I baked a lot during the last several weeks.

One thing which I recently mastered (and I could not believe it was so fast and easy) was a berry cake from one of my Finnish friends. I always loved the cheese-based topping on most of the Finnish pies, and now I know how to make it 🙂

The recipe is here.

Also, at the very end of October, at one-before-last farmer’s market, I spotted rhubarb, which was a miracle. the vendor explained that while they were planting the last greens in the greenhouse, they thought – why not? So I bought a lot, and made a rhubarb-strawberry pie, as I baked several times in early summer.

Also, I made tiramisu several times, because now I know that it’s not really time-consuming, and always turns out great.

Finally, I tried one more recipe: this chocolate pudding. Once again, it was amazingly simple and heavenly delicious.

Now, for the next month, I am going switch entirely to Christmas cookies!

The only reason I call this recipe “Finnish” is because it originally came from my friend from Helsinki. I loved and bake it regularly. Last Saturday, it was the first time I baked it after moving to my new place.

Like all other recipes, it came out perfectly in the gas stove. Also, it was the first time ever I tried to bake it in the bundt cake pan, and not just an bundt cake pan, but the one with the waves. I was not sure whether it will come out well, or it will stick to the form, but it ended up being miraculously good.

Here is the actual recipe

I baked two cheesecakes: one with dried fruit, and another one with fresh berries (blueberries, raspberries and blackberries). They tasted differently, b ut both were delicious! (Past tense – both gone :))

Last summer, I baked rhubarb pies several times, trying different recipes with different degrees of success, and I was looking to give it a try this summer when local rhubarb appeared on the market. I found the recipe I liked most, and this time, I didn’t change anything in how the filling is made — precisely that proportion of fruits, precisely that amount of sugars.     

I didn’t cover my pie; instead, I sprinkled some streusel on top, and it worked perfectly.  

So, here it goes:

• 1 defrosted 9-inch pie crust
•  3 cups of rhubarb, cut 1/2 -inch length,   
• 2 1/2 cups sliced strawberries
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 corn starch
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp orange extract (instead of 1 tbsp of orange juice
• 1/4 tsp salt

Start preheating the oven after the filling is mixed so that it would release some liquid and leave the liquid in a bowl when you fill the crust with the filling.

I didn’t put the lattice on top and didn’t use an egg. Instead, I prepared some streusel topping with 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and 3 tbsp of butter which I crushed with my fingers and mixed with dry components. Then I baked it as instructed: 20 min on 400F and 35 min on 350F. It was already pretty late, so I left it to cool down overnight.     

In the morning it was the most perfect thing.

I found critical with this recipe the proportion of rhubarb and strawberries and sugar, adding cornstarch and a cooldown before serving.

I want to complain about how I didn’t have time for the book writing this weekend, but I probably shouldn’t. After all, there were many other things which I did, although I didn’t have to do. this includes baking.

Although baking was in my weekend plans even before the election results were announced, I decided that it was in honor of our victory 🙂

I baked these two cakes:

Georgia Apple Cake

Orange Cake

The recipes are not super-complex, but both require a lot of time, especially the Apple cake which takes about four hours from start to finish (this includes three hours of wait :), but still)

Both cakes are delicious – i can’t even describe to what extent! You can’t stop till you are done 🙂

T

The last two weeks were… I do not even know how to describe them, “Lots of work” is not enough, and I can’t go into the details. It was a lot, and I had to manage all my previous obligations and the book schedule. The current chapter, which is due tomorrow, was indeed not as difficult as the previous two. It helped that we decided to move the last section of the previous chapter to the current one, so it was less writing after all, but still., writing is writing. 

As usual, my usual stress-relieving activity is baking. I bookmarked this recipe a while ago. I love apple desserts, and this one sounded very promising.  I made only one substitution. Since I do not like coconut, I substituted in with a cup of thinly sliced almonds, which I crushed to make them almost dissolvable.

On Saturday, it was dark, and raining, and windy for the whole day. This recipe is easy to make, but it takes a long time to bake, and then to let it sit, absorbing the sauce. The recipe calls for 1.5 hours baking, but it took almost 2 hours for me. That being said, it was a perfect activity for a bad weather autumn day. I was doing my writing, occasionally getting up and checking on the cake in the oven. 

It came out great! Gave some to mom, some to my neighbor – they loved it! The only thing I would change – next time, I will put a little bit less sugar in the batter, and possibly less sauce. I think half of the sauce would do. So – a little bit less of fats and sugars. But just a little bit 🙂 🙂 🙂

Continue reading “Apple Cake (As a Result Of a Stressful Week)” →