My Recipe Reviews

Recipe Reviews, Recommendations, Tips and Musings. Thanks for visiting!

cardamom

Pear-Cardamom Cake

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It’s a new year and that means a new cake cookbook for the Cake Slice Bakers!  This year it’s Zoe Francois’s new Zoe Bakes Cakes.

I chose the Pear-Cardamom Cake since pears are kind of in season (even though it’s really citrus season in January/February) and we still have some beautiful pears in our area.

Slice of Pear Cardamom Cake with cinnamon drizzle. On a white plate sitting on a blue and white checked cloth.

Another reason I chose this cake is because I’ve always wanted to make a pear cake where the pears are sitting upright with little stems on them.  And no, as you can see, my pears aren’t standing upright! 

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Dutch Ontbijtkoek

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Christmas baking is over and 2014 is almost over.  Where did the year go?  I look forward to trying many new recipes in 2015 – some with the help of The Daring Bakers’ challenges. Always interesting, sometimes very challenging.

December’s challenge was presented by Andrea of 4Pure.nl. She gave us a choice of Dutch quickbreads and I chose this one called Ontbijkoek from The DutchTable.com.

Ontbijkoek (don’t ask me how to pronounce it, but it’s literally translated as “breakfast cake”) is a staple of Holland and The Netherlands and there are quite a few recipes to choose from, ranging from very sweet to sugarless.

Ontbijtkoek

This recipe uses rye flour and I thought that would be interesting to try. To me, bread made with rye is usually thick and tough with a flavor I don’t really prefer. This one, though is different!

It ends up (thanks to the molasses and honey) being a dense, very sweet loaf. I was surprised at the wonderfully moist texture, as it doesn’t call for eggs or any oil/butter.

Next time, I’ll probably use less molasses and honey because it’s almost too sweet for me, but it was nice warmed up a little with butter or cream cheese (along with coffee to cut the sweetness).

Ontbijtkoek2

There are really interesting recipes over at TheDutchTable.com. I also learned a little about Dutch cooking from this challenge.

I love seeing the different flavor combinations from these countries! Stretch your apron strings and try a new recipe from around the world!

Dutch Ontbijtkoek

Dutch Ontbijtkoek

Yield: 12 slices

A dense, sweet Dutch quickbread.

Ingredients

  • 1 C. rye flour
  • 1 C. all-purpose flour
  • 3 tsp. baking powder
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/4  tsp. each of  ginger, coriander and ground cloves
  • 1/2 C. dark brown sugar
  • 1/4 C. dark molasses
  • 1/2 C. honey
  • 1 C. milk
  • pinch of salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  
  2. In a bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder and spices.
  3. In a mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, dark molasses, honey, milk and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture and  mix on low until just combined.  
  4. Bake for 70-80 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  5. Cool on a rack, then wrap in aluminum foil or plastic wrap to store.  Serve with cream cheese or butter.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

The original recipe called for a little cardamom, too, so if you have it, use it.

Next time I will probable half the molasses and honey, as it was a little too sweet for me.

Wrap it well to store.  The author says wrapping it after cooled will make an "extra sticky outside crust" which apparently is a good thing.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 slice
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 172Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 2mgSodium: 150mgCarbohydrates: 40gFiber: 2gSugar: 24gProtein: 3g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© sblades
Category: Breads/Muffins