Cinnamon Rolls

I have been craving cinnamon rolls the past week. So I decided that I had to make some. I tried a new recipe, and this one will be my go-to recipe for cinnamon rolls in future.

You will need

• Muffin tray
• 18 muffin cases (optional)
• Rolling pin
• Following ingredients (makes 18 cinnamon rolls)

 

Cinnamon Rolls

500 g     flour

250 ml   milk (warm)

60 g        sugar

20 g        fresh yeast

1             egg yolk

80 g        margarine

 

Filling

50 g        soft brown sugar

50 g        sugar

60 g        margarine

• teaspoons of cinnamon

 

Instructions

1. Warm up the milk in a pot and stir in 30 grams of sugar. Break the yeast into little pieces and mix that in to the warm milk as well.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the remaining 30 grams of sugar and the flour. Add the yeast-milk and set it aside for the brief time of ten minutes.
3. Add the margarine and the egg yolk and mix everything together using a dough hook or your hands.
4. As soon as you can form a large lump of dough, cover the bowl with a tea towel and let the dough rise for an hour.
5. Once the dough has been left to rise, roll it out to a large rectangle on surface dusted with flour. The rectangle should be at least 30 cm wide and 40 cm long and evenly thin.
6. Melt the margarine in a pot. Mix together cinnamon, brown and white sugar in a small bowl. Once the butter has melted, spread it on the yeast dough. Evenly sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

7. Now it’s time to roll the dough. Start with one of the long sides and carefully roll it as tight as you can. You now have a 40 cm long roll which wants to be cut into approximately 18 pieces of which each is just a little higher than two centimetres.
8. Line the muffin tray with cupcake cases, if desired. Place one cinnamon roll in each muffin case.
9. Bake the cinnamon rolls for 15-20 minutes.

 

I highly recommend eating them as soon as they come out of the oven. Because let’s be honest, it doesn’t get any better than warm cinnamon rolls ❤

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Easter Cake Pops

As it is nearly Easter, I decided to make some egg-shaped cake pops. It’s just a wonderful little treat to make your Easter breakfast or brunch just a little more perfect.

You will need:

• 30 lollipop sticks
• Cardboard box (height must be at least five centimetres shorter than the length of the lollipop sticks) with holes (diameter of lollipop sticks)/Styrofoam
• Cake tin
• Following ingredients (makes about 30 cake pops)

Cake

120 g     margarine

120 g     sugar

2             eggs

170 g     flour

2             teaspoons of baking powder

3             tablespoons of milk

vanilla extract

Cream cheese frosting

60 g        margarine

30 g        cream cheese

150 g     icing sugar

vanilla extract

 

200 g     white chocolate

Sprinkles

 

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

1. Cream together margarine and sugar.
2. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the flour and baking powder and combine everything to a smooth mixture.
3. Last bad not least, add the milk and the vanilla extract.
4. Fill the dough into the greased cake tin and bake for 20-25 minutes (until an inserted toothpick comes out clean).
5. Let the cake cool down while making the frosting. Cream together margarine and cream cheese.
6. Add the icing sugar and mix well.
7. Once the cake is cooled down tear it to crumbs in a bowl. Add the cream cheese frosting one tablespoon at a time. As soon as you can form the dough without any loose crumbs, stop adding frosting.
8. Shape the eggs out of 25 g of dough each. Place them on to a plate or a cutting board.
9. Chill the eggs in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. Melt the chocolate in the meantime.
10. Push a lollipop stick into a cake egg. Dip it into the chocolate and sprinkle a few colourful sprinkles on top. Let the cake pop stand upright in the prepared cardboard box/Styrofoam in order to dry.

You’re done! Happy Easter ❤

Apple Tart

Do you fancy a light spring dessert? Here it is! I recommend combining this lovely apple tart with whipped cream.

You will need:

• tart pan (with a removable bottom)
• rolling pin
• blender
• pot
• following ingredients

 

Pie crust

120 g     flour

25 g        sugar

60 g        butter

½            egg

 

3             tablespoons of apricot jam

 

Apple filling

3-4         large apples

 

Instructions

1. Cream together butter and sugar. After receiving a smooth mixture, you can add half an egg. Last but not least add the flour. If the dough is to dry, add a little more of the egg. If the dough is too wet, add a little more flour.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Roll out the pie crust on a surface dusted with flour. Try to roll out a circle slightly (about 7 cm) larger than your tart pan. Place the circle over the greased tart pan and push down gently. Gently press the dough to the side of the tart pan. Cut off any dough reaching over the edge. Make several little holes in the crust, using a fork.
3. Bake the pie crust for 20-25 minutes at 180°C.
4. Meanwhile, peel one apple and cut it to small pieces. Place them in a pot with 100 ml of water. Let the water boil until the apples are soft. Puree the apple with a blender.
5. Peel the remaining apples and cut them into thin slices.
6. Once the pie crust is ready, spread the apricot jam on the crust. Then fill the blended apples on top. Last but not least place the apple slices on the pie crust.
7. Bake the tart for another 15-20 minutes.

You’re done!

Unicorn Cake

If you’re as crazy about pink as I am, I’m sure you’ll love this cake. This was a project for a friend’s birthday. I just thought this cake would be perfect for her! I hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as she enjoyed the cake ❤

You will need

• (two) cake tins (diameter: 18cm)
• Rolling pin
• Sharp knife
• Piping tips and bag (alternative: freezer bag or any other stable plastic bag)
• Two Unicorn templates (to check if the size is right: you should be able to draw a circle with the diameter of 18 cm around it) – I used the unicorn emoji!
• Following ingredients

 

Vanilla Cake

220 g     margarine

350 g     sugar

4             eggs

420 g     plain flour

1             sachet of baking powder

1             teaspoon of vanilla extract

225 ml   milk

3             tablespoons of strawberry jam

Frosting

200 g     margarine or butter

500 g     icing sugar

½            teaspoon of vanilla extract

Food colouring (pink, purple, red, green, yellow)

Unicorn

120 g     white fondant

Food colouring (pink, purple, green, yellow, red, blue, black)

 

Instructions

Cake

1. Cream together margarine and sugar.
2. Add eggs and beat until the ingredients are combined well.
3. Add half of the flour and the baking powder and beat well.
4. Now add the milk. Once the ingredients are combined evenly, you can add the rest of the flour and baking powder.

Preheat the oven to 180 °C

5. Grease the cake tin(s). If you have two cake tins, fill them each with half of the mixture. If you only have one, separate the mixture into two parts and bake them separately, using the same cake tin twice.
6. Bake the cake for at least 35 – 45 minutes (a toothpick inserted into the cake must come out clean).

Unicorn

7. Roll out about 70 grams of white fondant (3mm thick). Place your template on top and gently cut around the edges with a sharp knife.
8. From your second template, cut out all the little bits: hair, “nose”, eye..
9. Use about 30 grams of fondant to make the unicorn’s hair and nose. You will need to colour this purple. If your food colouring is anything like mine, you won’t need much of it, but it will take ages to evenly spread the colour. Place the parts of the template that you want to be purple (e.g. hair and nose) on the fondant and cut them out. You can already start placing them on the unicorn’s head.
10. Now colour little amounts of fondant pink (ears), green, yellow, dark purple, blue, black (eyes, nostril). Again use the template to cut the correct shapes.
11. Assemble the unicorn and set it aside.
12. Optional: to create depth you can add some “shadows”. Use a brush and a little bit of pink food colouring. Make sure to not use too much! I used this where the unicorn’s head meets the neck.

Butter Cream

13. Cream together butter/margarine, vanilla extract and icing sugar. Separate the mixture in three parts. Colour one third purple (set aside a small amount) and one third pink.
14. Separate the last third into 3 parts and colour them: green, yellow and red. (You will also need the small amount of purple, which you’ve set aside in the step before)

Assembling

15. Level the cake once it has cooled down completely. Spread the jam on one half and place the second half on top.
16. Spread the purple butter cream on the outside of the bottom half and the pink butter cream on the outside of the upper half.
17. Use a spatula to spread the cream evenly (I really can’t give any advice here, as I am not good at icing cakes – any ideas are of course welcome in the comments!)
18. Once the cake is covered in frosting, you can place the unicorn on top.
19. Last but not least pipe little dots of butter cream (green, purple, red, yellow: see step 13) on top of the cake. You can use my pictures as guide.

 

Please let me know what you think about this cake ❤

 

Carrot Cake with Frosting

This carrot cake is moist and refreshing. For me, this is the perfect cake to welcome spring with. I hope you’ll enjoy it, as much as I do ❤

You will need

• baking tray lined with parchment paper (tray measurements: about 30×40 cm)
• following ingredients

Ingredients

Carrot cake

290 g     margarine

290 g     soft brown sugar

145 g     wholemeal flour

145 g     plain flour

1 ½         packages of baking powder

5             eggs

450 g     grated carrots ( = 500 g not yet grated)

1             teaspoon of cinnamon (levelled)

1             tablespoon of lemon juice

Vanilla Frosting

80 g        margarine or butter

250 g     icing sugar

½            teaspoon of vanilla essence

2             tablespoons of milk

Marzipan Carrots

150 g     marzipan

Orange (alternative: red and yellow) and green food colouring

 

Instructions

1. Start off by peeling approximately 500 g carrots. After grating these into a separate bowl, you should be left with about 450 g of grated carrots. Mix in the lemon juice with the carrots.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add the eggs and beat well.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

3. Add flour, baking powder and cinnamon to the mixture and cream it together well.
4. Stir in the carrots with a spoon.
5. Evenly spread the mixture onto the baking tray lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake for 25 – 35 minutes and leave the cake to cool down completely
7. Meanwhile you can start making the marzipan carrots. Set aside 30 g of marzipan and use the food colouring to colour it green. Colour the rest orange.
8. Try to shape little “carrots” from the orange marzipan. Using a skewer, you can make a hole in the top and stick in 3-4 little rolls of the green marzipan. You can use the pictures as an orientation on how to shape the marzipan.
9. In order to make the frosting, cream together butter and icing sugar. Add the vanilla essence and the milk after you’ve received a smooth mixture. Gently spread the butter cream on top of the cake.
10. Cut the cake in squares (e.g. 7×7 cm). Place a carrot in the middle of each square.

 

You’re done! Please let me know, what you think of this in the comments!

By the way: I apologise that I haven’t posted any new recipes in such a long time. I’ve had my exams at university lately and that required a lot of learning! But fortunately the first exams are over now. So the baking begins again!

 

 

 

Candy Cane Cupcakes

Christmas is nearly here! Hopefully you will like this recipe for a vanilla cupcake, topped with buttercream and decorated with a candy cane. Doesn’t it just look like Christmas?

I hope you’ll have a beautiful Christmas evening and a wonderful Christmas day ❤

You will need:

• muffin tray
• 16 muffin cases
• piping bag and tip
• following ingredients

 

Vanilla Cupcakes (makes about 16)

175 g     margarine

175 g     sugar

175 g     flour

½            sachet of baking powder

3             eggs

½            teaspoon of vanilla extract

 

Buttercream Frosting

180 g     butter

350 g     icing sugar

 

16           tiny candy canes

sprinkles

 

Instructions

1. Cream together margarine and sugar until pale.
2. Add the remaining ingredients needed for the muffins and beat well.

Preheat the oven to 175°C.

3. When all the ingredients are combined well, fill 16 muffin cases (it’s best when you use a muffin tray lined with muffin cases). Bake the muffins for 20 minutes at 175°C.
4. Cream together icing sugar and frosting in order to make the buttercream. Once the muffins have cooled down you can pipe the buttercream on top of the muffins.
5. Start from the outside and make a circular motion towards the inside and the top. I used a star tip, but you could also use a round one.
6. Top the cupcakes with a candy cane and some sprinkles.

 

You’re done! I hope you’ll enjoy this Christmas treat ❤

Merry Christmas ❤

Cinnamon Stars (gluten-free)

There is no better time for cinnamon than Christmas. These German Christmas cookies are not only delicious, they are also gluten-free. They are made with almonds or hazelnuts and of course loads of cinnamon. I hope you’ll enjoy this recipe.

You will need:

• Baking tray lined with parchment paper
• Star-shaped cookie cutter
• Rolling pin
• Following ingredients

 

Cinnamon Stars

2             egg whites

170 g     icing sugar (+ extra for dusting)

1             sachet of vanilla sugar

1 ½         teaspoons of cinnamon

130 g     ground almonds

130 g     ground hazelnuts (you could also use only almonds or only hazelnuts, meaning 260 g of the chosen one)

 

Instructions (makes 40 – 60 cookies depending on the size of the cookie cutter)

1. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add the (sieved) icing sugar and combine the two ingredients until you receive a smooth mixture.
2. Set aside 3 – 4 table spoons of the egg white mixture in an extra bowl. You will need this for the topping.
3. Now add the vanilla sugar, cinnamon and the nuts to the egg white mixture. Mix together until everything is distributed evenly.
4. Dust a flat surface with icing sugar. Make sure you also dust the rolling-pin to prevent the dough from sticking to it. Now roll out the dough (about 4 mm thick) and cut out the cinnamon stars. Place them on a tray lined with parchment paper.

Preheat the oven to 120°C.

5. Before baking the cinnamon stars add the egg white and sugar mixture. You can use a knife or a brush to gently spread on a thin layer of icing.
6. Bake the cinnamon stars for about 25 minutes. Once the white topping is beginning to turn slightly golden, the cookies are done.

You’re done ❤

Do you have any special Christmas traditions? Let me know in the comments ❤

 

 

 

Vanilla Crescents (Vanillekipferl)

These Christmas biscuits are traditionally from Austria. Their German/Austrian name is “Vanillekipferl”. Vanilla crescents will simply melt in your mouth. I hope you’ll enjoy this lovely recipe. Let me know what you think ❤

You will need:

• A baking tray lined with parchment paper
• cling film
• Following ingredients

Note: This dough will need at least two hours in the fridge.

Vanilla Crescents

100 g     ground almonds

250 g     flour

40 g        sugar

30 g        vanilla sugar

200 g     butter or margarine (cold)

2             egg yolks

 

50 g        vanilla sugar/icing sugar (this will be needed after baking)

 

Instructions

1. Mix together all ingredients (except of the 50 g of vanilla sugar/icing sugar) in a bowl. Make sure that there are no lumps of butter left.
2. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave it in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
3. Once the dough has chilled for at least two hours you can start making the crescents.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

4. Shape equal sized balls (diameter of about 2 cm ). Then roll them out each into a 5 cm long “log” and bend them into crescents.
5. Place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake the crescents for 10 minutes at 180°C.
6. As soon as the vanilla crescents come out of the oven sprinkle on the vanilla sugar or the icing sugar. To help the sugar stick to the crescents, you can alternatively also put the sugar into a bowl and gently push the crescents in the vanilla sugar. They break very easily so be careful ❤

You’re done! I hope you’re also feeling the Christmas spirit ❤

Christmas Sugar Cookies

I am such a huge fan of Christmas time. I love all the colourful lights, I love the Christmas markets and of course I love all the great recipes which perfectly match this time of the year.

This coming recipe is so simple but so delicious at the same time.

Note: This dough will need at least 5 hours to chill in the fridge. It’s best to make it the evening before and leave it to chill overnight.

You will need:

• Baking tray(s) lined with parchment paper
• Cling film
• Rolling pin
• Christmas cookie cutters
• Following ingredients

Christmas Sugar Cookies

400 g     flour (+ extra for flouring the surface)

300 g     sugar

120 g     butter

2             eggs

Instructions

1. Mix together all ingredients until you receive a smooth dough. Make sure there are no lumps of butter left! You can also use your hands to knead the dough.
2. Wrap the dough in cling film and place it in the fridge for at least 5 hours.
3. Roll out the dough (3 mm thick) and cut out the Christmas cookies. I used all kinds of cookie cutters: Christmas trees, hearts, stars, reindeer, teddy bears… Use whatever you like ❤
4. In order to make a star-shaped cookie, which is able to sit on the edge of a cup, cut out a regular star using a normal star-shaped cookie cutter. Then use a knife to cut out a 0,5 cm gap. Leave about 1 cm to the top of the star.
5. Place the cookies on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake the cookies at 170°C for 8 minutes. You can turn the tray around after 4 minutes to help the cookies brown more evenly.

You’re done ❤

Are you having a great christmas time? What do you love most about Christmas? ❤

Coffee and Walnut Traybake

You may have noticed, that I like baking with walnuts (check out these two recipes: Walnut and Maple Syrup Cupcakes and Chocolate and Walnut Macarons). In addition to that, I am also a huge fan of coffee. So right now, there’s nothing better than a slice of coffee and walnut traybake.

You will need:

• a baking tray (mine is about 30 x 40 cm)
• following ingredients:

 

Coffee Cake

300 g     flour

2             teaspoons of baking powder

235 g     margarine or butter

235 g     sugar

4             eggs

2             teaspoons of instant coffee or espresso

2             teaspoons of boiling water

 

Buttercream Icing

100 g     margarine or butter

300 g     icing sugar

¼            teaspoon of instant coffee

1             teaspoon of milk

 

10           walnuts, chopped

 

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 170° C.

1. Dissolve the instant coffee in the equal amount of boiling.
2. Mix together all the ingredients in order to make the coffee sponge cake. Beat well, until you receive a smooth dough.
3. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and evenly spread the cake dough on top.
4. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes. Then remove the tray from the oven and let the cake cool down before adding the frosting
5. In order to make the frosting, dissolve the instant coffee in the (cold) milk. You might need to stir this for quite a bit, in order to get rid of any lumps.
6. Cream together margarine/butter and icing sugar. Then add the coffee-milk and mix well.
7. Spread the buttercream icing on to the cake and sprinkle the chopped walnuts on top. Cut the cake into slices and enjoy J

I hope you’ll enjoy this recipe ❤