Banana hazelnut yogurt cake

I hope you are not tired of the Epicurious yogurt cake, for I have made it again with different flavors, and the result was simply amazing! I love how versatile this cake recipe is, and how simple to put together it is – a bowl and whisk and you are good to go.

I wanted to make a banana cake, but different from the usual recipes, in which the banana is called for mashed. I thought of the delicious apple yogurt cake and decided to add the banana in diced form. To make the cake moister and more interesting, I replaced part of the all purpose flour for hazelnut flour and it was such a perfect combination of flavors! Please feel free to use other nut flours if you wish.

The cake turned out flavorsome, moist and tender - the baked banana pieces were lovely in the cake. The recipe immediately became a favorite and now it is tied with the apple cake as the most delicious version of the Epicurious yogurt cake I have made so far. :)

 

Banana hazelnut yogurt cake

adapted from the Epicurious recipe, once again

 

180g all-purpose flour

45g hazelnut flour (finely ground hazelnuts)

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon table salt

180g granulated sugar

¾ cup (180g) plain yogurt – I used sheep’s milk yogurt

½ cup (120ml) vegetable oil – I used canola

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon Frangelico

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 medium ripe bananas (120g each, weighed before peeling), peeled and diced in about ½-in pieces

 

Preheat oven to 180C/350°F. Lightly brush a 6-cup capacity loaf pan with oil, line it with baking paper and then brush the paper as well.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, hazelnut flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, yogurt, oil, eggs, vanilla and Frangelico until smooth. Fold in reserved dry ingredients – if batter is too lumpy, whisk for a few seconds – do not overmix or the cake will become tough. Stir in the bananas.

Pour the batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a skewer or toothpick inserted into center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Carefully and using the paper as a guide, remove cake from pan and transfer to the rack to cool completely.

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

Serves 8

Whole wheat thumbprint cookies

After making a batch of cookies that failed miserably, a lovely friend of mine asked what my favorite cookie recipe was and I found the question a very difficult one - I have baked several different cookies so far and have more than one that I love. Since the failed recipe was for chocolate chip cookies I stayed on that subject and told her that one of my favorites are Kim Boyce’s whole wheat choc chip cookies – they are delicious beyond words and before making them I would never have believed that a cookie made exclusively with whole wheat flour could be so good.

On that same day, I still had my mind set on baking more cookies – bad recipes drive me nuts, I’ll say – and decided to bake another cookie recipe made with whole wheat flour, but this time there was a little hazelnut meal to make them even nuttier: Louise Fulton Keats’ thumbprints, filled with blackberry jam. They turned out delicious and were super easy to put together – another win for whole wheat flour.

Two days later the cookies were a bit on the soft side, but still tasty – it didn’t bother me much, but next time I’ll try baking them without the jam first and then fill them when they are out of the oven and see if that fixes the problem.

Whole wheat thumbprint cookies
from the delicious and beautiful Something for Everyone: Family Meals for Baby, Toddler and Beyond

250g unsalted butter, softened
150gbrown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
260g whole wheat flour
55g ground hazelnuts
pinch of salt
blackberry jam, or the your favorite flavor

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two baking large baking sheets with baking paper.
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the vanilla and egg and beat until combined.
With the mixer on low speed, add the flour, ground hazelnuts and salt, mixing until the dough just comes together to form a ball. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Take 1 leveled tablespoon of the dough per cookie at a time and roll into balls. Place 5cm (2in) apart onto prepared sheets. Using a wooden spoon with a rounded handle or other gadget, make a deep indentation in the center of each cookie. Fill the indentations with jam, then bake for 12-15 minutes or until cookies are golden.
Cool in the sheets for 2 minutes, then slice the paper with the cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.

Makes about 55

Flourless chocolate and hazelnut cake + "Bronson"

Not only do I love watching movies but I also love reading about them (I am a very curious person, I’ll admit it), and when a guy I’d never heard of before won the best director prize in Cannes in 2011 I knew I would watch that movie as soon as possible (Ryan Gosling being the leading actor wouldn’t hurt either). ;) I did, and it became one of my all-time favorites, and up to this day I still listen to the soundtrack almost on daily basis.

Days ago I watched another movie directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and it made me think that we were all paying attention to Sean Penn playing Harvey Milk back in 2009, while we should have paid attention – and given all the awards – to Tom Hardy for Bronson: at first I was shocked by the physical transformation (and by how much he looked like the real Charlie Bronson), but his performance is so much more than that – it’s a tiring, intense and perfect acting exercise that goes beyond the pushups he had to make to get those muscles. It’s not an easy movie to watch – the amount of violence is disturbing – but I found it was worth every second (and if you like acting in its essence I am sure you’ll like it, too). It’s such a shame that a great performance like that didn’t get the buzz it deserved, and it is rarely mentioned among the great performances of all time – what Hardy did shouldn’t be forgotten.

And since good things shouldn’t be forgotten, I’ve been having a lot of fun rediscovering Bill Granger’s Holiday – I hadn’t used the book for ages (for no reason at all) and after making those great chocolate and caramel bars I’ve been reaching for it quite regularly. This chocolate cake is an easy and delicious idea for dessert – you can make it in advance and when the meal is over all you need to do is whip up the cinnamon cream (I skipped the electric mixer and did it manually in order to burn some of the calories I was about to ingest). ;)

Flourless chocolate and hazelnut cake
slightly adapted from the always delicious Holiday

Cake:
200g dark chocolate, chopped – I used one with 53% cocoa solids
125g unsalted butter, room temperature
225g light brown sugar
100g hazelnut meal (ground hazelnuts)
5 eggs, separated
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Cinnamon cream:
1 cup (240ml) whipping cream
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon icing sugar, sifted

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 20cm springform cake pan (I used a pan with a removable bottom), line the bottom with a circle of baking paper and butter the paper as well.
Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (making sure the base of the bowl does not touch the water). Stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter have melted. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
Add the sugar and hazelnut meal to the melted chocolate and stir until there are no lumps. Add the egg yolks one at a time, stirring well after each addition, then stir in the vanilla. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites with the salt until firm peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture.

Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until firm but still gooey in the center. Leave to cool completely in the pan. Sift the cocoa over the top of the cake.

Cinnamon cream: place the cream, cinnamon, vanilla and sugar in a bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Serve with the cake.

Serves 8

White chocolate and hazelnut pound cake and "Ray Donovan"

Since Girls wasn’t bringing any joy to my days – much to the opposite – I decided to dedicate my precious time to a different TV show (aside from The Blacklist, which I watch with the hubby), and being a dark-drama-kind-of-gal I went for Ray Donovan; I’m halfway through the season and loving every minute of it – the performances are outstanding (how great are Liev Schreiber, Paula Malcomson and Jon Voight?) and the writing is really good, too. I haven’t read much about the show to avoid spoilers but it was nice to know that there is a second season coming next year – it’s so frustrating to get hooked on a TV show only to find out later it’s been cancelled. :S

Because the episodes of Ray Donovan are one-hour long there is plenty of time for a cake to be baked: therefore, I mixed this batter (which took me hardly any time, even with the melting of the chocolate), placed it in the oven and sat down to watch the show; being a large cake, once inverted onto the wire rack it would need a good hour to cool (or even more than that), and that was the perfect excuse for a TV junkie like me to watch another episode in a row. :D

White chocolate and hazelnut pound cake
slightly adapted from the delicious Better Homes and Gardens Baking: More than 350 Recipes Plus Tips and Techniques

Cake:
3 cups (420g) all-purpose flour
¼ cup (20g) hazelnut meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon table salt
1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups (400g) granulated sugar*
6 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
112g (4oz) white chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup sour cream**

Glaze:
112g (4oz) white chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon canola oil

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter and flour a 12-cup capacity Bundt pan.
In a medium bowl stir together flour, hazelnut meal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a very large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating about 1 minute after each addition and scraping sides of bowl frequently. Add vanilla and the melted white chocolate; beat just until combined. Alternately add flour mixture and the sour cream to butter mixture, beating on low after each addition just until combined. Do not overmix. Pour batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove cake from pan; cool thoroughly on wire rack.
Glaze: combine chocolate and oil in a small bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, mixing until melted. Spoon over the cooled cake, then set aside to set.

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

* the cake turned out delicious, but I found it a bit too sweet – I’d cut down 30g of the sugar if baking it again

** homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Serves 14-16