Egg-free Berry Tiramisu with Génoise Sponge

 

We celebrated a late Fathers' Day (it was on the 8th, here in Belgium) yesterday, since my brother could not make it on the actual day. Due to the hot weather lately, I felt we needed something refreshing for dessert.

I settled for a tiramisu with homemade sponge. I used this recipe as a base for the egg-free génoise sponge cake, but subbed some vanilla extract instead of using strawberry flavor. I was also out if oil, so I melted some butter and used that instead.

I baked it flat, because I intended to cut strips out of it to roll into spirals to fit into the glasses. That originally beautiful plan fell through as the cake just broke while I was trying to roll it. Too bad. I then went and ripped it into little squares and soaked them in some mint tea I had made by steeping mint leaves from the garden in some hot water.

All this time, I was busy defrosting my frozen mixed berries (raspberries, currants, blackcurrants, blueberries, strawberries).

Then I beat some whipping cream into soft peaks, and mixed in some ricotta and some sugar.

Time to layer everything~ I put tea-soaked sponge in the glasses (I made 10 of them), followed by a layer of cream mix, topped with spoonfuls of berries. Then I repeated these steps, and used the last layer of berries to decorate.

I originally wanted to try and make hearts out of the round berries (currants, blackcurrants, blueberries), but it turned kind of messy, especially with the juice flowing everywhere. So I settled for a standing raspberry and a carpet of other berries. Due to the lack of color contrast, I decided to add a few mint leaves on top.

The effect would have been even better if there hadn't been juice flowing everywhere, but by that time, I was too dead tired to try and really drain every spoonful of berries.

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EGGLESS GENOISE SPONGE RECIPE

  Ingredients

• 1 cup (245 g) yogurt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup (111 g) oil
• 1/2 up (100 g) sugar
• flavor

  Procedure

1. Preheat oven at 200°C for 10 mins.
2. Sieve flour twice (I went for 4 times) then set aside.
3. Cream yogurt and sugar until sugar has completely dissolved. Add baking soda and baking powder, and whisk/beat for 2 mins. Leave aside for another 5 mins until bubbles have formed.
4. Add oil and flavor. Then add in flour little by little and beat until smooth.
5. Bake at 200°C for 10 mins, then reduce heat to 180°C and abake for 30-35 mins.

Apple Cake with Whipped Cream and Caramel

On a weekend with guests over, my brother made some homemade pizza while I made a cake. I originally intended to make jam-topped almond butter cookies, but due to time constraints, I settled for egg-free cake with diced apple inside.

Turns out after I baked it and decorated it with whipped cream and caramel sauce (caramel always fails with me...), the inside was not cooked enough. So I had to scrape off the cream and re-bake the cake some more... Just goes to show that I have a lot of failures as an amateur baker...

I also accidentally left all my baking decoration tools at my dorm, so I had to make do with a plastic bag to try and pipe designs on top. As usual, when I use a plastic bag, I cut the hole too large, so it makes for sloppy decorations.

All in all, this cake was a pretty bad failure, though the end result was tasty enough.

Apple Topped Spiced Cake

While planning to visit yet another family friend, my mom said something about buying a tart or cake to bring along. Personally, I felt it was unfair that one family friend got homemade goodies, while another one would get store-bought. So I decided to whip up a quick cake.

The recipe for the cake itself is the same as this one, but without the fruits, and with more milk and oil (215 g and 111 g respectively). I topped it with hand-whipped whipped cream (whipping cream and some icing sugar).

I cooked apple slices (thicker than the ones I use for apple tarts) in some brown sugar syrup, before laying them on top of the whipped cream. Then I dusted the whole thing in cinnamon, and glazed the apples with a bit of leftover apple glaze that I had from one of the last times I made apple tarts, which I flavored with a dash of rosewater.

Cake Pops and Apple Tartlets

I went to visit some family friends with my mom yesterday, and she insisted I bake something as a gift to bring along. My mom's strongly suggested apple tarts (seems it's her favorite dessert out of my whole repertoire...), but I've been baking only that since summer break started, so I wanted to make something else.

I settled for cake pops. My mom dug out some old, wrinkled apples, so I thought I'd try and use those up. I used my handy vegan cake recipe, adjusted a bit for the use of grated apples and a small handful of wild strawberries picked from the garden (the cake itself isn't vegan this time around because I didn't have any non-dairy milk and had to use cow milk).

After the cake cooled, it was a simple matter of breaking it into pieces to blend into crumbs, add in enough homemade applesauce (cooked, grated apple) for it to hold together well, and making spheres out of the batter. I made them roughly 1.5 tablespoons per cake pop. After refrigerating the spheres for a while, I dipped toothpicks in chocolate before poking them into the cake spheres. Back in the fridge, then coating the whole thing in melted chocolate and sprinkling toasted, crushed almond slivers.

After tasting one, my mom still wanted apple tarts, so I worked at them after dinner last night. (Seems I always do apple tarts and cake pops together...). Good thing I still had crust dough I had prepared last time in the freezer.

The apple variety I was using was not very good for this... After microwaving the apple slices (see tutorial), they would stiffen again once cooled. So instead of microwaving the life out of these apple slices, I boiled them in a brown sugar syrup.

Because I felt that the syrup gave the apples enough sweetness already, I opted for not glazing them. They look less shiny, of course, but I can guarantee the flavor's right.

And since I still had leftover cake crumbs and applesauce, I made spheres out of them last night, and left them in the fridge overnight. Earlier, I got them out, stuck toothpicks in them, and I just finished coating them in chocolate and their sprinkling of almonds. I left them on a silicone baking mat wrapped around the flat, round part of my springform pan.

Since I had just finished coating them right before I took pictures, some of the chocolate coatings are not set yet, but they will soon be.

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I stupidly left my cup measuring spoon things at my college dorm, so I had to do things by weight. Here's the amounts I used for this spiced and fruity version of the cake used.

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SPICED and FRUITY CAKE RECIPE

  Ingredients

• 218 g flour
• 125 g brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 pinch of salt
• cinnamon, as much as desired
• 200 g milk
• 55 g neutral oil
• 117 g grated/mashed apples and strawberries
• 1 tbs while vinegar

  Procedure

1. Preheat oven 180°C
2. In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk wet ingredients (including fruits).
4. Add wet to dry ingredients, mix until combined.
5. Pour into prepared pan, bake for around 25 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean.

More Mini Apple Tarts

At my mom's request, I made more of these mini apple tarts.

Picture taken hastily before everyone started nomming on them. I used the opportunity to make a double batch of dough (I use 1/2 of a batch per batch of mini tartlets), so I can freeze some for next time.