Travel bit: Lübeck and Fehmarn

Last weekend, my husband and i decided to go on a short little trip to the coastline of the Baltic sea and visit Lübeck. We wanted a few days to escape our everyday madness and just relax, to see new places, take long walks on the beach and visit some cozy cafés.

Well, let me tell you Lübeck is one beautiful city! It has a lot of old buildings and very interesting Architecture. Wandering through these old cobbled streets, admiring the beauty of the city and breathing in the vibe of coffee houses and ancient tea trading places... thats my kind of happiness.

All these cute houses with their little white windows and beautiful flowers, old stairs and wooden doors, golden doorknobs and bikes leaning against the wall made me wish that I could live there.

Later that day, I visited a small art gallery called "Ansichtssache"and discovered some beautiful artwork by Volker Derlath and some other talented people. There were shelves full of different postcards, pictures and art prints, I could have spend hours and hours looking at them and i couldn't resist to buy a few little pieces to put on top of my mirror in the hallway. Here you can see how I placed them when I came home.

From left to right: Deprinotes by Thomas Schütte, Schmetterlinge (Butterflies) by Volker Derlath, Step into the world out there by Banksy,  Melonely by Thomas Schütte

Right across the street, there was this beautiful café called "Kaffee Haus" which was full of people and looked just way to cozy to not go inside, so we decided to take a little break of our city tour and sit down for a nice cup of chai latte and a piece of cake. Talking about cake, the cake there was out of this world. They had a huge selection of different cakes, each one looking better than the other. We decided for a buttermilk walnut cake and let me tell you, we didn't regret it at all! So yummy and so moist. Amazing. 

If you ever get the chance to visit Lübeck, do it! This city is beautiful and has a lot to offer from art galleries to a beautiful park, cute little cafes and old streets full of nice architecture and little tea shops. 

After our day in Lübeck, we headed to Fehmarn which is an Island next to Denmark. It has long beaches, little villages and good restaurants that offer fresh fish and other local specialities. You definitely have to visit the restaurant "Aalkate", they serve the freshest fish and delicious soups as well as a great selection of homemade smoked fish. When you are looking for some yummy cakes and good coffee go to the "Café Kontor" in Burg, which offers homemade cakes, made after old collected recipes and good quality coffee or visit "Café im Hof" which offers the biggest cake slices I have ever seen and also a huge variety of different teas. 

Lemon and Yoghurt Cake slices

My first ever post on this blog was a lemon drizzle cake. This cake has been one of my favorites for a log time now. But sometimes, I think it is important to change and try new recipes. I thought about  ways to make an ordinary lemon drizzle cake much fluffier and even more moist. Adding yoghurt to the recipe, gives the cake an interesting twist and the perfect amount of moist and creamy texture.






 The first time I made this cake, was when we had guests over. I didn't have enough butter on hand and I needed a quick cake. So I used plain natural yoghurt to add moistness to the cake and I pured it into a square pan. After 20-30 minutes the cake was baked and I only had to pour some lemon icing on top, add some lemon zest and let it cool for a bit. After that, I cut it into squares and placed it on a nice plate. Everybody that came, immediately took a little piece and devoured it with delight.
Within a short time, all the pieces were gone. The mixture of sweet and sour accompanied by the aroma of frehly grated lemon zest makes this cake taste so fresh and irresistible.

Ingredients:

3 large eggs
2 organic lemons
150g butter
220g sugar
120g natural yoghurt
270g flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp powdered sugar

Preparation:

Put the eggs, softened butter and sugar in a large bowl and mix it with a hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the finely grated zest of one lemon, the juice of one lemon and the yoghurt and mix again until it is all nicely incorporated. After that, add the flour and baking powder and mix it in until it is all incorporated. Pour the batter into a greased square pan and bake it in the preheated oven at 180° for about 20-30 minutes or until it is golden brown on top.
While the cake ist in the oven,  prepare the lemon drizzle: Mix the juice of two lemons with the powdered sugar. When the cake is out of the oven, pinch it with a fork and put little holes all over it. The, drizzle the lemon-sugar drizzle on top and decorate with some freshly grated lemon zest. Let it cool completely and cut it into squares.

Vegan Blueberry-Oat Muffins with Cinnamon

I guess that everybody can relate to this. You've bought bananas. A lot of them. And now they are turning brown and nobody in the house wants to eat them any more. I hate to waste food, so most of the time i would cut them up and freeze them in little bags to use them for smoothies.
This time, I also had some blueberries on hand so I thought I would try something else.
I pureed the bananas, added some oats, agave nectar and blueberries, put the batter in a muffin baking dish and out came some delicious and nourishing breakfast muffins. Amazing! Not only simple but  also delicious and healthy as well.










Ingredients:

3 very ripe bananas
3 tbsp agave nectar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp semolina porridge
10 tbsp porridge oats
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
some coconut oil

one or two hands full of blueberries

Preparation:

Puree the bananas until smooth, then add agave nectar, cinnamon and salt and blend again. Now, add baking powder, semolina porridge and oats and mix it in with a whisk. Add the blueberries and gently fold them in.
Grease a muffin tin with some coconut oil and put a big spoon full into each mold. Put it in the preheated oven at 180° and bake for about 20-30 minutes until they are golden brown and cooked through. Let them cool a bit and enjoy!

Carrot Apple Cake with Cinnamon-Creamcheese Frosting

Hello sweet ladies and gentlemen,

I've been sitting here on my little couch, all cuddled up drinking tea and staring out the window at the grey and cloudy sky. Just thinking.
A few months ago, I wrote a blogpost about being grateful for all the little things in life and how this makes life a lot better and provides you with a more positive outlook on everything. Well, I just noticed that I kind of forgot about my own advice and how I tended to be a bit bored and just not as happy and enthusiastic as it used to be so I've just had a little meltdown about that and then I thought to myself: "Well, actually it's my own fault."

I think, that everyone can relate to this. Well all have times where we seem to be a bit stuck and not know how to move on, regarding the job or just life in general. And it is okay to feel that way, its totally normal and everybody has felt this way at least once in their life. The important thing though, is to detect the problem and to come out of that hole and actually do something.
get up, shake all the worries and thoughts off of your shoulders and move on! Life's short and you shouldn't spend it on sitting around, thinking and complaining.

With every rising of the sun

Think of your life as just begun.

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox -

You can start with little steps, go out, take a nice walk or go and drink a cup of coffee in town, play with your pets or bake something. I decided for a walk and then I did some autumn baking. To me, baking has something therapeutic. For a good amount of time, you just focus on the ingredients, escaping into a world of sugar, butter and cinnamon. Heavenly!

The weather outside gives me all the feels: a cold breeze, cloudy skies and trees hanging full of apples...Autumn is here, and that means apples and cinnamon are more wanted than ever. I decided on making a carrot and apple cake. As a kid I always really liked carrot cake and I love apple pies so I decided to combine these two into a moist and delicious tasting bundt cake. To make it look and taste a bit more fancy, i made a sour cream and cremates frosting, spiced with cinnamon. This cake came out so delightful and I was in a much better mood after making it. I would say, a complete success!

Ingredients for the cake:

280g flour 

170g butter

4-5 carrots (depending on the size)

220g sugar

3 eggs

2 large apples 

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp spice mix (mine has dried orange peel, ginger, nutmeg and anise)

3 drops of butter almond flavoring (optional)

pinch of salt

Ingredients for the frosting:

200g creamcheese

100g sour cream 

2 tbs powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preparation:

First of all, place the eggs, softened butter, sugar and spices in a large bowl and mix them with a handmixer until smooth and creamy. Then, add the almond flavouring and finely grated carrots and stir them in with your hand mixer on low to medium speed. As soon as the carrots are incorporated, add the chopped apples (its on you how big you want your chunks) and stir them in with a spoon.
Grease your bundcake tin with butter and fill in the dough. Now, you are ready to bake the cake in the preheated oven at 190° for about 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let the cake cool completely and then flip the cake on a cake tray or plate. Then, put all the ingredients for the frosting into a bowl and mix with a hand mixer until it is all combined. Spread the frosting all over the cake and store it in the fridge until it will be eaten.

Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake with cream filling

Good afternoon my dear readers,

as you might have noticed, I am obsessed with trying out vegan recipes at the moment.
Last week, I had all my best friends come over. As I live quite a bit off the beaten track and it takes some time to come up here, I decided to treat my beloved guests with cake and tea before we'd go outside and visit some parks and a castle.

Well, one of my friends recently converted into vegan diet. Now, me as a baking blogger was challenged to bake a cake that was not only vegan but would also taste the non-vegan guests (which is not always the case with vegan cakes). I've had already something in mind, so I sat down and wrote down all the ingredients that I wanted to use... still not quite sure if it would turn out great.
But thats just how I am, always on the hunt for new ideas and recipes, never knowing how it turns out. Trying out new ways and experimenting with ingredients until it all comes together in a delicious recipe.

 Often, I feel like vegan cakes, especially chocolate cakes are just plain cake, no filling, not frosting, no topping.
Me personally, I find that sad and boring. I didn't want to serve a sad and boring vegan cake that would taste like sand. So I made a chocolate banana cake, which was not only rich and moist but also filled with a layer of luscious almond-chocolate cream. Let me tell you, it was a success! Everybody loved it, when we came home from our little trip, everybody asked for a second pice and when my husband came home, he ate the last bit and the cake was gone.

Ingredients for the cake mix:

2 ripe bananas 

150 ml soy milk

100 g ground almonds

300 g whole wheat flour

180 g sugar

3 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tbs coconut oil (liquid) 

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tsp baking powder

some salt 

Ingredients for the cream filling:

1 pack vanilla custard 

500ml almond milk

3 tbs sugar

2 tbs cocoa powder

100g vegan dark chocolate 

"All I want is a place where I belong 

Filled with friendly faces, that know when something's wrong     Where I have not a thing to prove

Where there can be a me, and you(..)"

Good Company by Jared Philip Anderson

Preparation:

First of all, you want to start by making the cake mixture. Put the bananas together with the soy milk, sugar, vanilla extract and coconut oil in a blender and blend it all together until it is all combined and creamy. Now, combine all the other ingredients in a large mixing bowl and pour the banana-milk mixture on top and stir until it is all combined. (Depending on the sweetness of the bananas, you might taste how sweet the mixture is and eventually add some more sugar at this point)
Grease a round baking tin with some coconut oil and pour the cake mixture in there. (Optional: you can sprinkle some more ground almonds on top if you like)
Then, bake the cake in a preheated one at 180° celsius for about 35-40 minutes.

While the cake is cooling down, you can start to make the cream filling. For that, you want to pour 400 ml of almond milk in a saucepan and heat it until it starts to bubble. Meanwhile, mix 100 ml of milk with sugar, cocoa powder and the vanilla custard mix and pour it into the steaming hot milk. Then, add the chocolate in little pieces and stir all the time until it forms a creamy chocolate custard.
Then, take it off the heat and let it cool.

After the cake and the custard are cold, you are ready to cut the cake in half and fill it with the custard. Put the top layer on top of the custard and chill the cake in the fridge for a few hours.
Now, you are ready to indulge!

Three delicious breakfast shakes

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

as a summer midweek special, I am sharing my tree favorite breakfast shakes.
I think that everybody can relate to this: Its early in the morning, you're running late. Your stomach is growling but you don't have enough time to make a proper breakfast but obviously you're running late and you have to catch that train. But you can't leave the house with an empty stomach and you don't just want to shovel down some unhealthy snack as well.
Now, these three shakes are prefect for those kind of days. They are quick, easy, delicious and also full of good things that'll keep you energized throughout the whole day. If you put it in a "to go" tumbler, you can take it with you and drink it on the way or you can have it as a healthy snack to cure your afternoon cravings at uni or in the office. There are no limits on what to put in your shakes, you can put everything that your heart desires: berries, fruits, any kinds of milk, yoghurt, cucumber and beets. Just get creative or use whatever you have left in the fridge.
The recipes that I am sharing here are my three favorite ones, the base of each of them is plant based milk and I added either fruit, berries or nut butter.
They are super quick to make, it'll only take you about 3-5 minutes and you are good to go. Also, they are really nice and creamy and full of vitamins.



1. Peach and passionfruit frappuccino:

1 banana (cut up and frozen)

1 peach (cut up and frozen)

1 passionfruit 

1/2 glass of cold milk 

Put all the ingredients into a blender and mix until they are all combined and creamy. You can either eat this with a spoon or drink it with a straw.

2. Mixed Berry milkshake:

1 ripe banana

6 cut up strawberries

2 tbs blueberries

1 tbs chia seeds 

1/2 glass of cold milk

1 hand full of crushed ice 

Put all the banana together with the berries and milk into a blender and mix until combined, now add the crush dice and mix again. If you want to add a little crunch, sprinkle some chia seeds on top!

3. Chocolate-Almond protein shake:

1/2 glass of cold milk

1/2 a banana 

2 tbs natural greek yoghurt

1 tbs brown almond butter

2 pitted medjool dates 

2 tbs unsweetened coca powder 

2-3 ice cubes 

Put the banana, dates, almond butter and the yoghurt into a blender and mix really well, add the milk and the cocoa powder and mix again until it forms a luscious, creamy shake. Pour over ice and enjoy!

Cinnamon rolls with Vanilla-Cream-cheese frosting

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

aren't summer garden parties wonderful? And also, aren't cinnamon rolls wonderful? If you have answered both questions with "yes", then read on...
Some people might say "Aren't cinnamon rolls more some kind of a fall-thing?" My answer to that is no! I think, the taste of cinnamon is just to good to only use it in fall baking. It has something that makes a baked good taste even more delicious and it brings back the memory of grandmothers jummy cakes and cookies.

Cinnamon rolls on their own are already amazing but for a garden party I wanted them to be a little more fancy, yet outstanding delicious. The addition of lightly whipped cream cheese with some vanilla flavoring adds some creaminess to these classic cinnamon rolls and makes them taste scrumptious!

By adding an iced café latte on the side, these goodness covered cinnamon buns will be the hit at your next summer garden party. Trust me, I made them and everybody was indulging them. They are the softest cinnamon rolls I have ever made and the frosting is so creamy and delicious...A bite in your mouth is just so soft and fluffy - literally to die for!

Maybe, soon you'll have your in-laws staying at your house, so it might be a good idea to treat them with these outstanding buns for sunday brunch or you can make them for your kids as a breakfast treat on a special day. Honestly, there are no limits for these fluffy cinnamon rolls, you can make them for almost every occasion and the guests will always be impressed and thankful.

Ingredients for the dough:

2 eggs (room temperature)

50g melted butter

200ml warm milk 

500g all purpose flour 

100g sugar

42g of fresh yeast

a pinch of salt and cinnamon 

Ingredients for the filling: 

100g softened butter

200g sugar 

1 1/2 tbs cinnamon

Ingredients for the frosting:

500g cream-cheese

50g sugar 

2 tsp vanilla extract 

Preparation:

First of all, you are going to make the frosting. Just put all the ingredients in a bowl and stir with a hand mixer until its well combined and creamy. Now, cover with some saran wrap and place it in the fridge to set.
In a large bowl, mix the warm milk with a tsp of sugar and the yeast, stir it with a spoon and let it sit for 3-5 minutes. Then, add melted butter, eggs and the sugar and stir until combined. Now add the flour and mix until combined. Now, knead the dough either with your heads or a mixer for about 4 minutes until it is very smooth and not too sticky.
Form a ball, place it in a greased bowl and cover it with a kitchen towel to let it sit and rise at a warm place for about two hours.

After that, you are now ready to roll out the dough until it is as thick as your thumb (about 1 cm). Then, spread the softened butter on top and sprinkle the mixture of sugar and cinnamon over it. Now, roll the dough tightly and then, cut it into 9 equal pieces. Place them in a greased baking dish and bake them at 200° for 15 minutes.
When they come right out of the oven, get your frosting and spread it evenly on top.

And there you are, enjoy the best cinnamon rolls you have ever had!