Raspberry Lemon Coconut Cake

Cake
240g cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
300ml whole milk or buttermilk, room temperature
4 large egg whites, room temperature
300g granulated sugar
2 teaspoons lemon zest
110g unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

Lemon Buttercream
200g sugar
4 large egg whites
330g unsalted butter at room temperature
60ml fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup raspberry
1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded or desiccated coconut

Pre-heat your oven to 175°C and place a rack in the lower third of your oven. Coat two pans with butter or nonstick spray and line the bottoms with a circle of parchment.

In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
In a second small bowl, combine the milk and egg whites and set aside.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the sugar and lemon zest and mix for a minute on medium speed until fragrant. Add the butter on medium speed for 4-5 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the lemon extract and then grab your bowl of flour and milk.

Reduce the mixer's speed to slow and add 1/3rd of the flour. Once moistened, increase the speed to medium and mix until incorporated. Then add 1/2 the milk mixture and beat until the mixture is uniform. Repeat with the remaining flour and milk, alternating until you've finished with the last 1/3rd of the flour. Mix the batter for a further 2 minutes to ensure it is lump free and well aerated.

Divide the batter between your baking pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the centers of the cake springs back when touched lightly.

To make the buttercream:

Combine the sugar and egg whites in a bowl over simmering water. Whisking constantly, beat until the mixture is warm to the touch and the sugar is no longer gritty. Remove from heat and continue to beat until you have a thick, glossy meringue.

Transfer the meringue to the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat for several minutes on medium speed. Once the bowl of the mixer feels cool to the touch you can add your butter, one stick at a time beating on medium high. Once the butter is all in, continue to beat for 6-10 minutes.

Add the lemon juice and the vanilla, beat until absorbed and then adding more.

To assemble the cake:

Spread a third of the raspberry preserves onto the bottom layer of the cake and then a layer of buttercream. Top with a second layer of cake and repeat two more times. Place the last layer on top and then crumb coat the cake with a thin layer of icing. Chill the cake until the icing is firm and then frost the cake with the remaining butter cream.

Sprinkle the coconut over the top of the cake and coat the sides by gently pouring the coconut between your hand and the cake.

Enjoy!

Adapted Notsohumblepie

Green tea macarons with raspberry buttercream

Macaron shells 
100g ground almonds (almond flour)
200g confectioners (icing) sugar
100g egg whites, aged 1 day at room temperature
50g  granulated sugar

Tbs green tea

Raspberry  Butercream 

4 large egg white

200gr sugar

250 gr butter, softened but cool

2 tbs vanilla extract

150gr raspberry puree

Macaron shells

        Grind the almonds in a mixer or a food processor. Push the almond flour through a sieve to get rid of any large pieces. In a small bowl, mix the powdered sugar together with the almonds. Blend well, preferably in a mixer.  Add green tea.   
         In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites with an electric mixer. As they start foaming, add the sugar one tablespoon at a time and continue whipping until mixture gets thick and glossy.
         Fold the dry mix carefully and slowly into the meringue, use a spatula. Don't overmix! Add food coloring if desired until fully mixed.
         Fill your piping bag and pipe the macarons onto a baking sheet. Let them set for 60 minutes to form a dry skin.
        Preheat the oven to 150° C. Bake for about 10 minutes. Let cool completely.


Raspberry buttercream

        Pour egg whites and sugar in a clean and heet proof bowl. put the bowl in a double boiler, the water under shoul be simmering. Whisk the sugar and eggs until the sugar has melted.
       Remove from heat, whip until white, fluffy and cool. Add the butter slowly. Add pureed and strained raspberries to the buttercream and whip until smooth.
   
       Fill the cookies with a small dollop of raspberry buttercream.  Refrigerate the cookies for a minimum of 24 hours to mature. Then bring to room temperature and serve.

Enjoy!

Adapted Call me cupcake

Butter biscuits with rosemary and walnuts

Ingredients

325g flour
200g salted butter
70 grams of sugar or powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
60g walnuts


   Mix room temperature butter and flour with fingers till the crumbs. Add the sugar, chopped rosemary,  the egg yolks. 

   Put the dough on a lightly floured surface and add walnuts. Shape into approximately 5 cm diameter rolls, wrap in foil and place in the freezer for one hour. 

   Preheat the oven to 180 ° C.  Slice dough in 1 cm thick discs and place on a baking paper. Bake for about 20 minutes  or until golden color. Remove and cool.

Enjoy!

Pear and Cinnamon Frozen Yogurt

Ingredients:

• 500g Greek yogurt
• 3-4 tbs granulated sugar
• 400g pears
• 2 tbs cinnamon

Roughly chop half the pears and whizz the rest in a food processor to a puree.

In a big bowl, stir the strawberries, sugar and cinnamon in the yogurt until well mixed.

Combine pears, reserved juice, yogurt, sugar, cinnamon and allspice in canister of ice cream maker. Freeze according to manufacturers' directions.

Sushi

 You need 2 cups of sushi rice. Very important to rinse  in a strainer very well for a few minutes, and then we're going to let that drain and dry for 1 hour.

After an hour pour, the rice in a heavy bottomed pot with a lid, and add 2 1/5 cups water. Bring that to a simmer  and cook rice covered for 10 minutes on low heat.After 10 minutes turn off the heat and let it sit covered for 10 minutes.  After the 10 minutes pour it on a tray and drizzle over the rice vinegar a few teaspoons.

Using a fork fan and fluff so all the grains kind of dry and cool.

 You can form it into any shape you want, but when you go to bite into it, it just collapses. 

Cantuccini with maple syrup and walnuts

Ingredients:


1 egg
80g of sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g walnuts

     Beat egg with sugar. Stir in flour, baking powder, vanilla extract and maple syrup. Mix all ingredients. Add the chopped walnuts. The dough will be sticky
.
    Form two 20cm rolls. Put in the floured baking tray and bake at 175 ° C for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from oven to cool for at least 10 minutes.

   After cooling, cut into 1 cm slices. Put the pieces back into the baking tray. Bake about 15 minutes at 180 ° C.

You can keep cantuccini in sealed container.

Enjoy it!

Lemon curd

Ingredients:

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

120g  butter

240g granulated sugar

1 lemon zest and 2 lemon juice

You can pour a bit of vanilla sugar or vanilla extract

Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and sugar (and vanilla extract, if you want ). Add the lemon juice and lemon zest, cook on low heat stirring until the cream starts to thick (before start to boil, remove it from the fire). Pour into jar and leave to cool.

The cream can stay in refrigerator up to 2 weeks. Perfect for cakes and muffins.

Ingredients:

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

120g  butter

240g granulated sugar

1 lemon zest and 2 lemon juice

You can pour a bit of vanilla sugar or vanilla extract

Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and sugar (and vanilla extract, if you want ). Add the lemon juice and lemon zest, cook on low heat stirring until the cream starts to thick (before start to boil, remove it from the fire). Pour into jar and leave to cool.

The cream can stay in refrigerator up to 2 weeks. Perfect for cakes and muffins.