Owen's Birthday Cake

Time to show a birthday cake for a change. It was Owen's 8th birthday Tuesday but we celebrated it Saturday. It was a very hot day: 35º C (95º F) when I was in the kitchen making the cake that morning. No airco in the house but with the fan next to me it was comfortable to work. I had baked the (carrot)cake the day before and had frosted the layers and outside already so it was the decoration what had to be done yet. It was too warm to decorate the cake with a butter/cream cheese frosting, which I always do. It would have been too soft. I used marzipan instead. I had never made a cake with this so why not give it a try. For boys, a super hero cake is always a winner.  I made a mix of three super heroes. 
I was satisfied with the result.

Owen cutting the cake....

...while everybody is watching.

Carrot Cake with Banana

Mostly when I make a kids birthday cake I use a carrot cake recipe. Most children I know of love carrot cake.
For the Lightning Queen Cake cake I changed the recipe I normally make a bit and added bananas to it and omitted the nuts. It was delicious and a succes as the cake was gone in a minute.
Will add a picture later as I haven't made one of the cake itself.
Cake:
4 eggs
200 grams light brown sugar
200 ml sunflower oil
250 grams flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
300 grams grated carrots
2 ripe bananas mashed
60 grams chopped walnuts

Frosting:
50 grams butter
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
100 grams cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanille extract

cake pan with removable bottom, greased (Ø24 cm)

Preheat oven to 170 C (350°F)
Grease and flour cake pan.
Into a bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and the sugar together until pale and thick.
Whisk in the oil and vanille extract.
Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Mix well.
Then add the carrots, banana and walnuts and stir until well blended.
Pour the mixture into the cake pan.
Bake for about 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Cool on a rack.

For the frosting - beat the butter and cream cheese together, then add the sugar and vanilla. Spread onto the cooled cake.

Ontbijtkoek - Honey Spice Cake

De afgelopen dagen heb ik mijn nieuwe oven uitgeprobeerd. Het is even wennen. Ik heb nl. een dubbele oven, die ik kan scheiden met een verdeelplaat, zodat ik twee ovens kan creeren. Het is vooral handig als je één gerecht maakt of even wat brood wil afbakken. D.m.v de verdeelplaat hoeft de hele oven niet verwarmd te worden dus energie zuiniger. Tot nu toe ben ik er wel tevreden mee...

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The past days I've tried out my new oven. It's a double oven. and can be devided in two compartments creating two different and independent ovens. Great for baking one dish or bake off some bread. No need to turn on the whole oven = energy saving. Also I can cook two dishes at two different temperatures. So far I'm happy with this oven...

Vandaag dit recept van ontbijtkoek uit geprobeerd. Aan dit recept is geen suiker toegevoegd. In plaats daarvan rozijnen en gedroogde abrikozen wat het ook zoet maakt.

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Today I made ontbijtkoek, literally translates as "Breakfast Cake", is a typical Dutch spice cake often served for breakfast with a thick layer of butter on top but is also good as a snack served with a cup of coffee. It's made without fat and eggs, so quite healthy. There are different ways of making ontbijtkoek depending on the region. My version is without sugar. I added raisins and dried apricots to make it sweet.

Ontbijtkoek met noten

75 gram rozijnen
50 gram gedroogde abrikozen
50 gram appelstroop
100 gram vloeibare honing
1,5 dl. melk
250 gram volkorenbloem
2 tl kaneel
1 tl koekkruiden
1 zakje bakpoeder
75 gram walnoten

• Hak de abrikozen in kleinere stukjes, doe ze met de rozijnen in een kom en klop er 1 eetlepel bloem door.
• Verwarm de oven voor op 175 º C
• Roer in een kom de appelstroop, honing en melk door elkaar.
• Meng de droge ingredienten: volkorenbloem, kaneel, koekkruiden en bakpoeder door elkaar in een andere kom.
• Roer dit door het melkmengsel.
• Meng er tenslotte de rozijnen, abrikozen en noten door.
• Schep het beslag in een ingevet cakeblik (1 liter inhoud)
• Baktijd ± 1 uur. Na 40 minuten de koek bedekken met aluminiumfolie als de bovenkant te donker dreigt te worden.

Honey Spice Cake

1/2 cup raisins

2/3 cups dried apricots

2 tbsp applebutter (2 oz)

1/3 cup liquid honey

1.5 dl. milk

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon koekkruiden *

4 tsp baking powder

1 cup walnuts chopped

• Chop the dried apricots in small pieces and put them, together with the raisins, in a small bowl. Stir in  1 tablespoon of flour.
• Pre-heat  oven to 350º C.
• In a bowl mix applebutter, honey and milk.
• In another bowl mix the dry ingredients: whole wheat flour, cinnamon, koekkruiden and baking powder. Stir this into the milk mixture.
• Add the raisins, apricots and nuts and mix well.
• Pour this into a greased loaf pan
• Bake for ± 1 hour. After 40 minutes cover with aluminum foil to prevent burning.

* Koekkruiden is a mix of spices. It resembles pumpkin spice. There are variations as far as the spices used.

This is a simple recipe :

1 tbsp ground cloves

1 1/2 tbsp nutmeg

1 tbsp ginger

1/4 tsp black pepper

This one contains more spices:

6 tsp cinnamon

1tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cloves

1tsp ground piment

1/2 tsp ground white pepper

1 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp ground anise seeds

1 tsp ground ginger