Lemon Griestorte

 

So... we are moving! No not moving to another country, although at this point that's how i feel. Ro has been wanting to move out of central London into the suburbs for, well, bigger house, more space, not wanting to stare into the neighbours rooms, countryside a stones throw away and so on. I on the other hand have been clinging on to our conveniently located apartment and every time Ro brought up moving I'd retaliate and it would end up in a fight. And then it happened. The owners decided to sell the apartment and in 4 days it got sold. So we had no choice but to take that decision to finally move out. On one hand i want a bigger house, more space to store my junk etc etc, but on the other i really don't care about a larger place..its just more difficult to maintain and I'm so not a suburb girl, im a hard core city girl..which makes me realise after 9 years how different Ro and I are. Why did we not talk about things like this when we were courting?

So yes, we are moving to the other end of London (well, if i can still call it London), to Amersham. It is a beautiful lil place, the kind i love- quaint cafes, nice shops, no high street brands etc etc. But its on the last possible stop on the Metropolitan line, is an easy 45 minute to an hour trek into c. London and worse of all, i have to start driving. I have been so used to hopping on a bus from right in front of my apartment and now with this move i have to drive and do all the formalities that come with it. I thought i'd left behind driving and traffic back in India!

 

Ro and I have been arguing ever since this move has come up because unlike all other men, Ro needs to have an opinion about every thing. Even what frikking colour the table cloth should be. We have been looking at houses to buy and have given us till end of the year to settle on something. I have been pinning things for 'the' home right from when Pinterest came into existence and Ro (being all technical and practical and bloody irritating to the core) has just taken all the fun out of setting up a new home. I know, its a long way off, so i have, for the moment decided to back off and cross the bridge when i get to it. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to notice I'm upset and angry and has conveniently gone about figuring things out on his own!!!!

Anyhoo, we move end of the month and it takes 3 weeks to get a darn Internet connection, so this is going to be my last post for a while. I baked this cake to take to a friends and it was well received. It screams of summer (wishful thinking) and takes absolutely no time to bake. Its apparently a German cake and gries means semolina. I baked it twice in a weeks time and that says a lot about the cake. Its quite versatile in the sense you can change the flavours from lemon to orange to passion fruit to plain vanilla, fill with fruits of choice, and end up with a gorgeous cake. There is no rising agent or oil or butter, its purely the eggs that give it the light and airy texture. Don't deflate the eggs and more importantly, don't over cook. If you feel that the cake springs back to the touch, just take it out of the oven irrespective of the time.

Recipe adapted from here

 

Eggs- 3 large, separated

Caster sugar- 110 gms

Lemon juice- of half a large lemon

Vanilla extract- 1/4 tsp (optional)

Lemon zest- of one large lime

Fine semolina- 50 gms

Powdered almonds- 1 tbsp

Double cream- 150 ml

Icing sugar- 1 tbsp 

Vanilla extract- 1/4 tsp

Lemon curd- 3 tbsp

Pre-heat oven to 180C, grease and line a 9 x 2 inch jelly roll pan (or 2 6 inch cake pans) with baking paper

Place the separated egg yolk into a large bowl and whisk well with the caster sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract till they turn pale and thick. I just whisked using a wire whisk but feel free to use a hand blender or free standing mixer.

Fold in the lemon zest, semolina and powdered almonds gently and keep aside. A spatula makes this easier.

Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until soft peaks form. A hand blender or a free standing mixer with whisk attachment is advised or else you'd just end up with aching arms. That said, I've done it a few times before and its not as bad as it sounds.

Using a spatula fold the egg white into the yolk mix gently, making sure you don't deflate the batter.

Transfer the batter into the prepared cake pans and bake in the centre rack of the oven for about 17 minutes for the jelly roll pan and about 20 minutes for the 6 inch cake pans. Make sure you don't over cook or it becomes tough. 

Its done when you gently press down the cake with your finger and it springs right back.

Take out of the oven and let it sit for about 10 minutes after which you can turn it out on to a cooling rack, peel off the baking paper and leave to cool completely.

Use a round cutter to cut out mini cakes of your choice and assemble. 

For the filling, whip the double cream with icing sugar and vanilla extract till peaks form, again make sure you don't over do this or it will start to curdle.

Place the cake on a plate and spread the lemon curd generously.

Top with the whipped cream, spread it around, it really doesn't need to be all even.

Top with the second cake, sift some icing sugar on top and serve.

Notes: The cake can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring it to room temperature before serving (if its not too warm) if possible.

The sponge can be made a day or two ahead , cooled, cling wrapped and kept in a container till ready to assemble.

Cooking time is crucial for a sponge cake. I  took mine out in about 18 minutes and it had cooked a bit too much already. However, when i did the layer cake the first time, it took me 20 minutes and it was perfect consistency.

From the above measurement you'd get only around 3 cakes, and the rest of the cake was eaten up on its own. I suggest you double the recipe if you wanted to serve it as a dessert for a larger group. I did this method for some variety, but i strongly suggest the layer cake if you wanted to serve at a party. It would serve 6 to 7 people.

Replace the lemon curd with any curd of choice- mango, passion fruit etc.

Almond crinkle cookies

After a really long time I took my camera out to take some pics only to realise there was absolutely no motivation. But since it was a sunny day (for a change) and since I didn't have anything in my drafts to post, I decided to bake and make use of the lighting to take some pics.

I had bookmarked a recipe for almond crinkle cookies, but then the measurements seemed a bit confusing and so I ended up doing my own thing. I was 90 percent sure it wouldn't work out, but was pleasantly surprised at the end result. I made chocolate crinkle cookies a long time back and it is one of my most popular posts on the blog. They are an absolute crowd pleaser and perfect gifts- especially Christmas, because those powdered sugar tops make them look like snow mountains.

 

Anyways, we are not here to talk about the chocolate crinkles are we? The star here are the almond crinkles which are not bad at all, in fact I like them better than the choc crinkles and hot out of the oven, they are delish. I also thought they were easier to put together compared to the choc ones- the entire process was done in half an hour. Its a one-bowl, no-fuss recipe which I'm sure I'll be making again.

The pictures however, are horrible. Once I was done with baking, my mind just went blank. I just didn't know how to style them and make them look great. Even the perfect lighting couldn't inspire me. So I just chucked them all in a bowl and did the easiest possible thing...used a white background and back lighting to take boring pics. That said, I took 125 pics of the same damn thing in different angles. Transferred them on to the computer only to realise most of them were out of focus and the harsh lighting was hurting my eyes. So I had to re-do the whole setting with diffused lighting and then cleaning up the mess just made it so exhausting, I stayed away from pictures and editing and writing for two days. Hence the delay in posting the recipe after teasing you all with the picture on fb. Apologies!

Makes 20 small cookies

Egg- 1 medium

Granulated sugar- 63 grams

Lime juice- 1/2 tsp (optional)

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp (optional)

Ground almonds- 150 gms

Fine semolina- 40 gms

Baking powder- 1/2 tsp

Vegetable oil- 1 tbsp 

Powdered sugar- to roll the cookies

Beat the egg and sugar together in a mixing bowl till pale yellow. I used my hand whisk to do this, but feel free to use a hand blender if you please.

Add the lime juice and vanilla extract to it and continue whisking till well mixed.

Throw in the ground almonds, semolina and baking powder one after the other and fold it all in using a spatula. The mix would be slightly coarse, but that's ok. Just make sure you mix it well.

Pour the vegetable oil and give a thorough mix till they all come together.

You can either chuck the bowl into the refrigerator for a couple of minutes for the dough to set which would make it easier to roll, but I didnt need to do this as the dough was of perfect consistency.

Even after you have refrigerated, if your mix still is a little too loose, just add more semolina, or if its too thick, loosen it up with a few drops of milk.

In the mean time, preheat your oven to 160C and get the baking tray ready with baking paper.

Put a couple of spoons of powdered sugar on a plate and start rolling the dough.

Wet you hands lightly and make small balls with the dough (about half tbsp per ball) and roll in icing sugar. The ball should be completely covered with icing sugar.

place them about an inch apart on the baking sheet. The cookies expand when baking and the icing sugar cracks giving it that crinkly top effect.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Take out of the oven and cool for about 5 minutes after which you can (eat them non stop or) transfer on to a wire rack and cool completely before storing in air tight containers or zip lock bags.

Notes: Feel free to double the recipe for a larger batch
I used gluten free baking powder.

The cookies are not really crunchy, but more cakey in consistency (in a nice sort of way, I promise). bake them a little longer if you want them crunchy