responsibility – magic! Okay, enough of those philosophical writing, back to the facts – I’m 18 now, I love it and here we have brownies, ‘cause birthdays call for chocolate-y celebrations!

And no, these aren’t your everyday-choc-to-the-max-sugar-coma brownies, no, they include parts of the first but have also paired up with some bananas and a few nuts for added texture and taste variations and with or without a candle: they’re rockstars! You would expect a dense and fudgy brownie with maybe some well known hazelnuts on the inside at the first glance, yet you find yourself munching on a nice chewy, super-chocolate-y brownie with a variety of crushed nuts and a nice subtle sweetness of bananas. The addition of whole wheat and exclusion of added fats make these a nice, melt in your mouth, totally brownie-crown-worth-y treat without any sugar-shocks or food comas as aftermaths. Need I say more?

I’ve covered my laptop in some brownie crumble as I am writing this post, ‘cause I couldn’t help but keep coming back for a second one… I’m 18 now, so I’ll do what I want i.e. writing down the recipe while munching on a third brownie if there would have only  been some left before we packed up for our vacation. Matter of fact, there were none a few hours after they turned out of the oven, so I couldn’t bring any with me. Nevertheless I think the sun and sea will do a good job as  ;-). And whether you’ve got something to celebrate or not, these brownies will always rock!

Banana Nut Brownies

-         1 banana, mashed (~100g)

-         250g dark chocolate

-         120g brown sugar

-         2 eggs

-         60g flour

-         50g chopped nuts of choice

1. Turn your oven to 180 °C/360°F. Melt the chocolate in a small saucepan on low heat, adding the mashed banana once the chocolate starts to melt. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
2. Once melted turn of the heat, let cool for a couple of minutes, then add in the eggs, sugar and flour whisking briefly until just combined, then stir in the nuts.
3. Line a small square pan with parchment paper or grease it. Pour in the brownie mixture and bake for 25-30 minutes until top is crisp and a skewer inserted comes out mostly clean.
4. Take out, let cool for 5 minutes, then slice into roughly 20 individual two-biters or the size and shape of your choice. Serve when still warm or let cool and safe them for later. They keep fresh, wrapped in aluminium foil, for 2-3 days. Enjoy!

Gingerbread Cake with Chocolate and Pistachos

Slowly but surely the Christmas signs keep sneaking around more frequently: the in the supermarket are packed with all typical sweets: cookies, cakes and chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!
There's one traditional cake that's always the first in line when I start eating christmas sweets: german gingerbread cake, also called "Gewuerzkuchen". It's a moist fluffy cake, spiced with cinnamon, cocoa, cloves, cardamom, ginger and topped off with some chocolate and nuts.

This year I decided to bake some little, lighter gingerbread cakes

The swing of autumn: Chocolate Crumb Cake with Whole Apples

Autumn: 5 °C, the sun breaking through the clouds in the sky and a strong wind the leaves off the trees and whirling them through the air, 'til they sink on the ground - silently. The season is in full swing.
I can't stress enough how much I like this season: crisp weather, sweaters and sweatpants symbolizing long comfy afternoons spent with tea and cake - much of it! (Don't get me wrong summer, spring and winter are all awesome too, but the time of autumn is so calming everytime after a rushed summer!)

Today some tiny feral apples meet warming chocolate and a crisp crumb topping - pure comfort for the soul! We have the situation here that everybody likes something different - crumbles and fruit or no fruit and all and just something cakey or everything in between...
Sooo... A hard task to bake a cake that turns a smile onto EVERY face!

Miniature Baked Goods - The "Wonder-Dough"

Cinnamon Rolls, Layered Cake, Donuts, Crossaints, Brownies, Cookies, ....
And all from one dough! - Sounds like magic, he? But let me tell you it's plain simple: Miniature Cookies!

I love all things miniature and enjoy working on all those details :)

Let's get it started in here...

Sooo, I've finally found my way into this huuuge food-blogging world! It makes me quite exited and I can't wait to see what interesting things I might learn, people I might get to know and experience I'll gain :) I hope you enjoy this little blog and come around again some time soon! :D

As this is still a project in the making I would be really pleased about any comments or tips how and what to improve :)

But now to the first recipe...

What better way to start blogging than with one of my favorite flavor combos?

Uhu, alright, here we go: chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon and to take this cake right into magic a thiiick (really thick, don't be cautious with the chocolate, you know you won't regret it!!) crust of dark chocolate garnished with tiny little caramelized almond pieces and huuge sea salt grains (for all the sweet and salty lovers out there)

And did I've mentioned that this cake is totally eggless? So you can't have an excuse not to bake it RIGHT NOW just  because you don't have eggs at home! Dangerously? Yeah, I know - but totally worth it!

 

 

Three stripes Zebra Cake with a thick Chocolate Crust and an Almond-Sea-Salt Topping

For the cake:

- 1 1/2 cups (whole wheat) flour

- 1/2 cup sugar (more if you have quite a sweet tooth)

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1 1/2 Tbsp vinegar (I think white works best)

- 1/4 cup + two tablespoons vegetable oil

- 1 cup water

- 1 Tbsp vanilla sugar (you might want to sub for vanilla extract though for more vanilla taste)

- 1 leveled Tbsp cinnamon

- 2 Tbsp Cocoa powder (I've used the extra dark one here)

- optional: milk

 

1. Heat up the oven to 180°C and line your cake tin with some parchment paper.

2. Sift the flour in a bowl and mix in all other dry ingredients minus the spices. Create two holes - put the vinegar in one and the oil in the other. Pour the water all over and mix with a fork or electric mixer until well combined.

3. Divide the dough into three equal parts and mix each of them with one of the spices. You might end up with some drier parts (e.g. the chocolate one) - all you have to do is adding milk by the tablespoon to achieve a texture similar to the basic dough.

4. Now to the zebra like alignment of the different doughs. Put two tablespoons of chocolate dough in the cake tin, then top it with three tablespoons of cinnamon dough and then two of the vanilla one. Start again with the chocolate and continue to do so until you've got all dough in your tin. If you're to lazy for this and just want the cake to be ready pour the parts in the tin one for one and mix it a little with a fork for a marbled cake.

5. Bake the cake in the preheated oven for about 45-60 min. Cake is ready when a cake tester inserted comes out without any crumbs.

6. Put the cake out of the oven, let it cool in the pan for 15 min then remove it and leave it to cool completely.
 

For the almonds:

- 30 g sugar

- 60 g almond pieces (size according to your taste, you can even use whole almonds)

- 1 Tbsp honey

- optional: spices like cinnamon, ginger, vanilla etc.

1. Mix all ingredients in a cool pan and then turn your stove to medium high heat stirring constantly until the sugar is caramelized and the whole thing turns into a lightly golden-brown colour (it might be too liquid depending on the honey you use - in this case  just add in some more almonds).

2. Pour onto parchment paper, seperate huge chunks with a fork and let cool completely.  

 

For the chocolate crust:

- 200g dark chocolate

- some pinches of huge grain sea salt according to taste

- caramelized almonds (see below)

1. Melt the chocolate in a water bath or in the microwave.

2. Pour it over the cooled cake and sprinkle with the almonds and sea salt as long as the chocolate is still warm

3. Let the chocolate cool of to create a nice crisp crust and serve with your favourite coffee (latte macchiato anyone?)