Lemon poppy seed bundt cake

I bought a bag of poppy seeds. That's it. Then I had to bake something, right? Luckily, I also had two lemons on the kitchen counter so there weren't so many options without going to the grocery store. Again. On foot. Because it's ridiculously close to use the car but still far enough to be annoyed by the mere thought of walking all the way there. It's a five minute walk, darn it!

So, if you have a bag of poppy seeds and one or two lemons, you're all set. I'm sure it works just fine with oranges, too.

Ingredients:

110 grams butter (1/2 cup), room temperature

300 grams (1 1/2 cups) caster sugar

4 eggs

260 grams (2 cups) flour

5 grams (1 teaspoon) baking powder

80 ml (1/3 cup) sour cream

50 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

20 grams (approx. 3 tablespoons) poppy seeds

zest from 2 lemons

(optional) 1/2 teaspoon aniseed (not star anise, the other one) and the seeds from two cardamom pods, crushed together in a mortar

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 180ºC (350ºF) and grease well a 25 cm (10 inch) bunt pan. Take my advice and grease it well, you'll thank me later, when it's time to invert the cake on a plate.

Using your mixer, cream the butter, add the sugar and mix until light and fluffy, two minutes or so. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the sour cream, lemon juice, lemon zest, poppy seed, aniseed, cardamom (if using) and beat until incorporated. I hope you have already sifted together the flour and baking powder, have you now? Fold the flour mixture into the batter using a rubber spatula.

Spoon the batter into the pan and bake it for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

I always let the cake cool completely before inverting it on a plate, if you try inverting it while it's still hot, well, you may regret it. I have. Many times. So do as I say.

Notes:
This recipe works just fine with oranges, too. If you find your oranges to be particularly sweet, reduce the amount of sugar to 270 grams or less. Remember to replace the lemon juice with freshly squeezed orange juice .

Beetroot chocolate cake

When my neighbor asked me if I wanted a beetroot from her vegetable garden, my first thought was „yay, natural food coloring!”. But then, as she handed me the beetroot, I realized it was way too big to use it only just to make juice and then color the frosting with it, since I wasn't planning to bake cupcakes for the entire neighborhood. So I decided to look around for a dessert recipe that uses beetroot. I found Nigella's recipe and I must say I was intrigued by this odd combination: cocoa and beetroot. Odd to say the least, but why not give it a try? If you feel adventurous enough (and I think you do, because you are reading this, and that's the first step) give it a try and I promise you won't be sorry.

Ingredients:

For the cake

175 grams plain flour

5 grams baking powder

75 grams cocoa powder

225 grams caster sugar

3 eggs

225 grams raw beetroot (roasted, peeled and chopped)

200 ml sunflower oil

pinch of salt

For the frosting

200 grams mascarpone cheese

start with 75 grams confectioner's sugar and work your way up, until you get the desired consistency and sweetness

beetroot juice for the color (optional)

Directions:

Wash the beetroot first, peel and cut into quarters. Place it in a pot and cover it with cold water. Bring to a boil and cook it until soft when poked with a fork (depending on the size, this may take up to 30 minutes). Remove from the pot and set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF) and place rack in center of the oven. Grease a 20 centimeters (8 inch) bundt pan.

When the beetroot has cooled completely, place it in a blender and puree it. Add the eggs (one at a time) and the oil, beat well after each addition. It is possible not to puree the beetroot and only slightly mash it with a fork in order to have larger chunks of beet in the cake, if you think you would like it better that way. In that case, beat the eggs in a separate bowl before pouring them over the beet, and fold the rest of the ingredients with a silicone spatula, careful not to smash the beetroot chunks.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa, add the sugar. Fold the flour mixture into the beet mixture with a rubber spatula.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and level with the back of a spoon. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool in the pan, once chilled invert on a wire rack.

While the cake is cooling, prepare the frosting by mixing the mascarpone with the icing sugar. The beauty of this frosting is that you decide how sweet (and how pink) you want it, so stop from time to time to lick the spoon. The one that you're using to mix the cheese and the sugar, there's no point in licking another. You may add a few drops of beetroot juice, if you like it pink. But I guess everybody likes pink, so why not?