STICKY APPLE & PUMPKIN BUNDT CAKE WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE RUM ICING

     Waking up today I only had one memory in mind. My first trip to France. The very first moment everything about my younger self changed. I was only 6 years old, when my parents took me and my brother to Paris to enjoy the city and have fun in the Disneyland park. Little did I know what this trip and the following ones that came would do to my priorities in life. I know everyone talks about quitting their corporate jobs and start travelling the world. I'm not going to say I encourage this, since I don't believe it's even close to reality. But I will say that one may keep their hard earned money to travel the word and let your mind make all the nice memories you will remember during the old times.

    Of course, I can't stop thinking about where to go next. There are so many places I haven't been to, especially outside of Europe and I want to visit them all (if I can). This Christmas, we will enjoy our time with some friends in Copenhagen, the happiest city in the world...or so they say. I can't wait to go there, back to the Scandinavian lands. Back in 2011 I lived in Stockholm for 3 months and I still remember how beautiful the city was and how magnificent the scenery appeared. I believe the same about Copenhagen and I can't wait for the time to come to explore it. Food wise I have some things on my mind I would like to eat and share with you on the blog. So be prepared!

     It's about time I shared with you a recipe I made last week. During fall and winter I tend to make a lot of different cake recipes and if there is one that I love is a classic bundt cake. This recipe, apart from delicious, it was also very exciting because I used two cake forms that I got from a special antique shop here in Zurich. Brockenhaus is a secret paradise if you love antique plates or furniture. On my last trip there I found some English porcelain, the two cake forms from porcelain and ceramic, two ceramic coffee cups and much more. These items probably came from someone who passed away or didn't need them anymore and I'm sure they have some great story to tell. Whatever it is, now it's part of my collection of items that I love!

     Apples and pumpkins are both in season right now, so making the best of these two ingredients should be your goal until the end of autumn. And who doesn't enjoy a slice of cake with their afternoon coffee or with their Sunday morning brunch? With simple ingredients and keeping up my mojo of using olive oil in my cake batters, this one experiment turned out to be so damn good!

     You can serve it without the icing of course, with just a dash of icing sugar or completely plain. That's how delicious it is and moist. But I do urge you to try this simple white chocolate and rum frosting on top. It will take your taste buds completely by surprise.

Apple & Pumpkin Bundt Cake with a White Chocolate & Rum Icing

ingredients

for the cake

1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup oats

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 medium sized apples chopped

1/2 cup raisins

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

for the icing

100gr white chocolate

1/2 cup full fat milk

2 to 3 drops of rum essence

zest of one lemon

How do I make it?

1. Prepare your cake pan, preferably one for bundt cakes, by laying some butter at the bottom. In a bowl, whisk your eggs and olive oil well and then add the pumpkin puree. Whisk again until you have a nice mixture. Pour inside the vanilla, mix one more time and leave aside. 

2. Get a bigger bowl or the bowl of your standing mixer and pour inside the flour, sugar, oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir well all the ingredients and start adding in small doses the liquid mixture. Mix well until everything is smooth. 3. Stop the mixer, if you're using an electric mixer to mix and add inside the apples and raisins. Start stirring with a wooden spatula. Turn your oven to 180C and while you wait, pour the cake batter into the prepared cake form. Bake your cake for 45 to 50 minutes. You will need to check by using a toothpick. If the toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, then your cake is ready.

4. Take your cake out of the oven and let it cool off completely. When you want to make the icing, simply put the chocolate and milk in a bowl and use a microwave to heat up the chocolate. You will get a sort of watery mixture, but don't be scared, we don't want a very thick icing. Add inside the drops of rum and lemon zest and mix well. While the icing is still hot, pour it on top of the cake.

PUMPKIN AND DARK CHOCOLATE MARBLE CAKE

     The first thing that comes to mind when I think about growing up is that I get to have friends that teach me new experiences every day and become a valuable part of my life. Those friends are far more different than the friends I had a decade ago in the sense that now I can see a deeper and more meaningful connection to those individuals I chose to call friends. So, it is not a surprise that yesterday was spent again with lots of friends in top of the Swiss mountains. We hiked for about 3 hours and then enjoyed a very Swiss meal. What a wonderful and full Sunday we had!

    Of course, my mind today was still on yesterday's adventures and memories. But also, I wanted to come home from work so that I can start writing a delicious recipe I created on Saturday. It's been a long time since I baked a loaf cake that can be enjoyed with a warm cup of coffee. I guess there is no better time than autumn to start getting back onto baking treats to be enjoyed with the cold weather. This period there is a pumpkin overload everywhere and recipes with this tasty vegetable must have probably overcrowded your feed. I suggest you add this recipe to your list of things to bake and eat this autumn, cause I promise you will love this cake recipe.

     Overall I find cakes to be interesting when they combine taste with appearance as well. A marble cake is always something that fascinates the eye and gives you a combination of different flavours. Chocolate pairs well with almost everything (even salty food) and I knew that it would be a good match with a pumpkin cake. Once again for this recipe, I used olive oil instead of butter and it's actually the tip I give to everyone when they ask me how to make their cakes soft and last longer. Use olive oil! It's a miracle maker with guarantee. 

     This cake recipe is quite simple depending how much of the ingredients you already have in hand. For some of you perhaps in USA, UK or Australia, you might have pumpkin puree ready in cans. The rest of us have to make the extra effort to actually bake the pumpkin and then puree the flesh. But I advise you not to be disheartened by this. Fresh pumpkin puree will give incredible flavour to your cake and if you have leftover puree you can always make some pumpkin soup.

Pumpkin and Dark Chocolate Marble Cake

ingredients (for 1 medium loaf pan)

1 3/4 cup flour

1/3 cup olive oil

2 eggs

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 cup pumpkin puree

85gr dark chocolate

2 tablespoons unsweetened cacao

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

icing sugar for decorating

How do I make it?

1. Prepare a loaf pan with baking sheet or coat with butter and flour. Put in large bowl and mix together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, baking powder and baking soda. If you have powdered vanilla extract mix that in. Otherwise, leave it for the liquid ingredients in the next step.

2. In another bowl, mix together the eggs and the sugar until the eggs have a fluffy and airy texture (for about a 30 seconds). Then, add the olive oil and milk (add the vanilla if you didn't add it in the previous step) and whisk again. Finally, fold inside the pumpkin puree. 

3. Gradually add the flour mixture into your liquid mixture and mix very well so that you don't have any lumps left. Divide the mixture into half by pouring half of the cake batter in a clean bowl and set aside. 

4. Melt the dark chocolate in a microwave and then pour it inside one of the bowls from the previous step. Add inside the cacao powder and mix again. 

5. Take your pan and pour one layer of pumpkin batter. Then on top add a layer of chocolate. Repeat the pumpkin and chocolate layers until you have no more batter left. Use a knife and make swirling motions in the batter. Bake the cake at 180C for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

HAZELNUT AND CHOCOLATE LAYER CAKE WITH SALTED CARAMEL AND WHIPPED VANILLA BUTTERCREAM

      I was dreaming about this moment. When I would be able to enjoy the simpleness in doing very little things and not worrying about small details. Last Thursday I submitted my thesis to University of Luzern and felt like 10kg of worries suddenly came off of me. Even though it might not be perfect (I hate that I have this perfectionism gene), it is handed in and ready for someone to appraise. It has left me. Almost...until the oral defence, but hey the oversized amount of anxiety has disappeared. In addition, the sun has come out and finally we can call this season "Spring".

      A celebration of the season along with the celebration of thesis submission was in order. What better way to achieve a joyous smile on your face than a 4-layer cake filled with love and...creaminess. A feast for the eyes and mouth. The process of making such a cake feels very creative and soul healing, so I would suggest if you're going through a rough phase or you just want to "chill the f**k out", try meditating by covering a cake with creamy buttercream. I tell you, no better instant upgrade to your mood that this! At least, if you enjoy cakes like I do...

     My inspiration for this cake was of course, Spring. It couldn't come at a better time, with the end of an era the beginning of something else comes. Layer cakes are my favourite to admire more than to eat, but only because of how pretty they are. Flavour-wise they can be so versatile to what you can incorporate and mix. I am a big fan of nuts of any kind and of course chocolate cake is one  of my favourites. When the idea came to my mind I knew instantly that it would be a success, at least in taste!

      The hazelnut cake I have to say was a difficult task. I browsed around for some interesting recipes that I could use and adjust a little bit to my taste. I am a believer of adding vegetable oil to cakes as it makes them softer and lighter. Finally, I had the ingredients for  a wonderful and light hazelnut cake, which of course can be used in other cakes as well. The chocolate cake on the other hand I used a very simple, but oh so perfect recipe for soft and crumbly cake. It can also be used in other recipes as well, one comes to mind... cakepops! I don't need to say something about salted caramel. Start drooling already!

Hazelnut and Chocolate layer Cake with Salted Caramel and Whipped Vanilla Buttercream

ingredients (for a cake that serves up to 10 people)

Hazelnut cake (adapted by Vanilla Bean Blog)

2 1/2 cups ground hazelnuts

1/2 cup flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

4 eggs

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla or hazelnut extract (liquid)

Chocolate cake 

2 1/4 cups flour

1 cup white sugar

3 tablespoons Dutch processed cocoa powder or plain cocoa powder (unsweetened)

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 egg

1 cup milk

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Salted caramel*

2 cans of sweetened condensed milk

salt

Patisserie créme (you make a big batch and keep it for other desserts, for example "profiteroles") (adapted from "Comfort Food" by Jamie Oliver)

250ml full fat milk

200ml heavy cream

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

75gr icing sugar

30gr cornflour

500ml heavy cream (whipped)

Whipped vanilla buttercream

150gr butter (room temperature)

300gr icing sugar (shifted)

7 tablespoons patisserie créme

1 teaspoon vanilla 

How do I make it?

* Salted Caramel (day before)

It's best to start making this the day before making the cake. Take a medium pot and fill it with water. Then, without opening the cans of condensed milk, put them inside the water. The cans need to be covered. Turn the heat to high in the beginning until you get a boil and then to medium. The milk needs to be boiled (and turned into caramel heaven) for 3 hours at least. 

Important Note! Don't leave the cans to boil on its own for 3 hours. You have to refill the pot with some water during this process. It's best to start doing this when you have time to stay at home for the wanted time.

When 3 hours have passed, carefully take the cans out of the pot and let them cool down for 1 hour. Then, open them, again carefully and you will find the caramel inside. Pour the caramel into a bowl and add a pinch (or more) of salt, while mixing. You will need to taste this for saltiness. After all, some like it salted some like it...not so salted! Keep it in the bowl covered in room temperature for the next day. Bonus: You might have some leftover salted caramel in the end!

Next (whole) Day a.k.a. "Cake Day"

1. Start with the cakes. Prepare two round tins with detachable sides and preheat the oven to 175C. First, make the hazelnut cake. In a big bowl put the ground hazelnuts, flour, baking powder and salt. Then, in another bowl (preferably of a standing mixer) put the oil, sugar, vanilla/hazelnut extract and one by one the eggs, while mixing in medium speed to make sure the eggs are well incorporated. When you're done, start adding the dry mixture into the wet until you get a good final mixture. You will have a somewhat liquid mixture. Pour it into one of the prepared tins. Bake the cake for up to 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. When done, take out of the oven and let it cool completely.

2. While baking the hazelnut cake, we will make the mixture for the chocolate cake and the patisserie creme. For the cake, in a bowl add the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then pour inside the egg, milk and vanilla extract and mix well for a minute or two. Pour in at last the boiling water and mix again until you get a good mixture. Transfer into the second prepared pan and bake for up to 50 minutes. This cake might rise a lot, but it's what we want, don't be scared (mine arose enormously).  When ready, take it out of the oven and let it cool completely.

For the patisserie créme, pour the milk, the vanilla extract and the heavy cream (not whipped) into a medium sized pot. Mix with a wooden spoon and let them get heated for 5 minutes. While the mixture is heating, in another bowl beat together the eggs, sugar and cornflour. When 5 minutes have passed, take the pot and little by little start adding the warm milk mixture into the egg mixture carefully, while whisking well with a whisker (fouet). When you're done, transfer again the cream into the pot and warm it a bit for 2 minutes while whisking. Take out from the heat and let it cool. The cooling process might take a while. If you don't have a ready whipped cream, I would suggest you start whipping 500ml of heavy cream and then keep it in the fridge until the patisserie creme is cold. When the creme has cooled completely add the whipped cream carefully and in small doses into the cream, while mixing with a spatula or a wooden spoon. Keep in fridge for later.

3. Next step is the whipped buttercream. I would recommend start doing this after the patisserie créme has been in the fridge for at least 2 hours. By this time also your cakes will be completely cool, so it's not as much as it seems. Layer cakes are best done, when everything is cool, so there are no runny sides. To make the buttercream, start by placing the butter in a bowl and beating it for at least 5 minutes until it gets an almost white colour. Then, start adding the icing sugar (important: shift it) into the butter and mixing well after each addition. When you're done, add the vanilla extract and mix again. Finally, add 7 tablespoons of pre-made patisserie créme. I added every tablespoon separately, because I didn't want my buttercream to spoil. If you're an experienced baker you know how frustrating that is. I advice you to also add the créme tablespoon by tablespoon. When done, leave to the side.

4. Assembly of the cake:

For this, trim your cakes on the top if they have a pointy top. Then, place them on a flat big pan and cut each cake into half. I also trimmed the sides a bit because I wanted it to fit into my cake platter**. You don't have to do this if you are not putting it on a smaller platter. The more cake the better! Start assembling the cake with the following order I provide. For the last cake layer, make sure to use the bottom half of the chocolate cake and also that the top is the bottom of the baked cake, in order to have a flat surface for the frosting.

Order of cakes and layers:

1. Hazelnut cake

2. Salted caramel

3. Chocolate cake

4. Patisserie créme

5. Hazelnut cake

6. Salted caramel

7. Chocolate cake 

 Don't be scared with the layers and add as much of the créme or salted caramel you wish. Perhaps, salted caramel not so much as it is a bit filling and too much sometimes. 

When you are done with the assembly of layers, start getting creative with the frosting. Now, there are no limits here. If you like experiencing or you already know some tricks, you can try doing different shapes by using a frosting bag and cone. Or, do a simple smooth frosting like I did. You will need a frosting spatula for this or you can be creative and do it messy. I added some flowers on top to make it beautiful, but it's up to you what you do with the cake!

ORANGE POLENTA CAKE WITH YOGHURT

     I have always been a romantic person at heart. Not in the silly, commercially portrayed way we see nowadays. But in the deep, secretive and sometimes lonely way that makes you think of ideal people, situations or environments you wish to surround yourself with. In a way that makes you saddened when you realise that the world is not the safe, beautiful and pure environment you dreamed of. Very often I think of myself as being Amelie Poulain, living in my own fictional world, reading books that flourish my spirit and trying to do justice to people who deserve it. Sometimes I feel like I want to make right all the wrongs in this world, and then quickly realise the impossibility in that feeling.

     A few days ago it was Valentine's Day. A day to celebrate love in a rather staged way. Buy flowers and chocolate to show your love to some. I am more of a dyi girl and always think of something to make with my own hands. Like the recipe I posted for those mini Red Velvet cakes the other day. Simple things that mean the world. However, this year I didn't have a lot of time to make something (we ate the red velvet cakes a bit earlier) and I decided to make a cake I had in mind the next day after Valentine's. We enjoyed it in the same way or even more!

    Citrus fruit are after apples one of my favourite fall/winter fruit. They are so versatile, such as apples, and can be used in sweet as well as savoury recipes. This makes them perfect for any occasion. This time I used them in a cake with a strong presence of oranges. The cake itself is very special, since it contains polenta and ground hazelnuts. The original recipe calls for ground almonds, but I like to experiment with recipes and I wasn't going to let this one untested, just because I didn't have any almonds hanging around in my kitchen. If you don't know polenta, it is a grain from corn used and eaten very much in Northern Italy. Usually they make a sort of porridge from the polenta, adding grated parmesan and lots of butter. It's amazing what those Italians can make!

      But this time, polenta plays a special role in a sweet recipe. We use something similar in Greek recipes, but it comes from wheat. We make a sweet dessert called "χαλβάς" (halvas) around lent. Maybe I will make a recipe for this as well, now that we are approaching Easter.

Orange Polenta Cake with Yoghurt (adapted by this recipe )

ingredients (for 8 to 10 persons)

100gr softened butter (room temperature)

150gr brown sugar

50gr whole wheat flour

50gr white flour

50gr grounded hazelnuts (or almonds)

3 medium eggs

130gr polenta

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons honey

80gr greek strained yoghurt 

4 tablespoons orange juice (or juice from one orange)

2 tablespoons orange zest and more for decorating/frosting

frosting:

1 cup heavy cream

orange and lemon zest (just a little)

How do I make it?

1. In a large bowl of a standing mixer or other bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until they become a smooth mixture. Next add the eggs one at a time and mix on medium speed until the eggs are well incorporated.

2. Add the flours and baking powder into the mixture and mix again. Then, add inside the polenta, yoghurt, hazelnuts, orange zest, honey and orange juice. Mix again on slow speed until you have a nice smooth batter.

3. Preheat your oven to 180C and prepare a medium size round pan with a baking sheet. When ready, add the cake batter into the pan and then smooth the surface with a spatula. If you want, hold the sides of the pan and tap it on a hard surface so that the batter surface is smoother.

4. Bake your cake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean. Take the cake out of the oven and let it cool completely before topping it with the frosting.

5. To make the frosting, simply beat the heavy cream with the zests until you get a whipped cream. Taking a spatula, top the cake with the whipped cream evenly around the top surface of the cake and top with some more zest if you'd like!

MINI RED VELVET CAKES WITH SOFT MIDDLE

     This time of the year has come again. A time to plan out the next few months ahead, before the snow starts to melt and flowers begin to flourish. It is almost the end of winter, by months at least, and I already start thinking about where to go for summer. Some of my co-students in University and I are thinking of doing a cruise trip in Greek islands this year. It would be a perfect opportunity for them to visit Greece with a local and for me to be a tour guide. I always love showing people around my favourite places.

     Before all this fun time, however, I am in the middle of writing my thesis for the Graduate program I follow at University of Luzern and I have so much work to do. Without trying to complain about it, it was a very fun experience, with lots of good friends in the way. I still can't believe almost two years have passed since I came to Switzerland. To me it still feels like yesterday I was packing my things and my two best friends surprised me with a photo-video of the three of us. Time passes by so, so quickly...

      

     Since it's February and some of you (us) are in love, no better reason exists to enjoy a warm and creamy red velvet cake with our other half. Red Velvet is a classic for Valentine's Day and I remember last year I didn't make something relevant, instead I made a chocolate smoothie. But this year, I wanted to make something different and experiment with the sweetness of chocolate and the sour taste of cream cheese. Initial thoughts were to create a lava cake with a runny middle and a warm exterior. However, things didn't go as well as planned and I ended up with a marvellous soft cake with a soft and creamy middle. Which was perfect after all!

     This recipe is quite easy and there is no need for you to master your skills in frosting and layering a cake. The recipe calls for all the ingredients you would normally find in a Red Velvet Cake in the form of a smaller cake that resembles a muffin. 

Mini Red Velvet Cakes with soft middle

ingredient (for 6 cakes)

1 cup flour (shifted)

1/2 cup butter melted

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup buttermilk

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon cacao (shifted)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon apple cider (optionally)

2 tablespoons food colouring (if liquid, otherwise according to instuctions)

1/2 cup cream cheese (room temperature)

1/4 heavy cream

1/2 cup icing sugar

How do I make it?

1. First step is to prepare the soft middle of the cakes. In a bowl, mix together the cream cheese, heavy cream and icing sugar until smooth. If the mixture is runny, add a little more icing sugar. Cover the surface of a small pan with baking paper and with a spoon form small bites in the form of ball on the parchment paper, keeping them apart from each other. Place the pan in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. The bites need to be firm.

2. In the meanwhile, start preparing the cake batter. In a bigger bowl mix together all the dry ingredients, such as flour, sugar, cacao, baking soda and salt. Then pour inside the melted butter, the buttermilk, the egg yolk, vanilla extract, food colouring and apple cider. Start mixing really well with an electric mixer until you have a good and smooth batter. 

3. When the cream cheese bites are ready, start preheating the oven at 200 C. Then, take a muffin pan. Start filling 6 muffin cases with a full tablespoon of batter. Take a cream cheese bite and put it in the middle, by pushing it a little bit so that it sinks into the batter. With the remaining batter cover the top of all the 6 cakes.

4. Bake the cakes for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool a little bit. 

5. To serve, place a flat pan on top of the muffin pan, keep the sides firmly and try to reverse the muffin pan onto the flat pan to get the cakes. Place the cakes onto a plate or plates and cover with some icing sugar! Enjoy with your loved one...

GINGERSNAP CAKE WITH BOURBON

     "If it isn't smelling like Fall, I am not eating it!" This could be a representing line of this years favourite season (for some of us). When you are a foodie at heart and a real lover of Autumn's best foods, then you really give your effort to try as many recipes as you can. Like myself, last Sunday when I tried to make for the first time apple cider donuts. However, since I had no donut hole pan, I did the obvious...tried to shape donut doughs. As you can already guess (and laugh at my attempt), this did not go well at all. I ended up with flattened out baked doughs of nothing! How great!

     In other news, I made a delicious pumpkin soup with carrots and potatoes as well and devoured it the whole week. I'm thinking of making a pumpkin pie next week that I haven't eaten for so long. When it comes to pies and pretty much anything I bake, I like to make everything from scratch. That means, even the buttery pie dough. I know that a lot of people use prepackaged ones, but I am a true believer of eating almost zero packaged food. It is an issue that bothers me quite a lot, because sometimes you just want to eat the damn cookie! But most of the times, I am the crazy lady reading the list of the ingredients and don't buy something unless I understand all of the ingredients.

     I always felt like an outsider when it comes to food and exercise. This is the first time I am saying this here, but there used to be a time when I was overweight. I don't like to use the f word, cause really who am I to judge? Especially my own self. Since that time I completely changed my lifestyle, going from eating junk food and lots of sweets, to eating fruit, vegetables and a hell lot amount of oatmeal. Although I am at a great stable weight for years, I feel a bit conscious about my food, where it comes from, how it has been processed. But now, it has more to do with a healthy living and not so much with losing weight.   

  Back a few years I wanted to get into Nutrition studies, after I majored from Nursing Sciences. I keep myself informed with new health trends, superfoods and a lot of health related news, but I adopt very few in my daily living for several reasons, the most important being...very few things work on everyone's body. No matter how healthy we eat, we exercise, we keep up with certain diets, in the end if we experience stress and unhappiness in our lives, then it will backfire everything.

     Few of my friends always ask me "How do you do it? How do you manage to cook, go to University, work and manage a blog, while being healthy?" I feel kind of bad when they ask me that, because I have no answer. I just do it. I don't feel like it's a big accomplishment.  And there are days that I eat Nutella out of the jar (ask my boyfriend). My point here is that trying to eat healthy does take some effort and commitment. But the goal is to be happy and feel great, not over stress ourselves about it.

     Now to the fun part of recipe. There is nothing better than plain old cake with your morning coffee, right? Also, there is nothing more delicious than a Gingersnap cake with a hint of bourbon inside. A simple recipe for all you folks who enjoy eating cake with a lot of ginger and spices. The initial intention was to use butter for this recipe. However, I find that olive oil makes every cake moist and not dry at all, so whenever I can, I incorporate it into recipes. 

Gingersnap cake with Bourbon

ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup olive oil

3/4 cup honey

2 eggs

1 cup water

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

2 tablespoons Bourbon

icing sugar

how do I make it?

1. In a large bowl mix together honey and olive oil for about a minute or until smooth. Then start adding your eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Finally add the Bourbon and mix for a few seconds again.

2. In another bowl, mix together your flour, ginger, cinnamon and ground cloves. Take the bowl in the first step and start pouring its content to this bowl, mixing with a spatula or spoon until you've added all the mixture.

3. Boil the water and place the baking soda in a smaller bowl. Once the water is boiled, pour in into the baking soda, while stirring with a spoon. Then transfer the hot mixture into your previous mixture and mix again with a spatula.

4. Preheat oven to 180 C and place a baking paper into your pan. You will need a medium to large rectangular pan. Pour the batter carefully into the pan and let it sit for a couple of minutes.

5. Bake your cake for 35-40 minutes or until it has a golden surface and a toothpick inserted into it comes out clean.

6. Let it cool completely and then coat it into a lot of icing sugar.