Cake twenty-five

Chocolate Lollipops 

My youngest daughter was still a toddler and I was in England with my students on an exchange programme. I was in a small town not far from Coventry and Birmingham and I remember I was trying to find some little present to take back home. It was the first time I had left my children at home and was abroad without them. I happened to pass by a chocolate shop and saw some chocolate lollipops in the shape of a teddy bear: the right gift for my little baby!  It was so cute! She was already a chocoholic although so young.... and I bought one for her...The problem of a chocolate lollipop is that it’s so nice to look at that you feel sorry to eat it.... It was the same for her... 

After ten years or more I was again in England with my school students, and this time I was in Devon in Plymouth. It was a couple of weeks before Easter and all the shops were full of chocolate delicacies. It was in a shop full of baking equipment that I saw a lollipop mould and it was mine! 

Song: Good Night

Close your eyes and follow me into a chocolate dream world!

Cake twenty-four

Bunnies, Bunnies, Bunnies...

Bunnies aren’t part of my Easter traditions. I only had eggs when I was a kid, bigger or smaller eggs but only eggs. I still have quite a distinct memory of a giant-like chocolate egg which was more or less my size; I remember it was standing in a shopwindow of a bar in the main street and it was destined to the lucky winner of a lottery. It was of a shining red with a big ribbon and some flowers on top. 

Eggs were in all shopwindows, but no bunnies. Bunnies are not wild animals here, we don’t see them run happily in parks and gardens like in England and are only recently become home pets. They are quite popular anyway, but they are bred like chickens and eaten as a delicacy. 

I first saw a chocolate bunny, the Lindt bunny when I was a teenager and it looked rather exotic to my eyes: it could never substitute the Easter Egg on our Easter tables though. Some years ago while wondering in the street of a German town I saw a bunny mould: I bought it and I’ve had my Easter bunny since then. I’ve tried to make it in chocolate but with no good results until I made it my way: the Cake and the Rice Krispies Bunny.

Song: Octopus's Garden
What about walking in a Bunny's Garden?

see recipe:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/05/cake-twenty-four-bunnies-bunnies-bunnies.html

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