Apple Pudding Cake

This cake is rather simple. I know, I know, I always say that! But it is, really! You don’t even need a recipe, just use your favorite yellowcake/sponge cake recipe. Then you cook apples ( like 3 medium/large ) in 2 cups of water, and you thicken it all with corn starch, sugar, food color if you like, and maybe even some strawberry extract. Usually, I just buy one bag Dr. Oetker strawberry pudding powder, and it’s all in there, except sugar. I use 5 Tbsp. I’m just saying---it is easy!

My friends, and I have made this one a lot in refugee camp over a decade ago, and it brings back some good memories. Yes, good memories! : ) Memories of friendship, and fun, because it was our teenage years, and sharing one stove between 7 families was not stopping us from having our cake, and eating it too!!! Minus the whipped cream : )

Ok, if you want to try, this time I have used a recipe for the yellow cake from one of my cook books, and instead of just store bought pudding (starch), I have used starch and so on...

It is approved by my six year old to be yummy, and pretty too :)

For the Yellow Cake
(adapted from The Ultimate Book of Baking, Martha Day)

½ cup butter
¾ cup sugar
Mix it until nice and fluffy, then add 2eggs,and mix well.
Fold in previously mixed:
1 cup flour
1Tsp baking powder
1/8 Tsp of salt
Grease the spring form pan, and spoon the batter in. Bake @350 F until just right : )


Apple Pudding:

Cook apples (3 medium/large, peeled, cored, and cut up into cubes) in a 1 ¾ cups water. Mix ¼ cup water with 3 Tbsp of starch, 5 Tbsp of sugar (or more if you like it really sweet, I like it just refreshing), couple of drops of red food color, and about 1/4 Tsp strawberry or raspberry extract. Mix it in boiling apples, after they have cooked for like 10 min.
With that done, sprinkle your cake with some milk, to make it more moist, pour the apple pudding over, and cool it down completely.
Serve with whipped cream please! :)

Walnut Roll

Nice and cooled down ;)
Very popular all over Eastern Europe, and very popular in my house. We go nuts for nuts, and this roll is perfect for that!!!
I add another cup of nuts on top of the recipe, to make it more nutty! :)
Walnuts, cinnamon, and rum are a very happy gang together, and they create this crazy aroma that invites your neighbors over! Be cautious!

In this photo it is still hot, that's how much we love it:)

Walnut roll
adapted from http://www.strmec.250x.com/orehnjaca.htm, (in Serbo-Croatian)years ago, and it appears the link doesn't work anymore... just wanted to give credit ;)

For the dough:
1 kg ( 2.20 Pounds) flour
1 package dry (quick rise) yeast (7g)
6 dl (20.28 fl.oz milk
6 Tbsp sugar
1 ½ stick butter (12Tbsp)
1 Teaspoon salt
1 whole egg
3 yolks

Mix together as you would for any bread - start the yeast separately, and add all the ingredients to a bowl, and let it rise until it doubles in bulk. Transfer to a floured surface, knead, divide into two balls. Roll out each ball into a square about the size of the medium baking pan, to approx. ½ inch thickness. So, when you roll it up, it’s just about wide as the pan.

Walnut filling:
4 cups ground walnuts
4-5 Tbsp of sugar (the original recipe called for 1, but that’s not enough for me : )
¼ Tsp of cinnamon
200 ml (6.76fl.oz.) boiling milk
2-3 tbsp of spiced rum
2 egg whites, beaten until stiff (save the yolks for brushing)

Mix walnuts with sugar, cinnamon, and rum, and then pour the boiling milk over it, and mix together. Add the egg whites, and spread the filling over the rolled out dough. Repeat with other dough, and place the rolls side by side into a baking pan, or 2 loaf pans. Brush with egg yolks, and bake @ 305 F for about50minutes, then increase the heat to about 350for another 5-10 minutes. Enjoy!

Farida's Tandoori Bread ~ I made it!

Look what I made! YUMMY!!!

It's Farida's Tandoori Bread! This bread was on my mind everyday since I first saw it on Farida’s blog. I love bread(who doesn’t), and I am always trying out breads from all over the world, and I am so delighted to report, and I am not surprised, that his bread is awesome. It was literally gone like a snack in 10 minutes. I have followed the recipe faithfully, and it sure paid off, it looks awesome, and tastes like heaven. Certainly a must try!

Farida, thank you so much for sharing, my family loves this bread, and it will certainly be on my table often! My daughter literally walked around the house talking to herself ”mhmm, this bread is good”, ”this is delicious!”, and so on. When my husband and I sat down to eat, and we were slicing the bread away she looked at us like :”that’s enough”, and then she just claimed the last piece like a lion!!!

It is so simple to make, I must make double next time! Delicious bread!
Greetings to your daughter, and your whole family!

Nutella Rolls

Believe it or not, it is very hard for me to prepare the food that would appeal to my 8 and 6 year old kids! No matter how much they love spending time with me in the kitchen, and they admire my creations, I can’t have them eat everything I make. I have quoted him already, but once again, my son once told me that I am better “than the chefs at the fancy restaurants”, and that was a huge compliment for me, even though he really just wanted me to give in into buying him something! :))))

The best time to trick them into homemade food is when they come from school, after a long “no fun” day! : ) I try my best to always have something special on the table, and these rolls are one of those things they cannot resist. Nutella is the key, but you can also fill them with your favorite jams, or even cream cheese. For cheese you exclude the 1/4 cup sugar, and increase salt a bit.

I like to keep their minds of BK of McDs by making something special for right after school that will hold them until dinner. They love to take these rolls to school, for a snack too. I try to limit their fast food to a once or twice a month occasion., that’s it!

Nutella Rolls:

½ cup milk
½ cup water
1 Tsp sugar + ¼ cup sugar
½ Tsp dry active yeast
½ cup oil
½ Tsp of salt
Enough flour to mix the dough (Approx. 3 cups)
There really is no measure, you just add until you have a nice bread sort of dough texture

Mix together water and milk, and warm it up a little. Pour into mixing bowl, add 1 Tsp of sugar, and yeast. Let sit for few minutes, then add the oil, ¼ cup sugar, salt, and start adding flour a little by little until you have bread like dough. Cover, and let it rise until doubled.

Now knead and transfer to a floured surface. I do this on my linen tablecloth that I have just for these things, so that I don’t cut or scratch my table when I cut the dough.

Divide the dough into 2 balls, and roll each of them into a diner plate sized circle : ) Now, that’s a funny way to put it! Cut into quarters, and then cut each quarter into 3 rolls to be : ) You get 12, of course! Repeat with the other ball of dough.




Put a little Nutella in each, and roll it up. Bruch each with egg yolk wash, sprinkle with sesame seeds or some other seeds (optional), and place a little bit(like ½ Tsp) of butter or margarine on top of each roll. Bake @ 380 F for about20-25 minutes, or until golden.

If this is not enough, just double everything! :)
For another great recipe for rolls, visit Marija’s blog!