Semi-Homemade Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake

Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake

Look at this beauty! Super easy to make and nobody will ever know that it's not made from scratch. I wanted to make a quick cake to take to the office and didn't have time to make something from scratch, so I searched through my cupboard and dug out a box of Betty Crocker Devil's Food Cake mix. I used the regular version, but the gluten free one works just as well.


I then proceeded with the instructions on the box, switching out the water for milk, an adding a cup of roasted and ground hazelnuts, as well as about a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Pour your batter in a prepared baking dish, sprinkle with slivered almonds and bake as instructed or until a wooden pick comes out clean. Cool and serve.

Best with a cup of coffee or a glass of milk! Enjoy!

Tip: If you don't have hazelnuts use almond meal, it tastes just as nice.

Grandma's "Black" Cake ~ Added Fiber Version

My childhood memory is filled with times when I helped my Grandma bake this cake. I LOVED IT! It is to this day my absolute favorite Chocolate Cake! If I could I would eat it everyday! It has cocoa, it has coffee, it has chocolate chips, how could you not like it!

Grandma's "Black" Cake

So to make it a bit more healthy I replaced some of the flour with wheat germ. You CANNOT taste the difference. It's still chocolaty, tasty deliciousness!

Here is what you need:

2 eggs separated

100 g butter, soft in pieces

200 g flour

50 g wheat germ

2 tsp baking powder

300 g powdered sugar

5 tbsp cocoa (dark)

2 tbsp ground coffee

125 ml Latte (half strong coffee, half milk)

2 tbsp Rum (if you like)

Start by separating the eggs, reserve the yolks and whip the egg whites until firm and stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Combine the flour, the baking powder and the wheat germ in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl start beating the butter with the egg yolk and the sugar until creamy and soft, then alternating add the latte and the flour mixture in small batches while continuing to mix. Do this until all the flour and latte is used up. Once that is done add the rum, the cocoa powder and the ground coffee, keep stirring until everything is combined well.

Once you have done this you can add in some chocolate chips or slivered almonds for added texture. Then using a spatula fold in the whipped egg whites.

Fill in a prepared loaf pan and bake in a preheated 180 C/ 350F oven for about 45 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

Let Cool and ENJOY!!! 

Gluten-Free Cream Puff's / Eclairs

As more and more friends of mine have problems with gluten, I am trying to adapt certain desserts to their gluten free lifestyle. I love Eclairs/Cream Puffs and they are actually very easy to make. Well at least I think so. It probably only takes and hour or so to make them and you can have a very pretty dessert.

Here is what you need for about 12 - 16 pieces:

200 ml water
2 sprinkles of salt
50 g of butter

100 g of Quinoa flour (this will give the eclair a nutty taste)

2 - 3 eggs (I needed 3 medium eggs)
1 tbsp sugar

In a small pan boil water, salt and butter then set aside. Pour in the flour at once and put back on the stove and stir until the doug comes off the bottom of the pan in a ball. Cool down slightly.

The mix in eggs and sugar, one by one. The dough should be soft but not runny!

Using a pastry bag or two small spoons, set little balls on a prepared cookie sheet (butter them and rinse with cold water, leaving the water on, it will help the rising of the dough).

Bake in a well preheated oven at at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR WHILE BAKING! After the baking time, open oven door slightly and let them dry a bit and cool.

In the meantime you can prepare your filling. I just used whipped cream that I sweetened with sugar and a bit of vanilla and some raspberries.

Once your eclairs have cooled down, cut them open with a sharp knife or kitchen shears, fill them with the whipped cream and set the top on.



To make them look pretty, you can either sprinkle them with some powdered sugar or like I did, decorate with some yummy chocolate glaze. Now just arrange on a nice platter and there is dessert!

Bon Apetit!

Blackforrest Cake

Here is my miniature version of Blackforrest Cakes.... Delicious!

Inside Out Peppermint Patty CupCake

So, finally yesterday I got around to making the cupcakes I've been talking about. Somehow I got derailed every evening and just didn't get to it, may it have been Movie Night, Dinner or just working late.

I decided, to do something a little bit different and, because I like "After Eight" mints and "York Peppermint Patties", I felt I could incorporate those flavors in a cupcake. To work I went with just a basic batter recipe.

Here is what you need to make 12 delicious "Inside Out Peppermint Patty" Cupcakes,



For the batter:
125 g butter (unsalted), soft and cut in small cubes)
125 g flour (sifted)
125 g sugar
125 ml milk coffee (latte)
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 Tbs coffee (ground)
2 Tbs cocoa powder
1/2 cup mini dark chocolate chips
Splash of Amaretto or Rum




In a medium size bowl, whip the butter until it is soft and creamy, slowly add the sugar and the egg, while continuing to mix on high speed (you can use a hand mixer or a stand mixer). Then start mixing in flour and milk coffee, little by little, so the batter gets nice and smooth, once all that is added, add in the cocoa powder, the ground coffee and a couple splashes of Rum or Amaretto. Finally mix in the dark mini chocolate chips.


Fill the batter in the prepared cupcake pan. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Cool on a rack. While the cupcakes cool down you can prepare your frosting. I used a ready made "Pillsbury" Vanilla Frosting for this, but you can make your own. I just didn't have time to do it this time.


For the Frosting:
1 tub Vanilla Frosting
1 Tbs Peppermint extract


Mix the vanilla frosting well with the peppermint extract, so you have a nice creamy texture. Fill it in a pastry bag. Take a skewer and poke a little whole in the bottom of each cupcake, then pipe some of the frosting inside each cupcake. Change out your nozzle to a star nozzle and pipe remaining frosting on the cupcakes.
Decorate cupcakes with a mint leave and half and "After Eight". You could also just use chocolate sprinkles or thinly shaved dark chocolate.


Enjoy! 

ChocolateCoffeeCake with Chocolate Glaze

Today I felt like making something sweet that reminded me of home and my Grandmother at the same time. My Grandma used to make a cake we called "Black Chocolate Cake" and she made it for me everytime we came on vacation. The other sweet I remembered was a piece of cake we used to buy at a bakery in downtown Schaffhausen called Aschinger. It was called "Studentenschnitte" which loosely translated means "Students Slices". It is a slice of chocolate cake with a bit of crunch in it, that is covered with a chocolate and powdered sugar white glaze.

My hubby went out with friends so I got to work. I grabbed my Grandma's recipe and went to town, measuring and calculating ingredients. So I pretty much mixed the things I remembered together.

For the cake batter:

2 eggs (separate egg yolk and egg whites)
100 g unsalted butter
160 g flour
50 g ground almonds
50 g bread crumbs
300 g confectioners (powdered) sugar
4 Tbs cocoa powder
3 Tbs ground coffee beans
250 ml milk coffee
Splash of rum or amaretto
Splash of vanilla essence
1 Ts Cinnamon
14 g baking powder


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare round cake pan so cake won't stick. I butter it first and then pour some bread crumbs in it, swing it around and bread crumbs will stick to the butter. Shake off the excess and set aside

Separate eggs and beat egg whites until little peaks form, you can tell it's ready when you can turn the bowl upside down and the egg white doesn't come out.

Mix bread crumbs, cocoa, ground coffee beans and ground almonds in a bowl and set aside. Then mix butter, egg yolk and sugar until fluffy, add in rum/amaretto and vanilla essence. Little by little add flour, baking powder, liquid and bread crumb mixture. Once all ingredients are mixed gently fold in egg whites.

Pour into prepared cake pan and bake in pre-heated oven for about an 50 minutes to an hour. You can test if the cake is done by sticking a wooden skewer in it. If it comes out clean the cake is done.

Before applying the glaze I covered it with apricot jelly. To spread it better you need to thin it out a bit and maybe you have to put it through a sieve to get an even consistency. So just take a couple of tablespoons of apricot jelly, a little bit of water and heat in the microwave, stir until combined then pour on the cake and let dry for 15 minutes.

Now you're ready to glaze your cake. You can use a store bought chocolate glaze or you can make one. Mine was very easy

150 g dark chocolate
50 g unsalted butter
50 g powdered sugar
1 1/2 Tbs water

Melt chocolate, butter, sugar and water in a thin walled bowl over a pan of barely boiling water (don't let the bowl touch the water). Once it smoothly runs over a turned spoon it is ready to go on the cake.

Just pour on the cake and tilt cake from left to right to cover cake evenly. Do not use a knife or spatula, it will prevent the cake from being shiny. Let dry and then serve with some whipped cream and a nice cup of coffee!

YUMMY!