Posts from the “Food” Category

Coconut – raisin cake recipe

Posted on March 11th, 2013

Yesterday I baked this delicious cake and I thought it would be perfect to share its recipe with you. It’s super easy to make. You just need to stir all of the ingredients in a bowl. No mixer needed!

photography by Noortje Emmerink, Mintstudio Creations

Here’s what you’ll need for this solid, moist cake that serves 8 people:

100g raisins
200g butter
175g white caster sugar
55g grated coconut
2 eggs
2 tbs brown syrup
200g self-raising flower
icing sugar for garnish
baking tin (24cm)

Preheat the oven to 180C

Let the raisins soak in a bowl with 500ml hot boiled water. After 15 minutes drain the raising in a strainer.
Butter the baking tin and cover the bottom of the tin with baking paper.
Melt the butter in a saucepan on low heat. Be careful not to brown the butter, it should only melt.
Grab a large bowl and a wooden spoon or a spatula and stir the raisins, sugar, coconut, eggs, syrup & flower all together. Add the butter and mix to a batter.
Poor the batter into the tin and bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes. Check if the cake is done by gently poking a wooden skewer in the center of the cake, until it touches the bottom of the tin. If the skewer comes out clean & dry, your cake is done. If the skewer doesn’t, then bake the cake for another 3-5 minutes. If you leave the cake in the oven for too long, it will get too dry, and this should be a moist cake. So, I don’t recommend baking the cake for longer than 35 minutes. Let the cake cool, and generously dust with icing sugar before serving it.

Enjoy!∗

Banana – coffee smoothie recipe

Posted on December 19th, 2012

photos by Noortje Emmerink, Mintstudio Creations

Thought I’d bring you an easy, healthy recipe for a delicious breakfast smoothie, for those days after Christmas, when you can’t think of food anymore… This will make you feel full & satisfied and it will give you plenty of energy to kick start your day!

Here’s what you’ll need for 4 servings:

3 ripe bananas
1 l ice cold soymilk
a pinch of ground nutmeg
1 tbs brown sugar
a handful of walnuts (I was out of walnuts, so I used nut sprinkles instead: works very well too!)
3 sachets instant espresso (5,5g in total)
a blender

Roast the walnuts for 5 minutes in a dry pan and let them cool for a bit.
Dissolve the instant espresso in a small amount of hot boiled water. Set aside.
Cut or break the bananas into pieces and put them in the blender together with the walnuts, sugar, espresso & nutmeg. Puree this until you have a smooth mass.
Add the soymilk and let the blender turn it all into a delicious smoothie. Have a taste and add more brown sugar if you like.

Enjoy! ∗

Happy Halloween!

Posted on October 31st, 2012

photo: Noortje Emmerink, Mintstudio Creations

Although unfortunately we don’t really celebrate Halloween here in the Netherlands and Belgium, I will not let this opportunity pass by to bake me some pumpkin pie! To all of you who do celebrate this day: happy Halloween!

Here’s what you need for a pie that serves 8-12 people:

1 serving of sweet shortcrust pastry (for this pie I used shop bought pastry, but there are tons of easy recipes to find online)
1 large egg
425g pumpkin puree
235ml evaporated milk (skimmed coffee milk)
220g sugar
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon, plus extra to garnish
1/4 ground ginger
1 tbs flower
whipped cream (if you wish)
pastry tin of 23cm diameter

Preheat the oven to 170C / gas 2-3

Start with the pumpkin puree if you want to make this yourself. I promise, freshly made pumpkin puree will make your pie taste a lot better than canned puree and it is not hard to make at all: cut the pumpkin in half, remove the seeds with a spoon and cover the tops (the sides that are cut) with tin foil. Place the two halves with the foil facing up in the oven and bake for 1 hour, or until they are soft. Scoop out the soft pumpkin flesh with a spoon and puree it with a blender. That’s it!
Butter & flower the pastry tin to cover it with the shortcrust pastry. Remove the excess pastry hanging over the edges of the tin with a knife. I used shop bought pastry to save me some time. Personally I don’t find it worth the effort of making this pastry myself for these kind of pies, because it’s really the filling that makes the taste, isn’t it..?
Place the egg, pumpkin puree, evaporated milk, sugar, spices, salt, & flower in a large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon to combine everything. Gently stir until all lumps have disappeared.
Pour the filling into the pastry base and bake for 35-40 minutes, by which time it will puff up round the edges but still feel soft in the centre (not wobbly!).

Remove the pie from the oven and place the tin on a wire cooling rack. Serve chilled (stored loosely covered in foil in the fridge) with some whipped cream, but at room temperature will be fine too. Enjoy!∗

Cupcake recipe

Posted on March 20th, 2012

Not so long ago I surprised my colleages with this well earned sweet treat. If you feel like baking, why don’t you try this recipe? It’s not difficult, I promise.

The lemon gives a fresh touch to the sweetness of the cake and the poppy seeds give a pleasant, subtle crunch.

Here’s what you need for 12 cupcakes:

125g butter at room temperature
125g sugar
125g self-raising flower
sniff of salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1 tablespoon of poppy seeds
2 large eggs at room temperature
zest of 1 large lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of milk

for a classic vanilla cupcake, simply leave out the lemon & the poppy seeds

Preheat the oven at 170C

Sift flower, salt & baking powder all together in a bowl.
Add the poppy seeds into the bowl and stir them through the flower with a spoon.
Mix the butter & the sugar together for 4 – 5 minutes with an electric mixer.
Add the eggs one by one.
When the eggs are incorporated completely into the batter add the lemon zest & the vanilla.
Add half of the flower mix to the batter and mix slowly.
Then add the lemon juice.
When everything is mixed, add the remaining flower mix. Don’t mix too long now. From this step you could also mix the batter by hand with a wooden spoon. When the flower is incorporated, stop mixing or stirring. The batter should be thick, but still runny. When you take a spoon full of batter, the batter should run of the spoon slowly. If you find the batter too thick you can add 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk and mix gently.

Fill 12 cupcake liners for 2/3 with the batter and place them into a cupcake baking pan. Bake in a preheated oven for 25 minutes.

I topped my cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream swearl, which I gave a subtle yellow color with just a tiny drop of food coloring. I will post a simple recipe for soft, fluffy buttercream very soon! Enjoy! ∗