Chocolate walnut brownies recipe

For Sunday lunch my husband Andrei baked chocolate walnut brownies from a book Sweet Melissa by Melissa Murphy. We fell in love with Melissa's pastry at her cafe Sweet Melissa in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York. The recipe is simple yet brownies turn out to be delicious.

To bake chocolate walnut brownies we will need:
2 sticks of unsalted butter
4 ounces of high quality Belgian unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2/3 cup of walnuts, chopped



Melt the butter and chocolate. Remove from the heat and keep warm. In a separate bowl beat together eggs, sugar, and vanilla on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Add the melted chocolate and mix. In yet another bowl whisk together the flour and salt.



Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture in 3 batches, mixing on low speed until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the nuts by hand.



Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour a square shape cake pan. Pour the mixture into the pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the sides begin to pull away from the pan. Remove to cool. When cool cut into 12 brownies and serve.

The secret of the brownies is in the high quality chocolate. A great place to buy such chocolate is Trader Joe's stores where it's sold in big bars for a very reasonable price.

Orange poppy seed cake recipe

While living in New York City we became huge fans of Sweet Melissa cafe located in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. It turns out there is a book that has all the recipes of the amazing pastry we used to eat in Sweet Melissa. We couldn't resist buying the book. My husband Andrei is an avid baker. The first recipe from the book he tried was orange poppy seed cake. Coming from Eastern Europe we love pastry with poppy seeds!

To bake the cake we will need:
1 whole orange; 1 cup of sugar; 3 eggs; 12 tablespoons (1 and 1/2 sticks) of welted unsalted butter; 1 and 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour; 2 and 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder; 3/4 teaspoons of salt; 1 tablespoon of poppy seeds

After we bake the cake we will cover it in a glaze. To make the glaze we will need:
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice; 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice; 1/4 cup sugar

We start with cutting an orange into pieces and removing the stem. In a bowl mix the orange (skin and pulp) pieces with 1/2 cup of sugar until pureed. Make sure no large pieces of orange remain.

In a large bowl whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and eggs then add the orange puree and the melted butter. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds. Gently combine both mixtures.

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Pour the mixture into the loaf pan. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes until a wooden skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Remove from the pan and let the cake cool.

For the glaze simmer orange juice, lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan for about 3 minutes. With a pastry brush apply the hot glaze over the cake while the cake is still a bit warm.

Enjoy!

Lemon sponge cake Semifreddo

This lemon sponge cake is great for light desserts' admirers. It has a very saturated but not dominating lemon taste.
The cake was baked by Andrei Utkin with a recipe by David Lebovitz from his book Ready for Dessert.
We will have to cook three separate ingredients for the cake. First we prepare a lemon curd, then a lemon syrup and finally a sponge cake itself.

Ingredients for the lemon curd:
1/2 cup 9125 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
6 tablespoons butter
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks

Ingredients for the lemon syrup:
3/4 cup (180 ml) water
1/3 cup (65 g) sugar
1/4 cup (60 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons kirsch (not required)

Additional Ingredients:
1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream
2/3 cup (75 g) crushed amaretti cookies


In a saucepan combine lemon juice, sugar and butter. Set the saucepan over low heat. In another bowl whisk together the eggs and egg yolks. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan whisking constantly, until the curd starts to thicken. Don't boil it!
When the curd is ready let it cool and then refrigerate.

To make the lemon syrup warm the water and sugar in a saucepan. When the sugar dissolves remove from the heat, stir in lemon juice and the kirsch. Let it cool completely.

Bake a sponge cake 12 by 18 inch (30 by 46 cm) and cut it in two pieces so that it fits into a baking dish. Whisk the cream until it turns into a whip cream. Mix the whipped cream and the lemon curd.
Put one layer of the sponge cake on the bottom of the baking dish and brush evenly with about 1/2 cup of the lemon syrup. Spread 1/2 of the lemon cream evenly on top of the first cake layer and sprinkle with amaretti crumbs. Lay the second piece of the sponge cake on top and repeat the procedure. The cake is ready. refrigerate until chilled. Sprinkle with the rest of amaretti crumbs before serving.

Fresh Ginger Cake

This yummy and spicy fresh ginger cake was baked by Andrei Utkin. An inspiration came from David Lebovitz recipes book "Ready for Dessert".

We will need:
4-ounce (115 g) piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup (250 ml) molasses
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 cup (250 ml) vegetable oil
2 and 1/2 cups (350 g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup (250 ml) water
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 large eggs



Preheat the oven to 350 F (175C) and butter a round cake pan.

In a food processor chop the ginger and set it aside. In a large bowl, mix together the molasses, sugar and oil. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, cloves and pepper. In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil, then stir in the baking soda. Whisk the hot water into the molasses mixture, then ass the chopped ginger.
Gradually sift the flour mixture over the molasses mixture, whisking to combine. Add eggs and whisk until thoroughly blended.

Bake until the top of the case springs back when lightly presses with a finger for about 1 hour.
The cake is moist and will store well for a few days. Enjoy the cake!

Coconut Macaroons recipe

These yummy and simple to make coconut macaroons were baked by Andrei Utkin. An inspiration came from David Lebovitz recipes book "Ready for Dessert".

You will need:
8 egg whites
2 and 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey
5 cups dried unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large saucepan we mix together egg whites, sugar, salt, honey, coconut, flour and vanilla. We cook the mixture gently over a medium-low heat until the bottom just begins to sizzle. Let the mixture cool a bit.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. With your fingers form 1 and 1/2 inch pyramids out of the mixture and place them on the baking sheets.

Bake, rotating the baking sheets midway during baking, until the macaroons are evenly deep golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let macaroons cool on the baking sheets.
The recipe makes about 60 macaroons.

Sponge Cake with custard and fruits on top

I would like to share a recipe for a very easy, yummy and beautiful sponge cake with custard and fruits.

For the sponge cake you will need:
- a few kiwis
- a pack of strawberries
- a pack of Dr. Oetker's organic custard
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 cup of flower

I start with mixing eggs, sugar and flour together. Since my recipe is an easy one I don't complicate the process by mixing eggs with sugar first and later carefully adding flour. I mix everything right away. You won't get a pie 5 inches tall but you'll still get a nice cake! It takes good 15 minutes to mix everything up well. The goal is to double or triple the original volume of the mixture.

I bake the mix for around 30 minutes at 365F and when the pie is ready I let it cool and cut it horizontally in half. While my mix is in the oven I cut fruits and prepare Dr. Oetker's custard.

After the pie is cool and cut I pour warm custard on one half, cover it with the second half, pour the rest of the custard on top and nicely arrange pieces of fruits on the very top. After 30 minutes our cake is ready! Bon Appetite!



For those who like baking I would like to share a link to a recipe of a pizza with anchovies and blue cheese . I recently came across the recipe on a blog of Lana living in Argentina. I've never bakes anything like that before. It sounded super yummy and will be my next baking project!

Dark chocolate cocoa roll cookie recipe from Hungary

Dark chocolate cocoa rolls are my husband's favorite! Growing up in Hungary he used to eat them every morning hot, fresh and covered with white powdered sugar. In Hungary they are called "kakaos csiga" or a cocoa snail. Small bakeries all over Budapest bake these and lots of other wonderful pastries every morning spreading an amazingly sweet and yummy aromas all over the city.

We are now living in the US and just to remember flavors of the childhood we started baking these sweet and simple cocoa rolls.

You will need standard ingredients for the dough such as flour, butter, yeast, milk, egg yolks, sugar and salt. For the filling you will need butter, cocoa powder and sugar.
These cocoa rolls are made from sweet yeast dough. After the dough is mixed up roll it out so that it is thin. Spread a mixture of cocoa, butter and sugar all over the layer of dough and roll it like a piece of paper. Cut the roll into small pieces approximately 1 inch. thick. Bake them until they are done. After approx. 20 minutes of baking smear rolls with a mixture of butter and milk to make them look shiny and yummy.