Gourmet Sensation vol. 2

Here is another version of my Gourmet Sensation. Don't try to call it 'worse' or 'poor'! ;) You will have problems to stop devouring it ;) It is same easy and same tasty :) 

And - it gets better with time :)

Ingredients:

• 2-3 packs of biscuits (butter ones)
• 2 vanilla custards (here is a recipe for home-made custard called 'budyn', you'll probably need to double the ingredients to make it suitable for that cake)
• 2 tins of fudge
• 36% cream: 2 options:

*if powdered:

you will need 2 sachets which need to be combined with milk (the method of preparing it is written on the sachet, you will probably need around 200 ml of milk per sachet)
* if real, fresh, liquid one, to whip it up: 1 packaging(around 330 ml, but it is ok to use more)  + 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar + here I do recommend using some kind of powder that can stiffen the cream (in Poland: śmietan-fix, made mainly of glucose and starch)

• baking cocoa, to sprinkle the top of the cake (or grated chocolate, preferably dark chocolate, because the cake is really sweet itself)

Preparation:

Briefly, tiers:

1. biscuits
2. custard/budyń
3. biscuits
4. fudge
5. biscuits
6. whipped cream
7. chocolate/cocoa

Preparation:

* every tier will cover the entire surface of the tin.

1. Take a rectangular springform cake tin.
2. Put one tier of biscuits on the bottom of your cake tin.
3. Prepare the custard and pour it on biscuits (don't wait till it cools down).
4. Take a pot, pour some water inside, start heating.
5. Open tins with fudge, put them in the pot. Boil on a low heat (keep looking at it, but nothing bad should happen). Stir from time to time.
6. Put another tier of biscuits - no need to wait till the custard is cold.
7. Stir the fudge slowly, check if it isn't burning anyhow (though it shouldn't).
8. If the water with tins already boils, stir the fudge and turn off the heat. Using for instance a tea towel, take the first tin and a spoon, and pour the fudge on the biscuits. Distribute all over the biscuits. Take another tin and reapeat the action.
9. Put another tier of biscuits.
10. Put everything in a cold place or in a fridge, so that it cools down completely.
11. Prepare whipped cream.
12. When the cake is cooled down, distribute whipped cream all over the top.
13. Shortly before serving, sprinkle the top with chocolate/cocoa.
14. Keep in a fridge.
15. Bon Appetit! :)

Orange-Chocolate Cheesecake

I was pretty unsure about this Cheesecake as I was doing it completely on my own and I was afraid of many, many things. But... I served it and all the guests were stunned! Asking where did I buy it. And they were even more shocked when I told them that I did it on my own :) And everyone, literally, everyone asked for the recipe! That's the best award I could have got for that cheesecake :) So now I'm sharing the secret for a perfect Christmas Cheesecake with You :) 
Some details: This cheesecake has a consistency of a mousse, so it melts on a palate, it's quite refreshing, because of oranges and what is its biggest advantage - it's easy and quick to prepare, because without turning on the oven ;) Enjoy! :)

Bottom of the cake:

• 200g of chocolate shortbread-like biscuits
• 80-100g of melted butter

Cheesecake: (all the ingredients must be in a room temperature except for water)

• 500g of cheesecake cheese (might be vanilla flavoured)
• 250g of mascarpone cheese
• 250ml of 36% cream
• 100-140g of powdered sugar* 
• 1/2-1 teaspoon of orange extract
• 100g of orange skin
• 40g of powdered gelatin
• 140 ml of boiling water

Decoration:

• Orange slices
• Icing sugar
• Star anise

*About the powdered sugar: here are two nice propositions. First one, is to add a lot of powdered sugar to the cheesecake - around this 140g. If so, the cheesecake mousse is really sweet. But, it is also a good idea, to add only around 90-100g of powdered sugar and after the cake is done, to distribute Royal Icing(recipe is here) on the top of the cake.

Preparation:

Bottom:

1. Take a springform cake tin. 
2. Put baking paper on the bottom of the tin.
3. Take the cookies and crumble them on a very small, sand-like pieces.
4. Mix precisely with butter. It needs to have a consistency of a wet sand.
5. Put in a tin, align, make smooth, knead.
6. Put in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

Cheesecake:

1. In a glass, mix gelatin with hot water and stir till gelatin melts completely. Put aside so that it cools down.
2. Take a mixer and its bowl. Put cheesecake cheese inside, add mascarpone, cream and mix till completely smooth.
3. Add powdered sugar and orange extract and mix till smooth again (it is advisable to taste the cheesecake to check if it is sweet enough).
4. Take a spoon. Take around 3 tablespoons of the cheesecake mixture and mix with gelatin. Stir precisely, it needs to link.
5. Put the gelatin-cheesecake mixture back in a mixer's bowl. Mix precisely.
6. Add orange skin and mix again.
7. Pour on the bottom. Put in the fridge till it stiffens.
8. If desired - add icing and decorate for example with oranges, anise.
9. Keep in the fridge.
10. Bon Appetit! :)

Christmas Trees

Ahhh, my favourite muffin dough in one of its creations... :) I bake them only once a year, for Christmas cause of that smell and taste... mmmm! :) entire house smells of cinammon while baking them :) that increases the Christmas atmosphere ;) So - this time - Christmas trees :) They're perfect once baked, wonderful while still hot/warm and still perfect after a day or two ;) Soft, quite wet, mouth-watering :) match a lot of additional ingredients :) Must try ;)

Recipe for the dough comes from this website.

Recipe for the butter-cream comes from this website.

Ingredients (all of them have to be in a room teperature):

• 3 glasses of flour
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder
• 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
• a pinch of salt
• 230g of butter or margarine
• 1,5 glass of white sugar
• 4 big eggs
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/4 glass of milk (3,2%)

Buttercream:

• 4 egg whites
• 1 glass of white sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 300g of butter, in a room temperature, chopped into small cubes
• vanilla extract
• green food colouring (in a gel or powder, not in a liquid)

Additionals:

• Sprinkles

Preparing muffins:

1. Prepare muffin tins, or any other desired tin (but if it is a metal tin, where you can't put paper muffin cases, it needs to be greased)
2. Take a bowl, put flour, baking powder, cinammon and salt inside.
3. Take a mixer and its bowl, put butter and sugar inside, start mixing to get a fluffy, bright mixture.
4. Add eggs, one after another, mixing after every single egg.
5. Add vanilla extract and mix again.
6. By turns: add some 'dry' ingredients (flour with baking powder, salt and cinnamon), mix, add some milk, mix and again, dry ingredients, milk... till all of them are mixed in a bowl.
7. Put in previously prepared tins (not full, 1/2-3/4 of its height).
8. Put in the oven and bake in 180C for around 20 minutes (check, by using a toothpick).
9. Cool down (at least before putting the cream ;) )

Preparing buttercream:

1. Take egg whites, mix with sugar. Prepare a 'bath' for them.* Keep stiring and heating the mixture over boiling water till the sugar completely melts.
2. Cool down the mixture if it got hot. 
3. Put in the mixer's bowl and beat, around 10 minutes to get white, shiny, stiff a meringue.
4. Start adding the butter, one piece after another, mixing after adding every piece. While adding it may look like it is curdled, but don't panic, it's perfectly fine :) (although I did panic, so you are justified if you did panic as well ;)
5. When the mixture is stiff and all the butter is mixed, add vanilla extract and food colouring, mix.

Preparing Christmas Trees:

1. Take a pastry bag with a star-like tin nozzle, put the buttercream inside and start distributing on the muffin.
2. Start from the middle of the muffin and making circles go it its edge.
3. Decorate with additionals.
4. Bon Appetit! ;)

*A bath is simply boiling the ingredients, but not boiling them in a water, but keeping them in a bowl over a steam.

Tart Tatin

I've hardly made a picture of that cake! I would say it's the second best cake I've ever eaten after Gourmet Sensation. Deriving from France, Tart Tatin is a cake for a fans of 'wet' cakes with lots of fruit and little dough. Very sweet, thanks to caramel and very fruity, thanks to soft apples with a scent of cinnamon. Fantastic and absolutely mouth-watering, if you're willing to take up a challange and give it a try :) I do recommend! :) 

This is Pascal Brodnicki's recipe.

Before baking:

• Do not use springform cake tin to prepare it, because the apple juice + butter-sugar mixture will leak, while heating on the stove as well as in the oven so the tart won't be prepared adequately and overturning will be a disaster.
• Choose only big, round, beautiful apples, with no spots.

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 200g of flour
• 20g of sugar
• pinch of salt
• 100g of butter, cut into cubes (soft, in a room temperature)
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons of water

Apples:

• 6 big, beautiful, round apples
• 150g of sugar
• 150g of butter
• 1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Optional:

• vanilla ice cream
• mint leaves

Preparation:

Dough:

1. Take a mixer and its bowl. Put flour, sugar, salt, butter and egg yolk inside. Mix/knead till the dough is formed. While mixing add water.
2. When the dough is formed, cover the cake with foil and put inside the fridge for around 30 minutes.

Apples:

1. Choose big apples in a similar size. Wash and peel all them, cut and throw away the kernels. Cut into wedges (or so-called 'boats' ;) around 8 pieces/1 apple)
2. Take a tray, put it on the stove. Add butter, melt it on a very low heat. Add sugar, stir.
3. Boil, for a quite long time, keep stiring, till it starts getting gold, to prepare a caramel (be very very careful with that, it's extremely hot, do not taste it during preparing and do not touch!). Turn  it off, put aside for 5-10 minutes.
4. Choose the most beautiful apple wedges, start putting them on the tray, making a round pattern, like a fan, putting one piece slightly on another one, starting from the edge of the tray, to the centre of the tray. This first layer is very important, it needs to be done really precisely, because after all, this is the top of the cake. Sprinkle the first layer with cinnamon. Put another layer, sprinkle with cinnamon, etc. till all the apple wedges are used.
5. On a very low heat, start boiling it again, covered with a lid, for around 5 minutes till the caramel covers either only the first one or all of the apple layers.
6. Take out from the stove.

Cake:

1. Take the cake from the fridge, roll out on sprinkled with flour kitchen's surface and put it on the top of the apples. Edges which are too long roll inside.
2. Tn the middle of the cake dough make a small hole, a 'chimney'.
3. Put in the oven for around 20-25 minutes till the top is gold.
4. Take it out from the oven, let it cool down a little. (around 10 min.)
5. Using a knife, cut it out from the tray.
6. Put a big plate on it, hold it tight and very quickly overturn.
7. Gently take the tart out of the tray.
8. Serve for example with vanilla ice cream and mint leaves.
9. Bon Appetit!! :)