Cake twenty-three

Easter Eggs 

I first made a chocolate egg ten years ago or more. It all started when I found an Easter chocolate mould in a shop it was love at first sight! But it’s been kind of an unrequited love for years, I must say, until I made my first egg which was acceptable to look at. It was more like a challenge between me and the chocolate egg than a real love... I had to overcome a lot of difficulties, I didn’t know how to join the two parts without making holes in the junction for instance. The thing is that you make chocolate eggs only once a year, so you don’t have many chances to try... But in a way I was lucky: I have four children which means at least four eggs plus one or two more for their friends. After a few attempts which could hardly be called chocolate eggs I had the idea to add some Rice Krispies to the melted chocolate and there it stood, as if my magic, my first chocolate egg without holes and bumps! 

song: I'm fixing a hole
It really doesn't matter if you're wrong, stick to your idea and carry on...

see recipe:

http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/04/cake-twenty-three-easter-eggs.html

Easter baking

Easter’s another of my favourite periods of time for baking. Every year I complain I never have enough time to give form to my ideas: I wish I could forget the rest of the world and dedicate myself only to it! I’d love to  shut myself in the kitchen and ignore the natural rhythm of the day, but of course I can’t.... There are days, anyway, when I lose track of time and space and really put my family’s patience to the test; it goes without saying the good smell of chocolate and cakes play their role and partly make up for all the things I leave behind...

What I like to make is what’s not strictly necessary for the Easter lunch but it’s what, in my opinion, makes it special.  

It’s a golden time for baking: from chocolate bunnies to small and big eggs, from basket or flower shaped cakes to the traditional Sicilian Cassata, from cheese Panettone to dove shaped bread and why not a Spring House.

Song: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

We never feel lonely when sharing Easter specialties...

Cake twenty-two

Cheesecake Delice

The first time I had a slice of cheesecake was back in the 70’s in Britain, when I was there as a young student in some families in the suburbs of London as a paying guest, as we used to say. Then I tasted it again in Germany in the early 80's. It was a completely new taste to me. We didn’t use cheese for cakes, the nearest thing we had was our ricotta cheese which was a common ingredient in South Italian recipes. But the taste was totally different. Those were the years when the first cream cheeses like Philapdelphia or Dover were marketed in Italy and I remember I once made a cheesecake for my birthday soon after my return from Germany: I loved it but my friends found it a bit ‘unusual’.  

For some years I thought there was only one type of cheesecake, the classical recipe I’d say, with a base of biscuits and the chilled filling, but then I found out there was a complete hidden universe....  from the chilled to the baked ones, and I didn’t lose time to try each recipe, although my family didn’t sound so fond of them. My mum used to say: ‘Good’ but her voice couldn’t betray it was just to please me... So I couldn’t make cheesecakes very often until I had my own house. Now after many years my mum still doesn’t like them much but my children love them and I feel free to experiment them all! 

This is a a baked cheesecake with some Mars bars inside and rasberries on top, a real delicacy!

Song: ‘Don’t let me down’

Try this cake, it’ll never let you down!

see recipe: 
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/04/cake-twenty-two-cheesecake-delice.html

Cake twenty one

Spring Swirl

It’s almost spingtime and I really feel the need of some sunshine:  warmer weather, longer days, I mean longer time of sunlight, and the juicy spring fruits which prelude to the rich variety of summer. I love all kinds of cakes with fruit but my favourite ones are with strawberries. It’s only a matter of a few weeks’ time. I must admit that I associate strawberries with the good season and spring flowers. I like to give my house a ‘new look’, with flowers on all balconies and windowsills: it’s my way to express my joy for life. 

A few days ago I was undecided about the cake to make, I was looking for a breakfast cake but with a fresher flavour, I didn’t want anything with chocolate or jam, but something which would mirror, in a way, my love for spring. So I opted for this apple cake, which is good with a cup of coffee or tea and has a simple but one-of-a-kind aftertaste.

Song: Act Naturally

A not very popular song but good to cheer us up!

see recipe: 
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/03/cake-twenty-one-spring-swirl.html

Cake twenty

The king of cheesecakes

I’ve just come back from Belgium which I consider, no doubt, the kingdom of chocolate! I knew Belgian chocolate was world famous but I didn’t expect so many shops and such a variety of chocolates. It was like walking in streets of chocolate with shopwindows full of pralines, chocolate fountains and chocolate statues. Once you went into a shop, you were practically lost! You could hardly resist tasting a small chocolate and you found yourself dreaming to eat them all.. In a few days you felt like addicted to chocolate! 

This is not a Belgian cake but the combination of the delicious chocolate bottom and the yummy soft cheese mixture makes it in my opinion the best of cheesecakes.. 

So I’d love to dedicate this cheesecake ‘the king of cheesecakes’ to Belgium, the kingdom of chocolate. A bit like giving a king his kingdom!

Song: Lucy in the sky with diamonds

Picture yourself in a chocolate street with chocolate trees and marmalade skies...

see recipe:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/03/cake-twenty-king-of-cheesecakes.html

Cake nineteen

Father Christmas's House

I first made it a few years ago although it's in a recipe book I bought in Germany in the early 80's. It was my youngest daughter Sara who prompted me to try when she was about 12. I thought it was too difficult to make and had always looked at the photo in the book as a work of art, something impossible for me. I must admit: I  feared to fail. There's nothing worse in cooking than comparing your cake to the one in the recipe book and.... see the difference!!! But she sounded so enthusiastic -we were going to make a house for Father Christmas! That was going to be something special. So I said yes to make her happy and we ventured into an enterprise which sounded to me rather impossible to achieve.

The first time the result wasn't that good, but we insisted and year after year we've learnt some tricks and now we're proud of our wooden cottage in the snow with a small garden around. 

It's become a must in our family!

Last year my son decided it was high time to give Father Christmas a more comfortable and modern looking home and made a plan for a bigger house with a pond and a private boat dock. It was a rather complicated project, Sara was in America for a year and I didn't feel like 'building' it on my own. 

So he and a friend of his helped me. It was really fun and the best assistance I could have! Two students of architecture for a gingerbread house.... What else could I ask for?

Song: Good night 
Close your eyes and.... follow me into Father Xmas's House

see recipe:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/03/cake-nineteen-father-xmass-house.html

http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/03/cake-nineteen-father-xmass-house-making.html

http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/03/cake-nineteen-father-xmass-house_10.html

Cake eighteen

Gingerbread  Decorations

Does it ever happen to you to do something the others consider useless? Something you like which isn’t of great importance, of course,  you think it can really make the difference and what's more it’s fun for you? It does to me... and this is one example!

  I do love all Christmas decorations including the ones for the table, I think they help you feel the magic of Christmas. I like my table to look special and not only for the food we eat. This year I've made some gingerbread cookies and decorated the lamp over the table - a kind of Christmas Night scene with trees, snow flakes, reindeers, stars and, of course, Santa Claus and his sleigh - the Xmas tree and the front door wreath. It took me some time but, in the end, I was well satisfied. 

Song: Happy Christmas 
No better tune for Christmas time...

see recipe:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/01/cake-eighteen-gingerbread-decorations.html