from my kitchen : Baumkuchen

image seached from google

it's been a looong time since last time i wrote a post about something from my kitchen. i have meen trying lots of recipes lately, from muffin to cakes, martabak, bread, chocolate balls, and many more. A week ago, somehow i missed lapis legit (indonesian layer cake). i was browsing for recipe on the net and i was surprised that to make a loaf of lapis legit it requires 20-25 eggs. WHAATTT... even if i just make half of the recipe it would be 10 eggs? too much! first, i can't risk that 20 eggs for something i never made before. what if i failed?well, although people said you will learn from your mistake, still, i can't do that because... second, i have only 3 persons in my house (including me), who will eat all those loaf with 20 eggs in it? well of course i can always send some to my lovely neighbour but then third, it is a little bit complicated recipe i guess, and back to the first point, i decided to look for something easier.

then i remember i read an article about a new cake shop opened in kemang, otaru baumkuchen. in the article i read, the manager explained about what baumkuchen is, which is a layered cake just like lapis legit, but different way. it is a very popular snack in europe and japan (well, since the name is baumkuchen i guess it is very popular germany snack), and it is less fat than lapis legit according to ingridients in it. So, i started looking for the recipe, and i was interested! it requires 10 eggs, and i decided to give it a try

i got this recipe from how to baker here
thank you for the recipe! and there is step by step how to make baunmuchen on that link.

Ingredients:

Baumkuchen
10 egg whites
10 egg yolks
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Chocolate Glaze
1-1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons butter
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoons boiling water
Vanilla Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoons milk

 Making the Baumkuchen 1. Separate eggs. Allow egg whites and yolks to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
 2. In a medium mixing bowl, beat egg yolks with an electric mixer on high speed (medium-high if using a stand mixer) for 5 minutes or until thick and lemon colored. Set aside.

3. In an extra large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 30 seconds. gradually add the 3/4 cup sugar, lemon peel and vanilla.

4. Pour egg yolks into butter mixture and beat well on medium speed.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix until blended.
 6. Thoroughly wash beaters so all oils from butter and egg yolks are washed off. IN the large mixing bowl, beat egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form.
 7. Use a rubber spatula to fold egg whites into egg yolk mixture.
 8. Pour 1/3-cup of batter in the bottom of the prepared pan.
 9. Use a knife or offset spatula to evenly spread batter across bottom of pan. Place pan under broiler 5-inches from heat and broil for 1-2 minutes; or until lightly browned. Do not overbake or overbrown. remove from broiler.
 10. Spread another 1/3-cup of batter on top of the first layer. Broil as before and repeat spreading/baking process to make about 17 layers.
 11. Cool cake for 10 minutes then loosen cake and remove sides of pan; allow to sit on a wire rack and completely cool. Cut cake into 12 wedges. Place wedges on a wire rack lined with wax paper.
 Preparing the Chocolate Glaze 12. Prepare chocolate glaze. Melt 1-1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate and 2 tablespoons butter over low heat, stirring constantly; remove from heat.
 13. Stir in 1-1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Add 2-3 tablespoons of boiling water to make a thin glaze.
 14. Use a mixing spoon or whisk to drizzle chocolate glaze over cake slices.
 15. Prepare the vanilla glaze. Combine 2 cups sifted powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Add enough milk (2-3 tablespoons) to make a thin glaze. Use a mixing spoon or whisk to drizzle glaze on top of chocolate glaze. Store baumkuchen in covered containers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

i didn't make it 17 layers (lazy? hehe maybe only 10? i'm not sure, i didn't count) and i did't use vanila glaze. and for chocolate glaze, i can't be bother to mix the ingridients to make chocolate glaze, so i just used chocolate bar galaxy (like cadburry), melt it and spread it.
this is my version of my baumkuchen :

my comment :
thank God, after working in that hot kitchen for around an hour (making this i have to stay watch the oven, i can't just leave it being baked) so, yeah i was tired but... thank God it taste goooood. it taste a little bit like lapis legit only lighter, and when it fresh from the oven it was soooo goooood. the only thing i hate about this is that i have to take it out-put back in the oven for like 10 times, and i burned my hand because of that. hiiiks :(

My favourite breakfast ; Baked french toast

As this will be my first posting about food/recipe, i will start with my favourite.
about 2 months ago i was browsing recipes, and i found some great food blogs, one of my favourite is the pioneerwoman . i found many great recipes there, and what makes it even better is that she also posted step by step, so it's like tutorials.

My favourite recipe from pioneerwoman is cinnamon baked french toast. Now i have it printed and stand by in my kitchen. Now i am enjoying breakfast even more.click here for the link of the recipe.

 

 Cinnamon baked french toast

Ingredients 

FRENCH TOAST

• 1 loaf Crusty Sourdough Or French Bread
• 8 whole Eggs
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• ½ cups Whipping (heavy) Cream
• ¾ cups Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
• Topping
• ½ cups All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 1 stick Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces
• Fresh Fruit (optional)

Preparation Instructions

Grease 9 x 13-inch baking pan with butter. Tear bread into chunks (or cut into cubes) and evenly distribute in the pan.
Mix together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Pour evenly over bread. Cover tightly and store in the fridge several hours or overnight.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add nutmeg if desired. Add butter pieces and but into the dry mixture until mixture resembles fine pebbles. Store in a Ziploc in the fridge.
When you’re ready to bake the casserole, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove casserole from oven and sprinkle crumb mixture over the top. (If you’re using fruit, sprinkle on before the crumb mixture.) Bake for 45 minutes for a softer, more bread pudding texture. Bake 1 hour or more for a firmer, less liquid texture.
Scoop out individual portions. Top with butter and drizzle with maple syrup.

My review & version:
this recipe is for 12 servings. I have only my husband and my 2 year old daughter here, so i have to cut the ingridients.
for frensh toast:
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1Tbsp cream (sometimes i ommit this if i don't have one at home, and it's just taste the same for me)
1-2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
topping:
2 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp cold butter

Ever since i have this recipe, i have it for breakfast at least once a week. sometimes twice. i've tried many other way or some variations with this. i tried to replace sugar with brown sugar (for the french toast mixture), and the result is more caramel taste, which is nice. Once i tried to melt the butter for the topping. It worked too, but with cold butter it's more crumble and crunchy, which i like.I tried to make it in the morning and put in the oveb straight away, and i tried a night before so the next morning i just put it in oven, and both ways taste the same for me. i I also tried with different kind of breads. french bread, slice bread/toast bread, and burger bun. And you know what,, my favourite is with burger bun!
here are some pictures from my breakfast this morning;

burger bun and the milk-egg mixture

chunks of burger bun

enjoy!!

i like to eat this with mapple syrup and butter. But for my husband it's just perfect and sweet enough so he didn't add any topping.

last comment:
This is really easy to make and you can make it one night before. great for weekend breakfast. You just put in oven, then go have shower or other morning routines, by the time you are finish, breakfast is ready!!
the recipe calls for 45 minutes in the oven, but for me 30 minutes enough.
worth to try!!
oh, one more thing, after browsing many recipes, the topping they called it streussel topping. you can use this topping for muffin, cupcakes, cakes (new york cake topping).

Posted by Ree on May 9 2010