dessert Archives - Pagina 2 van 3

Lemon Polenta Cake

We've decided to divulge the secret and publish the recipe of a cake that has become quite famous. It's sharp and tangy and it's gluten-free too!

Serves 10-12

Ingredients
400 g soft unsalted butter (plus extra for greasing)
400 g caster sugar
400 g ground almonds
200 g fine polenta
16 g baking powder
6 large eggs, beaten
zest of 5 lemons (save juice for the syrup)

for the syrup
juice of 5 lemons
250 g icing sugar

Method
Line the base of a 26cm springform tin with baking paper and grease the sides with butter.

Preheat the oven to 150°C

Beat the butter and sugar till pale and whipped, in a Magimix Patissier or freestanding mixer.

Mix together the almonds, polenta and baking powder and salt. With the machine running, add the eggs to the butter, a little at a time.

Add the almond and polenta mixture and blend the mixture well. Finally, beat in the lemon zest. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 60-70 minutes.

It may be slightly wobbly, but if the cake is cooked, a cake tester should come out cleanish and, most significantly, the edges of the cake will have started to shrink away from the sides of the tin. Remove from the oven to a wire cooling rack, but leave in the tin.

Make the syrup by boiling together the lemon juice and icing sugar in a small saucepan. Once the icing sugar’s dissolved into the juice, it's done.

Prick the top of the cake gently all over with a cake tester (or toothpick), pour the warm syrup over the cake, and leave to cool before taking it out of the tin. Serve in slices with whipped cream or creme fraiche.

We, the Amsterdam Flavours chefs, hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. If you have any questions on how to prepare it or just want to send us your feedback, you can reach us here Contact Amsterdam Flavours

by Mischa de Winter

Rhubarb and Strawberry Eton Mess

This is one of those desserts that's easy to make and always a guaranteed success.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients
9 Meringues, crumbled

Rhubarb compote
1 kg rhubarb
sugar to taste
1 vanilla pod or 2 star anise
a splash of water to get it going

750 g strawberries, rinsed, hulled and halved
750 ml cream, whipped and sweetened with a touch of sugar

Method
Make the meringues according to the recipe. You'll find the recipe by clicking above.

Make the rhubarb compote by trimming the rhubarb if stringy. Chop roughly and place in a pan with sugar (start with about 200 g and add more according to your taste), the vanilla pod or star anise and a splash of water. Bring to the boil and simmer until the rhubarb is soft, with some pieces still holding their shape. If your rhubarb isn't very pink, you can always add some Grenadine syrup to give it a blushing pink colour. Allow to cool completely.

To assemble the Eton Mess, take a large glass bowl. Crumble some meringues in the base and spoon in some rhubarb compote and scatter over some strawberries. Top with a third of the cream and repeat. You want to end with a layer of cream. Top a few strawberries and crumbled meringues and serve straight away.

by Mischa de Winter

Banana Cake

This cake is the perfect think to make when you have some bananas from the past week which are bit over-ripe. Not only will you be using them up and not wasting anything, but your friends and family will love you for doing so.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients
125 g butter, softened
45 g brown sugar
220 gr castor sugar
3 eggs
300 g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
180 g sour cream
1 cup roughly mashed ripe banana
caramel sauce

Method
Preheat the oven to 180° C. Place the butter, caster sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy.

Gradually add the eggs and beat well. Sift the flour and baking powder over the mixture. Add the cinnamon, sour cream and banana and stir to combine.

Spoon the mixture into a greased loaf tin. Bake for about 40 - 50 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool on a wire rack.

Make the caramel sauce, according to the recipe given. Serve warm drizzled over the cake.

by Mischa de Winter

Chocolate Mousse

There are certain recipes one needs to have in their repertoire and a good chocolate mousse is one of them. Here is our recipe that we have been making for years.

Serves 4

Ingredients
175 g dark chocolate (minimum 50% cocoa solids), chopped
60 ml strong black coffee
4 eggs, separated
15 g butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 15 ml liqueur of your choice
45 g castor sugar

Method
Heat the chocolate in the coffee over a low heat, stirring until the chocolate has melted. Simmer until slightly thickened but still falling easily from the spoon. Remove from the heat and beat in the egg yolks, one by one, in to the hot mixture so that they thicken slightly. Beat in the butter and vanilla or liqueur. Let the mixture cool until just warm.

Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. Add the sugar and continue whisking for 30 seconds to make a light meringue. Fold into the warm chocolate mixture. Pour into pots or glasses and chill in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours. Serve lightly dusted with cocoa powder of with whipped cream.

by Mischa de Winter

Crepes Suzette

Today, February the 17th is International pancake day. While we love the traditional pancakes with a little cinnamon-sugar and lemon and American pancakes, we felt that we wanted to make it a little more indulgent. So here is an absolute classis which everyone should have in their repertoire.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
100g flour
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
about 300 ml milk
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon oil
butter for frying

Suzette Sauce
75 g butter
150g sugar
2 lemons
2 oranges
3 tablespoons Grand Marnier or orange liqueur, or to taste

Method
Mix the egg and egg yolk with the flour, oil and a pinch of salt and add part of the milk. Whisk until you have a thick mixture and add as much of the remaining milk as needed. (This can also be done in the food processor.) The batter should be the consistency of cream.

Allow the batter to rest for ± 30 minutes. Cook the crepes in a crepe pan or frying pan and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Grate the zest of the 1 lemon and 1 orange and squeeze the juice from all. Place the sugar in a pan and caramelise over a medium heat until an amber colour. Carefully add the citrus juices and cook over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Mix in the butter, grated zests and Grand Marnier or orange liqueur. If you dare, flambé the liqueur before adding, but please be very careful!

To serve, fold the crepes into quarters and reheat briefly in the sauce. Serve with scoops of vanilla ice cream.

by Mischa de Winter

Chocolate Guinness Cake

Nigella Lawson is famously known as The Domestic Goddess. Her cakes and dispelling baking myths have made her a household name. Recently someone told us we had to make her Chocolate Guinness cake. So we did. The combination of chocolate and Guinness makes a deep, dark cake, which is moist and delicious. And now we're sharing the recipe with you.

Ingredients
250 ml Guinness
250 g unsalted butter
75 g cocoa powder
400 g castor sugar
142 ml sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
275 g plain flour
2 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
for the topping
300 g cream cheese
150 g icing sugar
125 ml cream

Method
Preheat the oven to gas mark 180°C and butter and line a 24cm springform tin with baking paper.

Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter and heat until the butter has melted. Whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the buttery Guinness pan and finally whisk in the flour and bicarb.

Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.

When the cake's cold, place it on a flat platter or cake stand and start with the icing. Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar and then beat them both together. This can also be done in a processor, putting the unsieved icing sugar in first and blitz to remove lumps before adding the cheese. Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency.

Ice the top of the cake and serve.

by Mischa de Winter

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Ingredients
75 g butter, plus extra for greasing
175 g soft brown sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
2 eggs
2 tablespoons black treacle
200g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
200g pitted dates
300 ml water
1 tablespoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Caramel Sauce
300 g sugar
300 ml cream
50 g butter
generous pinch of salt

Method
Preheat an oven to 180 C. Grease a 30 cm x 20 20 cm square cake tin with butter and line with baking paper.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixer until pale and fluffy. Add the golden syrup, treacle, vanilla extract and eggs, a little at a time, and blend until smooth. Mix the flour and baking powder together. Add the flour and blend, at a low speed, until well combined.

Meanwhile, place the dates in a pan with the water and bring to a boil. Blend the dates and water in a Magimix (food processor) to a smooth purée. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda and vanilla.

Pour the date mixture into the batter and stir until well combined. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the top is springy and golden-brown.

To make the caramel sauce, place the sugar in a pan and het gently until it dissolves and is caramelised to a mahogany colour. Carefully add the cream, stand back as it will spit and splatter. Keep on the heat, stirring now and again until the caramel dissolves. Turn off the heat, stir through the butter and salt.

To serve, cut the pudding into 12 generous squares and place serving plates. Pour over the caramel sauce and serve. Delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

by Bernadette Evers

Babas au Rhum

Makes about 16

Ingredients
100g raisins
1¼ cups rum
100g butter, softened to room temperature
25g fresh yeast or 10g dried yeast
250g flour, sifted
25g sugar
generous pinch of salt
4 eggs
50g melted butter, for greasing

Syrup
1 liter water
500g sugar

Method
Soak the raisins in the rum.

Mix the yeast with 2 tablespoons warm water. Put the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the sugar and salt, 2 eggs and the yeast mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon until the dough is elastic, then add the other egg. Work this in and then add the final egg and work it in. Finally add the softened butter and the drained raisins.

Brush 16 dariole moulds with the melted butter. Divide the dough into 16 small pieces and put a piece into each mould. Leave in a warm place until the dough has risen to fill the moulds. Preheat the oven to 200°C and then bake them for 15-20 minutes. Turn the babas out immediately onto a rack and allow to cool completely.

Prepare the syrup by boiling together the water and sugar. Add the remaining rum. Dip each baba into the boiling syrup and leave submerged until no more air bubbles are released. Drain and place on a cake rack resting over a dish. As the rum syrup collects in this dish, repeatedly spoon it over the babas to keep them very moist.

We, the Amsterdam Flavours chefs, hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. If you have any questions on how to prepare it or just want to send us your feedback, you can reach us here Contact Amsterdam Flavours

by Bernadette Evers

Walnut Cake with Spiced Caramel Sauce

Ingredients
Cake
220 g butter, at room temperature
240 g caster sugar
4 eggs
160 g fine semolina
2 teaspoons baking powder
300 g walnuts

Caramel
300g caster sugar
300 ml cream
1 star anise
½ cinnamon stick
25g butter

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C. Place the walnuts on a baking tray and toast them lightly in the oven, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 160C. Grease a 24 cm round springform tin or small fluted tins, of your choice.

Place the butter and sugar in a bowl of a mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs in, one at a time, until well combined.

Place the walnuts in a food processor and blend until finely ground.

Stir the baking powder through the semolina and fold through the egg and butter mixture, followed by the ground walnuts.

Spoon the batter into the greased cake tins and bake in the oven for about 35 minutes (large cake) or about 20 minutes (for the small cakes). Remove from the oven, cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before turing out onto a wire rack to cool completely before covering with the caramel.

For the spiced caramel sauce, heat the sugar in a pan until it turns golden-brown. Pour the cream in carefully and bring to the boil, stirring well. Add the star anise, cinnamon and butter. Cook for 2-3 minutes until thickened and smooth.

Strain through a fine sieve, cool completely and pour over the cake before serving.

by Mischa de Winter

Baked apples

Ingredients
4 apples
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon mixed spice
50 g demarara sugar
30 g dried apricots and 30 g dried cranberries
50 g butter
250ml creme fraiche
splash of marsala
icing sugar, to taste

Method
Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Mix the sugar with the spices. Mix half the sugar-spice mix with 80 ml water and 80 ml Marsala in a roasting tray. Remove the cores from the apples using an apple corer.

Chop the apricots into small cubes and mix with the dried cranberries. Mix together with the remaining sugar and spice mix in a small bowl.

Fill the apples with the apricot-cranberry mixture. Place a cube of butter on each, lay them in the roasting tray and bake them for 30-40 minutes, basting with the juices now and again.

Whisk the creme fraiche with a splash of Marsala and icing sugar to sweeten until slightly thickened. Serve the apples warm with the Marsala creme fraiche.

by Bernadette Evers