Lemon Blueberry Tartlets

There are two types of lemon tarts, those with baked lemon cream, which I made before here, and those filled with lemon curd. I like both versions, even though I think the lemon curd ones taste more fresh and fruity. Instead of meringue I like to top them with fresh berries. It's delicious and also gives a nice color contrast.

Unfortunately I missed going to the forest to pick some wild blueberries this year, but I still found some nice ones at the farmers market. Feel free to top them with any berries you like.

On a site note I am happy to announce that I am the Winner at the Originality Category at this month' DMBLGIT contest with my picture of the strawberry balsamic ice-cream. Thanks to Sihi from wandering ladle for hosting this month event and congratulations to my fellow winners. Check out all the beautiful pictures on Sihi's blog.

Lemon Loaf Cake [TWD]

I didn't participate in the last two "Tuesdays with Dorie" recipes, because the Irish Soda bread just didn't appeal to me and the Pizza Rustica sounded good, but it's a savory dish and I want to keep this blog sweet. I am sure I will bake it some day. So, I was more than happy when I saw this weeks recipe, as I really like to bake with lemon.

The Lemon Loaf Cake was really good, had a great lemon taste and was moist for several days. I also added some lemon juice to the recipe, since the recipe only asked for the zest. I read later that the lemon juice would prevent the cake from rising, but I had no problems.

You can find the recipe on the websites of our weekly hosts, which are Truc of Treatsand Michelle of The Beauty of Life.

On a side-note Jen of "The Caffeinated Kitchen" rewarded me with the "Liebster Blog Award". I am very happy for that and am sending a big thank you to Jen. She also bakes along with "Tuesdays with Dorie", and you should check out her beautiful lemon cake.

The conditions for the acceptance of this award are as follows:

1. Link back to the person who gave it to you and thank them.
2. Post the award to your blog.
3. Give the award to 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers that you appreciate and value. (It's a great way to get the word out there about other blogs!)
4. Leave a comment on the 5 blogs to let them know that they have received this award.

I am gonna pass the award on to five fellow TWD bakers, which all made beautiful lemon loafs today:

1. Peggy the Baker
2. Cher Rockwell
3. Soup Addict
4. Oven Chaos
5. My Culinary Mission

Please have a look at their blogs and give them some nice comments for their good work.

Enjoy and Guten Appetit!

Lemon Celebration Cake for my 100th post!

This is my 100th post! I can't believe I have written so many already, and it makes me a little proud that I stayed put. It is very rewarding to have you, my readers here and sharing my little baking and photography adventures. I am also very happy each time I see one of my picture showing up on sites like pinterest or other sites and see my work is recognized. So, for celebrating this occasion a great cake is in order.

But this is not the only special occasion. I made this cake for my Mom, who had a special birthday last Wednesday. She is a great baker herself, and I learned a lot from her. I have a picture from me as a toddler standing in the kitchen and helping her bake. Well, I was just licking the whisk, but I definitely inherited the baking gene from her.

I wanted to make a cake which I could decorate with a colorful bunting. This is such a cute trend, and I wanted to make it for some time now. My cousin gave me some beautiful fabric scraps from her sewing projects. I cut double triangles and glued them together over a ribbon band. Then I attached it on two tall lollipop sticks with a knot. Really easy!

For the cake I chose to make a four layer lemon cake. The cake is filled with a silky lemon cream and creamy caramel. The frosting is made from lemon cream and mascarpone, and is so delicious, that you could eat it with a spoon. There a quite a few components to be done, but everything can be made in advance. I made the cake and fillings the day before and just made the frosting on the day when I served it.

I found that beautiful petal frosting technique at "La Receta de la Felicidad", where you can also find detailed pictures on how to do it.

Daring Bakers: Lemon Muffins

The Daring Bakers' challenge this month seemed not very daring at first sight. The challenge was to make quick bread, something most people, even non bakers can usually do. The more interesting part was that you could choose any flavor combination you liked.

Still, I honestly wasn't very inspired and almost skipped this challenge. But after reading the provided recipes I changed my mind. The Meyer Lemon Loaf looked really promising and so I made the recipe into some muffins. Unfortunately we can't get Meyer Lemon here in Germany, I even doubt that many people have heard of them. I managed to bring some back from California last year, maybe I should have kept the seeds to grow a tree. ;-)

Well, back to the muffins, even with regular lemons they tasted very good and had a very nice texture. I will definitely make them again, when I need a quick recipe, as I usually have all the ingredients on hand.

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

Chilled Sour-Cherry Soup with Lemon-Quark Mousse

Chilled soups are a great refreshment in summer, either as a dessert or as replacement for lunch. This sour-cherry soup was especially refreshing because of its tartness. We had it on a very hot day, and it was the perfect lunch. I topped the soup with a creamy mousse, made with quark and lemon. If you can't find quark you can make it yourself using buttermilk. Meeta from "What's For Lunch Honey?" has a great recipe for it, which I used all the time while I was living in North America.

We are really lucky with all the fruits in our garden this summer, and sour cherries were of no exception. But it seemed that all the fruits seemed to be ripe at around the same time this year. The season started with rhubarb, then the raspberries, strawberries, followed by sweet and sour cherries, and gooseberries. Now the blackberries are getting ripe and soon we can pick plums.

Daring Bakers: Biscuit Joconde Imprime with Apple, Lemon and White Chocolate-Rosemary Entremets

This month for the Daring Bakers we made a special french dessert. It is called a Biscuit Joconde Imprime Entremets. When I was first reading it I had no idea what it is, but a look at the pictures clarified it. I always admired these kind of desserts and wanted to make it for a long time. It makes a great presentation for a cake, and looks very elegant. I will definitely make them again, since you can get really creative with the flavor combination.

A Biscuit Joconde is a kind of sponge cake which is flexible and can be wrapped around a cake. The impreme means that a pattern is printed on the biscuit. This is done buy using a different color of dough first, letting it cool, and then apply the Joconde dough, before baking. An Entremet is a cake which consists of several layers. This is where the Joconde is wrapped around.

My Entremet consisted of the following layers: First a layer of sauteed apples cooked in wine and calvados, spiced with some vanilla, which was then thickened with corn starch. Next I added a layer of lemon curd. After cooling I made a layer of White Chocolate Mousse with a hint of Rosemary, which matched good with the apples. The top layer was a glaze of mango puree, which gave a beautiful color.

Unfortunately my Biscuit Joconde got a little dark. It is very important to closely watch it in the oven, as it browns very fast. The recipe makes a whole big sheet, so you can freeze some for another cake.

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

Meyer Lemon Macarons

I have read a lot about Meyer Lemons in recent years. This spring I was finally lucky to see them in the store and was able to try them myself. Meyer Lemons are not as sour as regular lemons, and they have a hint of thyme and a very fragrant skin. They are perfect for making lemon curd, and I was thinking about making Meyer Lemon macarons for a long time.

So, when this month's challenge for Mactweets macaron was revealed, I immediately thought about an old children's poem from the legendary Heinz Erhardt. We were called to be inspired by a childhood fairytale or story for our monthly macaron flavor. Heinz Erhardt was a German comedian, actor, entertainer and also wrote children's poems. I always loved to watch his movies. The poem is called "Why lemons turned sour".

Warum die Zitronen sauer wurden

Ich muß das wirklich mal betonen:

Ganz früher waren die Zitronen

(ich weiß nur nicht genau mehr, wann dies

gewesen ist) so süß wie Kandis.

Bis sie einst sprachen: Wir Zitronen,

wir wollen groß sein wie Melonen!

Auch finden wir das Gelb abscheulich,

wir wollen rot sein oder bläulich!

Gott hörte oben die Beschwerden

und sagte: Daraus kann nichts werden!

Ihr müßt so bleiben! Ich bedauer!

Da wurden die Zitronen sauer.

Lemon Tartlets

Before I came to North America I have never tasted lemon tarts or lemon meringue pie. We have great lemon desserts in Germany, too, but those were just not among them. I really love them now, the tartness of the lemon filling in a nice pastry crust is just really good.

The recipe I made today is adapted from "Luscious Lemon Desserts" by Lori Longbotham. Like her other dessert books, it has a wide variety of recipes and information on the subject. You will find among other things recipes for pies, cakes, tarts, creamy desserts, cookies and ice creams.

The tartlets are pre-baked before you put in the filling and bake them some more. Then, before serving you add a nice little brûlée top and some berries.