Nectarine Upside-Down Cake

La versione Italiana, più giù.
After such a lousy day at work, this what happened! sweet ha?
I really tried to indulge myself with something pretty, yet, easy for my sweet tooth :)
If you are too lazy to bake, have a look on this article ( how to survive a lousy day-like mine-)

This simple cake is terrific on its own, but feel free to up the ante with lightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla-bean ice cream. Try other fruit like peaches or plums in place of the nectarines. And since it is the end of summer, I found nectarine is ripened and gorgeous..

 oh yeah..look at mine :)

First, pick your self a pretty nectarine.

Sifting your flour gives fantastic results in cake baking, mark my word and try it yourself!

Rule no. one, sift your flour in all cakes

Do you see that? my flour after sifting..

Those are your ingredients plus baking powder and baking soda.. you have them, right?

Butter your pan and add 1 TB of brown sugar

Arrange your nectarine slices

cream your butter

Cream your sugar with the butter

After adding your egg, add your vanilla

Start adding your flour alternatively with yogurt or buttermilk 

Your creamy gorgeous batter

Bake for 20 minutes in a preheated oven e voilà!

Let it sit for ten minutes on a wire rack inside the pan

Ready, steady, GO !

Nectarine upside down Cake

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature.
2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar , divided
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk or yogurt.

1 ripened nectarine or peach.

How to:

• Preheat oven to 180 c, placing the rack in the middle. Butter and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of brown sugar into  a 20 cm round cake pan, arrange your nectarine slices and keep ready.
• Whisk together all  dry ingredients.
• Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until  fluffy; then beat in the vanilla. Add the egg and beat.
• Switch  to low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, do NOT over-beat.
• With a spatula, spread batter over nectarines. Bake until cake is dark golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes . Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack, 10 minutes. now invert cake onto a serving plate. 

La versione Italiana

Ingredienti:

• 1 tazza di farina 00 ( 130 gm) ( Il mulino Chiavazza)
• 1/2 cucchiaino di lievito in polvere per dolci.
• Mezzo cucchiaino di bicarbonato di sodio
• 1/4 cucchiaino di sale
• 60 gm di burro non salato, ammorbidito
• 2/3 tazza più 1 1/2 cucchiai di zucchero di canna, diviso
• Mezzo cucchiaino di estratto di vaniglia puro ( oppure una bustina di vanillina) 
• 1 uovo grande fresco.
• 1/2 tazza di yogurt ( 100 gm)
• 1 nettarine  o pesca.

Come si fa:

1. Preriscaldare il forno a 180 °C,  Burrate e cospargete1 cucchiaio di zucchero di canna in un 9 pollici tortiera rotonda, organizzare le vostre fette di pesche  e tenere a disposizione.
2. Mescolare insieme la farina, il lievito, il bicarbonato e il sale.
3. Sbattere il burro e lo zucchero con uno sbattitore elettrico a velocità medio-alta fino ad essere chiaro e spumoso, questo dovrebbe durare circa 3 minuti, poi aggiungere la vaniglia. Infine aggiungere l'uovo e sbattere bene per altri 2 minuti.
4. A questo punto aggiungere la farina in 3 lotti, in alternanza con il yogurt, iniziando e terminando con la farina e mescolare fino a che unito appena. 
5. Con una spatola,  versate  tutto l'impasto nella tortiera ,  infornate a 180° per 25 minuti circa . Per accertarvi dell’avvenuta cottura punzecchiate la torta con uno stecchino; se quando l’estrarrete sarà asciutto, la torta sarà pronta per essere sfornata. Una volta tiepida toglietela dallo stampo e lasciatela raffreddare completamente su di una gratella..
6.  Servire calda o a temperatura ambiente magari col gelato.... MMMM!

Ready to DIG IN ??

 The fluffiest cake I've ever made !

My daughter insisted on taking a photo with that pretty cake.. 


As featured on Foodgawker

Apple Coffee Cake

  It is officially fall here in Italy, and the apple . No, this is not the real reason I made this cake actually I wanted to make or re-make the nectarine upside down cake I made yesterday but I ran out of nectarine; that's why I used my apples.. and it turned out absolutely delish!!!

The term coffee cake can refer to any of the following:

• A class of cakes intended to be eaten alongside coffee (for example, as part of a breakfast meal) or that may be eaten during a "coffee break" or offered to guests as a gesture of hospitality on or around a coffee table. Under this definition, a coffee cake does not necessarily contain coffee. They are typically single layer cakes that may be square or rectangular like a Stollen or loaf-shaped rectangular cakes, or they may be ring shaped. Coffee cakes may be flavored with cinnamon or other spices, seeds, nuts and fruits. These cakes sometimes have a crumbly or crumb topping called streusel and/or a light glaze drizzle. Some similarity to teacakes may be found, though teacakes are often smaller individual items served with tea.

• A cake, often sponge cake, which is made with coffee or has a coffee flavor.

First of all prepare this:

You will need an apple, flour, Baking powder, brown sugar, butter,  an egg, yogurt and vanilla extract

Peel and slice your apple

Add to them  2 TB brown sugar mixed with 1/2 ts cinnamon

Cream your butter with your sugar

Now, add your egg and mix

start adding your flour alternating with yogurt till both finish

your batter should look like that!

Now, the fun part... add half the batter in your pan and spread it evenly 

Start adding your apple slices

Now add the rest of the batter and BAKE!

e Voilà !

Apple Coffee Cake

You will need :

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar , divided
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 125 gm Greek yoghurt or butter milk
• 1 large apple, sliced and peeled,1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 TB brown sugar .

How to:

•  Preheat oven to 400°F, 180 c, placing the rack in the middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan and keep ready. or use a comfort silicon pan like mine, I love it!
• Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy; this should take about 3 minutes, then beat in the vanilla. Finally add the egg and beat well for another 2 minutes.
• Switch the mixer setting to low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk or yogurt, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined. Remember, do NOT over-beat.
•  Spoon half the prepared batter into the cake pan, add your apple  then spoon the rest of your batter.
• Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, roughly about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in the cake pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely. Invert it onto a serving plate.
• By the way, this cake tastes just like a good-soft- apple pie.Yummm :)

A quick hint this cake best served when hot, heat it up a lil in a microwave.. add a scoop of vanilla ice-cream on top and ENJOY!

Your lovely comments and suggestions make me happy!

No- Bake cheese cake

Did I mention that it is EGGLESS as well ????

Look , it is really the easiest , yet fancy dessert I've ever made .
A friend , recommended it and ... no , let's get baking! ooops! I mean refrigerating :)

first , add your softened cream cheese plus your powdered sugar and  mix. 

Soften gelatin in cold water, pour 50 ml  of cream in a saucepan, heat it over low heat, add the drained and squeezed gelatine and stir until it is dissolved. ( no photo , hate me ? )

Add your cream-gelatin mix to your cheese

Now whip your cream 

Mix your cheese mix with your whipped cream very gently 

  Now , after you mixed your whipped cream with the  cheese mixture .. add everything to the prepared springform pan lined with your cracker-butter base. 

And this is what happened after I left it four hours in the fridge :)

 you will need :

200 g fresh strawberries 

80 g of butter
1 vanilla bean
250 g Philadelphia Classic cream cheese 
15 g of gelatin in sheets or 1TB powdered gelatin .200 g  graham crackers or whatever butter cookies of your choice
200 ml fresh cream ( whipping cream or heavy cream )
100 g icing sugar.


Preparation :

1-Cut the butter into cubes, melt it over low heat, chop the crackers, mince them in a blender and, with the apparatus in motion, pour the melted butter. Pour the mixture into the bottom of a round  springform Pan  16 cm in diameter ,press it with the back of a spoon and cool in refrigerator for 15 minutes.
2. Soften gelatin in cold water, pour 50 ml  of cream in a saucepan, heat it over low heat, add the drained and squeezed gelatine and stir until it is dissolved. Slit the vanilla bean length wise in, picked out the seeds with the help of a spoon and mix in a bowl withClassic and Philadelphia with 80 g of powdered sugar, until mixture is soft and creamy.
3. add your gelatin mixture into your cheese one .4.Whip the remaining cream, then add the whipped  cream to the cheese mixure , stirring with a movement from below upwards and spoon the mixture over the biscuit base. Let  the cheesecake to harden  in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, remove from the mold and complete it with raspberries , strawberries or whatever berries of your choice.. 

For the strawberry sauce click here . Versione Italiana :

Ingredienti

• 200 g di lamponi
• 80 g di burro
• 1 baccello di vaniglia
• 250 g di frutti di bosco misti tra fragoline, mirtilli, ribes rosso
• 1 limone
• 250 g di Philadelphia Classico in vaschetta
• 15 g di gelatina in fogli
• 200 g di frollini al cioccolato
• 2 dl di panna fresca da montare
• 100 g di zucchero al velo

Preparazione

1.    Tagliate il burro a dadini, scioglietelo su fiamma bassissima, spezzettate i frollini, tritateli nel mixer e, con l'apparecchio in movimento, versate a filo il burro sciolto. Versate il composto ottenuto sul fondo di uno stampo rotondo a cerniera di 16 cm di diametro foderato con carta da forno, compattatelo con il dorso di un cucchiaio e raffreddatelo in frigorifero per 15 minuti.

2.       Ammorbidite la gelatina in acqua fredda, versate mezzo dl di panna in un pentolino, scaldatelo su fiamma bassa, unite la gelatina sgocciolata e strizzata e mescolate fino a che si è sciolta. Incidete il baccello di vaniglia nel senso della lunghezza, prelevate i semini con l'aiuto di un cucchiaino e mescolateli in una ciotola con Philadelphia Classico e con 80 g di zucchero a velo, fino ad ottenere un composto soffice e cremoso.

3.       Montate la panna rimasta, amalgamate la gelatina al composto precedente, unite la panna mescolando con movimento dal basso verso l'alto per non smontarla e versate il tutto sopra la base di biscotti. Lasciate solidificare il cheese-cake in frigorifero per almeno 4 ore, toglietelo dallo stampo e completatelo con i lamponi frullati con lo zucchero al velo rimasto e con il succo di mezzo limone, e con i frutti di bosco lavati e asciugati.

1.

Strawberry Cake

  

   If life gives you strawberries ... make a strawberry cake, right?

I found this easy and quick recipe on Tastespotting and I loved the idea of how it is REALLY easy to make . 

Well here  are some useful hints :

-Do make your own buttermilk , Take 1 cup of milk and add 1 Tbsp. of lemon juice or vinegar to it. Let it stand for 5 minutes, and then stir well to get homemade buttermilk in minutes!

- You can replace strawberries with raspberries , blackberries or cherries !

- Add some whipped cream when serving it.

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar , divided
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk ( recipe above )
1 cup fresh strawberries.

•  Preheat oven to 400°F, placing the rack in the middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan and keep ready.
• Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy; this should take about 3 minutes, then beat in the vanilla. Finally add the egg and beat well for another 2 minutes.
• Switch the mixer setting to low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined. Remember, do NOT over-beat.
• Fold in half of the strawberries into the batter. Spoon the prepared batter into the cake pan, smoothing it on the top. Scatter the remaining strawberries evenly over the top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar.
• Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, roughly about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in the cake pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely. Invert it onto a serving plate.

Partially adapted from Smitten kitchen  .