Rum&Coconut Cream Roulade

This is a twist on a traditional recipe: the cream isn't just a butter and dessicated coconut mix, but a more healthier, tastier version. We ate this often as a child as it doesn't require any baking, and quite cheap but delicious at the same time. 

Rum&Coconut Cream Roulade

For the roulade (for approx 30cm)

500 g grounded biscuit -I use plain household biscuits in Hungary so if you make it from digestive just cut back a little on the sugar

320 ml milk

20 g butter-melted but cooled to room tempeature

3 tbsp dark rum

3-4 tbps cocoa powder

100 g icing sugar

For the cream

250 g coconut cream (strain the excess juice from the cream)

80 g icing sugar

20 g ground almond

100 g dessicated coconut

3 tbsp dark rum - optional: if you make for adults for the weekend:)

plus some extra dessicated coconut to roll the roulade in

 Put all ingredients for the roulade in a bowl and mix it together until you get a slightly sticky dough. Cover it in cling film and put it into the fridge for 30-50 minutes to rest.

In the meantime you can prepare the filling. Mix all ingredients with a spoon, and place it to the fridge as well.

When the dough is rested, place it on a big piece of baking sheet and roll it to a rectangle shape. It should be thick enough roll without breakage, but if you leave it too thick (like me) you won't have that nice roulade effect. 

So roll it to 4-5 mm thick and spread the cream on top. With the help of the baking sheet roll it tightly and cover the roulade with dessicated coconut. Cover it and leave it to rest for at least an hour in the fridge, then it is ready:)

If you don't eat it at one go, keep it in the fridge...

Somloi Sponge Cake - Somlói Galuska

This is a traditional Hungarian recipe and my husband's favourite. It is quite simple to make, but time consuming, so I only treat him to this on his birthdays. It basically consists of 3 layers of sponge(walnut, chocolate, vanilla) soaked with rum, layered with vanilla cream and grated walnut, served with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Yeah you got the idea, it is really rich, but soft and refreshing dessert. There is no set of shape how to serve, so please excuse my presentation.

 

Somloi Sponge Cake - Somlói Galuska

 

Ingredients

For the sponge

6 eggs

6 tbsp granulated sugar

6 tbsp plain flour

2-3 tbsp grated walnut

1 heaped tbsp shifted cocoa

 

For the soaking liquid

zest of 1 lemon

100g sultanas/currants (or some more if you like)

100g granulated sugar

200ml water

3-6 tbsp Rum

 

For the vanilla cream

3 eggs

80g sugar

2 pack of vanilla pudding powder *check Tricks and Recommendations for this ingredients

seeds of 1 vanilla pod

800ml milk

 

Sprinkle ingredients

100-200g grated walnut -depends on your taste

cocoa powder

 

For Serving

dark chocolate

double cream

whipped cream 

 

 

I only had a 19X25cm rectangle tin therefore I had to add some extra height (with the help of some plastic sheets and baking paper). So if you have a slightly bigger baking tin that would be an advantage:)

 

Preheat the oven to 180C and prepare the tin with baking paper.

For the fat less sponge separate the eggs and whip the egg whites with an electric mixer to hard peaks with a pinch of salt. Without stopping the electric mixer add gradually the egg yolks and sugar. With a silicone spatula very carefully fold in the shifted flour in two batches.

If you mix it too hard you knock out all air you built in with the electric mixer.

 

 

When it is done divide the mixture to 3 equal parts. The first plain sponge can go straight to the pan, bake it for 8-10 minutes until it has a nice colour.

In the meantime fold the grated walnut to one sponge mix and the cocoa to the other. Bake both after each other for 8-10 minutes then leave them to cool on a cake rack.

 

For the soaking liquid heat the sugar and water together to boiling point. Take off from the heat, add the currants and lemon zest. When it is room temperature add some rum to taste (if you add the rum while the syrup is hot the alcohol will evaporate-and we don't want that:)).

 

 

For the vanilla cream mix the yolks, sugar, vanilla seeds and pudding powder in a bowl with 100 ml milk to get lump free mixture. Place the remaining of the milk in a heavy based pan above medium heat. When the milk is about to boil add in the sugary mix and keep whisking until it reaches a thick custard like consistency. Take off from the heat and whip the egg whites in a separate bowl to hard peaks. Fold the egg whites into the vanilla cream (not all in one go)- this lightens the cream and add some extra volume to it.

 

Now you can start assemble the dessert:

There are 3 layers, so use roughly 1/3 of each ingredient. Sometimes I have some left over vanilla cream or soaking liquid.....well it was never wasted (at this point you can see my DIY height solution is needed)

 

-walnut sponge->soaking liquid with the currants->grated walnut->vanilla cream

-chocolate sponge->soaking liquid with the currants->grated walnut->vanilla cream

-vanilla sponge->soaking liquid with the currants->grated walnut->vanilla cream

 -finish it with cocoa powder on top

 

Place it into the fridge for overnight so all layers can absorb the syrup.

 

 

To serve, cut some reasonable sized slices, pour "some" chocolate sauce around it (add the dark chocolate to warm double cream- sorry I don't have a recipe for this, it is pretty straightforward) and add some whipped cream on top. Enjoy!!!!

 

Pina Colada Cake

 I saw a pina colada cake recipe in my new book. I loved the idea (coconut, rum, pineapple) but I didn't like the recipe-sorry author. The cake was a simple sponge, with buttery-sugary cream....aghhh

So I made my own version, because  I also think that in order to call a cake a boozy cake you need more than 2 tbsp alcohol in it. The end result was fab (and incredibly easy to make), one of my favourite cakes I ever made...it is in my top 3.

Pina Colada cake

For the sponge

200 g self-raising flour

210 g butter at room temperature

200 g golden caster sugar

50 g dessicated coconut

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

4 eggs

1-3 tbsp milk

For the cream

250 g mascarpone

125 g cream chese

150 g melted white chocolate

40 g dessicated coconut

1-3 tbsp white Rum/Malibu

Filling

1/2 pineapple

3-5 tbsp dark Rum

1 tbsp dark muscovado sugar

Slice the pineapple to small pieces, coat it with the muscovado sugar and rum and place it to the fridge. Leave to absorb the alcohol for at least 6 hours, but preferably overnight.

Preheat your oven to 180C and prepare a 23 cm round tin with baking paper.Put all the cake ingredients in a  large bowl. Beat them together with an electric mixer until you have a creamy mixture and add milk as needed.

Pour the cake mix into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 20 -25 minutes or until the sponge springs back when pressed. Leave to cool completely than cut the cake in half with a cake leveler.

For the cream, put all the cream ingredients in a bowl and mix it with an electric mixer. That's it:)

Put 2/3 of the cream in between the sponge layers and all the pineapple except a handful that you can reserve for the top decoration. Leave it to rough, I love the rustic look of it.

Place the second sponge on top and cover it with the rest of the cream and pineapples.

Keep it in the fridge, but remove it 20 minutes before consuming.

Coconut Balls With Cherry

So it is 8th of September: it is my Name Day. I know many of you are raising your eyebrows...but in Hungary we celebrate  Name Days as well as  Birthdays. To explain what it's all about I included a description from Wikipedia, but the main thing is: I was baking for my colleagues, but being a weekday I was looking for quick recipes. I baked Mini Vanilla "Croissant" With Nuts, Chocolate Beetroot Cake (I was given a big veg box  by my friend who is ordering from a farm....but they can't eat it all, and I had 8 beetroots to deal with) and Coconut  Balls. These are all quick and simple recipes: mix it, bake it (you don't even have to bake the Coconut Balls) and done:)

Coconut Balls With Cherry

Ingredients (makes about 48)

500g household biscuit - powdered or digestive biscuit

100g butter, room temperature, slightly melted

3 tbsp cocoa powder

200g icing sugar

3-6 tbsp rum

dessicated coconut

*milk or cherry syrup

*optional:cherry compote, Kirsch liqueur

So there are two options: you can choose to make them with a cherry inside or just simply roll the dough into balls.

If you using the first option you need to drain the cherries in a sieve...leave it to rest to get rid of all  liquid. 

Mix the biscuit powder, butter, cocoa powder, icing sugar (you can even add some dessicated coconut to the dough), rum-according to the audience (obviously if I prepare it for adults I add more, or even add some Kirsch liqueur:)) and as much liquid from the cherry syrup as much you need, to form a nice slightly sticky dough.

Sorry, but the amount of liquid you need depends on the type of biscuit you use, but approx 200ml. Take a piece of dough and roll it around the cherry and cover it with dessicated coconut.

If you only want to make small balls without the cherry: mix the powdered biscuit, butter, cocoa powder, icing sugar, some dessicated coconut, rum and add milk to the mix instead of cherry syrup.

It is easy to make, but I have to warn you, if you make the sherry option, it takes longer: I spent 1hour rolling them (although I was watching my favourite series in the meantime:))

Keep it in the fridge.

So about the name day:

"A name day is a tradition in many countries in Europe and Latin America that consists of celebrating the day of the year associated with one's given name.

The custom originated with the Greek Orthodox calendar of saints and Roman Catholic calendar of saints, where believers, named after a particular saint, would celebrate that saint's feast day. In many countries, however, there is no longer any explicit connection to Christianity. It remains more popular in Southern and Eastern (Catholic and Orthodox) rather than in Northern (predominantly Protestant) Europe.

Hungary

Name days (in Hungarian: névnap) in Hungary are very popular, often as much as a person's actual birthdate. A woman is typically given flowers on her name day by acquaintances, including in the workplace, and the price of flowers often rises around the dates of popular names because of demand. A bottle of alcohol is a common gift for men on their name day. Children frequently bring sweets to school to celebrate their name days. Name days are more often celebrated than birthdays in workplaces, presumably because it is simpler to know the date since most calendars contain a list of name days. You can also find the name day on daily newspapers by the date and on Hungarian websites. Some highly popular names have several name days; in that case, the person chooses on which day he or she wishes to celebrate. The list of the name days is, as usual in name day celebrating cultures, based on the traditional Catholic saints' feasts, but the link of the secular name days calendar to the Catholic calendar is not maintained any more. For example, even religious Catholic people named Gergely (Gregory) after Pope Gregory the Great still celebrate their name days on 12 March, although the Church moved the feast of that saint to 3 September in 1969."

Embroidered "Russian" Cream Cake in Kalocsai Style (Kalocsai mintás Oroszkrém torta)

So...I haven't baked anything for a while as I was on holiday. We went back to Hungary for my brother's wedding and enjoyed the sunshine while we can:). During our stay one thing I come across time to time is the popularity of the embroidered clothes. Embroidery has a huge tradition in Hungary (even I used to do it with my grandmother when I was younger) but over time it become less and less popular...But it is 2012 and the embroidered clothes are back in fashion, specially the "Kalocsai" style, so I thought to make my own version of it: on a cake. The cake underneath is the traditional Hungarian "Russian" cream cake(Oroszkrém Torta)... although it has nothing to do with Russia. Between the two world wars the famous Oroszi Bakery invented this cake, but later it was know by the shortened name which translates to Russian in Hungarian....but it is a real Hungarian speciality. Sorry I should have put on red ribbon, but it was 11pm am and I didn't have any at home.

For the sponge:

6 eggs 

6 tbsp sugar

6 tbsp plain flour

For the cream:

1 Vanilla Pudding- you can buy them in polish shops *more on this product in the Tricks and Recommendations

4 dl milk

4 tbsp sugar

0.5-1dl rum

100g raisins

4 dl double cream

1 big tsp gelatin 

For the topping:

1 shop bought marzipan or royal icing

1 tbsp milk

60g butter

120g icing sugar

food colouring, edible gel pencil

But the traditional coating for this cake is whipped cream. for that you will need

2dl double cream 

1 tsp gelatin

Preheat the oven to 180C. Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks. Still mixing add the egg yolks, 2 at the time, mix well between each addition and do the same with the sugar. Shift in the flour and carefully fold the flour into the mix until it is well incorporated. Don't rush this step, as if you break up the volume you created with the whipping, your sponge will be tiny and won't rise.

Pour it into a prepared 23cm cake tin and bake for 15-25 minutes or until golden brown and the inserted skewer comes out clean.

Leave it to cool, then slice it to three parts. I found that the cake leveller doesn't work with this kind of sponge, it is better if you use a big bread knife.

In the meantime you can prepare the cream as it needs chilling before filling.

Pour 3 dl of milk into a heavy based pan with the sugar and bring to boil under a medium heat. Mix the rest of the milk (1dl) with the pudding/budwyn powder to avoid lumps. When the milk is boiling, pour in the other milk and stir continuously. In 1-3minutes it should thicken and be custard like. Add in the raisins and leave it to cool.

Dissolve the gelatin in 0.5dl boiling water. Whip the double cream to stiff peaks and add in the dissolved gelatin- water.

Mix together the whipped double cream and the cooked "pudding", then add in the rum. Well the amount of rum you put in is up to you, but it shouldn't be overpowering, but it is nice to have the hint of rum in the cream. 

Rest the filling in the fridge until it starts to thicken so the gelatin starts to work.

When the filling is stiff, you can assemble the cake: sponge-cream X3, and finish it off with some cream. Traditionally you would finish with some whipped cream, but I wanted to practise my "embroidery" skills.

Therefore I rolled out the marzipan with some icing sugar, and covered the cake. Sadly you won't have a perfectly smooth cake, as the filling makes the cake soft....not the consistency for cake cover, but if you gentle you can have a nice enough flat surface.

I printed some motive from the Internet, and pace some baking paper on top to draw the replica image on it. I cut round the baking paper image and tried to transfer it on top of the marzipan. Roughly draw the edges, then lifting the paper...try to draw it...then back, lifting the baking paper...draw a line...so it took a while, but I get there in the end. I didn't have the exact picture just roughly the main lines. 

Then I prepared the butter cream icing. Mixing the soft butter with the icing sugar, if it is too stiff add 1 tbsp milk. Then I divided the butter cream and added the colouring. I made: yellow, orange, purple, blue, light green, dark green, pink, pale pink, red, deep red....

Then you just have to fill the "colouring book" with a small brush. In the end I added the ribbon, but it really should be red as that is the traditional colour for this type of motive....and if we are at that note, royal icing is better as it gives you white background, but I prefer the marzipan taste:)

And the inside is:

By the way the wedding was great and here is a photo I made on the Big day: