Birthday Cake for Football Fan

My daughter helps to sieve the sugar - still in PJs

This week my son reached the grand old age of 6 years old. For the past few weeks he has been avidly following the World Cup so I decided to make a football themed cake. He is Scottish/German so has obviously been supporting Germany (as Scotland did not qualify, no surprise there). Thankfully Germany stayed in the tournament long enough for us to celebrate his birthday. I would have felt a bit daft making a German Flag cake now.

My lovely friend at Kitschnbake provided a recipe for Vanilla Yoghurt Cake that is good for birthday cakes. It is a bit firmer than a normal sponge cake and easier to ice. Not to mention simply delicious. As ever, finding some ingredients was a bit challenging here in Switzerland, I will definitely be stocking up when we get to Scotland later in the summer.

Adding an egg

Mixing with a metal spoon, gently does it.

Chocolate - Cherries - Nougat coloured with yellow food dye

Schwarz - Rot - Gold

Baking Rugelach

  Today I tried my hand at Rugelach, a festive Jewish treat. They look a bit like croissants but are made with cream cheese and sour cream.

The rounds of dough are cooled for minimum 2 hours

After which time they are rolled out

sugar, cinnamon and sultanas are mixed then sprinkled over the rounds

Which are then cut into 12 sections

then rolled up

Then baked in the oven for 22 minutes

I made half with sultanas and half without so that MonsieurLindt could have some, he is a raison-picker-outer. 

Rugelach 

Ingredients

• 250 g all-purpose flour
• 2 g salt
• 225 g unsalted butter
• 224 g cream cheese
• 75 g sour cream
• 100 g white sugar
• 7 g ground cinnamon
• 115 g finely chopped walnuts
• 70 g raisins

Directions

1. Cut cold butter or margarine and cream cheese into bits. In food processor pulse flour, salt, butter or margarine, cream cheese and sour cream until crumbly.
2. Shape crumbly mixture into four equal disks...wrap each disk and chill 2 hours or up to 2 days.
3. Roll each disk into a 9 inch round keeping other disks chilled until ready to roll them.
4. Combine sugar, cinnamon, chopped walnuts, and finely chopped raisins (may substitute miniature chocolate chips for raisins).
5. Roll each disk into a 9 inch round keeping other disks chilled until ready to roll them. Sprinkle round with sugar/nut mixture. Press lightly into dough. With chefs knife or pizza cutter, cut each round into 12 wedges. Roll wedges from wide to narrow, you will end up with point on outside of cookie. Place on ungreased baking sheets and chill rugelach 20 minutes before baking.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
7. After rugelach are chilled, bake them in the center rack of your oven 22 minutes until lightly golden. Cool on wire racks. Store in airtight containers...they freeze very well.
8. Variations: Before putting the filling on the dough, use a pastry brush to layer apricot jam as well as brown sugar. Then add the recommended filling. You may also make a mixture of cinnamon and sugar and roll the rugelach in this prior to putting them on the cookie sheets.

Riding into a new phase of life

Recently I sold my Mummy Bike. It was bought when PetitMonsieurLindt was just over a year, complete with bike seat and basket. At that time we were living in a small town not far from the Dutch border so the sturdy frame, big wheels and huge handlebar were more important that the weight of the bike. Particularly as we had no hills to climb, I could cruise along nicely. 

Since moving to Geneva I had only used the bike a couple of times and it was so damn heavy. We had a trip last year to Lac d'Annecy which was fun and not too hard going (except getting the bike onto the back of the car) but aside from that it has languished in the garage. 

MonsieurLindt recently suggested selling it and buying a lighter, more manoeuvrable bike so I took some photos and put it on the local classified website. For a while it seemed that the bike would stay with me as there were a few queries but no one came to see the bike. Then last weekend a woman with a young toddler came along, tried the bike out and bought it, the baskets and the bike seat.

We went over to our favourite bike shop, Veloland in Annemasse to have a look at what was on offer and spoke to a really lovely saleswoman. She listened to my request - a bike for roads or bike paths as we are not going off road with the kids, one that is comfortable but slightly lighter than the old one.

She suggested a hybrid bike, a bike that is almost as light as a road bike, but slightly more comfortable, with straight handlebars and an upright riding position. She took a bike out to the car park so I could have a whirl and I was flabbergasted. It was so light, so easy to ride, so wonderful.  I added a clip to the front so that we can take the doggy basket and a luggage rack to the back for packing a picnic.

It is now sitting in the garage, in place of the old Mummybike. I would go out and have a ride today, but of course it is raining today. So I am blogging about my new bike instead. I checked the comparitive weights - the new bike is almost half the weight of the old one. No wonder it feels so light.

And when I was considering the differences, I realised that the new bike marked an end of an era. I am no longer a mummy with a baby on the back of the bike, we are a family with our children cycling ahead of us (If you are wondering, I am the crazy woman shouting at her daughter to go faster and her son to go slower). I am able to go for bike rides without the kids. Perhaps MonsieurLindt and I will go alone occasionally and cycle to Yvoire or Evian.

Now if it would just stop bloody raining so I could go out on it.

Bier, Bratwurst and Brezeln - the perfect combination

A Good German Housewife should be able to make Brezeln.

Really?

Well, normally a Good German Housewife (or at least a Bavarian one) knows where to buy decent Brezeln. Not so easy when you live 5 hours from the nearest Brezelbäcker. 

Since moving to Switzerland, Brezeln is one of the tastes of the Heimat that we have missed. There are the small "delice au beurre" in the bakers which are basically the same but a good German sized Brezel is hard to find. 

We are expecting guests this weekend for a Bier and Bratwurst WC2010 Party so I thought I would add to the list by making it a Bier, Brezeln und Bratwurst WC2010 Party.

Brezeln have been baked in Germany for centuries, there are conflicting reports about where the Brezel originated. From France to Italy and of course Germany.

The town of Bad Urach in Germany boasts that the Brezel was in fact invented in their town by a baker who was to be punished for crimes against his Lord. He was given one last chance to redeem himself:

„Back einen Kuchen lieber Freund, durch den die Sonne dreimal scheint, dann wirst du nicht gehenkt, dein Leben sei dir frei geschenkt.“

"Bake a cake, dear friend, through which the sun shines thrice, and you will not be hung, your life is yet young"

The baker went to work and according to local legend, made the first Brezel. There are similar stories from Unterelsass (Alsace) and Altenried in Germany.


Though there are differing stories about the provenance of the Brezel, one thing remains the same. Particularly in Southern Germany, it is as present as the croissant in France, the scone in Scotland, the muffin in America. Every baker offers Brezel - most often Laugenbrezel - in which the dough is first dunked in a lye solution before baking. Sometimes you can find sweet brezeln, covered with sugar or almonds. 


The first step is the making of the dough, basically flour, yeast, sugar  then depending on the recipe, sometimes butter, sometimes milk, sometimes both. 

The dough is left to rise for a short time until it has doubled in size then worked into strips and twisted into the typical Brezel shape. Easier said than done, I will have to work on my Brezel Twisting Technique. I seem to be missing a twist in the middle there.

MademoiselleLindt filmed me practising and PetitMonsieurLindt was at least impressed. 

 

The formed Brezel are then dipped for just over a minute in a mixture of boiling water and baking soda. This gives them their salty flavour, and shiny brown appearance.

The dipping done, the Brezel are fished out then put on a baking tray, sprinkled with coarse salt and baked in a very hot oven for 12 minutes.

The first batch that I made were rather large so I made a second batch slightly smaller. I still have to find out the perfect size and although they are not difficult to make, they do require attention so I will do the next lot when the kids are in school and MonsieurLindt is at work.

In the baking soda/water solution

Dried off, ready to go into oven

Second batch, slightly smaller

Bite sized Brezeln

Soft Bretzel Recipe

Serves: 36 | Prep time: minutes

Ingredients
1 tbsp Yeast
1 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp softened butter or softened margarine <
1 cup warm (115-+ deg F) water
2 3/4 cups flour

Coarse Salt to sprinkle on Pretzels before baking 

5 tsp baking soda mixed in 4 cups water in a non-aluminum saucepan. 

1 large slotted spoon to "go fishing" 

Greased cookie sheet 

 Directions

Preheat oven to 475 F Put yeast, sugar, salt, butter/marg, water and ONE CUP of the flour into a medium mixing bowl and pour in the water.

Stir till all smooth, and yeast starts to bubble. At this point add the rest of the flour, stir till it is mixed in. When mixture is too stiff to stir with a spoon, begin kneading. Knead dough till smooth and till it no longer sticks to the bowl and your hands Allow dough to rise to about double its height. EDIT: I used instant yeast so just bunged it all in the food processor.

While dough is rising, grease the cookie sheet. and prepare the baking soda-water mixture and bring to a boil on stove. When dough is risen enough, punch down, knead for a minute or so, then divide and roll the 6-inch sticks with your hands, to about 1/2 inch in diameter, or 12-15-inch long rolls to make into the pretzel shape. Allow sticks or pretzels to sit for about 1-2 mins. 

Place them into boiling water-baking soda mixture one or two at a time. Let the pretzels boil for 1 minute 10 seconds, then flip them over with the slotted spoon and boil on the other side for 1 minute and 10 seconds. This boiling step gives them a firm skin and adds some flavour. Not boiling long enough leaves them too soft and allows them to rise too much. Boiling too long makes them tough. Fish them out of the water, let them drip off and place them on the greased cookie sheet. 

When all the pretzels or sticks are done, sprinkle the coarse salt on them. Bake for 12-15 minutes or till sticks or pretzels are golden brown. You can double the recipe in proportion. ENJOY!!

MmeOiseau comes for tea

What an adventure I had on Thursday!

After the school run I returned home to the sound of a bird squawking in distress. It was so loud that I thought that somehow our dog Daphne had caught a bird and was eating it. Steeling myself for scenes of carnage I searched the kitchen and dining room but could not see anything. Shouting out for Daphne, I was surprised when she wandered sleepily out from under the desk in the office looking rather put out at the shouting and squawking so early in the morning. She is not a morning person, our Daphne.

I discovered to my horror that the noise was coming from the air vent in the kitchen where a bird was trapped. We had some kind of insect trapped in there last year but it either escaped or died in there because after a day or so there was no more noise.

Thankfully my landlord arrived to deal with it. After some moments of teeth-sucking and chin-stroking he identified the problem that there was a bird in the flue. Of course, he had to take my word for it as MmeOiseau decided to chose that moment to wander off and stop chirping. She had been twittering away all day but when my landlord was listening carefully, there was not a sound.

We checked the loft and he looked at the roof and decided he would have to get someone out with a big ladder. Or at least, that is what I understood. We had just returned to the kitchen when MmeOiseau started chirping up a storm. Landlord asked for a ladder (new word of the day: la échelle) and a screwdriver (another new word: la tournevis) to open the vent. He unscrewed the vent, while I went looking for a larger screwdriver.

Suddenly he shouted, "Madame!Vite! Vite! Schnell!" and I ran back to the kitchen to find the sparrow in the corner of the kitchen with Daphne guarding it. Daphne was rather bemused by the whole thing and seemed to be chuffed to have cornered it but unsure how to proceed further.

I moved Daphne out of the kitchen into the hall and the bird flew, not out of the window but into the living room, the door of which we had stupidly left open. Following the sound of her fluttering wings, I found her hidden behind the a chair. What followed would not have been out of place in a Mr Bean episode, as the landlord and I tried to usher the bird out of one of the many windows that were open. In three different languages we implored MmeOiseau to depart la maison. She hid behind the newspaper rack, flew atop of the corner unit before finally sneaking under the couch.

O là là!

I had only a moment to be very relieved that MonsieurLindt had last week decided to move the couch while spring cleaning and had removed a variety of items, ranging from Panini football stickers to bits of bread rolls, slippers, broken glass from the lampshade football incident and even a missing library book, Mme Petit.

Using the walking stick that my father bought and left here for us to transport back to Scotland, the landlord shoved MmeOiseau out from under the couch. She flew back into the kitchen and I hastily shut all doors to stop her going anywhere else. A quick shufty behind the pots and then with a little more encouragement she flew to sit on the top of the window frame. Then with a flutter of wings, she was gone. 

Heaving a sigh of relief, I thanked my landlord for his help. Hopefully that was the last we will see of MmeOiseau. And that if she does comes back, she does not bring her friends.