Rafaello vol.2

I had some packs of crackers left and I needed a cake, extremely quickly with short preparation time. So I decided to upgrade the basic recipe and here it comes! It is definitely better than the previous one :)

Ingredients: (for a small rectangular pan, otherwise there's not enough cream, but You can double the ingredients and make double cream, then You'll also need more crackers)

• 1 litre of 3,2% milk
• 2 vanilla powdered custards, 40g each (or double the recipe for this budyń, recipe here ;) )
• 2 tablespoons of potato starch
• 3/4 glass of sugar
• 2-3 vanilla sugars (16g each)
• 1-3 tablespoon of Amaretto Syrup
• 1 egg yolk
• 250g of margarine
• 100g of shredded coconut 
• 2-3(3-5 if bigger pan) packs of crackers (rectangular shape)
• 330 ml of 36% cream  (or artificial, powdered one)
• 1/3 glass of powdered sugar

Optional ingredients:

• almond flakes, for sprinkling the top

Preparation of budyn/custard:

For those of You, who has powdered custard, follow the steps below, if You can't buy powdered budyn/custard then follow all the steps in that recipe, just remember to double all the ingredients.

1. Take a glass, fill 3/4 of it with milk. Add powdered custard and potato starch. Stir till smooth (no clumps please!)
2. Take a pot, put all the remaining milk in there, add sugar, start boiling. Stir from time to time to help the sugar dissolve. Bring to boil and add the mixture from the glass. Lower the heat, stir energetically till it turns thick. Cool down.

Now, when the custard is ready: 

1. Using a stand mixer, mix butter with egg yolk, adding cooled down custard, one tablespoon after another.
2. Add Amaretto syrup, gradually, mixing and tasting after every tablespoon to check how strong the Amaretto taste is for You.
3. Add shredded coconut, mix till it links.
4. Take a rectangular pan - preferably a rectangular springform pan (no baking paper inside is necessary, in both cases).
5. Put one layer of crackers and start adding some part of the cream, to cover the entire crackers layer.
6. Put another layer of crackers and cream - repeat till all the ingredients are used, the last layer are crackers.

Now prepare the whipped cream:

1. Before preparing the whipped cream make sure your cream is really, really cool (I always put it in the freezer before beating, for around 10-15 minutes). 
2. Take a mixer and its bowl, put cream inside, start mixing. After a while add powdered sugar and something to stiffen it (powdered whipped cream/smietan-fix). 
3. Beat for around 10 minutes (depending on the power of a mixer it might take more or less time, keep paying attention not to make butter).
4. Distribute whipped cream all over the top.
5. Cover the cake with foil, put in the frigde for at least 3 hours.
6. Bon Appetit! ;)

Cherry Cube

Ohh wonderful! Truly chocolate, soft, mouth-watering - and - to my great surprise - it is not heavy and not extremely sweet :) frankly, it is its enormous advantage! 
This cake will wonderfully decorate your table and enrapture your guests. I do recommend.

Recipe, slightly changed, comes from this website.

Ingredients:

Cocoa dough, part 1:

• 3/4 glass of oil
• 1/2 glass of water
• 1 glass of sugar
• 3 tablespoons of baking cocoa

Cocoa dough, part 2:

• 5 egg yolks (room temperatured)
• 5 egg whites(room temperatured)
• 1/2 glass of white sugar
• 1,5 glass of flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda

Cherry cream:

• 500ml of 36% cream, very cold (before using, put in in the freezer for around 15 minutes)
• 800g of cherries (fresh or frozen)
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 5 tablespoons of sugar
• 24g (=6 teaspoons =6 gelatin leaves) of powdered gelatin 

Chocolate frosting (ganache):

• 125 ml of 36% cream
• 125g of chocolate (I used 70% cocoa chocolate, but you can use half of milk and half of plain chocolate)

Additional ingredients:

• Glacé cherries for decoration
• 1/2 glass of cherry brandy or amaretto
• whipped cream

Preparation:

Dough:

1. Put all the ingredients from part 1 in a pot. Start boiling, stir, till all the ingredients link and sugar melts. Turn off the heat and cool down.

While the first part is almost cooled down, time for part 2:

1. Sieve the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Put aside.
2. Take a rectangular baking pan (preferably 25x35cm). Put baking paper all over it.
3. Take a mixer and its bowl, put egg whites inside and start beating (it will take 10 minutes). At the end of that time, gradually start adding sugar.
4. Add egg yolks and mix, on a low rotation, till smooth.
5. Add cooled down 'part 1' and stir precisely with a spatula or spoon. 
6. Pour the dough into previously prepared baking pan.
7. Bake for 35-45 minutes minutes in 180C. Preferably, as always - check if the cake is ready with a toothpick.
8. Cool down in an open oven.

While the cake is cooling down, prepare the filling:

Cherry cream:

1. Take a big pot, put cherries inside (no need to defrost frozen ones), add sugar, lemon juice and bring to boil.
2. After that time, if there is too much cherry juice in your pot (especially from frozen cherries) take all of it out, so that only cherries remain in a pot.
3. Take a blender and mix till smooth.
4. Put gelatin in a glass, cover with hot, boiling water (just a little bit of boiling water, to cover the gelatin is enough) and keep stiring till the gelatin dissolves.
5. Add to blended cherries and stir precisely. Let it cool down completely.
6. Take a mixer with its (another ;) ) bowl, put 36% cream inside and beat till stiff (depends on mixer's power it will take between 5-10 minutes).
7. In 3 parts, start adding cooled down cherry mixture. When done, put in the fridge for a while.

Finishing:

1. Take a big piece of baking paper. 
2. If the cake cooled down completely, cut into equal 2 pieces (the best way to do it is to use a thread).
3. Put the first piece of cake on your baking paper. Lift it, and put it back in the baking pan.
4. Here is a good time, to take alcohol and with a spoon, distribute it all over the piece of cake.
5. Cover with cherry filling, put another piece of cake (add alcohol if desired) on it and the remaining part of the filling. 
6. Put it in the fridge for around 15-20 minutes. During that time, prepare the chocolate frosting.

Ganache:

1. Chop the chocolate into small pieces. 
2. Put the cream in a pot, boil. Turn off the heat. Add chocolate and stir till it links and you receive a smooth frosting. Put aside for a while.

1. Take the cake out from the fridge, distribute the frosting all over the top, and put back in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
2. After that time, decorate your cake with glacé cherries, distributing them quite far away from each other, so that you can cut equal cubes. It is also possible to put some whipped cream all over the cake and then, on it, a cherry, like here, in that recipe.
3. Store in the fridge.
4. Bon Appetit :)

Semifreddo cake a'la Tiramisu

A few days ago, I was asked to prepare a Tiramisu... of course I will do it! my pleasure! But... it's summer.. it's so hot outside... and Tiramisu has a lot of cream which tends to melt... I found a brilliant, refreshing and delicious solution... ;) 

Recipe comes from: http://www.kwestiasmaku.com/desery/semifreddo/torcik_semifreddo/przepis.html but there are a lot of my private changes, as this recipe skips some more or less obvious activities. 

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs 
• 1/2 glass of sugar 
• 250g of mascarpone 
• 4-5 drops of vanilla extract 
• 1 teaspoon of lemon peel 
• 1-2 packagings of ladyfingers 
• 50-70 ml of chocolate/amaretto liqueur or a couple of drops of almond extract 
• cocoa and instant coffee (for sprinkling every tier) 

Optional ingredients - for a strawberry sauce: (I skipped that part and added caramel sauce): 

• 500 g of strawberries (either frozen or fresh) 
• some sugar for the taste* 
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour melted in 2 tablespoons of water 
• 1 teaspoon of lemon juice 

*start from 2 tablespoons, taste, add more.

Preparation:

Strawberry sauce:

1. Defrost strawberries if frozen. Put in a pot, add sugar, boil for 7 minutes. Sieve. 
2. Add flour, boil, add lemon juice, boil. 

Semifreddo:

1. Take a loaf pan, put baking paper inside, so that some of it sticks out of the loaf pan. Put it in the freezer. 
2. Peel the lemon, squeeze, to get the juice, put aside. 
3. Separate egg yolks from whites, put in two different (quite big) bowls. 
4. Mix yolks with sugar on the highest rotation power of the mixer, till it gets smooth. 
5. Keep mixing - add mascarpone, vanilla extract and lemon peel. 
6. Beat the whites (around 7 minutes) 
7. Add whites to yolks. Stir gently. 
8. Take the loaf pan out of the freezer. 
9. Put the first tier of ladyfingers inside. Add some liqueur/almond extract*. Put some cream, sprinkle with cocoa and instant coffee. 
10. Repeat all the steps from 9 - ladyfingers, liqueur/extract, cream, cocoa+coffee. 
11. Put the foil on the top and put the cake into the freezer for at least 8 hours. 
12. Max 30 minutes before giving the cake to your guests, take as many portions as you need and put them in the fridge. The rest of the cake remains in the freezer. 
13. Add some sauce if you wish - caramel, chocolate, strawberry, raspberry, etc. 
14. Bon Appetit!

Tiramisu

Gourmet sensation. Always, in every variation :)

Recipe from this website, but changed, to fit a springform pan.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 packs of ladyfingers
• 300 ml of strong espresso
• 120 ml of Amaretto syrup
• 8 egg yolks (in a room temperature)
• 8 tablespoons of sugar
• 500 g of mascarpone (cold)
• cocoa (bitter one, for baking), to sprinkle the tiers and the top

Preparation:

1. Prepare yolks. They need to be in a room temperature.
2. Take a bowl. Prepare espresso, mix with Amaretto syrup in the bowl. Cool down.
3. Take a metal bowl, put yolks inside, add sugar and using a mixer, mix on its highest rotation for at least 8 minutes till you get thick, fluffy and light substance.*
4. Using a tablespoon, add one of mascarpone to yolks, mix (average rotation) till smooth, then add another, etc. till all the mascarpone is added. This cream needs to be thick and fluffy.
5. Take a springform pan, ladyfingers and all the bowls. 
6. Take 1 ladyfinger, put for 2 seconds in coffee-Amaretto mixture(2 seconds for both sides of a ladyfinger**), put in the springform pan. Repeat till you get one full tier of ladyfingers on the bottom of the springform pan.
7. Sprinkle it with cocoa, using a sieve.
8. Put the yolks-mascarpone cream on it (do not worry that cocoa mixes with the cream)
9. Put another tier of ladyfingers, cocoa, cream.
10. Repeat all the steps, till all the ingredients are gone. The top is the cream and cocoa.***
11. Put in the fridge for at least 3 hours (entire night is perfect, especially if the cream isn't thick enough)
12. It may stay in the fridge for few days. But I don't think it will ;)
13. Bon Appetit!

* This is the most important part of making a good Tiramisu. While beating, it is advisable not to move the mixer too often. Beaten yolks need to be thick, fluffy, bright. If they aren't - add special powder that will stiffen, consolidate it (in Poland - śmietan-fix). If you don't have such powder and the cream is wet, with water and is more like a liquid (which is bad) you can either use it - but then Tiramisu needs to stay in the fridge for the entire night (even though it won't fully fix it, there will be a problem with taking it out of the springform pan and cutting a decent piece to put on a plate) or prepare the cream from the very beginning - advisable. 

** It needs to be done quickly, otherwise ladyfingers will crumble.

*** It is possible to make 3 tiers out of this recipe. But I do not recommend it. With 3 tiers, there are too many ladyfingers and too little cream. 
It is better (both if it comes to its appearance and the easiness of taking it out) to finish on 2.

Amaretti cookies

Almond cookies, a perfect cookie for a fan of amaretto/almond flavour.

Recipe comes from this website.

Ingredients:

• 340 g grounded almonds
• 300 g powdered sugar
• 4 egg whites
• 30 ml amaretto liqueur (or almond aroma)

Preparation:

1. Beat the whites till thick (around 7 minutes).
2. Gently add grounded almonds and sugar - stir.
3. Add liqueur, stir.
4. Take a baking sheet, put the baking paper on it.
5. Using a teaspoon, put small portions (1 teaspoon= 1 cookie*) on the baking paper, leaving quite much space between cookies (they grow)
6. Bake for 15 minutes in 170 C till they get gold.
7. Bon Appetit :)

* Of course if you want to, make them bigger, but as you see, they get much bigger when made from 1 teaspoon.