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

 

Follow me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Alsatian Kugelhopf/Elsaesser Gugelhopf

Happy Friday!

I was thinking of making a Gugelhopf for quiet a while, one with a yeast dough and only raisins in it. I used the recipe for a Alsatian Kugelhopf from my Betty Bossi’s Backstube book. Even though Gugelhopf has its origin in Austria, this seems to be a very traditional cake in Alsace, France. One small village even has a festival each summer to celebrate the Kugelhopf:)

 

I slightly adapted the recipe, using instant yeast, because I can not find fresh yeast here. And I sweetened it with honey.

 

 

Alsatian Kugelhopf / Elsaesser Gugelhopf

Ingredients:

• 500 g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp instant yeast
• 120 g honey or sugar
• 180 ml milk (200 ml if using sugar)
• 1 tsp salt
• 200 g butter, soft, cut in small pieces
• 2 eggs
• 125 g raisins
• 2 tbsp Rum or Kirsch

-In a small bowl, mix together the raisins and the Rum. Set aside.

-In a large bowl mix together the flour, yeast and salt.

-In a small saucepan heat up the milk on medium/low heat, do not boil. Remove from heat. Stir in the honey. Making sure the milk is only lukewarm before adding to the flour. Add the butter. Whisk the eggs before adding to the flour mixture. Knead until soft dough forms.

-Cover and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, for about an hour.

-Grease and flour a 2 l bundt/Gugelhopf form.

-Incorporate the raisins, knead the dough again, then fill into the prepared bundt form. Let rise again. The dough should “spill” slightly over the top.

-Bake in a 350F/180C preheated oven for about 45 minutes. Let cool before taking out of form.

-Dust with icing sugar.

-Serve freshly baked, but also tastes amazing the following days!

 

 

This would make a perfect treat for Sunday brunch or afternoon tea!

Enjoy! Have a wonderful weekend!

Ursula

 

 

You can find me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheesecake with Apples and Streusel / Quarkkuchen mit Streusel

In Switzerland you traditionally make a cheesecake using Quark not cream cheese. That is the only way I knew it. The first time I had a New York style cheesecake was when I came to Canada, I did not really like it back then, I found it very “cheese” tasting;) But as with many things, you get used to new flavors and tastes and you start loving it.

I don’t eat so much dairy anymore, also my husband and kids have some problems with dairy, that’s why I haven’t made this in a long time. It’s a recipe from my 1982 Betty Bossi book: Kuchen, Cakes and Torten

This is a very rich, delicious cake. Tastes best after 2 -3 days.

 

Cheesecake with Apples and Streusel

Quarkkuchen mit Streusel

• 250 g butter, soft
• 125 g sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp vanilla sugar or vanilla extract
• 2 egg yolks
• 375 g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder

-Line the bottom of a Springform with parchment paper. Grease the sides.

-In a large bowl stir the butter. Add the sugar, salt and vanilla sugar. Add the egg yolks and mix until lighter in color.

– Mix the flour and baking powder and sift into the butter mixture. Stir until well combined. It will be a soft dough. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

-Take 1/4 of the dough, it will be used as the streusel, and set aside.

-Roll out half of the remaining dough directly on the Springform base. Close the form and use the rest of the dough to form the side crust, all the way to the top.

-Prick the bottom evenly with a fork and refrigerate for another 15 minutes.

 

Quark-filling  

• 3 x 350 g Quark
• 200-250 g sugar
• 1 pk vanilla sugar or 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 50 g corn starch

-In a large bowl mix all ingredients together.

• 2-3 apples, peeled and thinly sliced

-layer apples evenly onto prepared crust. Cover with the filling. It will be very full. Cover with streusel (crumble the remaining dough).

-I put the form onto a baking sheet, there was some liquid coming out while baking.

-Bake in preheated oven 350F/180C for about 85 minutes. You might have to cover it with aluminum foil to prevent to much browning. The filling might seem a bit wiggly still, but it will firm up while cooling. Let cool in form, before releasing.

-Dust with some icing sugar.

-Cover and keep in refrigerator for up to 5 days. Make the cake at least 1 day in advance, it will taste even better after a few days.

 

 

*Quark is available in larger grocery stores here in Canada. In 350 g cups. There is only the 0% fat available. If you are in Europe you can get different kinds, use a full fat and lower fat quark in the mix.

*I sweetened the whole cake with only honey, same amount as the sugar.

 

I hope you try this wonderful cake!

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

Ursula

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Peach-Crumble-Cake/ Pfirsich-Streuselkuchen

Here is another Streusel cake I’ve made. You can find my Apple-Crumb-Cake here: Apple-Crumb-Cake/ Apfelstreuselkuchen. With all the amazing summer fruits and berries in season now, we just had to have another Streuselkuchen:) This time I used peaches and it was so good. It is not quit the same recipe as the Apple-Crumb-Cake, I think it was even better:)

My kids are having their long summer vacation now, that means we have more time to do things together like baking! These are some of the things my daughter and I’ve created so far;)

Maple-Almond-Buns

Giant Cinnamon Bun Cake

Strawberry-Banana-Pops

 

 

My Peach-Crumble-Cake/Pfirsich-Streuselkuchen

 

Peach-Crumble-Cake

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 120 g honey
• 2 pk vanilla sugar or 2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 100 g butter, soft
• 250 g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 pinch salt
• about 600 g peach slices

Streusel:

• 250 g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 120 g honey
• 150 g butter, soft
• 1 pk vanilla sugar or 1 tbsp vanilla extract

-Line a 9×13-inch (23x32cm) baking dish with parchment paper.

-Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

-Cream together eggs, honey, vanilla sugar and butter. Mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to wet ingredients, mix well.

-For the Streusel: mix flour, honey, butter and vanilla sugar until crumbly.

-Fill batter into prepared baking dish. Top with peach slices and then cover with the Streusel.

-Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Tip: I’ve used frozen peaches from last summer, just left them to thaw a bit.

 

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

 

You can find me on Instagram: @littleswisslittlecanadian

 

Bee Sting Cake/Bienenstich

Hi there, I am finally back! I’ve had a wonderful trip to Switzerland-visiting my family, I really really enjoyed it:)

I thought you might like to see some photos I took:

 

Lake Thun

Eiger, Moench, Jungfraujoch

Beatenbucht, Lake Thun

Schloss/Castle Schoenau

Spitzbub Cookie

Nussgipfel

Bienenstich/Bee Sting Cake

Seeing all the yummy stuff over there, I thought of making Bienenstich, Bee Sting Cake. A famous German Cake.

 

Bienenstich

Yeast Dough

• 250 g all-purpose unbleached flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp sugar or honey
• 50 g soft butter
• 1 tbsp quick instant yeast
• 200 ml milk, warm
• 1 egg

For the topping:

• 50 g butter
• 2-3 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp milk
• 100 g almond shavings

Vanilla Pastry Cream:

• 3 tbsp corn starch
• 400 ml milk
• 3 tbsp sugar or honey
• 2 eggs
• 1 vanilla pod

For the dough: In a bowl mix together flour, salt, sugar, add butter and mix well. Add Yeast, milk and egg. Knead dough well until smooth dough forms. Cover bowl with a plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size.

For the Almond topping: In a small saucepan over medium heat, mix together butter, honey, milk and almonds until warm, remove from heat.

For the pastry cream: In a medium saucepan mix together, and bring the milk, corn starch, sugar, egg and vanilla pod to a boil, while whisking. Remove from heat, pour into a bowl, cover with a plastic wrap touching the cream to prevent a “skin” forming on top. Let cool down a bit then put in the fridge until set.

-Preheat oven to 350F/180C. You can use a round cake pan or a square pan.  Line with parchment paper.

-Roll out dough to fit the pan, let rise again. Cover with almond topping and bake for about 30 minutes. Let cool completely.

-Cut cake in half. Spread pastry cream on bottom then cover with top. Cut in desired slices. Store in Refrigerator.

 

 

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

 

Follow me on Instagram: #littleswisslittlecanadian

Mohnstrudel, Poppy Seed Strudel

Happy Friyay!!

Poppy seed pastries are very popular in Central and Eastern Europe. We have a wonderful Hungarian Restaurant in London where we went for lunch a while ago and we had a Mohnstrudel for dessert, it was amazing! Usually we buy a poppy seed pastry at our local Polish Delicatessen store.

It does not happen often that I make it myself;) But I tell you it was totally worth it, so good!

Poppy seeds are an excellent source of minerals like iron, magnesium, calcium, zinc, copper and potassium. They are also loaded with dietary fibers, vitamins and healthy fats.

 

Mohnstrudel

Yeast dough:

• 50 g butter, melted
• 150 ml milk
• 50 g sugar
• 400 g unbleached white flour
• 7 g instant dry yeast
• 2 eggs

Filling:

• 150 ml milk
• 150 g poppy seeds, finely ground
• 5 tblsp sugar
• 1 vanilla pod, or 1 tbsp extract
• 5 dried prunes, soaked in Kirsch Schnapps
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• milk for brushing
• powdered sugar

-For the dough: Mix together butter, milk and sugar until creamy. In a mixing bowl add flour and yeast, add wet ingredients and using a standard mixer or you hands mix and knead until holds nicely together. Cover with a plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for about 1 hour.

-For the filling: In a medium saucepan heat the milk then add poppy seeds and sugar, reducing heat to your lowest setting and continue stirring so it does not burn, for about 30 minutes, then add vanilla and cinnamon. I had to add a little bit more milk because it seemed so dry. It is suppose to be moist but not to wet.

-Cut prunes very finely. Mix prunes into the poppy seed mixture. Puree mixture in a blender or food processor. Let it cool.

-Preheat oven to 180C/350F

-On a floured surface or on a parchment paper, roll out dough to a rectangle. Spread filling evenly on the dough leaving a 2 cm space all around. Fold in edges then roll the dough up.

-Place Strudel on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush Strudel with some milk. Bake for about 30 minutes.

-Serve dusted with icing sugar.

 

–Was served at the Restaurant with a chocolate sauce–

 

It was even better the next day!!

 

Enjoy!

Happy weekend!!

 

 

Check out my Instagram @littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

Apple-Crumb-Cake/ Apfelstreuselkuchen

Crumb Cakes or Streuselkuchen can be found in many European Countries. It is believed to be of German Origin. Depending on the Season it can be topped with fruits of you choice. Very popular are plums, cherries or sour cherries. No matter what topping, we truly love it.

 

Apple-Crumb-Cake/Apfelstreuselkuchen

• 175g butter, soft
• 175g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 400g flour
• 3tsp baking powder
• 1,5tsp cinnamon

Topping:

• 1,5kg apples

Streusel:

• 200g flour
• 100g sugar
• 1/2tsp cinnamon
• 150g butter

 

-Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

-Grease a 9×13 baking dish (23x32cm). (That’s the baking dish I used, but it can be larger)

-Whisk butter until foamy. Mix in sugar then add eggs one at a time.

-Mix together flour, cinnamon and baking powder, sift and mix into the wet ingredients.

-Spread into prepared baking dish.

-Peel apples and cut into thin slices. Layer onto the dough.

-For the Streusel: Mix flour, sugar and cinnamon. Add butter in small chunks and mix together until coarse crumbs form. Pour onto apples.

-Bake in preheated 350F/180C oven for about 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.

-Serve dusted with some icing sugar.

–You could add ground nuts to the crumb mix and add raisins to the apples–

 

 

 

Enjoy!