Pecan Cake / Nusstorte

We’ve been having winter like weather here in Ontario, with lots of snow and cold temperatures.  It’s snowing as I’m writing this blog post and there is a snow squall warning in effect.

I made this Pecan Cake for my son’s 17th Birthday. The original recipe uses Hazelnuts but my son really likes Pecan nuts, so I used these instead. It was delicious with a simple whipped cream filling and a few maple caramelized pecans to finish it up.

Pecan Cake / Nusstorte

• 220 g coconut sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 2 tbsp rum
• 6 egg whites
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp honey
• 300 g ground pecans
• 1 tbsp spelt flour

-Grease and flour two 9-inch baking forms.

-Whisk together the coconut sugar, egg yolks and the rum.

-In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with the salt and baking powder until stiff peaks form. Add the honey and whisk until combined.

-Mix together the flour and pecan nuts then gently with the egg whites, a little at a time, stir/fold under the egg yolk mix until well combined.

-Fill into prepared baking forms and bake in preheated  350 F oven for 20 minutes then change temperatures to 300 F and finish bake for another 40 minutes or until tester inserted into centre of cakes come out clean.

-Let cool completely.

For the filling: 300 ml 35% cream, 2 tbsp honey

-Whisk the cream until stiff peaks form, add the honey and whisk until combined.

-Fill and decorate as desired, I also used some maple caramelized pecan halves to decorate which was really delicious. You can easily make it yourself. Combine maple syrup and pecan halves in a small saucepan and let simmer until caramelized.

Have a wonderful week!

Enjoy!

Ursula 

 

Make sure you follow me over on Instagram!😊

littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maple Walnut Oat Muffins

Happy Friday everyone!

I am finally able to do some baking again! We’ve had an ice storm last weekend that left us with power outages, especially Sunday almost all day and on Monday the power went on and off all afternoon and then it just continued for the last few days. So annoying!

Now I am looking forward to some warmer and sunnier days!

We’ve been munching on these scrumptious muffins this week! My kids put one in their lunch bags for school every day! They are lovely just plain or you can eat them warm or cold with some maple butter.

Try to get your hands on some real Maple Butter from your local maple producer! Which does not contain any butter!! 🙂

 

Maple Walnut Oat Muffins

Yields: 14 large muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 cups spelt flour
• 2 cups oats
• 1 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup butter, melted
• 2 cups milk, room temp., I used cashew milk
• 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

-Grease or line your muffin cups. Preheat oven to 385F (convection setting).

-In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, oats, sugar, salt and baking powder.

-Whisk together the eggs, add the butter, milk and maple syrup.

-Add the milk mixture and walnuts to the dry ingredients and stir just until combined, do not overmix.

-Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until tester inserted into middle comes out clean.

Optional, Maple Butter: 1/2 cup butter softened and 1/3 maple syrup, room temp. Beat together until smooth.

-Serve muffins warm with Maple Butter

 

Enjoy! And happy, almost, weekend!

Ursula

 

You can find me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

Linzertorte

If you’ve been following me for a while you might remember my Linzertorte aux amandes . While this is such a delightful cake you just have to try a traditional Linzertorte. A nut-crust filled with red currant or raspberry jam. It gets its name from the Austrian city of Linz and is believed to be the oldest cake in the world, with recipes dating back to 1653.

While traditionally it is covered with a lattice top, I decorated it Valentines Day style!

A few days ago I was HAPPILY surprised to see that I got a small feature in the Canadian Living magazine!! I couldn’t believe it, I am so happy. I only have a small blog and Instagram, I am not a professional baker and do not make professional pictures, but I’m having fun and it makes me happy when I get so many lovely comments and likes! Last fall I’ve made their Caramel Apple Sticky Buns and tagged them on Instagram. Well now they are actually showing my picture in the current issue, they are so awesome!

 

 

These are little tarts I’ve made last year. Picture is before baking. The dough is lighter in color because I used blanched almonds.

The recipe is slightly adapted from Betty Bossi’s: Kuchen Cakes and Torten

 

Linzertorte

Ingredients:

• 150 g butter, soft
• 100 g coconut sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp cloves, ground
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 150 g ground hazelnuts, or almonds unblanched
• 150 g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 200 g red currant or raspberry jam

-Stir together the butter, sugar and salt, add the egg and the spices. Mix in the hazelnuts or almonds and flour until well combined. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

-Grease a 22 cm Springform or pie/tart form (with removable bottom would be great but not necessary). Roll out 1/3 of the dough directly on the base of the Springform. Take another 1/3 and form the sides. Fill with the jam. Decorate with remaining dough; lattice, hearts…

-Brush with an egg-white. ( I did not do that)

-Bake in preheated 350F/180C oven for about 40 minutes. You might have to cover it with aluminum foil to prevent from getting to dark. Let cool completely.

-You can decorate it with sliced almonds and icing sugar if desired.

-The original recipe calls for 150 g sugar.

 

Enjoy!

Happy Weekend!

Ursula

 

You can find me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almond Cake

It’s been a bit of a crazy week, so glad it’s the weekend! High School mid-term exams are done, my kids had their last test on Wednesday and were able to enjoy two extra days off. My daughter and I also started looking for prom dresses. Can’t believe she will be done with High School this summer.

February greeted us with winter weather…the return of cold temperatures and snow.

 

I’ve made this yummy Almond Cake a few days ago. Adapted from a Betty Bossi Almond Cake recipe. I sweetened it with coconut sugar and used Spelt flour. I am really happy with the outcome, it was so delicious and gone in a short time;)

 

Almond Cake

Ingredients:

• 175 g butter, soft
• 200 g coconut sugar
• 8 egg whites
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 120 g spelt flour
• 175 g ground almonds

-Prepare a 24 cm Springform. Cover the base with parchment paper, grease and flour the sides.

-Preheat oven to 180C/375F.

-In a mixing bowl whisk together the butter and sugar. In a separate bowl whisk egg whites, salt and baking powder until stiff peaks form.

-Add the egg whites, flour and almonds, a little at the time, to the butter mixture and gently fold under until all ingredients are combined.

-Fill into prepared Springform pan and bake for 40 minutes, or until tester inserted comes out clean.

Tip: You could use hazelnuts instead of the almonds.

-As always feel free to use regular sugar and white flour. The coconut sugar gave it a light caramel flavor.

 

Wishing everyone a wonderful Weekend!

Happy February!

Ursula

 

 

You can find me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

Pumpkin Spice Babka

This is just a simple sweet yeastbread filled with pumpkin and spices and glazed generously with spiced maple syrup. I just love the smell and taste of this. I usually make babkas (Nussstriezel) filled with ground hazelnuts or almonds, I was surprised how good it was with a pumpkin filling.

Nothing complicated for the filling, just pumpkin puree sweetened with coconut sugar, spiced it up with cinnamon and pumpkin spice mix. For the dough I used my sweet yeastbread recipe that you can find here: Almond Croissants just changed the flour ingredients to 200 g unbleached all-purpose flour and 100 g spelt flour and spiced it up a bit by adding 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1 tsp cinnamon:)

 

 

Pumpkin Spice Babka

Dough:

• Almond Croissants
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon

 

Pumpkin Spice filling:

• 200 g pumpkin puree, (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 3 tbsp coconut sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice mix

Spiced Maple Syrup Glaze

• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice mix

-Prepare dough in advance, it needs at least 1 hour to rise. In the meanwhile prepare your pumpkin filling by mixing together pumpkin puree, coconut sugar and spices.

-Whisk together maple syrup, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice mix, set aside.

-Line a loaf pan or a baking sheet with parchment paper

-When doubled in size, roll out dough into a rectangular shape. Then spread pumpkin filling evenly all over. Start rolling dough up from the longest side, like you would for a cinnamon bun and gently pinch ends together. Cut log lengthwise in half so filling is exposed, pinch one end. Twist both pieces, pinch the other end to secure.

-Place in prepared loaf pan or baking sheet. Cover and let rise for another 30 minutes.

-Bake in preheated 350F/180C oven for 40 minutes.

-About 25 minute into baking brush some of the syrup onto babka. Bake until golden brown. Remove from stove and brush with remaining syrup. Let cool before cutting.

 

–Make sure your spice mixes are not old, it looses its flavor over time.–

 

Wishing everyone a happy weekend and to all my Canadian friends a happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raspberry-Streusel-Muffins

Hello, happy weekend everyone!

I’m finally back with writing another recipe. I took a little break because my brother, with his family, were visiting for the last two weeks. The weather was pretty good, we went to Huron Lake for a swim, drove to the St. Jacobs Farmers Market, went Go-Kart driving and played mini-golf. Over the weekend we went to Niagara Falls, which is a three hour drive from home. They went now alone travelling to Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto before they’ll fly back home to Switzerland on Monday.

Our garden is doing very well this year. For now we have a lot of beans, red beets, salad, zucchini, swiss chard and now the first potatoes! Raspberries are done for the season and the following recipe was one of the desserts we’ve made.

 

 

 

Raspberry-Streusel-Muffins

Yields: 14

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 100 g butter, soft
• 175 g coconut sugar or regular sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla sugar or vanilla extract
• 1 pinch salt
• 250 g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 150 ml buttermilk or non-dairy milk
• 200 g raspberries, fresh or frozen

-Separate eggs. Whisk together butter, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla sugar and salt.

-Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

-Whisk egg whites until stiff. Mix together flour and baking powder and fold in alternately with the milk and egg whites, to the butter mix. Gently fold in the raspberries (if using frozen berries you do not need to defrost them).

-Fill into prepared muffin forms, top with streusel if desired. Bake for about 35 minutes or until tester inserted comes out clean.

Tip: Streusel topping is optional but of course delicious! You can use about half or less of this streusel recipe: Peach-Crumble-Cake/ Pfirsich-Streuselkuchen

 

 

 

Huron Lake

 

Niagara Falls:

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

 

You can find me on Instagram: @littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strawberry-Coconut-Cake

June is usually the month when we get the first Ontario Strawberries, depending on where you live of course. We also have some plants in our garden, which are full of flowers this year, and I’ve seen some green unripe berries. I can’t wait to taste the first berries:)

June is also the month of my birthday:) June 2nd. I’ve made this amazing tasting strawberry coconut cake. Imagine coconut cake with a creamy mascarpone filling and strawberry puree! It is perfect for the month of strawberries;) or as other summer fruits come along I am sure it would taste great with cherries or other berries and so on.

Our strawberry plants.

 

Strawberry-Coconut-Cake/Erdbeer-Kokos-Torte

Coconut cake:

• 3 eggs
• pinch of salt
• 100 coconut sugar, or sugar
• 75 g flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 40 g coconut, shredded unsweetened
• 30 g butter, melted

-Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line the bottom of a 22 cm round Springform baking pan with parchment paper.

-Mix eggs, salt and coconut sugar well for a few minutes. Mix flour and baking powder and sift it into the bowl with the egg mixture. Gently mix. Add coconut and melted butter only until combined. Pour into prepared baking pan. Bake for about 30 minutes or until tester inserted in middle comes out clean. Let cool completely.

Strawberry layer:

• 1/2 organic lemon, zest and juice
• 250 g strawberries
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 3 tbsp water

-Puree strawberries, lemon juice and zest. Mix together well cornstarch and water, add to strawberry puree. Over medium heat bring puree to a boil, and let cook for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool down, then put in fridge.

Coconut Mascarpone Cream:

• 500 g mascarpone
• 150 ml coconut cream
• 100 ml honey, plus 2 tbsp
• 350 ml whipped cream
• 1 packet vanilla sugar
• 2 pouches unflavored gelatin
• 75 g coconut, shredded unsweetened

-Mix together mascarpone, coconut cream and honey, add shredded coconut. Prepare gelatin as directed. Add a few tablespoons of the mascarpone cream to the gelatin and mix, then add it to the rest of the cream. Whip whipping cream until stiff, add 2 tbsp honey or sugar, whisk again then fold gently under the mascarpone cream. Cover and leave in fridge until cake has completely cooled down.

Extras and Decoration: 

• Coconut liquor, Rum, Kirsch Schnapps…(optional, leave out if you have little kids eating)
• 100 ml whipped cream
• 250 g strawberries

-Place cake on a plate or cake stand. Drizzle some liquor on top. Place and close cake ring back around the cake. Spoon some of the strawberry puree into middle leaving a 2 cm space around. Cover with 2/3 of the mascarpone cream, spread evenly. Mix rest of puree with remaining mascarpone cream. Spoon onto cake then gently swirl, not going to deep until you have a desired look, kind of like a marbled look. Let set in refrigerator overnight.

-Carefully remove cake ring. I used a hot knive to go around first, to loosen it a bit.

-Decorate with whipped cream, strawberries and some shredded coconut if desired, to your liking:)

–you can use regular sugar to replace the coconut sugar and the honey–

 

Recipe by Ursula, A little Swiss a little Canadian

 

 

 

I wish you all a great weekend! Happy long weekend for those in Europe (Pfingsten)!

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

 

You can find me on Instagram @littleswisslittlecanadian