Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 125 g sugar
• 65 g unsalted butter
• 50 ml milk
• 150 g flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 – 3 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

• 75 g sugar
• 75 g butter
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 50 g slivered almonds
• 3 drops almond extract (optional)

Making the dough

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a small cookie sheet or 8.5×8.5 baking dish

Making the coffee cake

1. In a stand mixer, whisk together the eggs and sugar.
2. In a small saucepan, combine butter and milk. Bring to a boil, and add to egg-sugar mixture.
3. Add flour and baking powder just until blended.
4. Spread dough onto the baking sheet
5. Add apples in single layers and bake for 15 minutes

Making the topping

• Melt butter and milk in a small saucepan. Add sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and milk and bring to a boil. Add almond slivers.

• Spread topping on top of apples once the Apfelkuchen baked for 15 minutes and bake for another 15 minutes.

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted (browned), cooled slightly
• Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Generously butter and flour pan for large madeleines. Cool baking sheet. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and 2/3 cup sugar in a large bowl just to blend. Beat in vanilla, lemon peel, and salt. Add flour and beat just until blended. Gradually add cooled melted butter in a steady stream, beating just until blended.

Spoon 1 tablespoon of batter into each indentation in the pan. Bake until puffed and brown, about 14 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes.

Dust cookies with powdered sugar and enjoy!

Variations:

• Chocolate: add chocolate chips before baking
• Earl Grey: add 1 tbsp loose-leaf Earl Grey tea and 1 tbsp honey to the dough
• Orange Cardamom: use orange zest instead of lemon zest and add 1 tsp ground cardamom, 1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)
• Pistachio and Orange: add one tbsp orange blossom water, 50 g pistachio, and 25 g crystallized orange peel

Ingredients 

Cupcakes

• 2 cups cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups of coco powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 8 oz unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 cup hot coffee
• 6 oz chocolate chips
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting

• 4 1/2 oz sugar
• Water to cover the sugar in the sauce pan
• 6 1/2 oz egg whites
• 20 oz unsalted butter
• 6 oz melted chocolate

Making the Cupcakes

Heat oven to 350°F. Prepare a 12 muffin pan with liners. Measure everything and get all ingredients to room temperature.

Whisk to sift flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in large bowl.

In a stand mixer, whisk butter and slowly add sugar to come together for a yellow, fluffy batter (about 2 – 3 minutes).

Slowly add an egg at a time to incorporate them well into the butter mixture.

In a separate bowl, pour hot coffee over the chocolate chips to get them to melt. Whisk and set aside. Mix buttermilk with vanilla extract in another bowl.

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture in the stand mixer, add 1/3 of the coffee/chocolate mixture, then 1/3 of the buttermilk/vanilla mixture while Kitchenaid is running. Repeat until everything is incorporated.

Scope the batter into the cupcake pan using an ice cream scope and fill a bit more then 3/4 full.

Bake for about 20 minutes.

Making the Frosting

Cover 4 1/2 oz of sugar with water to create a simple syrup. Heat it to 220 degree. While simple syrup gets hot, whisk egg whites in a clean mixing bowl. Gradually pour hot simple syrup into egg whites to create the meringue. Whisk for about 5 minutes.

Add butter to egg whites, then the melted chocolate to the buttercream base.

Ingredients 

Cake

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 10″ and baking pans or two 8″ pans.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Stir in the boiling water (your batter will be very thin–that’s OK!). Pour batter into cake pans.

Bake on the high rack for about 40 minutes for if you make one large cake and 30-35 minutes for the two smaller cakes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Once cakes have cooled, use a sharp serrated knife to torte and cut cake evenly twice, horizontally, so that you end up with three thin cake layers. Or cut each of the 8″inch cakes in half to get four layer and a higher cake.

Chocolate Mousse Filling:

• 6 oz. bittersweet chocolate (preferably 70% cacao), chopped (about 1 cup)
• 5  1/4 oz (10 1/2 Tbs.) unsalted butter
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1 1/2 Tbs. granulated sugar
• 1 1/8 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• Pinch kosher salt

Melt the chocolate and butter in a large bowl set in a skillet of barely simmering water. Remove from the heat and stir with a spatula to combine. Set aside to cool slightly.

Whip the egg whites in a clean stand mixer fitted with a clean whisk attachment on medium-high speed to soft peaks, 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly add the sugar and continue to whip to stiff peaks, 3 to 4 minutes.

In a medium bowl, whip the cream with a whisk or electric hand mixer to medium-stiff peaks.

In a small bowl, combine the egg yolks, vanilla, and salt. Mix the egg yolk mixture into the chocolate mixture with a spatula. Fold in the whipped egg whites, then fold in the whipped cream—there shouldn’t be any visible streaks.

Ingredients

Pie Crust

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 170 g cold unsalted butter but into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 6 tablespoons ice water

Pie Filling

• 5 – 6 large apples
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
• 1 lemon
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg white, beaten slightly

Making the Pie Crust:

Process the flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined. Add the shortening and process until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour and continue to pulse until it resembles corse crumbs, with butter bits no larger then small peas, about ten 1-second pulses. Turn the mixture into a medium bowl.

Sprinkle ice water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.

Assembling the Pie:

Adjust the oven rack to the higher position (my oven) and heat to 500 degrees. Place cookie sheet on a lower grate.

Remove one piece of dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured work surface . Transfer dough in the greased baking pan and put back into the fridge or freezer to stay cool.

Peel, core, and quarter the apples; cut the quarters into 1/4 inch slices and toss with the lemon juice so they don’t brown. In a medium bowl, mix 3/4 cups of sugar, the four, spices, and salt. Toss the dry ingredients with the apples.

Turn the fruit mixture, including the juices into the cooled pie shell.

Roll out the second piece of dough to a  circle large enough to cover the pie form. Place it over the filling and press onto the bottom crust. Cut four slits in the dough top.

Brush the top with the egg white and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar.

Place the pie on the upper rack and reduce temperature to 425 degrees. Bake the pie until the top curst is golden, about 25 minutes.

Rotate the pie and reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Bake for another 25 to 30 minutes until it is a deep golden brown.

Transfer the pie onto a wire rack and cool.

Ingredients for 12 mini bundt cakes or one loaf

For lemon cakes

• 180 g all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp lemon zest
• 200 g sugar
• 115 g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)
• 120 ml buttermilk

For lemon syrup

• 1/4 cup lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

For lemon icing

• 120 g powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp milk or cream

Preheat oven to 350F.

Spray or butter a mini bundt cake baking pan or loaf pan to make a pound cake.

Sift flour, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt into a medium bowl.  Set aside.

Using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter, and sugar until pale and fluffy (about 4 – 6 minutes). Scape the sides of the bowl as needed.

With the mixer still running, add eggs one at a time and beat until well blended. Then beat in vanilla and lemon juice.

Add dry ingredients in three additions to the butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Beat until just incorporated.

Scrape batter into prepared pans.  Bake cakes until golden brown and the tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 – 25 minutes for mini bundt cakes and 45 – 55 minutes for a loaf.  

Combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar with 1/4 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves. When the cakes are done, allow cooling for 10 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans and set them on a rack over a tray or sheet pan; spoon the lemon syrup over them. Allow the cakes to cool completely.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar, milk, and lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a wire whisk until smooth. Pour over the tops of the cakes and allow the glaze to drizzle down the sides.

Enjoy!