Tag Archives: chocolate

Nov23

What I was up to in November

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Kathrin

Hello everyone!

It has been a busy month for me, getting a part time job at a store that sells home decorations, gifts and household items, singing solo on both a wedding and my gospel choir’s winter concert and most of all preparing and creating my first wedding cake ever!!

Baking a wedding cake has been on my bucket list for quite some time now, but I never thought I would do it so soon. I was sure I needed lots of practice before then, baking my way through all family birthdays and other occations and ‘forcing’ everyone to try what I created. I thought for sure there were many failures along the way, learning how to create the perfect fillings and shape the smoothest fondant finish and decorations.

But then there was this day when I heard that the most lovely couple of friends of mine that I know from our gospel choir and that had invited me to their wedding in early november had to struggle so hard with private problems and finishing their exams before the wedding date that they couldn’t go on like this anymore and decided to call of all wedding festivities.

Me and my friends from the choir were shocked that this lovely couple had to struggle so hard with problems they could do nothing about and under the direction of our choir leader it was decided that they should have their wedding party and we all help to make it happen.

Quickly there was a place found, where the festivities could take place, plans were made, a caterer found and cakes were baked. There were lots of helpers found that cleaned all the dishes, made sure that everyone had to drink and nobody had to go home hungry.

It was an enormous amount of work that especially our choir leader had to deal with ahead of the wedding day but it was all so worth it!!

Since I knew bride and groom already for more than 6 years, singing besides them and having great times after rehearsals in a pub nearby I knew I had to do something special and I offered to make their wedding cake. But it was all kept a secret until the moment I revealed it to them! And they were so surprised and happy, I really loved the look on their faces 🙂

The cake on the top was a Pear & Vanilla Cheesecake and the one below was a Chocolate & Orange Buttercream Cake.

The decorations are made of black & white fondant and the flowers are dried pineapple.

Of course being the perfectionist that I am I wasn’t totally happy with the final result but as we all helped to make this day possible and everybody helped the way they could I can say I was quite happy how it turned out! 🙂

I didn’t have time to set up a proper backround and think about the perfect angles to shoot the cake, so I’m sorry that the pictures aren’t as professional as the once I do usually. Also I was quite nerve wrecked on that day, singing the solo in the church and worrying the cake would make it safe and sound to the party and onto the table later that I just gave somebody else my camera and asked them to shoot a few pictures during the reveal. 😉

Thank you for reading!!

Love,

~ Kathrin

Oct17

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Kathrin

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Hello everyone!

As promised here is the Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread Recipe with Yoghurt and Olive Oil you voted you wanted to see next!

This is another recipe I made to use up this enormous zucchini I got from my grandma’s garden. Maybe you remember my Zucchini Corn Muffins from the last post?

Very moist and with indulgend chocolate bits throughout the bread this is every chocolate lovers fantasy! Nobody would ever think that there are three (!!) cups of zucchini inside!

I did also freeze some slices of the cake and liked it still but it is best eaten fresh.

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread with Yoghurt and Olive Oil

Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

90 mins

Total time

1 hour 50 mins

A very moist and flavorful chocolate bread that uses up a whole lot of your zucchini harvest!

Author: Kathrin @ ginger, lemon & spice

Recipe type: Cake

Serves: 20 slices

Ingredients

2 eggs
270 g (1 cup) sugar
190 g (1½ cups) flour
25 g (1/3 cup) cocoa powder
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
80 g (1/2 cup) olive oil
120 g (1/2 cup) plain yoghurt (I used 3,5 % fat)
1 tsp vanilla extract
440 g (3 cups) zucchini (finely grated and water pressed out)
130 g (1 cup) dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate pieces

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F). Butter and flour a big loaf tin (or two smaller ones).
In a large bowl mix eggs and sugar for about 5 minutes until pale, fluffy and very creamy.
Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt at once and mix on slow speed until incorporated.
Then pour in olive oil, yoghurt and vanilla and mix through.
Fold in zucchini and chocolate.
Pour your mixture into your loaf tin(s) and bake for 65 minutes. Check if the chocolate bread is ready by inserting a wooden skewer. If there is still wet dough on the skewer leave it in the oven for longer. (mine needed 20 minutes more when baked in one loaf tin)

Adapted from Give Recipe

Have a great day!

~ Kathrin

Apr29

Mini Pavlovas with Lemon Curd, Raspberries and Chocolate

Posted on April 29, 2013 by gingerlemonandspice

Mini Pavlovas with Lemon Curd, Raspberries and Chocolate

Hello everybody!!

My very first giveaway is over and very soon this cute and roomy Apple Pouch will be sent to a new owner!

Who is it you ask?

I used random.org to draw the lucky winner: Congratulations to Ariane from arifra83!!

She said she would use this pursie to store all the small things a woman needs during a day 🙂

But all of you that weren’t so lucky – don’t be sad!! There will be another giveaway sometime for sure! And for now you can take a teensy bit of your time and make those tender and delicious Mini Pavlovas. They aren’t difficult to make but look and taste so decadent and sophisticated! A very special treat for you or your loved ones. Or make them for your mother on mother’s day?

Mini Pavlovas

adapted from Donal Skehan

Ingredients:

Meringue:

250g powdered sugar

4 egg whites (maybe left from making Creamy Lemon Curd?)

2 teaspoons corn flour

1 teaspoon white vine vinegar (I used white balsamico)

Filling:

500g cream, whipped (if you like with some cinnamon)

250g raspberries and/or optional lemon curd (I had bananas with the lemon curd version)

Chocolate shavings*

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 150°C and put baking parchment on two or three baking trays. Then place the sugar and the egg whites in a bowl and mix until white and stiff. This takes at least 10 minutes! Lucky you if you have a stand mixer, if not take some patience and use your electric hand mixer 🙂 The mixture is ready if you can form peaks and they stay stiff! Fold in corn flour and vinegar gently with a rubber spatula.

2. Take about one tablespoon of the mixture, put it on a baking tray and flatten out a little. This is your first mini disc! Repeat until all the batter is used up. You should have about 14-16 discs. I made mine a little on the very flat site, I guess you could leave them a little thicker and use only 2 discs to make the staples later!

3. Bake them for 45 minutes and then open the door of the oven a little and let them cool down completely. Meanwhile prepar the filling!

4. Assamble the Mini Pavlovas by stacking a meringue disc, a tablespoon of cream and some raspberries and maybe some lemon curd and repeat. I made two different kinds – One with cinnamon cream and raspberries and one with plain cream, bananas and lemon curd. Sprinkle the chocolate shavings on top!

5. Enjoy immediately after snapping a picture or two 😉

* How to make chocolate shavings:

Take one bar of dark chocolate and a very big knife. ‘Shave’ the chocolate from the bottom of the chocolate bar with the big knife. For some people it is easier to press the chocolate liying on a table with one short side to their belly and shave towards their body. It would be good to wear a clean apron if you try this 🙂

This is a video which shows kind of what I mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6NjcsdvgwM

Have fun trying this yourself!

~ Kathrin

Apr12

Cherry Chocolate Cake – Birthday Cake No. 2

Posted on April 12, 2013 by gingerlemonandspice

Cherry Chocolate Cake – Birthday Cake No. 2

Hey there!

The week is finally over!! BIG SIGH OF RELIEF!!! It was such a long and hard week, having 4 exams to study for and not being even sure if I passed. But it’s over now!!!

I am feeling so much better already even if I still have another coloquial one next week.

So I thought it is finally the time to share another one of my scrumptious birthday cakes! My birthday was already 1,5 months ago but I still hadn’t the time to share this recipe with you. The Caramel Maple Bacon Cupcakes had to come first 😉

Here I have the Cherry Chocolate Cake recipe for you!! The cake was loved very much too, it was the one who had the fewest pieces left! 😉

Read more about my birthday and the other cakes here: Buttermilk Banana Bread

Cherry Chocolate Cake

recipe adapted from this book

Ingredients:

1 glas sour cherries (about 370g)

100g dark chocolate finely grated with a big knife ( just try to slice very thin slices of the chocolate, it will break into ‘grated’ pieces)

200g butter, softened (a little less then 1 cup)

175g (3/4 cup) sugar

1 package vanilla sugar (or 1 teaspoon extract)

1 pinch of salt

4 eggs

125g (1 cup) flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

100g grounded almonds (a little less then 1 cup)

Directions:

1. Put the cherries into a colander and drain well. If you want you can keep the sirup but it will not be used in the recipe. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).

Butter a springform pan well.

2. Beat butter and sugars with salt until foamy with a hand mixer. This may take a few minutes. Add eggs one by one, mix well in between.

3. Now add flour and baking powder. Stir the dry ingredients on top of the wet ones a little with a spoon to mix up. Then use your hand mixer to incorporate.

4. Finally add chocolate and almonds and mix.

5. Add a little bit of your batter into the springform pan and flatten with the back of a spoon. Put the cherries on top and take care that no one of the cherries touches the rim of the pan. Now add the rest of the batter on top (not all in one place – put big dollops all over the cake) and then spread it out and cover the cherries.

6. Bake the cake for 45 minutes. When wooden skewer comes out clean the cake is ready. Let it cool for 20 minutes and then remove the springform pan.

7. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the cake with the help of a small colander. Let cool completely and Enjoy!! 🙂

~ Kathrin

Mar22

Peanut Butter Cups

Posted on March 22, 2013 by gingerlemonandspice

Peanut Butter Cups

Hey there!

How are you? My ‘vacation’ time that I spent at my parents house is over and I am back in working mode. There will be more exams soon!! I am not looking forward to that – but at least those will be the last ones I have to write for my Masters Degree.

Let’s talk about more pleasant topics. Reese’s peanut butter cups! I have heard so much about them but never actually tried one of my own until January, when a friend of mine returned from a trip to New York. She took several packages with her because she liked them so much!! I have read a lot about them on all the american food blogs I read – you clearly can’t read those blogs without stumbling on them 😉 In Germany it is very difficult to get Reese’s at all. I could imagine that they are sold on the internet, but it never felt important enough for me to try. But still: sweet peanut butter and chocolate together sounded fantastic!!

So when I tried my first Peanut Butter cups I just thought: Luckily I don’t have a whole package, they are addictive!

Last week my friend celebrated her birthday and I wanted to give her something made by myself. I knew she already ate up all her peanut butter cups and I have read that it was not so difficult to make those on my own, so I just tried! I think they went really well!! All the taste testers said they liked them very much! I used dark chocolate which seems to be a little less sugary then the one used in the original one and also the chocolate was hard after the 1,5 hours the cups sat on the balcony to set. I guess you could whisk a little bit of cream into the chocolate to make it a little softer if you want the cups to be more like the originals, but I liked them the way they were!!

Here is the recipe:

Peanut Butter Cups like Reese’s

Ingredients:

100g peanut butter smooth

50g butter, softened

30g powdered sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla sugar

400g Kouvertüre Zartbitter (dark chocolate)

about 25 small paper cups (mini muffins cups)

Directions:

1. Melt chocolate in a double boiler with 25g butter.

2. Prepare your piping bag or like I used a frosting plastic bag. I just used a big glas and secoured the bag with with a rubber band.

3. Prepare filling: Whisk peanut butter and the other 25g of butter until well combined. Add the sugars. Mix very well.

4. Pour chocolate into plastic bag and twist the end of the bag so that no chocolate can come out. You can see this on the pictures!

5. Cut one tiny edge of the plastic bag and pipe a little bit of chocolate (just as much as you need to cover the bottom) into the paper cups.

6. Place some peanut butter mixture into the middle of the paper cup. Pour more chocolate on top.

7. Let it sit for at least 45 min. It sets quicker when you put the peanut butter cups somewhere cold like on the balcony in winter. I had some chocolate left which I just piped onto some aluminium foil and let it harden. Next time I need chocolate I just melt it again.

8. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Lidl Germany

~Kathrin

Feb8

Orange Ricotta Chocolate Chip Muffins

Posted on February 8, 2013 by gingerlemonandspice

Orange Ricotta Chocolate Chip Muffins

A very warm WELCOME to all my new readers!!

I am sooo excited that you all joint me here and on facebook to follow my little blog! This blog is my heart’s desire and I love to bake and cook, tell my story, photograph and sew to make this blog a part of me and a nice place to be! And this is true, even if it rhymes 😉

For everybody that stumbles on this little site and especially the ones who decide to stay I am soooo very thankful!! It is so nice to see that other people like the same things I do and that encourages me very much!

I would like it best if I could get to know all of you personally, but as this is a very difficult task because you are living all over the globe, I encourage you to leave a quick comment! Don’t be shy! 🙂

Today I want to talk about muffins. Aren’t they great? You can bring them to any celebration and they are never out of place. People love them because they are already in single servings and can be transported easily! But most of all: They taste great!!!

If you have a muffin for yourself, it is just like you have a little cake baked just for you. They are cute, they are easy to make and simple to modify!

What I have here is a recipe which is loaded with a bright orange flavor, rich chocolate taste and is very moist thanks to the use of ricotta!

I used homemade ricotta which I made of the leftover whey I had from making my own camenbert and feta cheese. Also the only oranges I had were blood oranges! That is why the dough had a pretty rosa color and the baked muffins where a light green on the inside, because the color changed from rosa to green during baking.

I was very surprised when I had a bite of my first muffin! And they really tasted very delicious!!

So here it comes:

Orange Ricotta Chocolate Chip Muffins

from two peas & their pod

Ingredientes:

115g unsalted butter, at room temperature

150g granulated sugar

Zest of 1 orange

15 g vanilla sugar (or use 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 large egg

4 tablespoons fresh orange juice

240g white flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips (I used 125g chopped ‘Kouvertüre’ chocolate, but choc chips are fine)

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1-2 tablespoons orange or lemon juice

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 180° C (about 350 degrees F). Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners, or use silicone cups. Set aside.

2. Beat the butter, sugars and zest with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add ricotta cheese and mix well. Then add the egg and orange juice.

3. Now it is time to put in the dry ingredients. Flour, baking powder and -soda and salt go in. Don’t overmix! Just stir it in on low speed of the electric mixer.

4. Add the chocolate and just mix it in with a big spoon.

5. Using two large spoons divide the dough between the 12 muffin moulds.

6. Bake muffins for approx. 25-30 minutes. Take a skewer and make the test! If it comes out clean, they are ready!

7. Now prepare the glaze. In a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar and the citrus juice (not all at once, check consistency!). Drizzle over the muffins. Let it sit until glaze hardens and muffins are cooled down.

Enjoy!!