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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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

 

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

One Lovely Blog Award

 

 

This has been a week full of surprises! I was nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award by Bernadine from Bern Bakes!!!

Thank you very much, I truly appreciate it:) Make sure you check out her amazing blog!!! You’ll find delicious sweets and treats:)

https://bernbakes.wordpress.com

 

Rules:

• Thank the person who nominated you and leave a link to their blog.
• Post about the award.
• Share 7 facts about yourself.
• Nominate at most 15 people.
• Tell your nominees the good news!

 

7 Facts About Me:

1. I love trying out new recipes from around the world.
2. Nothing better than the smell of fresh baked bread or other baked goodies:)
3. I love cook/baking books and magazines (or blogs). I can look through those for hours;)
4. I make cold process soap that look like cakes and cupcakes.
5. Another hobby of mine is calligraphy writing and drawing.
6. I prefer warm over cold temperatures.
7. I like to make my own natural face masks, salves, etc.

 

My Nominees:

• The Cooking Spoon
• Snapshotsincursive
• Eartha Cooks
• ruffles&macarons
• coniferes&feuillus
• lili’s cakes
• Baking with Soul
• the dutch baker
• ice and lettuce
• Frugal Hausfrau
• drizzledsite
• Teasty Eats Ronit Penso
• L.E.E. Bakers
• Real Food, Simple Life
• The Misfit Baker

 

Thanks again! And congratulations to the nominees!

 

 

 

 

Real Neat Blog Award

 

Happy Saturday everyone! I was nominated for the Real Neat Blog Award by Jen Li from GYPSYBUS28 Blog!!!

Thank you very much Jen Li! I truly appreciate it:)

Make sure you check out her amazing blog where she writes about Food, Beauty, Travel and Life.

https://GYPSYBUS28.com 

 

Rules:

1. Put the Award logo on your blog.
2. Answer 7 questions asked by the person who nominated you.
3. Thank the people who nominated you, linking to their blogs.
4. Nominate any number of bloggers you like, linking to their blogs.
5. Let them know you nominated them (by commenting on their blogs, etc.)
6. Add your own 7 questions for your nominees to answer.

 

Questions by Jen Li:

1. What is you favorite food? Italian and Greek cuisine. (I like a lot of things…)
2. What is or was your dream travel? Israel and Kenya were amazing! I have a long list of dream travel: starting with the rest of Canada, Hawaii, Alaska, Iceland, Scandinavia, Australia…:)
3. Random fact about you? I love nature: flowers, plants, landscapes, animals…
4. Who has been the biggest inspiration in life? I am being inspired by people who follow their heart and dreams. My family, but mostly my father who has been struggling with health problems for many years and just had his second open heart surgery last summer 2016.
5. Do you have any pets/what kind of pets? We have no pets at the time.
6. What is the goal you want to achieve in 2017? There are a few things I would like to accomplish in work, home and hobbies and health.
7. What’s the biggest decision you have made in life? Immigrating to Canada (my family lives in Switzerland)

 

My 7 questions:

1. What are your favorite spices?
2. What are your favorite herbs?
3. What is your favorite dessert?
4. What City would you like to visit?
5. What are your hobbies?
6. What languages do you speak or would like to be able to speak?
7. Do you have a quote or saying that you use in life?

 

My nominees:

Starr@The Misfit Baker 

The Frugal Hausfrau

Joann’s Food For Thought

Beafree

Baking in Pyjamas

 

Thanks again for nominating me!!

 

 

 

Blogger Recognition Award

 

 

What a lovely surprise!! I was nominated by Bea from beafreeblog and by Meagan from rufflesandmacarons.

They both have amazing blogs! Go check them out:

https://beafreeblog.wordpress.com  and https://rufflesandmacarons.com

Thank you very much for nominating me:)

 

RULES

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their profile
2. Write a post to show your award
3. Give a brief story of how your blog started
4. Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers
5. Select 15 other bloggers you want to give this award to
6. Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them & provide the link to the post you created

 

How I started:

I’ve had the idea to start a blog for quiet some time, but did not really know where/how to begin.

I use my blog to share my love of baking.

Advice for new bloggers:

I am still a newbie and have still a LOT to learn. What I have learned so far-Do what your passionate about! -Have fun! -Interact with other bloggers-learn from the pros;) Check out other blogs, like/comment, they will most likely check out your blog as well. I love getting comments on my posts-so much fun:) 🙂

 

I am nominating:

the dutch baker (https://thedutchbaker.wordpress.com)

alldayieat (https://alldayieat.com)

Recipes by chefkreso (https:chefkresorecipes.wordpress.com)

L.E.E. bakers (leebakers.com)

theCookbooklife (https:thecookbooklife.wordpress.com)

ICOOKTHEBLOGS (icooktheblogs.com)

sweetkitchenscience (https://sweetkitchenscience.wordpress.com)

The Jam Jar (https://thejamjar.net)

The Sentient Baker (https://sentientbaker.com)

keralas crative kitchen (keralas.live.)

themarmaladeteapot (https://themarmaladeteapot.wordpress.com)

My gf home bakery (https://gfhomebakery.com)

Cookies&Chemistry (https://cookiesnchem.com)

Emerging Adult Eats (https://emergingadulteats.com)

cookwithlovefordaughter (https://cookwithlovefordaughter.wordpress.com)

 

 

Thanks again for the nomination!!!