Plum Cake

plum cake recipe with step by step picture tutorial

When I was a kid, cakes like this one were on our table very often.

My lovely Mom used to make them.

They were filled with any fruit that was in season. And during the months of winter, Mom would use just about any canned fruit she had on hand.

So, whether you use plums, cherries or any kind of berries to make this sponge cake with fruit, you’ll be amazed by a very nice flavor it has and how surprisingly easy it is to prepare it.

 

plum cake recipe with step by step picture tutorial, ingredients

Here’s what we need.

 

1. First, preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C).

 

2. Separate the eggs placing the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another.

Use larger bowls.

 

3. Pour the sugar into the egg yolks and beat until thick and pale in color.

 

Try your best not to eat this all.

Oh my gosh, it’s so good.

Or is it just me?

 

plum cake recipe with step by step picture tutorial, add the butter and mix until fluffy

4. Then add the butter and mix until fluffy.

 

plum cake recipe with step by step picture tutorial, in a small bowl, combine the flour and baking powder, add it to the egg-yolk mixture, mix to combine

5. Next, in a small bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Add it to the egg-yolk mixture. Mix to combine.

 

plum cake recipe with step by step picture tutorial, using a cleaned whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites

6. Then, using a cleaned whisk attachment, whisk the whites…

 

plum cake recipe with step by step picture tutorial, whisk the egg white until they hold stiff peaks

…until they hold stiff peaks.

 

7. Add the whites into the egg-yolk batter.

Small lumps of egg whites in the batter are okay.

 

plum cake recipe with step by step picture tutorial, spray a baking pan with cooking spray and dust it lightly with flour, scrape the batter into the prepared pan

8. Spray a baking pan with cooking spray and dust it lightly with flour.

 

9. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

I used a 13 x 9-inch (33 x 22 cm) baking pan. This cake will rise a lot, so if you are going for a less tall version, use a larger baking pan.

 

plum cake recipe with step by step picture tutorial, spread out the batter evenly

10. Spread out the batter evenly.

 

plum cake recipe with step by step picture tutorial, cut the plums into halves, or if you are using canned plum, drain them

11. Now cut the plums in, halves. Or, if you are using canned plums, drain them.

 

plum cake recipe with step by step picture tutorial, evenly arrange the halved plums on top of the batter

12. Evenly arrange the halved plums on top of the batter.

 

plum cake recipe with step by step picture tutorial, bake at 350 F - 175 C for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean

13. Bake at 350 °F (175 °C) for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

 

plum cake recipe with step by step picture tutorial, remove from the oven and let cool, then dust with a little confectioners' sugar and cut into squares

14. Remove from the oven and let cool.

 

14. Then dust with a little confectioner’s sugar and cut into squares.

 

plum cake recipe with step by step picture tutorial

And most importantly, enjoy, dear friends!

 

(This cake takes about 45 minutes to prepare.)

 

Scrambled Egg Muffins

scrambled egg muffins step by step recipe with pictures

Happy New Year, dear friends!

I wish you health, love, happiness and joy!

And I am completely sure that you’ll have it all.

Some things I just know.

 

What I am also sure about is that you’ll love these scrambled egg muffins.

The idea comes from lovely and cute Jessica Seinfeld. She presented the recipe on Martha Stewart’s show recently.

The recipe is included in her cook book called ‘Deceptively Delicious’ where she shares very smart secrets on how to trick your kids into eating healthy stuff.

Cool, huh?

 

To tell you the truth, I am kind of blushing now. I need to own up to something. But it’s a little hard… because I think I’ve done something really naughty.

Maybe worse than naughty.

The original recipe includes chopped chickpeas and I just left them out wickedly.

And, I added salt.

Aaaaa…

I can only hope that the universal committee for healthy living will forgive me.

But I think they have to because these muffins tasted just amazing.

 

scrambled egg muffins step by step recipe with pictures, ingredients

Here’s what we need.

scrambled egg muffins step by step recipe with pictures, preheat the oven, lay the strip of bacon in a large frying pan or skillet

1. First, preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C).

2. Then lay the strips of bacon in a large frying pan (or skillet, or griddle).

scrambled egg muffins step by step recipe with pictures, fry bacon until crisp

3. And fry them until crisp.

scrambled egg muffins step by step recipe with pictures, slice the bacon thinly

4. Slice the bacon thinly into 1/2-inch pieces.

You can also cut the bacon with kitchen shears if that makes the job easier for you.

 

scrambled egg muffins step by step recipe with pictures, in a bowl, whisk the eggs lightly

5. In a bowl, whisk the eggs lightly.

scrambled egg muffins step by step recipe with pictures, whisk in the milk

6. Then whisk in the milk…

scrambled egg muffins step by step recipe with pictures, add Parmesan, parsley, black pepper, and salt

7. …and Parmesan, parsley, black pepper, and salt.

scrambled egg muffins step by step recipe with pictures

Nice.

scrambled egg muffins step by step recipe with pictures, coat the cups of a muffin tin with vegetable oil, or brush the cups with the oil or sue non-stick cooking spray, divide the egg mixture evenly among the prepared cups

8. Now we need six standard muffin tins. Metal or silicone, both are good.

Coat the cups with some vegetable oil (you can brush the cups with the oil or use non-stick cooking spray).

 

9. Divide the egg mixture evenly among the prepared cups.

 

scrambled egg muffins step by step recipe with pictures, sprinkle with the bacon

10. And sprinkle with the bacon.

scrambled egg muffins step by step recipe with pictures, bake until the eggs puff and are cooked through, remove egg muffin from the muffin pan and let cool slightly before serving

11. Bake at 400 °F (200 °C) for 13 – 15 minutes or until the eggs puff and are cooked through.

 

And in case you wondered, the person in the picture looks very much how I look these days.

You wanted to know it, so now you know it.

 

12. Then remove your egg muffins from the muffin pan and let them cool slightly before serving.

 

scrambled egg muffins step by step recipe with pictures

Here they are.

Just adorable.

A great idea for breakfast or lazy brunch, don’t you think?

 

scrambled egg muffins step by step recipe with pictures, garnish with red bell pepper hearts

The hearts are red bell pepper.

I’ve used sharp metal cookie cutters to cut them out.

scrambled egg muffins step by step recipe with pictures

See how deliciously moist they are?

Mmm.

And they are packed with wonderful and very satisfying savory flavors.

These are totally worth a try!

 

Enjoy, dear friends!

 

(This recipe has been loosely adapted from Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. It yields six muffins and takes about 30 minutes to prepare.)

Strawberry Roulade

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

When I was a kid my Mom used to make wonderful sweet treats for me and my sister.

One of the desserts she used to prepare most often was this strawberry roulade. I guess she liked to make it because it is amazingly simple and easy.

Hm, who doesn’t like that?

As I’m spending time here in my Mom’s house these day, it’s no surprise there’s been a lot of remembering the old, sweet days of my childhood …which magically gave me the idea to prepare this delicious cake, since, to my surprise, I’ve never made it myself.

Oh, and was that a good idea…

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

These are the ingredients you need in case you want to prepare this delicious cake, too.

Which I highly recommend.

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

1. First, preheat the oven to 356 F (180 C).

2. Then, separate the eggs.

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

3. Now, play with the yolks a little.

Add 1 cup (115 grams) confectioner’s sugar to the bowl with the egg yolks.

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

4. Using your hand mixer, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow and fluffy.

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

5. Add the flour and mix again shortly, just until incorporated.

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

6. Then, in a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until firm (stiff peaks) and add them to the egg-yolk mixture.

Did you know that when you whisk egg whites there have to be no remains of egg yolk on your whisk attachment? Otherwise the whites wouldn’t just get firm. Trust me! Been there, done that…

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

7. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the whites into the batter.

This is basically the main and most important trick about the sponge cakes – to have the batter as light and air-filled as you can manage.

And it’s definitely not difficult, no matter what they say.

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

8. I am using a 12 x 15 inch (30 x 38 cm) baking pan here. Just try to use something similar.

Line your baking pan with parchment paper, and (to stay on the safe side) spray it with some vegetable oil and flour it lightly.

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

9. Pour the batter into the pan.

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

10. And using an offset spatula or a knife, spread the batter evenly.

11. Bake for 17 minutes or until golden brown.

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

12. In the meantime, prepare a nice, welcoming home for your cake.

Place a clean dish towel on your working surface. Then put a piece of parchment paper over the towel and sprinkle it with a little of confectioner’s sugar.

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

13. Immediately upon removing the cake from the oven, invert it onto the towel and the paper you have prepared.

So now you have the dish towel and the paper underneath the cake and there’s also a piece of paper on top of the cake (the one it was baking with).

(Oh, how I’ll miss those crazily yellow eggs from my Grandma.)

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

14. Carefully, remove the top paper.

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

15. And, while still hot, roll it up.

This way we are making the sponge to get used to being rolled up. If we rolled it up when cooled it might break.

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

16. Let cool.

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

17. When cooled, unroll the sponge and spread with the preserves (or jam).

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

18. Then whip up the cream.

First, beat the cream until soft peaks form, then add 4 tablespoons (30 grams) sugar and continue beating until firm peaks form when the beater is raised.

19. Spread the cream over the preserves.

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

20. Reroll the cake.

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

21. And sprinkle with some more sugar if you wish to.

strawberry roulade recipe, strawberry jelly roll with cream recipe with step by step images

22. Slice the cake into even 0.6 inch (1.5 cm) pieces.

Enjoy, dear friends.

With Love,

Petra

How to Crochet an Easter Egg

crochet Easter egg free pattern by zoomyummy.com

(Update: To see more of my patterns, please visit my ONLINE SHOP!)

 

This blogging thing might be the best thing ever invented.

Really.

Maybe right after sweets.

OK… sweets and comedies.

OK… sweets, comedies and … let me stop myself right here and leave…

NOT (you’re gonna have to remove me ’cause I ain’t going nowhere).

Anyways, it’s gorgeous because blogging keeps me thinking about new projects and makes me go on.

I just LOVE IT…

crochet Easter egg free pattern by zoomyummy.com

With Easter being just around the corner, I think it is a very good idea to get ready and stuff your home with as many Easter eggs as possible.

And why not have some of them crocheted?

This is my way of creating them.

You can find a pattern below… until then, enjoy the step-by-step pictures.

This is an almost finished egg waiting to be stuffed.

crochet Easter egg free pattern by zoomyummy.com

You can stuff your crocheted egg with scrape yarn, cotton stuffing, fiberfill or polyfill.

These can be found in your supermarket or in a craft store.

crochet Easter egg free pattern by zoomyummy.com

I marked the ends of the rounds with this pin to know where they started and where they finished.

crochet Easter egg free pattern by zoomyummy.com

crochet Easter egg free pattern by zoomyummy.com

crochet Easter egg free pattern by zoomyummy.com

crochet Easter egg free pattern by zoomyummy.com

I really like the shape of this egg (and really don’t like the dryness of my hands).

crochet Easter egg free pattern by zoomyummy.com

It’s so cute.

With every new little spring decoration I manage to get, I become more and more relieved.

Because I like to welcome this greatest season of all in a really big style.

With lots of love,
Petra

(Update: To see more of my patterns, please visit my ONLINE SHOP!)

 

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