Naked Cranberry Cake

Thinking about xmas recipes right? Here you a delicious cake with cranberries, I decided to make a naked cake and decorate with fresh cranberries which looks perfect for these holiday seasson. But if you rather not use frosting it will be also a good choice perfect fro breakfast or an afternoon tea. This recipe is adapted from this loaf cake.
What's about your preparation for Chistmas?

Cranberry Cake

makes 20 cm pan
125 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
200 g white sugar
200 g all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking  powder
a pinch of salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
zest of one lemon
3 large eggs

125 g heavy cream
125 g mascarpone
150 g fresh cranberries
100 g white chocolate, in chunks

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Sift the flour, the baking powder and the salt in a bowl and set aside.
Cream the butter and the sugar in a large bowl with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Add the lemon zest, the mascarpone and the heavy cream mixing well at the time.   Add the vanilla, the eggs, one by one and beat until smooth. Add the flour mixture and beat just until wel combined. Do not over mix.
Add the white chocolate and the cranberries and incorporate with a spatula.

Pour the batter into the greased pan, level with a spatula and place it on the preheated oven in the middle tray. Bake for 60 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool the cake in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.Remove the cake from the  pan and cool on the rack.

filling
50 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
100 g cream cheese
100 g mascarpone
150 g icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract teaspoon, I use this one
dried and fresh cranberries to

With a mixer cream the butter add the sifted powder sugar gradually and cream until smooth and pale. Mix in the vanilla extract. Add the cheeses and mix until incorporated, do not overmix to avoid the frosting becomes to liquid.
Cut the cake in layers, spread a good dollop of the cheese cream frosting, spread out using a palette knife and if you wish sprinkle some dried cranberries all over. Repet the same on the top layer.

I top with some fresh cranberries, to give the snow effect, wash the cranberries with cold water and roll them on granulated sugar. 

This has been my last recipe before Christmas and also probably the last of the year. But I will be anyway very active in facebook and instagram.  So for all of you who celebrate Christmas, and even those who do not, I wish you all the best and Merry Xmas!   ♥

Ginger Cookies

Today I'm back with an other recipe with ginger, this flavored cookies is a perfect treat for Christmas afternoon teas. They are lightly crunchy outside and chewy inside.

Ginger Cookies

makes 24 cookies
125 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
150 g brown sugar
200 g all-purpose flour
1/4 cup of molasses
1 tsp fresh ginger, finely minced
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg

2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
a pinch of salt
more sugar for rolling

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Sift the flour, the baking powder, the spices and the salt in a bowl and set aside.
Cream the butter and the sugar in a large bowl with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla , the fresh ginger and the egg, beat until smooth. Add the flour mixture and beat just until wel combined. Cover the bowl and chill for 1 hour.

Remove the dough from the fridge and gently form balls of 22 g. Gently roll the balls of dough in sugar, place them on a non-stick or parchment paper, make sure you leave space in between. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let them on the tray for 1 minute and  transfer on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. 

It´s only 2 weeks to go for Christmas eve!

Have a nice week  ♥

Ginger Brownies

Finally I'm back two weeks after my last recipe, but I've been quite busy these days. But here I'm with a delicious brownies, this one has a special hint, ginger. I adapted this recipe from Albert Heijn magazine. The original is with stem ginger, I did it also with fresh ginger but  defenitely I rather use crystallized ginger.
What's about your Christmas preparation? We set up the Christmas tree last Sunday, even traditionally in the Netherlands you do it after the 5th.

Ginger Brownies

makes a tin 23x23 cm
250 g chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa, broken into chunks
150 g butter at room temperature
175 g sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or extract)
75 g crystallized ginger, finely chopped
a pinch of salt
75 g plain flour, sifted
75 g pecan nuts, roughly chopped
cocoa powder for serving

Preheat the oven to 180º.
Line a square cake tin with baking paper and butter it or better use spray.
Melt the chocolate with half of the butter in a bain marie or at very low power in the microwave. Set aside to let it cool.
In a large bowl cream the sugar with the remain butter. Add the vanilla and the eggs, one by one. Beat until well mixed.
Stir in the chocolate, the nuts and the ginger using a spatula. Carefully fold in the flour.
Pour the batter into the tin and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake the for 35-40 minutes, insert a skewer and this should come out just with few crumbs. Do not over bake.
Remove from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack.

Serve warm or at room temperature with a scoop of icecream or whipped cream.
Dust with cocoa powder or icing sugar. 

I'm going to spend this weekend in Munich, I think it's going to be freezing but I'm looking foward to visit its xmas market, so if you have any suggestion let me know!

Enjoy!