Super easy, super delicious cake

A contribution I wrote before breaking my finger while SWIMMING!

When I cook, I rarely stick to a recipe 100%....and while I have had the odd mishap, this method usually works out for me. It's a method, however, which becomes a problem when baking. Baking requires total and complete adherence to the recipe, only the very experienced can hope to deviate without disastrous consequences. So in my quest to master at least a basic level of baking skills, my biggest challenge has been my knack for merely "skimming through" recipes, rather than reading them in detail. But I am getting better at it.

My latest creation is a sour-cream cake, which is ridiculously easy to make and incredibly delicious. It's not something you want to eat while on a quest for the perfect bikini body, but when it comes to comfort food it doesn't really get any better than this. 

Ingredients: 

4 eggs
1 cup* of vegetable oil 
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of sparkling water
3 cups of flour
1 packet of baking powder
600ml heavy whipping cream**
600gr sour cream
2 packets of vanilla sugar
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
6 tablespoons of sugar + 3 tablespoons of cinnamon

* The measurements are given in "cups" here...by which I don't mean the American "cup", but an actual tea of coffee mug.

** In order to ensure that the sour-cream/cream mass is stable, use a whipping cream with as high a fat content as possible. Alternatively, you can use a special powder to stabilize whipping cream (Sahnesteif in Germany).

Preparation:

1. First you need to make the dough. For this, simply mix the eggs, the oil and 2 cups of sugar in a large bowl. Add the sparkling water and then the flour and baking powder. The dough might seem quite liquid, but this is how you want it to be. 

2. Line a deep baking tray with baking paper and pour in the batter, spreading evenly. Bake at 175°C for 25-30 mins. Remove from the oven and allow to cool off completely.

3. In the meantime, whip the cream together with the vanilla sugar aiming for as firm a consistency as you can get. Carefully fold in the sour cream and the lemon juice and evenly cover the cake with this mixture. Place in the fridge overnight (don't cover the cake!). 

4. Shortly before you want to serve your cake, sprinkle generously with the sugar-cinnamon mixture.

The perfekt filet steak

This is definitely one for the carnivores!

A good filet steak is actually not difficult to make, but you need to make sure that you use only top quality ingredients. No point in trying to safe a few quid here, all you are going to end up with is a dry piece of meat. So go ahead and splurge a bit, it'll be worth it.   

As always when it comes to meat, make sure that you remove it from the fridge a good 2 hours before you start cooking. This gives the meat time to warm up a bit and will prevent the meat from ending up charred on the outside while raw on the inside. 

For this recipe I use filetsteaks of 200-250gr a piece, but you can of course use bigger or smaller pieces as desired. Just tie each steak with a bit of string to make sure that it keeps its shape, rub it with a bit of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  

Heat up your oven to a temperature of 160°C. Place a pan on your stove and heat it up to a high temperature (don't worry if the pan starts smoking slightly, this is what you want). When the pan is hot, sear the meat for about 1 minute on each side. It will be noisy and there will most likely be quite a bit of smoke, but that is entirely normal, so no need to panic. When the time is up, place the meat in the oven (it's best to use a shallow oven-dish for this) and insert a meat thermometer. It will take roughly 20-30 minutes for the meat to reach the desired core temperature of 55°C (medium), depending on the size of the steaks. Remove the meat from the oven, wrap it (loosely) in some aluminum foil and allow to rest for a good 10mins. It will be tempting to take short-cuts here...don't!

Creamy Mushroom Soup

Mushroom soup is a typical dish to eat in the autumn, but I figure it's still cold enough outside these days to have another go. Everyone in my family likes mushrooms and this soup has the added benefit of being quick and easy to make.

You can use whichever mushrooms you like, in this case I used some brown button mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms and some shitake mushrooms. 

Ingredients (serves 4-6):

600gr fresh wild mushrooms
30gr dried porcini
1 tablespoon of butter
1 red onion, chopped finely
5-6 twigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
2 cloves of garlic
1l vegetable stock
150 ml single cream 

Preparation: 

1. Carefully clean the mushrooms (never use water for this! In case they are dirty, just use a soft cloth to wipe them) and cut into rough chunks. Place the dried porcini in a small bowl and cover with warm water. Let them sit for about 30-40 mins until soft. 

2. Gently fry the onion in a bit of butter, then add the mushrooms, garlic (I simply throw in the whole cloves) and the thyme. Turn the heat up slightly. After a few minutes you will see that the mushrooms begin to lose quite a bit of water, at this point add the drained porcini (keep the liquid!) and some salt and black pepper. Continue to fry until the mushrooms just start to brown. 

3. Now transfer everything to a large pot and add the porcini-liquid (poured through a sieve) and the stock. Cook at a light boil for about 30 minutes before mixing everything in a blender, adding the cream as you go. 

4. Finally season to taste with salt and pepper. In case the soup is still too thick, simply add a bit more water or stock. 

Note: in case you are making this for guests, I recommend you take a couple of handful of the chopped mushrooms and fry them in a separate pan. You can then use them to decorate your soup when serving.

Indian Naan Bread

For those living in the UK it shouldn't be all that difficult to obtain decent naan bread. In Germany, however, it's close to impossible. More often than not the bread is dry and hard. Instead, I suggest you try making your own. As it turns out, this is not as difficult as you might think. The only challenge is the dough, which is extremely sticky and takes some getting used to. But once you've made your first batch, you'll never go back to the store-bought variety!

Ingredients (makes 4-6 naans):

220gr flour

12gr fresh yeast (alternatively 1 teaspoon of dried yeast)

3 tablespoons of yoghurt

1 tablespoon of melted butter

1 teaspoon of sugar

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
80ml warm water

Preparation:

1.  Dissolve the yeast in the water, adding a tablespoon of sugar (best done in a tall glass). Wait for about 10 minutes until the mixture starts frothing, then add the yoghurt and the olive oil, mixing well.

2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and some salt. Add the liquid ingredients and stir using a fork. Once the ingredients start coming together, use your hands to form a soft dough. This is the only really tricky part of this recipe: the dough is going to be extremely moist and sticky and it will seem as though you don't have enough flour, but trust me, it will work. Just keep a small bowl of flour on the side to dip your fingers into now and then. 

3. Once the ingredients are combined into a dough, immediately stop kneading. Cover the bowl with a warm, damp kitchen towel and place in a draft-free place to rest for a good 1 1/2 hours. By then the dough should have doubled in size, at least!

3. Once the dough has risen, simply "deflate" it and separate into 5 pieces (depending on how large you want your naan to be). On a baking tray (covered with baking paper) form longish shapes as seen in the picture below. Sprinkle with some coarse sea salt and brush with the melted butter before placing in the oven (250°C). The naan will be done in about 5 mins.

Rezept adaptiert von: Aarti Sequeira