Plum cake with crème pâtissière - extended version

Ohh, by accident, my mum came up with a gorgeous idea to 'upgrade' that cake. If you've already tried to do it, you've probably noticed that there are 6 egg whites remaining. I have no idea why haven't I thought about it earlier - it is possible to make a sweet meringue on that cake :) it is cruelly delicious ! must try! :) Recipe... basic + my mum :) greets for her !

Here you can find the basic recipe

Meringue:

Ingredients:

• 6 egg whites (the ones that remain from the cake)
• 200-250 g of sugar
• 1-1,5 teaspoon of potato starch 

Preparation:

1. Prepare the dough for the bottom of the cake, crème pâtissière and the crumble from the basic recipe.
2. Bake the bottom of the cake as the basic recipe says.
3. Cool down the baked bottom, put crème pâtissière on it and plums.
4. Not earlier, but now start preparing the meringue.
5. Take a big bowl (preferably mixer's bowl), put all the egg whites inside, start beating them with a mixer.
6. Start adding sugar, one spoon after another, beating all the time. Add potato starch.
7. Mix (for around 7-10 minutes) till the meringue is really stiff*
8. Put the beaten meringue on the plums. Sprinkle with the crumble.
9. Bake in 170C for 35-40 minutes.
10. Bon Appetit!! :)

* A good way to check it is to take to bowl and overturn it. If the meringue doesn't move - it's perfectly fine.

Plum cake with crème pâtissière

 Ouuutstanding. The best plum cake I've ever made, plus - I am not a plum-fan. But this one is absolutely gorgeous. Pictures - not the best I've ever taken, because we couldn't have resisted and started eating the cake right after having taken it out from the oven :) I guess you'll do the same :)

Slightly changed, the recipe comes from http://www.kwestiasmaku.com/zielony_srodek/sliwki/ciasto_kruche_ze_sliwkami_kremem/przepis.html

Ingredients:

• 1 kg of plums
• powdered sugar (to sprinkle the top of the cake)

Bottom of the cake:

• 150 g flour
• 150 g potato starch
• 50 g of sugar
• 150 g of cold butter
• 1 egg

Crème pâtissière from that recipe:

• 500 ml of milk
• 4 tablespoons of vanilla sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 100 g sugar or powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 2 tablespoons of potato starch

Crumble for the top

• 100 g of flour
• 50 g of potato starch
• 100 g of shredded coconut
• 50 g of sugar
• 125 g of cold butter

Preparation:
Bottom:

1. Take a big bowl. Put both flours inside, add sugar and chopped butter. Make a dough, add egg and link (everything might be done by using hands). Form a ball. Put in the freezer for 1 hour.

Crème from that recipe:

1. Take a mixer and its bowl. Put egg yolks inside with sugar and beat to obtain a bright fluffy foam (it will take around 5-8 minutes of beating). Add flour and starch and mix only till all the ingredients link.
2. Take a pot, put milk and vanilla sugar inside, heat till it reaches 100C, stiring from time to time. Turn the heat off.
3. Slowly, step by step, add the mixture from the pot to the mixer's bowl, mixing it at the same time. Mix till smooth.
4. Put the mixture in the pot and heat again - stiring all the time, cause it will start getting thicker and thicker, like a custard.
5. When the creme is ready (thick), turn the heat off. Put the creme in a clean bowl. Sprinkle the top with confectioners' sugar or with grounded cold butter(the butter needs to be frozen)

1. Take the dough out of the freezer.
2. Take a rectangular pan and put the dough inside, roll it out, so that it covers the entire bottom of the pan. 
3. Using a fork, make holes in the dough all over the pan. Put the pan in a fridge for 30 minutes.

1. Start preheating the oven to 160C.

Crumble:

1. Take a big bowl, put both flours inside, add shredded coconut, sugar and chopped butter. Using hands, make a crumble. Put it in the fridge.

1. If the oven is already heated to 160C put the pan with the bottom of the cake inside the oven and bake for 25 minutes till the cake's colour is gold.
2. Take it out from the oven and cool down.
3. Wash plums, cut into wedges, throw away the kernels.
4. If the bottom of the cake is already cold, put the crème all over the bottom, then put plums all over the cake and sprinkle the entire cake with the crumble.
5. Put the cake in the oven, increase the temperature to 180C and bake for 35 minutes till the cake's colour is gold.
6. Cool down, sprinkle the cake all over with powdered sugar.
7. Bon Appetit! :)

Crème Pâtissière

Very tasty, sweet, thick custard, used in baking :) I'm sure you'll love it. 

Recipe from... all over the internet :) basically from the BBC Food (for example http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/pastry_cream_36417) and Martha Steward's idea http://www.marthastewart.com/315510/creme-patissiere

Ingredients:

• 6 egg yolks
• 500 ml of milk
• 4 tablespoons of vanilla sugar / 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 100 g of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 2 tablespoons of potato starch
• Confectioners' sugar or grounded unsalted butter (50-100g), to prevent skin from forming*

*While using the butter - put it in the freezer, it needs to be frozen to grind it.

Preparation:

1. Take a mixer and its bowl. Put egg yolks inside with sugar and beat to obtain a bright fluffy foam (it will take around 5-8 minutes of beating). Add flour and starch and mix only till all the ingredients link.
2. Take a pot, put milk and vanilla sugar inside, heat till it reaches 100C, stiring from time to time. Turn the heat off.
3. Slowly, step by step, add the mixture from the pot to the mixer's bowl, mixing it at the same time. Mix till smooth.
4. Put the mixture in the pot and heat again - stiring all the time, cause it will start getting thicker and thicker, like a custard.
5. When the creme is ready (thick), turn the heat off. Put the creme in a clean bowl. Sprinkle the top with confectioners' sugar or with grounded cold butter(the butter needs to be frozen)
6. Keep in the fridge up to 3 days.
7. Bon Appetit :)

Italian Almond Cookies

 These cookies were an absolute, astonishing surprise to me. Right after taking them out of the oven, my first thought was 'my God, what a disaster, it's burnt and hard'. And that is what I told my friends. Even so, I didn't throw them away. My mum and my friends tasted it and with a delight claimed that the cookies were really delicious. How come...? 
Well, it appeared that these cookies need some time to get soft and tasty (a couple of hours, every next day they get better ;) ). 
Must try. Quick, easy, delicious.
Recipe comes from this website.

Ingredients (for 50-70 cookies):

• 3 egg whites
• 300g of grounded almonds (= almond flour)
• 300g of powdered sugar (+some, to sprinkle the cookies)
• 1 tablespoon of honey or golden syrup (I used it instead of honey)
• filling: caramel sauce*, lemon curd, whipped cream, creme patissiere, Nutella, honey, etc.

* I used it, matches perfectly

Preparation:

1. Mix all the ingredients using a food processor, till you get thick, malleable dough. It may be sticky. Cover it using a foil and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 
2. During that time, prepare your baking sheet - put some baking paper on it and - optionally - put a foil under the baking paper.*
3. Take the dough out of the fridge. 
4. Start forming small balls (around walnut's size), sprinkle it precisely with powdered sugar, put on a baking sheet and using something small with a round, smooth ending - make a hollow in every cookie (so that after baking, you can put the filling in there).
5. Leave some space between the cookies on the baking sheet - they double their size during baking. 
6. Bake in 160C for around 15 minutes.** 
7. Cool them down and then add the filling.
8. Bon Appetit ! :)

* Foil is important, if your oven likes to burn the bottom of the food. 

** Again, it depends on the oven. It is crucial to keep looking at cookies for these 15 minutes - don't let them get too gold (even though it is a little bit hard, because they remain white because of the powdered sugar). You can easily open the oven during baking (nothing bad will happen) and check(using a toothpick) or even taste one cookie to check if it is ready or not. It is advisable to lift one cookie, using for instance a fork, to check whether the bottom is burnt or not.

If you are afraid that it is baking too fast - decrease the temperature.