Back to the Future!!

So, after a few long weeks, we are back! We have been waiting on our DSL internet connection for about 4 weeks, and we FINALLY got it today! Words cannot describe how happy I am to be back in touch with not only the wonderful world of cyberspace, but my FAMILY and FRIENDS! I have been on Skype pretty much constantly since we got our internet up and running, and it's so nice just to hear the voice of family and friends. I have definitely needed it, since I've been feeling pretty homesick lately.

I really can't remember anything that's happened lately, except that I've been doing a TON of baking/cooking. I think I'm going to start archiving recipes here on this blog, that way I can easily find them, and if anyone else is interested, you can use them, too.

Last week was Mike's birthday, and, since we're here in Germany, I decided to make him Apfelkuchen for his birthday cake. Since we live in the middle of nowhere, I couldn't find a store that sold candles (I don't even know if they do candles on birthday cakes here... do they even do birthday cakes? I'm so uninformed!), and I found a store that had cards, but didn't have any cash on me, and they didn't even take EC cards. UGH. Anyway, he really liked the cake, and I was pretty proud, because I had to do EVERYTHING by hand (including beating butter and egg whites).

Here's the recipe:





Ingredients

Cake
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon double-acting baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
  • 1 3/4 cups sugar
  • 3 large eggs, separated
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 8 medium (about 3 pounds) cooking apples, such as Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Gravenstein, Greening, Jonathan, Macoun, Pippin, Starr, Winesap, Yellow Transparent, or any combination, cored and diced (peeling is optional)
Glaze
(The glaze is optional - I prefer the cake without, because it's still plenty sweet, but has WAY less sugar)

  • 1 cup confectioners' sugar, or 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar and 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons milk or water

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a kugelhopf, 10-inch Bundt pan, or 9x13-inch pan
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat the butter until smooth, about 1 minute. Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time. Stir in the flour mixture and milk.
3. Beat the egg whites on low speed until foamy, about 30 seconds. Increase the speed to high and beat until stiff but not dry. Fold one-fourth of the whites into the batter, then gently fold in the remaining whites.
4. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Spread with half of the apples. Top with the remaining batter, then the remaining apples.
5. Bake until golden brown, 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then transfer to a rack and let cool completely.
6. To make the glaze if using: Combine all the glaze ingredients, stirring until smooth and of pouring consistency. Drizzle over the cake and let stand until set.

Note: I used a cinammon sugar mix with the apples that I put on the top layer. It was delicious!!! 


That's all!!! 

--M&A

5 comments:

gapoole said...

Definitely looking forward to more recipes, I love to cook but don't always know what things to try. I heard, though, that doing everything by hand is often the preferred method in Germany nowadays, because so many people are environmentally-conscious. Plus, I think putting the extra effort in is part of how you cook with love =]

Alyx said...

I'll make sure that once I find recipes I like, I put them here. I'm looking for a schnitzel recipe that I like - I made some last week and it turned out pretty good, but for the life of me, I couldn't come up with a sauce that I wanted to put on it, so we ate it with ketchup.

Amy G said...

It's so good you're getting the hang of baking while newlywed, especially if you get Mike to help! ;)

yanmaneee said...

pandora bracelet
curry shoes
nike off white
kyrie 6 shoes
moncler jackets
longchamp outlet
adidas yeezy
lebron shoes
golden goose shoes
kyrie 4

Dolabuy replica said...

plus d'informations répliques de sacs à main ysl publié ici sacs de répliques de Chine en savoir plus Fendi Dolabuy