A few weeks ago I got a request to make 65 madeleines. For this request I used my madeleine recipe which is my favorite madeleine recipe and it is always a big success. People liked my madeleines a lot and the little cakes disappeared too quickly. There were rumors that the madeleines were made by an excellent pastry chef but little did they know that the madeleines were made by me who has professional baking background at all. I am just a passionate amateur who likes hiding behind a curtain. Some people still believe this rumor since I never revealed my identity nor did I advertise my name on the neatly packaged madeleines.
For making the madeleines I needed 600 g egg white which equals about 20 medium sized eggs. I always have leftover egg whites in my fridge but my fridge is never stocked with this huge amount of egg white. So after making the madeleines I was left with many egg yolks, to be precise I had 8 egg yolks to use up, in the fridge which rarely happens. 

The first thing that came to my mind was to make lemon tartlets which I have not made in a while and making the filling for lemon tartlets calls for quite a few egg yolks. Instead of using lemon juice I used the juice of a grapefruit; in my head I envisioned a beautiful orange grapefruit curd but I was wrong and the grapefruit curd does not differ from a lemon curd. I did not took into consideration that the egg yolks are too dominant and makes the curd yellow. I was disappointed but this changed quickly as soon as I took the first bite of one of grapefruit tartlets. The grapefruit curd had such an incredible creamy texture and the citrus flavor was perfectly balanced. Sometimes the lemon curd can be too sour in my opinion but my grapefruit curd was not too sour and not too sweet at the same time. It was the best citrus tartlet that I ever made in my life. Every time I made the grapefruit tartlets - I lost control how many I made over the last few weeks - I am so pleased with the result. I think I will never try another recipe. It is my perfect citrus tartlet recipe.
Sometimes lemon, in my case grapefruit, tartlets or tarte are topped with a layer of meringue.  A layer of meringue on top looks pretty but it is too sweet, at least for me. I prefer my citrus tartlets plain or with a few dollops of freshly whipped cream.

NOTE: For the recipe you need baked tartlet shells. My recipe for tartlet shells, accompanied with tips and tricks on making shortcrust pastry, is here.
The size of my tartlet shells are 8 cm / 3 inches in diameter and the height is 2 cm / 0.8 inch. Of course you can use bigger tartlet shells, or petite shells or make one big tart.
Makes the filling for 10 tartlets ( 8 cm / 3 inches in diameter)

INGREDIENTS

  • 150 ml / 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons juice of freshly squeezed grapefruit (equals one big grapefruit)
  • 90 g / 1/3 cup  and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 60 g egg yolks (equals yolk of 4 medium sized eggs)
  • 2 eggs (medium sized)
  • 85 g / 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
  • 1.5 g gelatin (1 sheet), soaked / 1/2 teaspoon gelatin powder

DIRECTIONS

  • Pour the grapefruit juice and sugar into a pot and bring the mixture to a boil. Set aside.
  • Mix egg yolks and eggs. Pour the hot grapefruit juice over the egg mixture and stir. Pour the mixture back to the pot. Heat the grapefruit mixture over medium heat, do nor forget to stir constantly, until the mixture starts thickening. As soon as the mixture starts thickening, remove the pot immediately from the heat. Add the soaked gelatin and mix well until the gelatin is dissolved. Add the butter cubes to a bowl and pour the hot grapefruit mixture over the butter. Stir until it has a smooth consistency. 
  • Pour the mixture into tartlet moulds. Let it set for at least half an hour. 
  • Decorate the tartlets to your liking. I piped little dots of whipped cream onto the tartlets and decorated the cakes with little mint leaves. 
  • The grapefruit tartlets taste the best on the same day. The tartlet taste great the next day as well and in my experience the tartlet shells did not get soft. But do not store the tartlets in the fridge, otherwise the tartlet shells might become soft because of the moisture of the fridge. 
Whenever I pass a bakery or a pastry store I stop and look at the window display; I often go inside the store and look what kind of pastries and cakes are on offer. Here and there I buy something but most of the time I just have a look at the pastry display (sometimes I frustrate and annoy shop assistants with my cake curiosity). It makes me incredible happy just looking at beautiful cakes and I get inspired by the baked goods that I see in front of me.  A little while ago I passed a pastry store which doubles as a café (the cakes from this particular store are so-so, in my opinion) and I caught a glimpse of an older lady through the window of the cafe. At this very moment I passed the window the lady was digging into a little delicious looking mousse cake which had in the center a chocolate core. For me it was such an utterly beautiful cake creation. I went into the pastry store and I had a look at the window display in order to find out what kind of white mousse the "outside" of the cake was. It was a passion fruit mousse. My first thought was "is passion fruit and chocolate a good flavor pairing" but I was intrigued by the beauty of the cake that I decided to recreate the mousse cake. My doubts were unnecessary; the passion fruit mousse - it is not too strong -  goes so well with the chocolate mousse. These mousse cakes are so incredible delicious and I am very proud of my cake creation.




NOTES:

Cake Moulds

I used a silicone muffin pan for this recipe. The size of each mould is: 7 cm / 2.75 inches in diameter; the height is: 4 cm / 1.5 inches. I used little silicone moulds for the chocolate mousse cores as well. The size of each mould is: 2.5 cm / 1 inch in diameter; the height is 2.5 cm / 1 inch.
Whenever I make mousse cakes that need to be frozen I use silicone moulds. Unmoulding silicone moulds are very easy and one does not have to fuzz around dipping moulds into hot water.

Passion Fruits

I used a passion fruit juice - try to use a good quality passion fruit juice - for the  passion fruit mousse. Of course you can use the pulp of the passion fruits but remove the seeds; be prepared that you will need a lot of passion fruits. For the passion fruit glaze I used passion fruits but you can use juice as well.
When buying passion fruits look for fruits with wrinkled skin which indicates that they are ripe. If you buy smooth skinned passion fruits let them ripe for a few days at room temperature. Ripe passion fruits are best kept in the fridge.
Makes 8 to 10 mousse cakes (see my notes above)

Chocolate Mousse Core

  • 50 g / 3 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 15 g / 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 70 g / 1 1/2 ounces chocolate (66%), finely chopped
  • 110 g / 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • Bring heavy cream and sugar to a boil. Set aside. 
  • Place finely chopped chocolate in a medium sized bowl. Pour the hot heavy cream to the chocolate and stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Let the chocolate mixture cool down to room temperature. 
  • In the meantime, whisk the heavy cream until creamy. Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. 
  • Pour the chocolate mousse into 8 to 10 little (silicone) moulds.
  • Freeze the moulds for at least 2 hours. 

Passion Fruit Mousse

  • 150 ml / 2/3 cup passion fruit juice
  • 7 g gelatin sheets, soaked or 2 1/3 teaspoons gelatin powder
  • 50 g / 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 30 g / 2 egg yolks (medium sized eggs)
  • 290 g / 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
  • Pour the passion fruit juice into a small pot, add 30 g / 2 tablespoons of sugar to it and heat the mixture; set aside. Add the gelatin to the juice and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved. 
  • Mix egg yolks and the remaining sugar (25 g / 2 tablespoons) in a heat proof bowl. In a double boiler heat bowl with the egg sugar mixture, stir constantly, until it has reached 60 °C / 140 °F. Remove the bowl from the double boiler and continue to whisk until the mixture has cooled down. 
  • Add a little bit of the passion fruit mixture to the egg mixture, stir until all ingredients are well combined, add the rest of the passion fruit mixture and mix again until well combined. 
  • Whisk the heavy cream until creamy. Add one third of the whipped cream to the passion fruit mixture and mix well. Add the remaining whipped cream and fold it into passion fruit mixture. 
  • Scoop the passion fruit mousse into (silicone) moulds, almost to the top of the moulds.
  • Unmould the frozen chocolate mousse cores and gently press each core into each the passion fruit mousse cake.
  • Freeze the mousse cakes for at least 6 hours or overnight. You can also leave the frozen passion fruit mousse cakes in the freezer for several weeks.   

Almond Sponge Cake

  • 1 egg (medium size)
  • 15 g / 1 egg yolk (medium sized egg)
  • 30g / 1 egg white (medium sized egg)
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 45 g / 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 25 g / 3 tablespoons almond flour
  • 20 g / 3 tablespoons pastry flour, sifted
  • Preheat the oven to 190 °C / 375 °F. 
  • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
  • Whisk egg, egg yolk and 25 g / 2 tablespoons sugar until fluffy (it takes about 3 to 4 minutes). Add almond flour and pastry flour and mix well. 
  • Whisk egg white and a pinch of salt until almost stiff. Add little by little the remaining sugar (20 g / 2 tablespoons) and whisk until stiff. 
  • Fold in the beaten egg white into the mixture. 
  • Spread the batter onto the baking sheet (25 cm x 25 cm / 10 inches x 10 inches).
  • Bake the sponge cake for 5 to 7 minutes or until light golden brown in color. 
  • Let the sponge cake cool completely. Cut out circles with a cookie cutter (the size depends on the size of your cake moulds; I cut out 7 cm / 3 inches in diameter circles).

Passion Fruit Glaze

  • 75 g  passion fruit pulp, 2 to 3 medium sized passion fruits, a little less than 1/4 cup
  • 10 g / 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1 g gelatin sheet, soaked or 1/3 teaspoon gelatin powder
  • You can remove the passion fruit seeds if you do not like the crunch of the seeds but I personally like the crunch and I think it looks very pretty. 
  • Add the passion fruit flesh and sugar into a small pot and bring it almost to a boil. Take the pot from the heat, add the gelatin and mix until the gelatin is dissolved. Pour the mixture into a small bowl. 
  • Let the mixture cool and let the glaze thicken up a little bit. As soon as the glaze starts thickening assemble the cakes. 

Assembling

  • Unmold the frozen mousse cakes. Place one sponge cake circle on each frozen mousse cake.
  • Spread the passion fruit glaze on top of each cake.
  • Let the cake defrost at room temperature. 
Happy 2016! Hi! How are you doing? I hope you are all doing well and had a great start into the new year.
I have been hiding behind a curtain and I was working hours and hours behind the scenes. I was going through all my recipes that I have posted in the last five years. I was editing recipes and photos, labelling every single blog post which I have not done in my early blog posts, getting better at HTML and CSS, making little changes on my blog. It was exhausting and overwhelming but in the end I could not be happier. "Cleaning" my blog was on my mind for a very long time and I finally took the time to work on this project. It is a good start to the new year.
In order to celebrate this I am sharing my favorite cake - a chocolate orange layer mousse cake- that I made last year for the first time and it became to one of my all time favorite cake recipe which I adapted from the pastry chefs Sue and William Curley. Last year I came across the books "Couture Chocolate" and "Pâtisserie" (I own both books in the German translation) by Suzue and William Curley and I cannot recommend these books enough. These books are an excellent introduction to the world of (French) patisserie and chocolate. I spent countless of hours reading these two books and making recipes from the books last year and they are a constant source of inspiration to me.
I love the combination of chocolate and orange and making a layer cake with these flavor components was calling my name. This entremet is such an exquisite cake; I have no words for how delicious this entremet is.
NOTES:

Preparation Time

I am always hesitant to give an estimated time of preparation because I think that it can vary a lot from person to person. However, I also think it can be helpful, in particular for cake recipes that includes several steps, having an idea how long it takes. Hence, I will include an estimated preparation time in my future recipe post. It took me about 3 1/2 hours to prepare this layer cake. You have to freeze the cake for at least 6 hours. You can also keep the cake in the freezer for a couple of weeks.

Equipment

A cake frame/pan extender is needed.
Please use a kitchen scale. In this recipe I wrote down only the ingredients in metric and not in cups. I started to convert the ingredients from grams to cups and tablespoons but I was not comfortable with it. It is simply too imprecise.
Be prepared that you will need lots of bowls.


Makes one rectangular cake (15 cm x 18 cm)

Sacher Sponge Cake

  • 35 g almond flour
  • 35 g granulated sugar
  • 55 g egg white
  • 45 g powdered sugar
  • 30 g egg
  • 35 g egg yolks
  • 20 g chocolate (70%)
  • 20 unsalted butter
  • 20 g pastry flour, sifted
  • 10 g unsweetened cacao powder, sifted
  • Preheat the oven to 180 °C / 355 °F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
  • Mix the almond flour, sugar, 15 g egg white in a medium bowl. Gradually add 25 g powdered sugar to the mixture. Add egg and egg yolks and beat until the mixture is pale in color (use a kitchen machine or an electric mixer) which takes about 4 to 5 minutes. 
  • Beat the remaining egg white until almost stiff; gradually add the rest of the powdered sugar and beat until stiff.
  • Melt the chocolate and the butter in a double boiler. Add the almond sugar mixture to the melted chocolate and stir well. Add flour and cacao powder and stir again. Lastly, add the beaten egg white and fold it into the mixture. 
  • Spread the sponge cake mixture evenly onto the baking sheet. 
  • Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let the sponge cake cool completely. Cut the sponge cake into three 15 cm x 18 cm rectangles. 

Orange Jam

  • Orange peel of 1 orange (medium size)
  • 200 g filleted oranges
  • 55 ml orange juice
  • 175 g gelling sugar (1:1)
  • Place all ingredients in a pot. Let the mixture come to a boil, lower the temperature to medium high and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Pour the orange mixture into a blender and puree until smooth. Pour the mixture back into the pot and let the mixture come to a boil again, lower the temperature to low and let the orange jam simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Set the orange jam aside and let it cool completely. 

Orange Syrup

  • 3 cm piece of vanilla bean
  • 45 g granulated sugar
  • 45 ml water
  • 50 ml orange juice
  • Split vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds (use the tip of your knife or the dull size of the knife). Place the vanilla seeds, the empty vanilla pod, granulated sugar and orange juice into a small pot. Let the mixture come to a boil. Remove the empty vanilla pot and let the orange syrup cool.

Orange Ganache

  • 40 g chocolate (66%), finely chopped
  • 35 g milk chocolate (35%), finely chopped
  • 100 ml orange juice
  • 10 g granulated sugar
  • 15 g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
  • Place both chocolates into a bowl. 
  • Pour the orange juice into a small pot and bring it to a boil and let it simmer over medium heat until the orange juice has reduced to 45 to 50 ml. Add sugar to the reduced orange juice, bring it to a boil again and let it simmer until the sugar has resolved. Gently pour the orange juice to the chopped chocolate and stir until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Add the butter cubes and mix until smooth. Set the orange ganache aside. 

Orange Chocolate Glaze

  • 3 g gelatin sheets
  • 250 ml orange juice
  • 3 cm piece of vanilla bean
  • 20 g granulated sugar
  • 25 g chocolate (70 %), finely chopped
  • Soak the gelatin sheets in ice cold water for 7 minutes, wring out the sheets gently in order to remove any excess water.
  • Split vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds (use the tip of your knife or the dull size of the knife). Place the vanilla seeds, the empty vanilla pod and orange juice into a small pot. Bring it to a boil and let it simmer over high heat until it has reduced to about 125 ml orange juice. Add the sugar to it and let it simmer until the sugar has resolved. Remove the pot from the heat. Add the gelatin sheets to the mixture and stir until the sheets are completely dissolved. 
  • Pour the mixture through a sieve to the chopped chocolate and stir well until the chocolate is completely melted. 
  • Pour the mixture into a jar and let it cool to room temperature. Cover with a lid and store in the fridge. 

Chocolate Mousse

  • 160 g chocolate (66 %), finely chopped
  • 75 ml whole milk
  • 30 g egg yolks
  • 15 g granulated sugar
  • 275 g whipping cream
  • Make sure that you have prepared the sponge cake (cut into three rectangles), orange jam, syrup, ganache (you can prepare the orange chocolate glaze after you assembled the cake) before you start making the mousse.
  • Place the finely chopped chocolate in a big bowl. 
  • Pour the milk into a pot and bring the milk to a boil. Set aside. 
  • Whisk egg yolks and sugar until fluffy. Slowly add the hot milk to the egg yolk mixture and stir well. Pour the mixture back to the pot, bring it to a boil over low medium (stir constantly) until the mixture thickens. Pour the mixture through a sieve to the chocolate. Stir until well combined. Let chocolate mixture cool to room temperature. 
  • Whisk the whipping cream until creamy. Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture.

Assembling

  • Prepare a board with parchment paper and adjust a cake pan extender to the size of 15 cm x 18 cm. 
  • Place one sponge cake rectangular into the cake pan. Soak the sponge cake with the orange syrup (use 1/3). Spread the orange ganache onto the sponge cake. Spread half of the chocolate mousse onto the chocolate ganache. Place a second sponge cake layer on top of the chocolate mousse. Soak the sponge cake again with orange syrup (save half of the syrup for the last sponge cake layer). Spread the orange jam onto the sponge cake. Place the third sponge cake rectangular onto the orange jam. Soak the cake layer with the remaining orange syrup and spread the other remaining chocolate mousse onto the cake layer. Level the surface with a palette knife. 
  • Freeze the cake for at least 6 hours or overnight.
  • Place the chocolate glaze into a small pot and gently reheat the glaze. Pour the glaze over the top of the cake. Let the glaze set for 15 to 20 minutes in the fridge. Carefully remove the cake extender. Trim the sides of the cake. Cut the cake - with a sharp knife - into rectangles or squares (I cut the cakes into 4 cm x 8 cm rectangles) and decorate the cakes to your liking (I use slices of kumquats). Let the cake defrost in the fridge (it takes about 1 hour).
1


Sometimes winter comes overnight.
Last Saturday morning I was sitting in a cafe; I was seated next to a window and I was starring at a blue sky with a few cotton candy clouds and I tried to understand that it was already the end of November. It felt more like an early spring day but not like a late fall day. There were no foggy November days which I like a lot. I tried to come to terms with the fact that Christmas season is around the corner but I could not. Later that day I went to the farmers' market - wearing a trenchcoat and my favorite pair of ballerinas - and the thought of the holiday season seemed even more absurd.
Little did I know that the next morning I would wake up to snow. All of a sudden it became winter. The rooftops, trees and streets were covered with snow and it was continuously snowing throughout the day. I grapped my winter coat and I went out for a long walk in the woods. It was so so quiet outside; I only heard the sound of the snow under my feet as I was pacing along the paths in the woods.
While strolling around the forest - immersed in my own thoughts - cake was on my mind, too. Inspired by the lighly snow covered trees and the predominantly green, brown and white colors of the woods, I created little spice layer cakes with a cream cheese frosting and decorated the cake with little Dala horses which I made out of marzipan (colored with matcha powder). I am very pleased with my cake creation: they does not only look adorable but they are incredible tasty. I was contemplating making a mascarpone filling instead of a cream cheese filling but I think the cream cheese filling goes so well with the spice cake. I have been making this spice cake (I usually use a loaf pan instead of making little cakes) every Christmas season since I was 11 years old. I used a cookie cutter to make these marzipan horses. These horses are called dalahäster (Dala horses) which are a symbol of Sweden. Most of the time I use my dalahäst cookie cutter during the holiday season, in particular when making Swedish gingersnap cookies (it is one of my favorite recipes on the blog).
I had a lot of joy making these petite layer cakes. I hope you will enjoy making them as much as I did. Happy winter time and bon appétit.



Makes 6 to 8 mini cakes

Spice Cake

  • 100 g / 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, soft
  • 125 g / 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 100 g / 2/3 cup hazelnuts, finely grated
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 pinch of cloves, ginger, cardamon
  • 125 g / 1 cup and 4 tablespoons pastry flour or 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon rum
  • 2 tablespoons yogurt
  • Preheat the oven to 175 °C / 350 °F.
  • Grease and flour a muffin tin.
  • Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add vanilla sugar or extract and eggs. Mix until all ingredients are well combined.
  • Mix finely grated hazelnuts, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, cardamon and baking powder in a separate bowl.
  • Add flour-spice mixture, rum and yogurt to the butter-egg mixture. Stir until well combined.
  • Fill the cake batter 2/3 full into the muffin cups.
  • Bake cakes for 20 to 25 minutes or if you insert a toothpick and it comes out clear the cakes are done.
  • Let the cakes cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 225 g / 1 cup / 8 ounces cream cheese (full fat), room temperature
  • 125 g / 1 stick butter and 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (cut into cubes), soft
  • 125 g / 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Make sure that the cream cheese and the butter are at room temperature.
  • Place the cream cheese in a bowl. Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add little by little the butter cubes and beat until the mixture is smooth.
  • Gradually add powdered sugar (make sure it is sifted) and mix until smooth. Add vanilla extract and mix well again.

Decoration

  • 25 g / 1 1/2 tablespoons marzipan
  • Matcha powder or green food coloring
  • Powdered sugar
  • Knead a little bit of matcha powder or a little bit of green food coloring into the marzipan.
  • Sprinkle your workspace with powdered sugar and roll out the marzipan. Cut out horses, hearts, et cetera with a cookie cutter.

Assembling

  • Cut mini cakes into three even layers (if your cakes have little "bumps", slice off the "bump").
  • Spread the cream cheese frosting on each cake layer. Decorate the top of each cake with marzipan. Let the cakes set at room temperature. 
  • Store the cakes in the refrigerator. 




There are cakes and other baked goods that are very close to my heart. Mazariner are one of them.
I meant to write this post for more than a year now but I struggled to find the right words and I did not know how to compose this post. Putting too much pressure on yourself is never a good idea and it definitely does not help in a creative process. Since Europe is in the grip of a long-lasting heatwave and since there is no end in sight, I spend less time in the kitchen. Instead of baking I started to tidy up my photo collection on my computer and somehow I ended up editing photos for this blog post. It was no burden at all but it was pure joy. Sometimes time is the solution for letting go of the pressure to write a post.

Mazariner - little cakes that consists of a crispy shortcrust shell with a moist almond filling and a sugar glaze - is one of my all-time favorite little Swedish cakes since I was a little girl. My mom never made mazariner herself but every time I was in Sweden and visiting my family I ate them a lot as an afternoon snack. I was always looking forward to eat these little treats. A few years ago I learnt how to make mazariner myself which means eating a mazarin (mazariner is the plural) anytime and I was not dependent on my visits to Sweden. I often give away mazariner as a little gift when I meet friends because I want to share how delicious these little Swedish treats are. Every time I get compliments on these cakes and it makes me happy to share a little bit of Swedish cuisine.

While visiting my uncle last spring I also had the chance taking an evening class on how to make mazariner at a little bakery located outside of the city where my uncle lives. It was a beautiful evening and I learnt so many things from the baker. Happy and inspired by this evening I rode on a bike home to my uncle's house. The bike ride could not have been more beautiful. It was one of those crisp spring nights; it was still light at 10 p.m. and I was on my bike with a big box of delicious treats from the baking class and I was surrounded by the most picturesque nature. I am always happy visiting my family in Sweden but what I like most is the nature.

Come along for a bike ride and learn how to make mazariner.











Mazariner are oval shaped as you can see in my photos. It is difficult to get oval shaped moulds but you do not have to use oval moulds. You can use a muffin as well. I made a few batches of mazariner in a muffin tin in order to make sure that this is an alternative. I can assure you that it works just as well and I had no troubles getting the cakes out of the tin. I use a non-stick muffin tin and I also greased and floured the moulds. In case you are wondering about the size of the moulds here are the measurements:

Mazarin moulds: 2 cm / 0.8 inch height, 5 cm / 2 inches width, 8 cm / 3 inches length.

Muffin moulds: 2 cm / 0.8 inch height, 5 cm / 2 inches width, 7 cm / 2.8 inches length.

You might wonder what mazarin means or if there is any meaning behind it. Mazarin is not a Swedish name but it is an Italian name. The cakes are named after Jules Mazarin who was an diplomat and an art collector. Why the cake was named after him. I do not have an answer. I did a little bit of research but unfortunately, I was not successful. Mazariner have some similarities to the Italian cake "crosata di mandorle". Maybe there is an connection to it. Who knows...

Last but not least, if you ever happen to be in Sweden, maybe you are on a road trip, near Gothenburg, visit the bakery Nolbygårds Bageri, it's the bakery where I took the mazarin class. It is an organic bakery and a café which used to be a farm. All cakes, cookies, sweet breads and breads taste delicious ( I tried everything) and are typical Swedish. I cannot recommend highly enough this beautiful bakery and the very kind bager Lasse (bager means baker in Swedish) and his team. 






Makes 10 - 12 Mazariner *

Dough

  • 75 g / 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, soft
  • 50 g / 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 25 g / 1/2 egg (size L)
  • 150 g flour / 1 1/2 cups (preferable pastry flour), all purpose flour: 1 1/4 cups
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • Whisk butter and sugar until creamy. Slowly add the egg and mix well.
  • Mix flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Add the flour mixture and stir until the dough just comes together. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth, try to work as quickly as possible.  Add more flour if the dough is too sticky or add a splash of milk if the dough is too dry.
  • Form the dough to a flat disc and wrap the dough into cling wrap. Let the dough rest in the fridge for at least 45 minutes.
  • Preheat the oven to 175 °C / 350 °F.
  • Grease and flour small cake moulds or a muffin tin.
  • Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until 3 mm / 0.1 inches thick. Lift the dough regularly so the dough does not stick to the surface. If you let the dough rest overnight the dough might be a little bit hard, let the dough rest for 10 to 15 minutes at room temperature.
  • Cut out circles which are a little bigger than your moulds. If you use a muffin tin with 7 cm / 3 inches in diameter, cut out 9 cm / 3.5 inches circles.
  • Gently press the circles into the moulds. In case of any excess dough trim it away with a sharp knife.
  • Place cake moulds or muffin tin in the fridge while preparing the filling for the mazariner.

Filling

  • 45 g / 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 75 g / 1 1/2 eggs (size L)
  • 75 g / 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 75 g / 3/4 cup almond flour
  • Melt butter in a small saucepan.
  • Whisk eggs and sugar until fluffy but don't whisk it too much. Whisk no longer than one minute on medium high speed with an electric mixer.
  • Add almond flour and melted butter and stir until all ingredients are well combined
  • Fill the mixture into the cake moulds, a little more than 2/3 full. Make sure that you do not overfill the cake moulds.
  • Bake cakes for 15 to 17 minutes. The top of the cakes get a golden brown color.
  • Let the cakes cool, unmold them.

Glaze

  • 125 g / 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
  • Mix powdered sugar with a little bit of water, about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon, until it is a very thick and chewy consistency. I recommend adding just a few drops of water, mix and then slowly adding a few more drops and mix again until you have the right thickness. If you do not like the icing glaze you can just sprinkle some powdered sugar on top of the cakes.
  • Glaze the cakes with the mixture and let dry completely.
  • Store the cakes in a tin or an air-tight container up to a week but over time the shortcrust gets soft. The Mazariner taste the very best on the day you make them.
* For size of the moulds, see my notes above.


A strawberry tart - or any other fruit tart - with a crème pâtissière filling is not only a French classic but it is such a scrumptious cake.  It is a tart - I usually make tartlets instead of a big tart - I make a lot in the summertime.  
I have been very hesitant posting this recipe for a long time since it is a classic. Who needs another strawberry tart recipe? Can I add anything to it? The answer is no. However. writing about my experience with pastry dough or rather sharing my tips from a passionate amateur baker point of view has been on my mind for a long time. There are quite a few recipes that include pastry dough on my blog and I often thought I should go more into details how I make pastry dough. So here I am chatting about pastry dough and at the end I am sharing a classic recipe for strawberry tartlets. 
Making pastry dough can be very intimidating, in particular when you have had bad experiences. Fortunately, I have never had a bad relationship with pastry dough but my pastry dough skills have improved a lot over the years. The reason is not only practice but also tools and methods that I learned and helped me along the way. I, personally, love making tart shells and there are so many different delicious tarts such as a tarte au citron or a tarte au chocolat.
I hope some of my tips are helpful to you and perhaps I can tackle your fear making your own pastry dough and tart shells.





Shortcrust Pastry Dough

Besides the different kinds of pastry doughs, there are also two different methods of making the dough.
One method is rubbing cold butter into a flour and sugar mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs and then adding the remaining ingredients. The other method of making the pastry dough is mixing soft butter and sugar until creamy and then adding eggs and flour. I prefer the latter method because I think this method makes the dough smoother and easier to roll out.

Rolling Pin

I use a French wooden no-handle rolling pin. I used to work with a rolling pin with handles but I am so happy I switched to a no-handle rolling pin because it gives me more control over the dough and it results into an even texture of the rolled out dough.

Thickness Strips

I have a selection of wooden thickness strips and this is another tool that I do not want to miss anymore. Though the no-handle rolling pin creates an even texture, the thickness strips help making an even more even texture.
You place a strip on each side of the dough and then you roll out the dough until the rolling pin glides across the surface of each strips and voilà you have the perfect even thickness of the dough.
When making tart shells I usually make the dough 3 mm / 0.1 inches thick.

Tart(let) moulds

I like using tart rings.
You do not have to use tart rings; tart pans work just as well. I personally like the simple shape of tart rings a lot and it is used in professional kitchens as well.
If you are making tarts very often I do recommend investing in tart rings. Unmolding the tartlet shell is very easy, maybe this is the one advantage over tart moulds.

Flour

Since there is no standardization of flour types - the grind and blend is different in each country - it is impossible to duplicate the same flour to another country. Having lived in different countries I know how difficult it can be to find "the flour" that you are used to.
I am using a flour with a very fine texture and a very low protein content. In some countries this kind of flour is called pastry flour.
Maybe you are curious where I get my flour. I buy my flour from the mill "Kunstmühle" in Munich which is the only mill producing flour in the city and the quality of the flour is outstanding. It is always such a joy visiting the tiny store next to the mill which is hidden behind a façade of a 19th century beautiful building and it is situated right in the city center.
There is so much to say about flour and about this mill in Munich but I will save this for an upcoming post.


Makes about 12 tartlets (Ø 8 cm / 3 inches)

Pâte sucrée

  • 100 g  / 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 100 g / 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, soft
  • 1 (15 g) egg yolk
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 250 g / 2 1/2 cups pastry flour, sifted *
  • 25 ml / 2 tablespoons whole milk
  • Mix sugar and butter until creamy. You can do this with your hands, a standing or electric mixer (I have not noticed any differences between these methods). Add egg yolk and a pinch of salt and mix until well combined. Add 1/3 of the flour and mix. Then add the remaining flour and milk and stir.
  • Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead dough until smooth. Try to work as quickly as possible. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour and if too dry add more milk. Form the dough to flat disc and wrap the dough into cling wrap. Let the pâte sucrée chill for a few hours or overnight in the fridge. You can keep the dough in the fridge for a few days. If you are not using up the entire dough you can also freeze the dough. 
  • When you take the dough out of the fridge you will notice that the dough is very hard. Let the dough rest for 10 to 15 minutes at room temperature, then roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Try to use as little flour as possible. While rolling out the dough lift the dough regularly, if needed dust your surface with flour, so the dough does not stick to your work surface. 
  • If you have thickness strips - as described above - place one stripe on each side of the dough in order to get a perfect even thickness. I like my dough 3 mm / 0.1 inches thick. 
  • Butter your tartlet moulds/ rings. This helps that the dough sticks to the moulds and prevents that the dough does not shrink unevenly while baking. 
  • Cut out big circles; I use a little bowl. Gently place the circles into the tartlet rings or pans and gently press the dough into the corners of the moulds or rings. Be carefully that you do not stretch the dough.
  • Trim excess dough with a sharp knife. This also helps that the dough is pressed to the edges. 
  • Prick the bottom of each tartlet with a fork. Place tartlet moulds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze the tartlet shells for at least 30 minutes. You can also leave the tartlets in the freezer overnight. Freezing the unbaked tartlets help preventing shrinking while baking, so do not skip this step. 
  • Preheat the oven to 160 °C / 320 °F.
  • Line each tartlet with parchment paper (cut out circles) and fill dry beans (I often use almonds or nuts) to the tops of the tartlet moulds.
  • Bake tartlets for 20 minutes. Carefully remove the dry beans or nuts and parchment paper and bake the tartlets for another 10 minutes or until the tartlets are golden in color. The baking time can differ due to the thickness of your pastry dough. As I have mentioned above, I like my dough 3 mm thick but if you like your tartlet shells a little bit thinner the baking time will be shorter and a thicker dough means a longer baking time. 
  • Let the tartlet shells cool. If your edges of the your tartlet shells are not perfectly even, take a sharp knife and gently scrape to even out the edges. Be careful that you do not break the tartlet shells. 
  • You can store the tart shells in an airtight container or a cookie tin up to a month. 

Crème pâtissière

  • 1 vanilla pod
  • 200 ml / 3/4 cup whole milk
  • 4 (120 g) egg yolks
  • 75 g / 1/3 cup  and 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • 100 ml / 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon heavy cream
  • 20 g / 3 tablespoons pastry flour *
  • 20 g / 2 tablespoons corn starch
  • Pour milk into a saucepan. 
  • Split vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds (use the tip of your knife or the dull side of a knife). Add the vanilla seeds and the empty vanilla pod to the milk. Bring vanilla milk to a soft simmer. Set aside and remove the vanilla pod. 
  • Whisk egg yolks and sugar until well combined. Add flour and corn starch and whisk until smooth. Slowly pour the hot milk to the egg yolk mixture and whisk. 
  • Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and over medium heat bring to a boil, whisk continuously . You will notice that the crème pâtissière thickens. Cook the crème for one minute, continue to stir. Now you should have a thick custard. Remove saucepan from the stove and immediately place the crème into a flat bowl or a casserole dish. Cover the surface with cling wrap which prevents skin forming. Let the crème pâtissière cool at room temperature; it takes one to two hours. 
  • Give the crème pâtissière a strong stirring in order to break up any lumps. Add whipped cream to the crème pâtissière. In a classic fruit tart one does not add whipped cream but I like the combination of whipped cream and vanilla custard and it makes the vanilla flavor more subtle. 
  • Use the crème on the day of preparation. If you are not adding the whipped cream you can store the crème pâtissière up to two days in the fridge. 

Assembling

  • 150 g / 1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon freshly whipped heavy cream
  • Small strawberries
  • Strawberry jam or red currant jam
  • Mint leaves, optional 
  • Wash strawberries and pull off the leaves.
  • Mix strawberry or redcurrant jam with a few drops of water, it depends on the thickness of the jam, and mix well. Brush the strawberries with the jam mixture which gives the strawberries a glossy glaze. 
  • Fill the crème pâtissière into the tartlet shells. Place the strawberries onto the crème pâtissière and garnish with mint leaves. 
  • Keep the tartlets in the fridge until you serve them. Consume the tartlets on the day of assembling, preferably within 4 -6 hours because the tartlet shells get soft.
* If you are using all-purpose flour: 2 cups instead 2 1/2 cups and 2.5 tablespoons instead of 3 tablespoons.
3


It is such a pleasure sauntering around farmers' markets in the summer months and spotting blueberries, raspberries, apricots, peaches, cherries, blackberries, black and red currants or strawberries at the farmers' stalls. I love looking at all the colorful fruits and vegetables that the vendors offer and I usually end up buying more vegetables and in particular fruits that I intended. On my last farmers' market visit I bought 4 kilos of very sweet and juicy strawberries - which were the best strawberries of this season that I had so far - along with a big bag of cherries, peaches and blueberries. As much as I love eating fruits it was impossible to consume all the fruits that I purchased. So I made a few jars of strawberry and peach jam and I made countless of little tartlets that I filled with a classic crème pâtissière and topped with strawberries. But I needed a break from fruit tartlets and I created delicious little chocolate cakes that I filled with my strawberry jam that I made myself.
I was very pleased with the result of the cake. It is a very moist chocolate cake - at the same time the cake batter is very easy to prepare - and the strawberry jam compliments the chocolate flavor very well. Of course feel free to use any other jam that you like. Apricot jam is a classic and used in the Sachertorte cake but I do recommend giving strawberry jam a try. It is delicious. The chocolate glazing makes the cakes look extra fancy. To me it looks like big pralines; I think it is beautiful; I like it a lot. 
Enjoy the summer time my dear readers. Enjoy all the delicious fruits that summer has to offer. And of course enjoy these delicious chocolate cakes. 

Makes 8-10 chocolate cakes

INGREDIENTS

  • 175 g  / 3/4 cup and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 100 g / 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, room-temperature
  • 2 eggs, medium size
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 200 g / 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 100 g / 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon yogurt, full fat
  • 50 ml / 1/4 cup milk, full fat
  • 15 g / 2 tablespoons unsweetened cacao powder
  • Liqueur or orange juice
  • Strawberry jam
  • 200 g dark couverture chocolate, roughly chopped
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil

DIRECTIONS

  • Preheat the oven to 175 °C / 350 °F.
  • Grease and flour a muffin tin. 
  • Beat sugar and butter until creamy. Add vanilla sugar or extract and eggs and beat until smooth and creamy. 
  • Mix flour, baking powder and cacao powder in a separate bowl. Sift the flour mixture over the butter-egg mixture, add yogurt and milk and stir until all ingredients are well combined. Do not overmix the batter. 
  • Fill cake batter 2/3 into the muffin tin. 
  • Bake chocolate cakes for 20 to 25 minutes. Let cakes cool completely, unmold the cakes. 
  • Cut cakes in half (if your cakes have little "bumps", slice off the "bump"). Soak cake halves with liqueur or juice. 
  • Spread strawberry jam on the top halves and place the bottom half on top of the jam filling. 
  • Melt chocolate with coconut oil in a double boiler. 
  • Pour the melted chocolate over the cakes. I set the cakes on a wire rack and place a plate under the wire rack; then I pour the melted chocolate over the cakes. Let chocolate glaze set. 
I cannot tell you how much I love making little cakes or petit gâteaux as they are called in French. Pâtisserie, in particular French pâtisserie, brings so much joy to my life and makes me incredible happy. A few days ago I was working on a petit gâteaux creation that involved a matcha mousse and cherry mousse because I was inspired by the cherry blossom season. I had no idea if a matcha and cherry combination was a good match but I can tell you it tastes incredible and the color combination looks beautiful as well. I was a little bit proud of my gâteaux creation and it put me in a great mood for days. I will post the recipe of my matcha and cherry mousse cakes very soon but you can have a sneak peek here. By the way, I started to use instagram more regular and if you like you can follow me there. 

In this post I would like to share a recipe that involves passion fruits. Passion fruits are one of my favorite fruits and every time I cut a passion fruit in half I am amazed by the dark purple color of the pulp, the smell and the sweet sour taste (the wrinklier and uglier the passion fruit looks at the outside the more delicious it is). 
I often serve these passion fruit mousse cakes after a two- or three-course meal because these petite cakes are not overly sweet and they are lighter than for instance a chocolate mousse cake. I also serve the cakes with a dollop of whipped cream.
It takes a little bit of time to prepare the petit gâteaux but they are not difficult to make. Do not be intimidated by my long recipe instructions. I wanted to make sure that every step is clear. 
NOTES:

Passion fruit purée

It might be difficult to find passion fruit purée in the grocery store (at least I could not find it and I went to many), I recommend buying it online. I bought 1 kg frozen passion fruit purée online which was a little bit pricey but it lasts for a long time. I use this purée which is 100% passion fruit and there is no sugar added. If you use a purée with added sugar you might reduce the amount of sugar that is stated in my recipe. As for the mango purée: I just purée a fresh and very ripe mango. 

How to use gelatin sheets

Soak sheets in very cold water for 7 minutes ( I use a bowl). Wring out the sheets gently in order to remove any excess water. 

Kitchen scale and pan extender

Use a good kitchen scale. I am sorry that I did not convert the ingredients into cups this time but it is too difficult and too imprecise. I am sorry. 
You need a pan extender/cake frame for this recipe. 


Makes 9 rectangular cakes (6 cm x 4 cm)

Almond Marzipan Sponge Cake

  • 35 g marzipan
  • 15 g almond flour
  • 50 g granulated sugar
  • 1 egg yolk (15 g)
  • 1 egg (small)
  • 70 g egg whites (equals about 2 egg whites)
  • 35 g all-purpose flour
  • Preheat the oven to 190 °C.
  • Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Mix marzipan, almond flour and 25 g sugar until smooth (I use my hands). Add egg yolk and whisk well. Add the whole egg and whisk until creamy and the mixture becomes thick and pale yellow.
  • Whisk the egg whites until they are almost stiff. Gradually add the remaining granulated sugar (25 g) to the egg whites and whisk until stiff peaks.
  • Add 1/3 of the egg white mixture to the almond marzipan mixture and stir until all ingredients are well incorporated. Add the rest of the beaten egg whites. Sift flour on top and fold in the flour and the beaten egg white mixture.
  • Spread the batter onto the baking sheet, about 20 cm x 25 cm in size.
  • Bake the sponge cake for 5 to 8 minutes until the cake has a golden color. Be careful, the sponge cake browns very quickly, Keep a close eye on your oven.

Passion Fruit Mirror Glaze

  • 2 - 3 passion fruits (50 g pulp)
  • 30 g passion fruit purée
  • 25 g granulated sugar
  • Slice passion fruits in half and spoon out the pulp.
  • Put the pulp into a food processor and pulse for a few seconds, so the seeds and the flesh of the passion fruits seperate. If you do not like the seeds in your glaze, strain the mixture (but I think the passion fruit seeds in the glaze look really beautiful).
  • Add passion fruit pulp, purée and sugar in a small saucepan and heat the mixture. As soon as the mixture starts simmering, stir constantly for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and pour passion fruit glaze into a bowl. Cover the bowl and refrigerate. 

Yogurt Mousse

  • 50 g Greek yogurt (10%)
  • 1 sheet of gelatin, soaked
  • 20 g egg whites (equals about 1/2 egg white)
  • 20 g granulated sugar
  • 35 g whipping cream
  • Heat yogurt in a small saucepan; remove from the heat. Add gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Pour the mixture into a medium sized bowl.
  • Whisk egg white until almost stiff, add sugar gradually and continue to whisk until completely stiff.
  • Beat whipping cream until creamy.
  • Fold in the beaten egg white into the yogurt and then fold in the whipped cream. Set the bowl aside.

Passion Fruit and Mango Mousse

  • 50 g mango purée
  • 3 sheets of gelatin, soaked
  • 75 g passion fruit purée
  • 20 egg whites (equals about 1/2 egg white)
  • 45 g granulated sugar
  • 100 g whipping cream
  • Heat the mango purée in a small saucepan; remove from the heat. Add gelatin sheets to the mango purée and stir until the gelatin sheets are completely dissolved. Add the passion fruit purée to the mixture and stir. Pour the fruit mixture into a medium sized bowl.
  • Whisk egg white until almost stiff, gradually add sugar and continue to whisk until the egg white forms peaks.
  • Beat whipping cream until creamy.
  • Fold in the egg white to the fruit purée mixture; then fold in the whipped cream.

Assembling

  • Cut the sponge cake into two 18 cm x 12 cm rectangles.
  • Prepare a board with parchment paper and adjust a cake pan extender to the size of 18 cm x 12cm.
  • Place one sponge cake rectangle into the cake pan. Pour the yogurt mousse over the sponge cake and level the surface with a palette knife.
  • Place the other rectangular sponge cake on top of the yogurt mousse. Pour the passion fruit mousse on top and level the surface with a palette knife.
  • Freeze the cake for at least 6 hours. You can also leave the cake in the freezer up to two weeks.
  • Pour the passion fruit glaze over the top of the cake. Carefully remove the pan extender. Cut the cake into 6 cm x 4 cm rectangles. Let the cakes defrost in the refrigerator.
The recipe is adopted from the book "Törtchen, Törtchen: Himmlische Versuchungen" 
by Matthias Ludwigs.

My love for gugelhupf - or bundt cake as it is called sometimes, in particular in the States - has been well documented on the blog. I wrote about the possible origins of the gugelhupf (of course this means my perspective of the gugelhupf history because who knows who holds the truth of cake history and the chair of cake history has yet to be invented). I also wrote about the story behind the Franz Joseph Gugelhupf and there are all different kinds of gugelhupf recipes here on the blog. I cannot have enough of gugelhupf recipes in my life and I cannot get enough of eating gugelhupfs.





Today I want to share a raisin gugelhupf recipe which I developed a few weeks ago. I do not know how many times I made these gugelhupf ever since. I love the taste and the texture of this recipe. The gugelhupfs have a crispy outside; the inside of the gugelhupfs are very moist but they are not too dense at the same time. Describing or analyzing cake texture is really difficult and I am struggling to find the right words for it. You have to taste the food with all your senses and it does not matter how hard you try finding words for it, it always scratches the surface. It is the same in music. Have you ever read anything "smart" about Mozart's piano concertos (by the way, is there anything more beautiful than the second movement of the A-major , KV 488, piano concerto)? I have not and I doubt I ever will.


Back to the gugelhupf recipe. I really love these little raisin cakes and all my taste testers were thrilled about the cakes.  One of my taste testers liked my gugelhupfs so much that she kept two cakes in a tin for six days in order to save them for a weekend picnic and I was told that the gugelhupfs were still moist. I could not believe this but if I knew how much she liked the cakes I would have given her a batch of freshly made gugelhupfs for her picnic. Even though the gugelhupfs keep moist for several days I think the cakes taste the very best on the day that they are made since they loose the crispy outside over time.
If you do not own any mini gugelhupf moulds you can also use a muffin tin. I tested them out in a muffin tin and it worked out perfectly - the baking time is the same - but I must admit that the cakes taste a a little bit better when baked in gugelhupf moulds. Maybe it is because of the hole in the middle of the gugelhupfs which adds more of a crispy ouside. I can imagine that a donut tin would work as well but I have not tried it out ( I must confess that I do not even own a donut tin).  If you do not like raisins, dried cranberries are a good alternative.


NOTES: As you may have noticed I always write my recipes in grams. I think it is the best and most accurate way to measure ingredients (and very common here in Europe) but I am aware that some of you might not own a kitchen scale or you are used to the cup measurement method . In order to make my recipes more accessible and convenient I decided to convert the ingredients from gram to cup and add the conversion to the ingredients list. I hope this addition will be helpful to some of you.
Makes 10 Mini Gugelhupfs * or 10 muffins 

INGREDIENTS

  • 125 g / 1 stick and 1 tablespoon butter (softened)
  • 125 g / 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs (medium)
  • 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 150 g /1 cup and 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour
  • 75 g / 1/2 cup raisins
  • 75 g / 1/4 cup of yogurt (full fat)
  • 50 ml / 1/4 cup milk (full fat)
  • Confectioners' sugar (for decoration)
* The size of my gugelhupf moulds are: 7 cm / 2.8 inches diameter and 4 cm / 1.5 inches height.

DIRECTIONS

  • Preheat the oven to 200 °C / 400 °F.
  • Butter and flour your gugelhupf moulds or muffin moulds.  If you use muffin moulds I recommend not using any cupcake liners because the liners prevent that the muffins will be crispy on the outside. Just make sure you grease your tin well. In case you use silicon moulds you do not have to grease your moulds.
  • Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add one egg at a time and whisk until well mixed.
  • Mix flour, baking powder and raisins in a separate bowl.
  • Add the flour mixture along with the milk and yogurt to the egg-butter mixture and stir until all ingredients are well incorporated but do not overmix the batter.
  • Fill the gugelhupf moulds 3/4 with the batter.
  • Bake the gugelhupfs or muffins for 15 to 17 minutes (or until a golden brown surface). If you insert a toothpick and it comes out clear the gugelhupfs are done.
  • Unmold the cakes and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar as soon as they are completely cooled.