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Carrot cake

This is not your typical American style carrot cake with cream cheese filling and frosting. But just as delicious and easy to make and a healthy choice with lots of carrots.

prep time 10 min     cook time 50 min
ingredients
  • 4 eggs
  • 175 g sugar
  • 100 ml/g vegetable oil
  • 100 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 300 g flour
  • 16 g baking powder
  • 200 g peeled and grated carrots
  • powdered sugar to garnish

1.  Preheat oven at 180 C. Line the bottom of a 24cm (9″) springform pan with parchment paper.

2. Squeeze the orange. Measure the flour and mix it with the baking powder.

3. Beat the eggs and sugar, add the oil and orange juice. Add the flour in 3 batches continuing to beat. Add the carrots and mix with a spoon.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Place in the oven for 45-50 min until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.

5. Let cool in the pan. Once cooled, transfer onto a serving plate and decorate with powdered sugar and some flowers, preferably the edible kinds. I used flowers from my garden. 🙂

BUON APPETITO!

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Banana pumpkin bread

This pumpkin banana bread is super moist because of the oil, eggs, mashed bananas and pumpkin puree. Together all these ingredients make the bread soft, tender and moist for the perfect texture that is never greasy or dry. These kind of quick bread recipes need to bake for a long time. If the top is getting too brown, you can tent a piece of aluminium foil and place it over the top of the loaf while it is still baking.

prep time  15 min     cook time 50-60 min
ingredients for 2 small loaves
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice or alternatively 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger & 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup oil (I use peanut oil)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 medium size ripe mashed bananas
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree (I made my own)
  • 1/3 cup chopped walnuts or hazelnuts

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F

2. Grease and flour two 10 x 22 cm/3,5 x 8 inch loaf pans.

3. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, spices except vanilla extract, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

4. In a large bowl beat together oil, sugars, eggs and vanilla extract until no lumps remain.

5. Stir in the mashed bananas and pumpkin puree.

6. Carefully stir the flour mixture into the wet ingredients using a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon. Then stir in the chopped nuts.

7. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pans and bake for 50-60 min or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean and the top feels firm to the touch. The loaf shouldn’t wobble if you nudge the pan.

The best way to keep the pumpkin bread at its best is to keep it at room temp for a day or two. Store in an airtight container after it has cooled. This banana pumpkin bread also freezes well.

BUON APPETITO!

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Lemon pound cake

I love lemons! Hence I love all the lemony desserts. Today I made a lemon pound cake. I was looking for a simple recipe and this one turned out great.

prep tme 25 min     cook time 50 min
ingredients
  • 200 g butter (soft)
  • 2 dl sugar
  • 3 eggs (room temperature)
  • 2-3 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp lemon zest
  • 3 dl flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp vanilla sugar
  • for greasing the bundt pan some butter and flour/sugar/bread crumbs
  • for decorating some zest and powdered sugar

1. Grease and flour a bundt pan and turn on the oven at 175C.

2. Cream butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time and cream well. Add lemon juice and zest.

3. Mix together dry ingredients and add to the cream folding them well with a spatula.

4. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth with a rubber spatula.

5. Bake at 175C for about 50 min until golden brown and the tester comes out clean.

6. Let the cake cool for 10 min before you invert it onto a wire rack.

7. Leave the cake to cool completely before decorating it with powdered sugar and some zest.

tip 1: use always butter and eggs at room temperature

tip 2: sift always the dry ingredients before adding to the batter

BUON APPETITO!

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Banana zucchini bread

I have tried many banana bread recipes and now I have finally found the perfect one for me: not too sweet, not too banana-y, not too wet, not too dry, just perfectly moist. I have made it three times in a row now and it has turned out perfect each time.

prep time 20 min     cook time 50-55 min
ingredients for 2 loaves
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup vegetable oil (I use peanut oil)
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 4 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chopped almonds (walnuts or hazelnuts work well too)
  • 1 cup (2 small) raw zucchini, shredded and squeezed
  • 1 cup (2 normal size) mashed ripe bananas

OPTIONAL for frosting

  • 150 g dark chocolate and a handful of chopped hazelnuts OR
  • 150 g powdered sugar and poppy seeds or sprinkles

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F .

2. Grease and flour two 13 x 23 cm loaf pans.

3. Shred zucchini and mash bananas and set aside.

4. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar and oil together.

5. In another bowl add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, vanilla and nuts and mix together.

6. Mix the dry ingredients to the egg and sugar batter.

7. Add zucchini and bananas and continue to mix until blended.

8. Pour into greased and floured loaf pans and bake at 180C for 50-55 min or till the toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.

9. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan to completely cool on wire rack.

10. Put the frosting on a cool cake. Melt the chocolate, pour it on the cake and add the chopped nuts while still warm and semi liquid. Or make the powdered sugar frosting adding a few tablespoons of hot water, mix well, pour it on the cake and add poppy seeds or sprinkles.

Tip:  Remember to squeeze the shredded zucchini for the excess liquid. If you find the bread a tad too rich, you can  decrease a bit the amount of oil and the amount of sugar ( maybe 1 1/4 cups instead of 1 1/2).

Tip: The riper the bananas, the sweeter they are.

BUON APPETITO!

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Pineapple upside-down cake

This is a recipe that I got from a friend at least 25 years ago. It is truly a retro cake! We usually make it at Christmas time but it is a cake for every season since it doesn’t have any particular Christmas spices such as ginger, cinnamon, cardamom or cloves.

prep time 15 min     cook time 35 min
ingredients
for the topping
  • 7 pineapple rings in syrup, drained and syrup reserved
  • 50 g sugar
  • 50 g butter, melted
  • 7 glacé cherries
  • handful of almonds, finely chopped

for the cake

  • 100 g butter, melted
  • 100 g sugar
  • 200 g flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder (1 bustina lievito Bertolini)
  • 50 g sambuca
  • 50 g pineapple syrup

1.  Preheat the oven to 170-180C

2.  For the topping, beat 50g melted butter and 50g sugar together until creamy. Spread over the base and a quarter of the way up the sides of a 22cm round cake tin. Arrange 7 pineapple rings on top (reserving the syrup for later), then fill in the spaces with finely chopped almonds. Place the glacé cherries in the centres of the rings.

3. Using an electric whisk beat sugar and eggs until light and creamy. Add flour with the baking powder mixed in, then sambuca, pineapple juice and finally the melted butter. Mix gently with a spatula.

4. Pour the batter over the fruit and smooth it out with a spatula so it’s level.

5. Bake for 30-35 min until a toothpick or a cake tester comes out clean.

6. Let cool for 10 min. Invert a serving plate over the cake pan and, using kitchen towels or oven mitts to grasp onto both the plate and the cake pan, flip both the pan and the plate over so the pan now sits on top of the plate. Slowly lift the cake pan away.

7. Serve the cake warm or cool with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

8. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

here the cherries are placed after baking the cake

BUON APPETITO!