Swiss Blackforest cake

So I am back to Baking!

I have been literally struggling to find some time off my schedule to try some new bakes and have finally found so by coming to Allahabad for a month long vacation! It has just been a few days and I along with  Vaanya are having a whale of time running around our palatial house. Vaanya is getting far too much exercises just by walking around the house, a luxury which we do not have in our small den in Kolkata. With a beautiful front lawn and an equally big aangan, she surely is making the most of it. 

While she catches up some rest by sleeping late till morning, I sneak up to the kitchen to whip up a bake! The joy of baking is undescribable in words and can be only understood by equal enthusiasts. I save all kinds of elaborate experiments for this trip and thus finally found the opportunity to put my hands on a on-my-list for a long time - Swiss Black Forest cake. 

A classic and one of the most loved cake, this one turned out far easier and impressive than expected. The original cake recipe obviously calls for fresh cherries and some alcohol in the syrup but I have used easily available candied cherries and a simple jam-dissolved-in-water syrup inspired by my dear friend Kamalika. 

The cake recipe worked wonders and the cake rose up like a dream filling the kitchen with that irresistible smell of a fresh bake.

Recipe source : Cake recipe inspired by Deeba Rajpal who blogs from Passionate about baking.

 

Ingredients :

For the cake : Makes a 9" round cake to serve 8-10

• 6 eggs
• 1+1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• a pinch of salt

Syrup : 

• 2 tbsp mixed fruit jam dissolved in little water

For Garnish:

• 1 1/2 cup non-dairy whipping cream
• candied cherries
• grated dark chocolate

 

Procedure : 

 

Cake : 

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius.

Grease and flour a 9" springform pan or a normal round pan.

Sift all purpose flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, cornflour and salt.

Take eggs and sugar in a bowl and beat till triples in volume. This will require an electric beater and will take about 10 minutes. Add vanilla essence and beat again.

Gently fold in the flour mixture into the eggs with light hands so that the air incorporated in the eggs do not escape. 

Pour batter in prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

Allow to cool and slice in 2 equal layers.

 

Whip cream:

Thaw the whipping cream by taking it out 1 hour before required to whip. 

Chill the beaters and the bowl. 

Whip with electric beater for about 5 minutes with 1 minute breaks. Gradually increase speed from low to high. 

Beat till the cream begins forming lines and has thickened enough. Be careful not to overbeat as the cream may curdle.

Refrigerate till required.

Assembly : 

Spread the syrup prepared with jam dissolved in water equally over the cake layers. 

Spread the whipped cream in between the cake layers and sandwich them. 

Spread the remaining cream all over the cake.

Decorate sides with pressing the grated dark chocolate to the sides. Sprinkle some on top too.

Fill an icing bag fitted with star nozzle with some cream and pipe along the edges and one in the middle.

Decorate with candied cherries. 

Notes :  

• Slice the cake in layers as soon as it cools enough to touch as the cake will get too crumbly if you allow to cool further.
• With no butter or oil, this cake is a little dry so be careful to sprinkle enough syrup if you like your Black forest moist like me.

Happy Baking

Amrita

Linzer Cookies

Time and again I get into this phase where I do not get the energy or enthusiasm to write on the blog. Do not get me wrong. I do not stop experimenting and clicking pictures of the food that we eat. It is just that, you feel stuck at times and want some time to get out of it and share again. I have several recipes waiting in my drafts that I really want to share, some experiments that went surprisingly well, some grandma recipes that I relish everyday and also some recipes that failed.

So here I am back again sharing a recipe that I tried as part of our monthly challenge at Baking partners. February is the month of romance and the perfect month to put your hands on some warm and fuzzy bakes. I, as usual, reduced the recipe to suit our little family of three. 

Linzer cookies are famous all around the world and are pretty easy to make. All you need to do is make the dough and cut out shapes and bake. It is then sandwiched with jam. 

Let me confess that I have never liked jam in my life. I mean, I am the kind who hates the widely loved butter and jam sandwich. Therefore I bought a small pouch of jam good enough to just sandwich these cookies. To my surprise Vaanya, my almost three year old daughter, loved it immensely. She kept licking the jam so very sweetly and I as a mother was so happy to see it. 

These cookies were a winner at my home. In fact, I had to hide one sandwiched cookie for Vishal, as Vaanya and me were very quick to finish them. Truly a perfect Valentine treat for 14th February which also happened to be our 4th Marriage Anniversary this year.

Recipe source : Swathi Iyer, Adapted from the book by Alice Medrich, Chewy, Gooey, Crispy, Crunchy

Ingredients : I reduced the recipe by ¼ to yield 4 sandwiched cookies.

• ¼ cup All purpose flour
• 2 tbsp ground almonds, blanched and powdered (see notes)
• 3 tsp granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt
• ¼ tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 tbsp butter, room temperature
• A drop of almond extract(optional)
• ¼ tsp grated lemon zest
• Mixed fruit jam (or any other of your choice)
• Icing sugar for dusting

Procedure:

Combine flour, ground almonds, sugar, salt, cinnamon powder, almond extract, lemon zest in a bowl.

Add butter and mix well till the mixture comes together as a ball. (If required, add little milk)

Flatten the dough ball and wrap it with clingfilm. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. You can even keep it upto 3 days. The dough can be freezed for 3 months.

Before rolling the cookies, allow the dough to come to room temperature. 

Preheat oven to 170 degree Celsius.

Take out the dough and roll it 1/8” thick.

Cut out 8 round shape with a cookie cutter. I used my 2” round cookie cutter.

You can use scraps and roll it again to cut shapes.

Cut out a heart shape in the middle of 4 round cut outs.

Line and grease a baking tray and place the cookie cut outs. Refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm up the cookies.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or till the cookies have browned well.

Allow to cool.

Spread a layer of jam on the round cookie and sandwich with the heart cut out. Sprinkle the icing sugar on top.

Notes : 

• Blanch almonds by dropping them in boiling water for 5 minutes. Strain and dry them on a kitchen towel. Dry roast on a pan or in the oven till just about dry, for 3-4 minutes. Do not let them brown.  Then grind them to a powder along with a tsp of sugar. 
• You can use any other shape of cookie cutter, though round is more traditional. 
• Try with any other flavour of jam.

Happy cookie making
Amrita