Sunflower cake

Ohh delicious! Remains in a constant battle with Gourmet Sensation ;) I have no idea which one is better! Easy to make, will smitten all your guests ;) 

P.S. here is a small secret: as this cake contains sunflower seeds, it is claimed that it is very beneficial for men (prostate).

This particular recipe is my cousin's own :) 

Greetings for you my Dear and thank you for sharing the recipe :)

Ingredients:

Sponge cake:

• 7 egg whites
• 7 egg yolks
• 1 glass of sugar
• 2/3 glass of baking cocoa
• 2/3 glass of flour

Sunflower frosting, part 1:

• 200g sunflower seeds (or 100g sunflower seeds + 100g walnuts)
• 100g of butter
• 8 tablespoons of sugar
• 4 tablespoons of milk

Sunflower frosting, part 2:

• 300g of butter
• 1 tin of fudge

Optional ingredients:

• 1/3-1/2 glass of vodka

Preparation:
Sponge cake:

1. Take a rectangular baking pan, put baking paper all over it. Put aside.
2. Take a bowl, sieve flour and cocoa to that bowl, twice.
3. Put egg yolks in another bowl and stir/beat, so that they link. Put aside.
4. Start preheating the oven to 170C.
5. Take a mixer and its bowl, put egg whites inside and beat on a low rotation for around 2-3 minutes, till the foam appears. At this moment start adding sugar, spoon after spoon. The mixer can work faster right now. Now beat the eggs for additional 8 minutes.
6. After those 10 minutes or so, while still mixing, keep adding egg yolks, one spoon after another, making sure that the egg yolks linked precisely with egg whites before adding another spoon. 
7. Turn off the mixer and using a spatula, slowly, gently, in 3 parts, add flour+cocoa to the mixer's bowl.
8. Pour the dough into previously prepared baking pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, checking, with a toothpick, if it is ready as it may take a little bit more or less time.*
9. Take the cake out from the oven and throw on a kitchen's surface.
10. Cool down.

* and, as always - if you see that your toothpick is absolutely clean and the cake seems ready - don't hesitate to take it out from the oven. Also, if you know that your oven tends to burn the top of the cake and you can see that your top starts to burn, put foil all over that top, it will prevent it from burning, and keep baking. On the other hand - if your oven tends to burn the bottom - put a baking tray under your baking pan with a cake.

Sunflower frosting, part 1:

1. Take a pot, put butter, sunflower seeds and milk inside, boil.
2. Take a baking paper, put the mixture on it and bake in the oven for 20 minutes in 180C.
3. After that time, take the sunflower seeds out from the oven, let it cool down and crush into small pieces. 

Sunflower frosting, part 2:

1. Take a mixer and its bowl, beat the butter (around 8 minutes). Add fudge, mix again till it links.
2. Add some sunflower seeds-mixture (part 1), leaving some part of it to sprinkle the top, and mix again.
3. Here is a moment to add alcohol, if desired. Preferably - add one tablespoon of vodka, taste if it is strong enough for you - if yes, the frosting is ready, if not - keep adding till you feel it is enough.

Finishing:

1. Distribute the frosting all over the cake, sprinkle with remaining sunflower seeds mixture from part 1.
2. Store in the fridge, covered.
3. Bon Appetit! ;)

Mango Lassi

 After a quite long holiday break, it is time for something new and refreshing as we are still in holiday mood :)

Mango Lassi, deriving from India, it is based on a Mango fruit with yoghurt and water. Easy to prepare, will pamper your palate :) 

I haven't taken the recipe from anywhere, I've just read on the Internet about this drink and created my own recipe. It is possible to prepare as a cold coctail, as a soft drink or with alcohol.

Ingredients (for 2-4 glasses - depending on the size of the glass):

• 2 mangos
• 1 greek yoghurt or natural yoghurt (around 300 ml)
• 1 tablespoon of Golden Syrup or honey
• 1 glass of cold/room temperature water (add only 1/2 glass of cold water if using ice cubes)

Optional ingredients:

• 1-2 teaspoons of sugar
• 1-2 pinch(es) of ground cardamom (definitely worth trying)
• 2-5 ice cubes
• 20-25 ml of Vanilla Vodka or Malibu
• mint leaves

Useful info:

• While using Golden Syrup it is advisable to heat it a little bit - for example by putting the right amount of it in a small bowl and then that bowl in another, with hot water.
• If the mango is really really ripe - then the sugar isn't that necessary, because the more ripe the fruit is the more sugar it contains.
• Trying things while preparing them is really a useful skill - you can decide on your own whether you want the taste of the fruit to be dominant or rather the yoghurt, etc. With coctails such as Mango Lassi, just add all the ingredients gratually, mix and taste it, using a clean spoon each time you try it, to make it suitable for you.

Preparation:

1. If preparing it in a cold version - put mangos in the freezer.
2. Take a blender and its cube cutter.
3. Wash and peel mangos. Chop.
4. Put inside the cube cutter and mix till smooth.
5. Add yoghurt, mix.
6. Add Golden Syrup/honey, sugar, water, ice cubes, cardamom. Mix again till smooth or even longer, to make a foam.
7. Decorate for instance with mint leaves.
8. Bon Appetit! :)

Home-made Cherry Liqueur

The best home-made liqueur. Why? Because here you decide, whether it is more sweet or more 'spicy' ;) A private recipe :)


Ingredients:

• 2 kg of ripe cherries
• 1,5 kg of sugar
• 1 litre of vodka
• 1/2 litre of rectified spirit

Preparation:

1. Wash the cherries. Put them to a big (around 7 litre big) jar, add all the sugar, stir or shake. Close the jar, put aside. 
2. For the next couple of days, once a day, shake the jar, to help the sugar melt.
3. After a week, add vodka and rectified spirit. Stir till all the sugar totally melts. Close the jar.
4. Put aside for a week.
5. Bon Appetit! 

You can keep trying it whether you want more sugar or vodka and you can add it as you wish.