Red Currant Meringue Tartlets

I have not always been a fan of red currants because they are very sour, but I have come to appreciate their taste. In parts of southern Germany there is a specialty called "Träubleskuchen". It is red currants folded into a meringue, sometimes even with ground nuts, served on top of a buttery pastry. I find that the tartness of the currants makes them the perfect match for something sweet like meringues. Eating these cloud-like fillings will make you feel like you are in heaven.

"Träubleskuchen" are very famous, and are usually served as a cake. This time, however, I have decided to make them into little tartlets. I think they look cute. Besides, I like the fact that you can put a little stem of red currents on top of each tartlet; they make excellent decoration. They are great for a tea time display.

Rhubarb Meringue Pie

I wrote this post a little too late. Rhubarb season is pretty much over, at least in Germany. If you are lucky you might be able to pick up a couple stalks, however. If not, why not save the recipe for next year? I definitely will, since this was my favorite rhubarb cake this year.

A good indicator for a great cake is always if people who usually take care of their waistline take seconds, like my sweet cousin ;-). But the meringue is really heavenly and fits perfectly to the tart filling.

The recipe I used is from Martha Stewart. The original recipe uses only the juice from the rhubarb, but instead I used the whole compote. Rhubarb falls apart after it is cooked, so it still gave a very nice texture to the cake.

The cake reminds me a of a lemon meringue pie, which I always love, but when in season I will make the rhubarb version again.

Rhubarb Hazelnut-Meringue Cake

It's already the end of June and I haven't posted any rhubarb recipes yet. That doesn't mean I didn't bake any rhubarb cakes this year. Far from it! Rhubarb is always one of my favorite ingredients in baking and luckily our garden is full of it. So, I have already done some old favorites and tried some new ones this year. This one will definitely be repeated in the future, since it was really easy to make and tasted really good.

The base is a simple pound cake, which is topped half baked with a big meringue full of nuts and rhubarb. Instead of the hazelnuts I used you can also try almonds, or any other nuts. Since the topping is sweet it goes well with the tart rhubarb.

The recipe comes from a fairly new German magazine called "Sweet Dreams". If you have access to German magazines you should really check it out. Each issue concentrates on a few fruits in season and has really beautiful pictures. In the current issue a picture from my blog is published. They chose my Red Currant Meringue Cupcakes from last August.

Champagne Mousse Cake and a Happy New Year!

What's better than ringing in the New Year with some Champagne. I bring you some bubbly in form of a gorgeous cake. So, have a piece and a toast to a happy, healthy year full of excitement and joy. And a big thank you to all of you my wonderful readers for your continued support.

Red Currant Meringue Cupcakes

Red currants are usually not everybody's favorite berry. A lot of people probably find them too sour. I am not a big fan of eating them raw myself, but they are very versatile for baking and desserts. You should try making a sorbet, or sprinkle a few of them over your müsli. I also like to make red currant curd and jelly. The black variety has a stronger almost bitter taste and is best known to make Cassis.

These cupcakes I made here have just a slight tartness to them. The meringue topping balances the sweet and sour delicately. A hint of ginger added an interesting taste. Everyone who tried them did not even think it was ginger; they were just wondering why it tasted so good.

Daring Bakers: Chocolate Marquise on Torched Meringue with Spiced Almonds and Caramel Sauce

It's Daring Bakers time again, and this month's challenge was a "Chocolate Marquise on Torched Meringue with Spiced Almonds and Caramel Sauce". Quite a mouthful, and intimidating to make on the first look, but if you plan ahead and make each component early enough it comes together quite easy.

I really loved this month's challenge. Many delicious components, beautifully plated. But I think I could do without the torched meringue next time. The marquise was definitely the best chocolate mousse I have ever made. So silky and smooth, everybody loved it. I made them in little Half Sphere Molds instead of the suggested cubes.

The nuts were very tasty, but it was a lot of work to get them out of the coating. I also needed a much shorter baking time, since they were already getting very dark on the bottom after 20 minutes. I mixed almonds and walnuts. Next time I would only use almonds, since the walnuts were hard to identify in the sugar covering.

The caramel sauce was delicious, the added rum made the sauce really stand out. I think I will try this again with grand marnier one day.

The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

Daring Bakers: Filled Meringue Coffee Cake

This month the Daring Baker's chose a yeasted coffee cake, formed into a wreath as their challenge. It's a little early, but this would make the perfect bread for your Easter brunch. The special thing about this recipe is the addition of a meringue layer in the filling. The dough was very easy to work with. I chose to use fresh yeast, instead of dry, and it was a really smooth dough.

For the filling I used a combination of dark chocolate, dried cherries and pecan nuts. The bread was moist and very yummy. A trick to get an even round shape in the middle is to bake the cake around an upside-down turned ramekin (or any round ovenproof bowl). Be sure to brush the bowl with a little oil, which makes it easier to remove it after baking.

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

Daring Bakers: Baked Alaska with Blueberry-Ricotta ice-cream

Well, I never thought of putting ice-cream into a hot oven, but this month it was time to try something daring. Yup, it's Daring Bakers' time again. This month challenge was to make a Baked Alaska. A Baked Alaska is a dessert which contains of a cake base, in this case a totally yummy brown butter cake, this is topped with ice cream. Then the whole cake is spread with meringue, which serves as an insulator, when the cake is put in the oven.

For the ice-cream I made a Blueberry-Ricotta ice-cream. We were lucky the other day, when we took a hike to find a huge patch of wild blueberries. There were endless bushes of ripe and juicy berries, and in no time we had filled our basket. Those wild berries have a lot of flavor and made the ice-cream really stand out.

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

Daring Bakers: Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

Pavlovas was this month Daring Bakers' challenge, more specific Chocolate pavlovas filled with a chocolate mousse. This dessert is named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova and probably originated in New Zealand. The base is a meringue which is crisp on the outside, but still chewy on the inside. It is usually topped with whipped cream and various fruits. I made a version with berries last year.

The chocolate mousse is very rich and pairs very good with strawberries. I was lucky that just this weekend the fields for picking your own berries opened. Those self picked berries are always the best and half always go to my tummy right away. It was a very nice dessert, but I think for next time I would probably just make one of the chocolate components, as they were really rich.

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.

Berry Pavlovas

This is my first official blog entry. I have a few postings before, but I needed some time to practice and see how everything works. Well, there is still a lot to learn, but I get a lot of inspiration from all those wonderful food blogs out there. So, welcome to my blog and thanks for stopping by.

Since I call this blog berry lovely, I definitely want to start off with a berry recipe. Since I had some leftover egg whites, pavlovas came to mind. They are a great way to use up your egg whites and can be topped with any fruit combination you might desire. Berry season is slowly coming to an end, but I still managed to pick some wild blackberries. Together with blueberries, raspberries and strawberries, they made great toppings for my little pavlovas.

Instead of normal cake-sized pavlovas, I prefer to make them small. So they can be served in single portions, because I just have no idea how you would cut a big one into nice looking pieces. We always make a huge mess on our plates eating them.