Plum Streusel Poppy Seed Cake

We made this cake a while ago and liked it very much. The poppyseed cake together with the juicy plums and the crispy streusel was a wonderful combination!

For the steusel:

85g Flour
50g Butter
50g Sugar
a pinch of cinnamon

Mix the flour, sugar and cinnamon together. Cut the butter into small squares and mix (with your hands) with the flour and sugar/cinnamon until very crumbly. Set aside.

For the cake:

180g softened Butter
90g Sugar (1)
90g Sugar (2)
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
90g Sugar
180g Flour
60 Ground Poppyseeds

600g plums cut in halves

To make the cake, beat the butter until foamy. Mix in the sugar (1) and keep beating the mixture until the sugar has dissolved almost completely. Add one egg yolk after the other and beat until light yellow.

Beat the egg whites and gradually add the sugar (2) until the mixture is stiff and bright white.

Sieve the flour and mix with the ground poppy seeds.

Start adding the flour/poppy seed and the egg white/sugar mixture to the egg yolk/sugar mixture, alternating between the two of them.

Pour the batter into a buttered and floured cake pan and put the plum halves on top. Crumble the Streusel on top of the plum halves and bake on 180° for about 40 minutes. Increase the temperature to 200° and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes.

Enjoy!!!

P.S. I personally would put a little less sugar...but thats only me :-)

Mojito Cake

We made this cake for Maggy's brothers Birthday and it really knocked us flat. We loved it! It really combines the flavors of mint, lime, and rum into a wonderfully light and tangy cake.

The Cake:

5 eggs
125 g Sugar
125 g Flour

Preparation:

Mix egg yolks with half of the sugar in a bowl until the mixture is foamy. Mix the egg whites in a different bowl while gradually adding the other half of the sugar until stiff. Mix the egg yolk mixture, egg white mixture, and flour together by slowly by alternatively spooning the flour and the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture. This will make a very light batter. Divide and pour the cake batter into three pans of your choice or pour the entire contents into a larger cake pan and bake until golden brown at 180 degrees Celsius. Set out on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, if you chose to make a larger cake, cut into three layers. Drizzle the rum over the cake layers as they are cooling.

The Filling and Frosting:

250 g Brown Sugar
50 g Corn Starch
1 tsp Baking Powder
700 ml Cream
250 g of Cream Cheese or Ricotta
8 Limes
150 ml Rum
10 sheets of Gelatin (This is how it is packaged over here in Europe, this may be altered if gelatin is packaged differently where you are)
A large handful of mint leaves

Preparation:

Chop most of the mint leaves finely, leaving some whole for decorating the outside of the finished cake, and add to a bowl. Add the zest, grated lime peel, of two or three limes. Add 220 g sugar and the juice of 7 limes and mix the contents of the bowl. Beat 500 ml of cream until it stiffens in a separate bowl and mix with the cream cheese or ricotta. Combine the cream mixture and the lime, mint, and sugar mixture. Dissolve the gelatin according to the instructions on the package and mix in. Put the finished filling into the refrigerator until it is cool, but still workable.

Whip the remaining cream into a whipped cream and set aside for topping the cake.

The Finished Cake:

Place first layer of cake back into the cake pan and spread half of the filling mixture over it. Next place the second layer and spread the rest of the filling over it. Top with the third layer and spread the whipped cream over the entire cake. Top with sprinkled brown sugar and decorate with lime slices and whole mint leaves. Let it cool in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before eating to let the filling firm up.

Enjoy! This is the perfect summer cake.