Strawberry coffee cake & some other cakes

Since April of this year i have joined The Home Bakers. Whe are baking every three weeks but i have been missing out on some bakes or i made the cake but didn't had the time to post my findings on my blog. The idea is whe bake all the recipes from one book and whe started with Coffee cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas. So starting this post with this Strawberry coffee cake.

Our seventh bake together was picked by Alice from I love.I cook.I bake. She chose this delicious cake and for the recipe you have to go to her site. She used blueberries instead of strawberries, like to see wat the others made of theirs go to the home bakers page.

I decided to make only half of the cake so i needed only half of the ingredients. Baking my coffee cake in a round 9-inch pan. The batter was easy to make but a little tough. So spreading it out on the bottom was not going very well. Then on to that layer i putted all my strawberries and then the second layer of batter but it seemed more like dough. Baking it 180C for about 30 minutes. The cake rose above the pan but after cooling down it was collapsed. The taste is really great, but next time i will not put my strawberries in 1 layer but mix them a little more trough the batter. I especcially liked the cruch of the brown sugar on top.

Pear pinwheel and Hazelnut cake

Almond-crusted butter cake



































 

Mexican Horchata: Almond-rice cooler

This week at I Heart cooking clubs we are cooking with the theme earth day. Any recipe with use of products grown from the earth is allowed. Should i make something with fruit or root vegetables, No rice is grown from the earth too.We eat a lot of rice but i never had it as a drink. So i decided on this Recipe for Horchata; Almond-Rice cooler. It made me curious, how would it taste?

Rick Bayless says" This has the simplest and most familair flavors of the three most common aguas frescas: a slightly chalky, thirst-quenching refreshment with a flavor reminiscent of rice pudding. This drink is light and rich - exceptionally good hot-weather party fare, poured over ice."

Almond rice cooler
Rick Bayless, authentic mexican

Yield: about 1½ quarts, 6 to 7 servings

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons rice
6 ounces blanched almonds
1 inch cinnamon stick
3 2-inch strips of lime zest(colored rind only)
about 1 cup of sugar - sugar syrup

1. Soaking the rice and the almonds.
Thorougly pulverize the rice in a blender or spice grinder. Transfer to a medium bowl and add the almonds, cinnamon stick and lime zest. Stir in 2¼ cups of hot tap water, cover and let stand at least 6 hours or preferably, overnight.
2. Blending and straining.
Scoop the mixture into the blender jar and blend for 3 or 4 minutes, until it no longer feels very gritty. Add 2 cups of water, then blend for a few second more. Set a large sieve over a mixing bowl and line 3 layers of damp cheesecloth. Pour in the almond-rice mixture a little at a time, gently stirring to help the liquid pass trough. When all has been strained, gather up the corners of the cheesecloth and twist them together to trap the dregs inside. Squeeze the package firmly to expell all remaining liquid.
3. Finishing the Horchata.
Add 2 cups of water and stir in enough sugar to sweeten the drink to your taste. If the consistency is too thick, add additional water. Cover and refrigerate until you're ready to serve. Stir before pouring.

Notes/ findings:
- The drink keeps for 5 days or more, covered and refrigerated.
- At the last moment i put in some more cinnamon, because i really like cinnamon.
- I used sugar syrup instead of sugar.
- And ofcourse i really liked this drink and Rick was wright it does taste like rice pudding!


Admitting this to:

Ricciarelli

It's that time of the month again "Potluck" at I Heart Cooking Clubs where whe feature the recipes of Tessa Kiros for six months. And in here book Twelve i found this recipe for Ricciarelli or Almond cakes. And since i had a big batch of almond flour in my pantry, waiting for me to make macarons for months. I used it for this almond cakes instead.
And i totally hadn't any regrets about that after tasting the almond cakes.

Tessa Kiros says, "These small, soft cakes are found in every shop is Siena along with the traditional panforte. They are baked on sheets or individual discs of rice paper, wich are trimmed around the cake when it is cooked and eaten with the small cake. If you do not have rice paper, line your baking tray with a piece of baking paper. When cooled, simply transfer from the baking paper to a tin".

Ricciarelli (Almond cakes)

Tessa Kiros, Twelve(page.365)
makes about 20 biscuits

300g (10 1/2oz) almond flour
280g (10 oz) caster sugar
150g (5 1/2oz) icing(confectioners) sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
grated zest of 1 orange
2 egg whites
1 sheet of rice paper(or about 20 small rounds) to line the baking tray

Line a flat baking tray with baking paper.
Mix the almond flour with the caster sugar, 100g(3 1/2 oz) of the icing sugar, the baking powder and the orange zest in a bowl.
Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and combine with the almond mix, using a wooden spoon. Mash the mixture together to make a sticky, wet mass.
mouls oval shapes to 6cm(2 1/2in) long x 4cm(1 1/2in) wide x 2cm(3/4in) thick onto a spoon. Slide the ovals off the spoon carefully with you thumb, and reshape any identations. Put them onto the baking tray, allowing room for them to spread.
Sprinkle the tops with 25g(1 oz), or half of the remaining icing sugar. Leave the biscuits on the tray for 2-3 hours at room temperature to dry them a little before baking.
Preheat the oven to 140C (275F/Gas1). Bake for about 30 minutes or until they are lightly golden and a little firm on the outside. The inside will still be soft.Remove from the oven. Cool slightly before sprinkling with the remaining 25g(1 oz) of icing sugar. Cut the rice paper around the bottom of the cakes. They will keep for about a week stored in an airthight container.

notes: i didn't use the rice paper, because i could'nt find any. Baked them on baking paper.