Haselnusstorte / Hazelnut Cake

Hello everyone! It was my husbands birthday yesterday and this Hazelnut cake was his birthday cake wish. The recipe is adapted from my 1982 Betty Bossi book, my usual go to for European style cakes. It has a rich hazelnut flavor, a little bit of rum, no butter and only a tiny bit of flour. The only heavy part of the cake is the whipped cream, I really like it, but have to admit I do not tolerate cream that well, I ended up having a stomach ache. That is why I mostly eat dairy free, I don’t seem to have a problem with butter and eat only once in a while some cheese…I used to eat a lot of cheese before!

My husband loved it! It is really delicious!

I’ve been busy looking after my son, he has been sick with a high fever since Sunday. Poor guy, he was only able to eat a tiny slice of the cake.

Prepare the cake at least 1 day ahead before cutting and adding the filling. I made the cake refined sugar free, feel free to use regular sugar. The recipe is only for 2 layers. I ended up baking another half of the recipe, you could also just double the recipe. I drizzled the bottom 2 layers with a little bit more rum before spreading the whipped cream.

 

Haselnusstorte/Hazelnut Cake

Ingredients:

• 220 g coconut sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp rum
• 6 egg whites
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp honey
• 300 g ground hazelnuts
• 1 tbsp all-purpose unbleached flour

-Line a 24 cm Springform pan with parchment paper, grease and flour the sides. Preheat oven to 180C.

-Whisk together egg yolks and sugar, add rum.

-Whip egg whites with the salt and baking powder until stiff peaks form. Add the honey and continue to whip for a little longer.

-Mix hazelnuts and flour, add to the egg yolk mix, alternating with egg whites, a little at the time, and gently fold under with a spatula. Pour into prepared form.

-Bake in preheated 180C for 20 minutes then reduce heat to 150C and bake for about 40 minutes, or toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean. Let cool completely. Let rest for 1-3 days before cutting and filling.

Filling:  

• 200 ml 35% cream
• 3 tbsp ground hazelnuts
• 3 tbsp honey

-Whip cream until stiff peaks form, add the hazelnuts and honey, mix well. Fill and decorate cake as desired.

-Store in refrigerator.

 

 

Wishing you all a lovely week!

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

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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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vegan Granola Cookies

Happy Weekend!

The first week of back to school went by rather quick, it also only started on Tuesday, because Monday was a Snow-day. All schools were closed because of bad weather. The remaining of the week was very warm and rainy, melting almost all of the snow we had, which was a lot. Now we are back to freezing temperatures.

I like to use weekends to prepare some healthy snacks to have on hand, easy to grab for breakfast, school, work or for that moment when you are just really craving something sweet;) lol. I usually make cookies or granola bars. The following recipe is a healthy, vegan, crunchy granola cookie that tastes, well, like granola.

I’ve been using flaxseeds and flaxoil for my breakfast for a few years now already, these are rich in omega-3 fats. Because of my very low iron level I always have to include foods into my diet that are rich in iron, and these cookies are perfect, rich in healthy fats, protein and minerals, including iron.

 

Vegan Granola Cookies

Yields: 20 large cookies

Ingredients:

• 3 cups oats
• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup sunflowerseeds
• 1/4 cup pumpkinseeds
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup almonds, slivered
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup cranberries, dried
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp natural almond butter, or any natural nut butter
• 3 tbsp finely ground flaxseeds/flaxmeal
• 6 1/2 tbsp warm water

-Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350F/180C

-In a small bowl or cup mix together the flaxmeal with the water, let stand for at least 5 minutes to thicken.

-In a large bowl mix all your dry ingredients including cinnamon, vanilla and salt.

-Add the melted coconut oil, maple syrup, almond butter and “flax egg”, mix together well.

-With a tablespoon drop equal amounts of dough onto the sheets, and form, with the help of your hands into cookie shapes.

-Bake in preheated oven for about 10-15 minutes or golden brown.

-Let cool completely.

Enjoy with a glass of milk!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Ursula

 

You can find me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet Almond Buns

Hi there, happy Wednesday!

I was planning on making my Almond Croissants, using up some almonds I have left from Christmas baking, and I like to try out some new recipes or just play with ingredients a little. For this recipe I used only white Spelt flour and used coconut oil instead of butter. The yeast dough turned out pretty nice, maybe a little to soft to work with. After rolling it out and spreading with the nut filling, it was a little tricky to roll it up and did not stay nicely in shape, thaaats when I had to improvise a little and just turned them into little knots/buns, lol:)

Anyways…they are delicious. The dairy-free yeast dough is really nice and soft.

 

Sweet Almond Buns

Sweet yeast dough and almond filling:

Please refer to the following link for recipe and instructions.

Almond Croissants

• Using: 300 g white Spelt flour, instead of all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted, instead of butter

(I should mention again that I write down milk in my recipes but I usually use cashew, almond or coconut milk.)

-Once you rolled them into croissants, form them into little knots/buns.

These are dairy-free and refined sugar-free.

 

 

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

 

You can find me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linzertorte aux amandes

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone had a great start into the new year! It is still freezing cold here and snowing almost everyday. Staying warm and cozy inside with a warm cuppa and a slice of something freshly baked like this almond Linzertorte. I call this the sweet delicate cousin of the original Linzertorte;) Made out of mostly: almonds! The original Linzertorte has a jam filling. If you like almonds, you will love this one!!

It is a very soft almond dough, which makes it a little tricky to roll out or form any decorations, you’ll definitely need some patience, but otherwise it’s a simple recipe.

 

 

Linzertorte aux amandes

Ingredients:

• 150 g butter, soft
• 150 g sugar, or honey
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• pinch of cloves
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 150 g blanched ground almonds
• 150 g unbleached all-purpose flour

-In a medium bowl mix together butter, sugar and salt. Mix in the egg. Add the cloves, cinnamon, almonds and flour. Mix until a soft dough forms. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Filling:

• 75 g butter, soft
• 75 g sugar or honey
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 150 g blanched ground almonds
• 1 egg white

-In a small bowl mix together the butter and sugar. Add the lemon zest and juice. Mix in the almonds and egg white.

 

-Preheat oven to 350 F/180C. Grease a 22 cm Springform or pie dish.

-Take 1/3 of the dough and roll it directly on your Springform bottom, or use your hands to fit into the pie form. Taking some more dough for the sides if needed. Spoon your filling evenly into the form. With the rest of the dough you can roll it out on a floured baking sheet and then refrigerate to make it more workable. Cut out some shapes or shape it by hand.

-Bake for about 40 minutes. Cover with aluminium foil if it gets to dark. Let cool completely.

-Dust with some icing sugar if desired.

-Recipe is adapted from my 1982 Betty Bossi book, Kuchen, Cakes & Torten

Enjoy!

Have a lovely weekend!

Ursula 

 

 

Follow me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

Spinach and Cheese Dip Bites

A very happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas time and hope your having a great start into the new year 2018! I’ve been a bit absent lately mainly because I had my mom and stepfather visiting over the holidays. The short time we usually get to spend together is always very precious and I probably only get to see them again in summer. We had a wonderful Christmas, they also had some taste of what a real Canadian winter is all about;) lol. On the day they arrived in Toronto they ended up having to spend the night there, because all connecting flights to London, Ontario, were cancelled because of snow squalls. We got so much snow that day, at least 40 cm!

For New Years Eve I’ve made these yummy spinach cheese bites, with homemade puff pastry. I usually don’t eat so much cheese, just once in a while, because I love it:) Homemade puff pastry is delicious but takes some time to make, so feel free to use store bought. These bites are great as an appetizer or served with a tossed salad as a meal. Maybe next time I’ll make a pie size version:)

 

Spinach and Cheese Dip Bites

Yields: 24

Filling:

• 2 cups chopped frozen spinach, thawed
• 1 tsp garlic finely chopped
• 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup garlic cream cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 can Pillsbury crescent dough or other puff pastry

-Combine spinach, garlic and Parmesan cheese. Blend in cream cheese and 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

-On a lightly floured surface roll out puff pastry into a rectangle. Cut into 24 squares. Place each square into a lightly greased muffin tin. Gently push down.

-Place one rounded teaspoon of your spinach mixture into each square. Top with the remaining mozzarella cheese.

-Bake in a preheated 375F oven for about 15 minutes or golden brown. Let rest a few minutes before removing.

 

Here is my quick Puff pastry recipe, from Betty Bossi

• 250 g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 175 g butter, cold, cut into approx. 4 cm squares
• 150 ml cold water

-Mix together flour and salt, add the butter and water until everything holds together. Butter pieces have to stay big.

Step 1: On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough into a rectangle, 1 cm thick. Fold in both sides towards the middle, then fold one side onto the other. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

-Roll out dough again into a rectangle and repeat step 1. Refrigerate and repeat 4x all together. After the 4th time refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Tip: Puff pastry needs to stay cold. Don’t knead left over pieces together, lay on top of each other, then roll out. Can be frozen for up to 1 month.

-This is really a much quicker way to make puff pastry and I find it turns out very tasty.

 

I wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year!

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

Follow me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almond Coconut Birthday Cake

Happy weekend everyone!! This was a very special week for us; we celebrated our daughters 18th Birthday! I have to admit this comes with some mixed feelings and maybe a few secret tears:) Yes my babies are growing up, making me think back to when they were little, time goes by so fast indeed, but now I have a grown up daughter, and I am very proud of the young lady she’s become!

We share a love for all things coconut, usually my kids let me know what kind of cake they would like to have on their birthday, but this year they were both asking for a surprise:) I’ve made her a almond coconut cake with raw Raffaello truffles, you could of course use the real Raffaello truffles. I’ve made the cake refined-sugar free; almond coconut sponge filled with coconut whipped cream, so simple but so delicious!

If you love coconut you’ll love this cake!!

 

Almond Coconut (Raffaello) Cake

Almond Coconut Sponge

• 6 large eggs, room temperature
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup honey or sugar
• 1/2 cup almonds, ground
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 500 ml whipping cream, 35%, chilled
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar
• 1/4 cup honey or icing sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 cup canned coconut milk
• 8 or more Ferrero Raffaello truffles, optional
• lightly toasted shredded coconut, optional

-Grease and line a bottom and sides of a 9-inch (23 cm) pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 340F/170C.

-Separate egg whites from yolks. Add a pinch of salt to the whites and start mixing until foamy. Gradually add honey or sugar and continue whipping until stiff peaks form.

-Mix egg yolks with almond extract and fold into the whipped whites.

-Mix together ground almonds, coconut and flour then gradually and carefully incorporate into the whites.

-Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool for about 10-15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a rack.

For the whipped cream frosting:

-In a large bowl mix the whipping cream and the vanilla sugar. Whip until lightly/almost stiff then gradually add the honey or icing sugar, as sweet as you like it, continue whipping until stiff peaks form. Fold in the shredded coconut.

Assemble the cake:

-Divide the sponge cake into 3 layers. Place one layer on a serving plate. Spread 1/3 cup coconut milk over the cake. Spread evenly with a bit less then a third of the whipped cream. Top with second cake layer and repeat. Add the third layer of cake. Cover the top and sides of the cake with whipped cream, leaving it like that or get creative with piping rosettes and so on. Decorate with Raffaello truffles and toasted coconut. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

 

Tip: You could get fancy and drizzle some coconut liquor (Malibu) over the sponge layers:)

 

 

Happy 18th Birthday!

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

Follow me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian