12 Cakes12 Months: Mixed Fruit Cake

I need to tell you about the December cake to close the 12 Cakes 12 Months project. It was quite an all year long challenge and searching for a new recipe was time-consuming. Besides, experimenting with the unknown recipes was also risky as we were never sure what we would get and whether the cake was worth trying at all. In this meaning, the project got a bit old during the year. It was often easier to make a cake which we had already had and which we liked or use a cake/cobbler mix when there was not much time for baking.

However, in December I came across that really good recipe for a cranberry loaf cake. I did make it for Christmas. Although the recipe calls for fresh cranberries, I used dried fruit mix - cranberries, cherries, and blueberries.

The cake looked and tasted similarly to the Polish traditional Christmas 'keks' which is a fruit cake as well. Actually, when my husband saw the December cake, he thought it was the kind of Polish cake which he had eaten during our November stay in Poland.

Anyway, the December cake was very popular with our guests who visited us on Christmas Day. It was really tasty, especially when served warm (after 20min microwaving before serving).

I made the cake again in January and we enjoyed it too. Needless to say, it 'disappeared' quite quickly as well.
I am going to keep the recipe by the Southern Lady. Very likely, the fruit loaf cake will become part of our Christmas traditions.

All in all, during the entire project, we experimented with 12 cakes/recipes. The ones which we liked best (besides the December one) were
mandarin pie,
vanilla cake,
pineapple cake,
coconut pie, and
blueberry cake.

It was all worth trying - I am glad I found quite a few, new and enjoyable cakes. On the other hand, I admit I am glad the challenge is over and now I can make any cake whenever I want to or choose not to bake anything at all.

12 Cakes 12 Months: #1 Crescent Cherry Cheesecake

Here is my first entry on my 2016 cake project challenge. The first cake I made a couple of days ago was crescent cherry cheesecake - you can find the recipe here. When my husband tasted it for the first time, he said 'Real treat'. We like all cherry pie filling based cakes and pies so we enjoyed the  cheesecake too. However, the best and the tastiest part of it was the topping made of oatmeal, brown sugar, pecans and milk and powdered sugar glaze. The crescent rolls bottom and the cheese were not that good. Maybe a reason was that I used vanilla extract instead of almond (did not have almond extract). Anyway, next time, if when I make this kind of cherry cheesecake again, I will try to modify it a bit. Maybe I will use the pie crust layer, not the crescent rolls.

If you want to join my 2016 cake project,  join this Facebook group and share your 'cake entries' there. I will link your monthly challenge results below my project post.

Widoczny na zdjęciu sernik z wiśniami to moje pierwsze podejście projektowe z serii 12 Ciast 12 Miesięcy. Przepis znalazłam tutaj. Sernik był bardzo smaczny, szczególnie jego górna warstwa: mieszanina płatków owsianych, brązowego cukru, orzechów pekanowca i polewy na bazie cukru pudru i mleka. Dolna część stanowiła słabszy punkt wypieku. Może przyczyną tego była fakt, że zamiast olejku migdałowego (okazało się, że nie mam - 'wyszedł') użyłam waniliowego, a może spód z cienkiego ciasta (gotowe - do kupienia w tutejszych sklepach) na rogaliki niezbyt się sprawdził.

Następnym razem spróbuję ten sernik trochę zmodyfikować. Może kruche ciasto na spodzie będzie smaczniejsze.

Jak zrobić ciasto:

A potem polukrować.

A jakie ciasto Wy pieczecie w tym miesiącu? Chętnie dodam tu linki do Waszych postów związanych z projektem 12 Ciast 12 Miesięcy'.
Zapraszam do przyłaczenia się do projektowej grupy na FB!

Taste of (Polish) Summer

Summer in Poland means, besides warmer weather, fresh fruit based dishes. At least to me.
Strawberries served with cream and sugar, blueberry pierogi, plum knedle, blueberry soup and cherry soup made by my mum. All so very tasty and refreshing at the same time!
I enjoy having and making various kinds of food: Southern, Tex-Mex, Asian, Italian or, generally speaking, European. But, sometimes I do crave the meals we had at home in Poland. The familiar/favorite tastes of the cuisine not available here. Since I am not good at making any type of pierogi (I have tried a few times but the results were rather miserable), I do not even attempt to cook anything like that these days. That is why, missing the summer Polish dishes, I finally cooked cherry soup. Easy to make and so enjoyable! All you need is the fruit, water, sugar and some cornstarch ( I used Polish potato flour instead). Some time ago I bought a bag of frozen, pitted cherries - I thought I would make a pie. Later I forgot about them. When the crave for the fruit meals came, I had the key ingredient in the freezer, ready to be cooked.

What I used (for two servings):

• 1 bag (12 oz) frozen (pitted) sweet, dark cherries  - I used about 99% of the bag content
• water,
• 3 TBS sugar,
• about 1 TBS potato flour (cornstarch),
• 2 qt pan.
• And: 1/2 cup elbow pasta.

 

What to do with it:

1. Cover frozen cherries with water and cook (at 4) to boil, add sugar (the soup should be refreshing, not too sweet). 
2. Mix potato flour (or cornstarch) with a bit of cold water, add this mixture to the soup, to thicken it (do not make it too thick!), stir, cook for about two minutes. If it happens that the soup gets too thick, add some more cold water.
3. Remove from heat and chill.
4. Cook the pasta according to the instructions provided by its manufacturer.
5. Serve the chilled soup with pasta.

I had not eaten this kind of soup for about four years, so I was quite happy when I made it. It was sooooooooo good! Next time I will make blueberry soup - soon!

Totally Decadent Cake

This delicious and light cake was made with the help of Black Forest Cake kit we had bought around Christmas. The box we got at Aldi's included: chocolate cake mix, cherry filling mix and cream powder mix. The products I had to add were: three eggs, whipping cream, milk and a can of pitted cherries + juice which was in the can. The procedure of making this dessert is quite time consuming even when using the kit: it took me about two hours to create this Schwarzwald Torte. But the result is great - the cake is light and tasty, not too sweet and it looks good too!

Maraschino cherries decorate the cake.

The torte: two layers of cake. I used two round, 9'' tins to bake them (baking time = 20 minutes).
The lower part is covered with the sweet cherry filling + whipped cream put onto it. The upper layer of the cake goes on  the creamy part. Next, the rest of the whipped cream + the flakes of grated dark chocolate go on the top and sides of the Black Forest Cake.
It all makes a really special and enjoyable  treat! Next time I will possibly try to make the cake from the scratch (have found a recipe which looks quite good and useful) unless I wait till the next holiday season, when Aldi stores will have the Black Forest Cake kit again.

A piece of decadent cake: lots of pleasure but low standards meaning a proper diet. :)