Raspberry Clafoutis

One of my favorite cookbooks is 'My Paris Little Kitchen' by Rachel Khoo. She teaches you those little tricks that give your dish something fancy. And besides that, the recipes are quite simple. This time I chose the Sweet Clafoutis. The word Clafoutis comes from the verb clafir, meaning 'to fill', so you fill the batter with fruits in this case. Originally, the Clafoutis is filled with cherries. When you use another fruit, you should name it Flaugnarde, but let's keep it simple (as if any french word was simple). I made mine with raspberries. It's really easy to make and the taste is delicate and sturdy at the same time. It's the combination of almonds, fruit, and creme fraiche that gives it power. I'm going to make it more often and use different kind of fruits next time.

In order to protect her copyrights, I won't be posting the recipe. You can buy her book here or here and let me tell you, it's worth it!

Apricots

Apricots are a well-known source of fibers. They are rich in vitamin A and C, and as you can see it's family of the peaches and plums (E thinks they all look the same). They also have antioxidants and because of all that, you can use the oil as a face or hair product, too. It nourishes and soothes the skin and makes your hair soft and shiny. But I prefer to eat them, of course, and I found this recipe that I wanted to try out. So, I did, but I made some changes. First, I grilled the half apricots for a few minutes using butter. Because of the heat, the goat cheese, that you put on top, melts. Then, I topped it off with honey and some crushed walnuts. It was delicious! The sweet-salty flavor and the lukewarm apricots... a good combination!

(facts, facts)

My Birthday Party and a Piñata Cake

This year, I celebrated my birthday with friends and family at home. But this time I made my own birthday cake: a piñata cake! (as seen on Pinterest). I included my favorite candies and flavors, M&Ms, coco Raffaellos, and peanuts-chocolate-biscuits. I loved making the cake and I was really proud of the result. Unfortunately, I don't have many good pictures of my actual cake, but I do have some good pictures of my 'test drive'.

The mini piñata as a 'test drive':

Here's the recipe for the cake (for one of the halves, so you have to make this recipe twice to get the whole ball)

• 250 gm sugar
• 1 package of vanilla sugar (5-10 gm)
• 250 gm butter
• pinch of salt
• 5 eggs
• 150 gm flour
• 1 tsp of baking powder

Preheat the oven on 180 Celsius.

Mix the sugar, vanilla sugar, butter and salt till everything is soft and mixed.
Add the eggs one by one. Wait with the next egg till the other one is mixed in.
Mix the flour with the baking powder.
Add half of the flour to your butter mix. When the flour is mixed in, you mix the other half in.
Use a round medium-size bowl that's oven-proof. Grease with butter and top it off with flour so that the cake comes out easy.
Put the batch in the bowl.
Turn the oven to 170 Celsius and bake the cake for 1 hour.

Repeat this again, or, if you have two of the same bowls, make the recipe twice and put the two bowls together in the oven. It is possible that you have to bake them a bit longer.

Let it cool off so that you can flip the cake out of the bowl. Let it cool off more and scoop the inside out. Don't make the edges to thin. Put it in the fridge overnight. The next day, the cake will be solid and so you can use one for the bottom and one for the top.

With the cake that you scooped out you can make an delicious 'french toast' breakfast. Or just eat it right away!

Here's the recipe for the buttercream (this amount is enough for the whole cake):

• 340 gm soft butter
• 565 gm powder sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• food color

Put the butter in your mixing bowl and sieve the powder sugar into it. Mix this together and add the vanilla extract. Add little by little your food coloring till you have the right color. 

Watch out! some food colorings are very strong and you want a cake that people want to eat, not a neon cake that makes your guests fear for their teeth. 

Put this mix in a piping bag and decorate the cake to your liking. I used a closed star and made 'dots'.

My Love for Food

'Lekker!' That's the Dutch word for 'delicious' or 'yummy'. And that is a word you will hear me say A LOT.

I like trying out and combining recipes that I come across either in my cookbooks or on the Internet. I will soon be sharing some of those as well as my husband's and his friends' verdict. Stay tuned!

[source 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]