Almond Roll

Baking Babes Commentary: A tried and true tested recipe that's a family favourite with JBabe. LBabe couldn't believe that there's no flour! Great for people with wheat allergies. This almond log is easy to make and bakes in under 20 minutes. The secret is to 'pre-roll' the cake after it comes out of the oven to prevent it from cracking when rolling it with the fruit filling. A light and refreshing dessert to make on a lazy afternoon!


Beware of Almond Allergies!

Ingredients:

• 5 eggs (room temperature), separated into yolks and whites
• 1 cup of nuts (almonds or hazelnuts crushed finely)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking powder

Directions:

• Mix yolks and sugar with a whisk for about ten minutes
• Whip up egg whites separately until they're stiff
• To the yolk mixture, add nuts and baking powder and mix
• Line a rectangular pan (16" x 10" and at least 1" high) with parchment paper
• Oil and dust the parchment paper with flour
• Preheat over to 350F
• Add 1 BIG spoon of whites into nut mixture and fold gently
• Then add nut mixture into the rest of the whites and fold GENTLY (your mixture should be nice and fluffy now)
• Pour into pan and bake for 18-20 minutes
• Prepare tea towel with icing sugar sprinkled on it (If you don't have a tea towel, another sheet of parchment paper will do)
• FLIP cake into tea towel, and gently separate cake from parchment paper using a spatula
• Sprinkle icing on the cake, then lift tea towel and roll the cake, let cool

For the filling:

• Open 1 carton of whipping cream and 1 satchet of Dr. Oetker "Whip It". Whip until it's whipped cream, then fill the cake with fruits and cream (we used really fresh strawberries and blueberries from the farmer's markets). Decorate the cake as desired, then serve chilled (we tried using the whip cream from the can but it didn't hold it's shape well so a harder cream is needed)

Whisk Rating:(out of five)

Strawberry Torte

Baking Babes Commentary: This recipe was one that we tried from the Food Network - Anna Olsen. It's fairly easy to make about 45 minutes in total and tastes quite good. What we didn't get is why the meringue for one cake gets flipped onto the plate, the meringue gets crushed and sticks to the plate.

Our funny discovery: the dessert looks like the one on the Cool Whip tub!


Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup sugar (less is a bit better)
• 3 x large eggs
• 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup 2% milk
• 1-1/4 cup pastry flour
• 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp fine salt
• 2 cup sliced fresh strawberries
• 1/2 cup whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease and flour two 8-inch square cake pans.
   
2. Beat vegetable oil, ½ cup sugar and egg yolks with electric beaters until fluffy. Stir in lemon zest and vanilla. Stir in milk.
   
3. Sift together pastry flour, baking powder and salt and gently stir into egg yolk mixture until blended. Spread evenly into the 2 prepared pans.
   
4. Whip egg whites with electric beaters until frothy, then gradually add the remaining ½ cup sugar and whip until whites hold a stiff peak. Spread meringue evenly over batter in pans.
5. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool cakes completely in the pan.
6. To assemble, turn one cake out onto a plate, meringue-side down (We suggest not). Top cake with half the strawberries and cream (Place cream on the bottom layer, add strawberries and then coat with one more layer of cream or else torte doesn't hold). Place second cake layer on top, meringue-side up and top with remaining cream and fruit. Chill until ready to serve.
7. Garnish with whip cream.
   

Whisk Rating: (out of 5)