Fale Dunaju (Danube Waves)

‘Fale Dunaju’ is poetry, a symphony of taste and beauty: for your eyes and mouth… Inspired by the most poetic river, chocolate and white pastries of the cake shape regular waves inside the cake, whereas cherries on the top remind little boats on the river, floating on white and dark chocolate icing. Sweet and chocolate, but with a hint of sour cherries and lemon pudding, is a mouth-watering pudding for any occasion.

Prep time: 30 minutes, moderate

Bake time: 45 minutes

Serves: 20

Ingredients:

Pastry

350g flour

250g butter

250g sugar

6 eggs

Jar of seedless cherries (or frozen cherries)

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 tablespoons black cocoa

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon coconut shavings

Cream

250g butter

100g sugar

1,5 cup of milk

2 tablespoons potato flower

1 tablespoon vanilla sugar

1 teaspoon lemon peels

Juice from 1 squeezed lemon

Icing

100g white chocolate

100g dark chocolate

1 butter

200g fresh cherries

Method:

1.     Cream butter with an electric mixer in a large mixing bowl. Add sugar and eggs, keep creaming.

2.     Sift flour into the bowl and add baking powder. Mix them all together.

3.     Split the pastry into two. Add cocoa to one of the half and mix it into dough.

4.     A baking tin, about 24 cm long, coat with butter and coconut shavings. (I usually use coconut shaving to coat a baking tin with, they bake well and taste nicely).

5.     Put white dough into the baking dish. Put the black on the top of it.

6.     Put seedless cherries in regular distances (about 2cm from each other) on the top of the dark pastry. Press them lightly so they sink in. Cherries will be sinking deeper and deeper while baking, creating the wave-like shapes inside the cake.

7.     Bake it for about 45 min in pre-heated oven.

8.     In meantime, you can start making the cream. In a cup, mix potato flower, sugar and vanilla sugar, mix the powder some milk. (about 5 tablespoons of milk).

9.     Boil the rest of milk, and add the melted in cold milk powder. Mix in a pot (don’t let it to boil), the mixture will be becoming dense. When it has a cream-like consistency, leave it to cool down.

10. In a mixing bowl, cream butter with lemon peel and lemon juice. Add the pudding mixture spoon by spoon, and mix them all together.

11. Spread the cream over baked and cooled down cake. Put them into the fridge so the cream starts becoming solid.

12. Prepare icing: melt dark and white chocolates (separately) in a chocolate baths (crashed chocolates put into bowls, and the bowl into saucepans with boiling water).

13. Pour dark chocolate over cooled down cake. Wait when the chocolate starts becoming solid, then pour white chocolate over it, creating wave-like patterns with a spoon. Leave to cool down.

14. When the icing is resting, decorate with cherries, placing them in regular spaces.

15. Cut into pieces to serve and enjoy:)

Pyzy z Miesem (Potato Dumplings with Meat)

Potato pastries are typical for Polish cuisine. Especially when it comes to utilizing potato leftovers. Even though Pyzy might seem complicated and time consuming at the first sight, in fact they are very easy to prepare. And they’re so yummy, a truly Polish cuisine flavor!

Prep time: 30 min, moderate

Cook time: 30 min

Awaiting time: 1 hour

Serves: about 16 dumplings (for 3 people)

Ingredients:

1 kg potato

2 tablespoons potato flour

2 tablespoons wheat flour

300g minced pork

1 cloves of garlic

Pinch of salt

Pinch of black pepper

1 teaspoon curry

1 teaspoon grinded nutmeg

1 teaspoon sweet red pepper powder

1 onion

100g bacon

2 tablespoon oil

Method:

1.     Peel, wash and boil potatoes. Leave them to cool down (you can use leftover potato after last night dinner). Press them with a potato press (on the photo below).

2.     Heat oil on a frying pan and fry lightly minced meat, adding pepper powder, curry, garlic, salt and black pepper.

3.     Pressed potato put into a mixing bowl. Mix them with flours.

4.     Shape little balls of the potato mixture (about 16), and flatten them. 

5.     Fill the balls with a teaspoon of minced meat. Close the ball and shape it.

6.     Boil water in a stock pot. Put the filled balls into the boiling water, and cook them as long as they float to the top of water. Leave them for 3 more minutes, then take them out with a spoon.

7.     Chop onion and bacon, and fry them on a frying pan. Pour them over ready to serve dumplings. Enjoy!

Kuleczki Raffaello (Raffaello Balls)

Raffaello, a cream and coconut sweet, is definitely the biggest treat for me:) And there is no more fun than making your favourite sweets by yourself! So, I’m giving you my secret Raffaello recipe, I’m sure it will become an enjoyable sweetie by many…

Prep time: 20 min, easy

Waiting time: 1 hour

Serves: 30 little balls

Ingredients:

1 butter

1 glass of powder sugar

2medium eggs

150 g coconut shavings

100 g of digestive biscuits, dry waffles or ‘Herbatniki’ from Polish Shop (recommended)

50 g Hazelnuts or whole almonds

Method:

1.     Cream butter in a mixing bowl using an electric mixer. The butter should become soft and creamy.

2.     Add sugar and eggs to the butter. Keep creaming the ingredients.

3.     Put six tablespoons of coconut shavings into a separate bowl and save them for later. Add the rest into the butter and mix it in.

4.     Put the butter into the fridge to chill for about 1 hour.

5.     Crash biscuits or ‘herbatniki’. I use an electric blender, but you can use a rolling pin.

 

6.     Add the biscuit crumbs into the butter and mix them int.

7.     Mold walnut-size balls of the cream. Stuff them with a hazelnut or almond and cot with coconut shavings. To add an element of surprise, stuff some of them with hazelnuts and some with almonds.

8.     Put the ready balls into the fridge to rest. They will be ready in half an hour! Store them in a cool place. Enjoy!