Happy Valentine's day 2020 !

Ok, I am not fan of St Valentine's day, but I have to admit that it's fun and I get inspired to make fancy cakes :) So, enjoy my first Pavlova for 2020, we ate two thirds of it in the first round !!! 

Try the recipe, it's one of my favorites...
Not to mention that you can choose any shape you like and adapt it to any theme.
Cheers!  

A printable recipe card perfect for Valentine’s Day in my Etsy shop. 👉 Get it here →

Moist coconut cake

I really love coconut and one of my favorite greek cakes is the coconut Ravani.
Given that it has a syrup, it makes it quite heavy in calories though. So, I was looking for a cake with coconut that is close to ravani but lighter.
Find today this version that I tried and I really liked a lot...

the moist coconut cake ! 

(In french we could call it "gateau moelleux au noix de coco")
If you like coconut, you have to try this easy but tasty version!

St. Valentine's day

Want to find an excuse to try this
triple chocolate mousse cake?

How about St. Valentine's day ? (Indeed, it is today, 14 of February :)

Otherwise, anything with nutella will do!

February 2 the day of crepes in France!

In France, February 2 (yesterday) is the day of crepes.
They call this day "Chandeleur" (Candlemas in english) and it is linked to religion (commemorate the purification of Virgin Mary and the presentation of baby Jesus)
but practically, people are making and consuming lots of crepes. 
You won't believe the amount of Nutella, and rest of ingerdients that are consumed those days.
As this is the weekend the closest to the Chandeleur, here's a recipe reminder to succeed your crepes and here is one for pancakes if you are too lazy for crepes :)

Happy Chandeleur!!!

Happy 2018 !

Happy New Year to all !
Cook more, less war in this world ...

How about starting the year by making this delicious french Epiphany cake (Galette des rois)?
I think that my 2018 version is the best that I have ever done :)

Gravity cake

Happy birthday! 

My son just turned 10 and here's the best birthday cake that I decided to make that makes the buzz on the web and makes heads turn on it's sight... The GRAVITY cake!!!
My kids loved it, hubby thinks I'm a genius, friends were amazed and there were even people that took photos of it :))))
Special thanks to both of my children that helped me doing it, and my apologies to my daughter that I underestimated her capabilities as she has proved that often she is much better than me ! Kiss to hubby for the support, as always, to my crazy ideas.
So, let's get back to the cake. Procedure goes like this...

Recipe reminder (muffins)

I am currently reading an interesting book about consuming sugar. So, I was resisting in making a sweet treat, but I admit that I am addicted and I cannot avoid it :)
Have a look in my chocolate-banana muffins to see why I could not resist...
Try NOT to do them! :P

Sweet Braided Bread (Tsourekia)

Check also a marvelous similar french recipe :

French brioche bread

Tsourekia are traditional Greek sweet breads, similar to French brioche, soft, fluffy, and lightly sweet. Fragrant with vanilla and optional mahlab, perfect for breakfast, brunch, or festive occasions, they are lightly scented and golden, with a tender crumb that melts in your mouth.

The muffins of the day!

These are the muffins of the day according to my recipe Vanilla muffins that is so easy to make and tasty too.
The inspiration of the day was to add some sliced almonds on top and decorated with a lollipop as they are going to be sold in my kids' school to finance a field trip....
If you read this post on time, come and buy one before it is too late :)

Desert roses or "roses de sable"

These chocolate treats with corn flakes have the looks of  "desert roses" and despite the fact that they are not "gourmet cuisine" (you do not even need to bake!) they will definitely charm your children :)
My son likes them a lot and it's thanks to him that I tried them today with his help of course ...

Oat flakes cookies

Healthy (?) cookies today! I had some left overs of oat flakes from a visitor and I was thinking what to do with that. Until I have seen in the package a recipe for cookies... The ones that know me, can predict the rest :) I was waiting the opportunity to try it. And guess what? I did it!
I cannot say that I am thrilled but they have a nice surprising taste of sesame that I love and a friend of mine that was passing by could not wait them to get out of the oven and found them delicious. Your turn now...

Evi's cake!

Let's start 2015 with a recipe that a dear friend Evi sent to me. Evi with Natalia (if I remember well :) tried this recipe, liked it and sent to me photos from the result yesterday to publish in my blog. Evi says that it's a tasty one and worth to try it but I am very busy right now so until I will give you my personal opinion here's the recipe in case that you are anxious to try for yourselves (send me photos if it's the case). Please Evi comment this post and give more information directly :) 
Thanks for sharing girls!
Btw, looking for this recipe I came across with Nanaimo bar recipe that I would definitely would like to try!!! Google it and see what I mean *slourp* 

Vivian's king's cake or "Vassilopita" in greek

In Greece, the 1st of January we make our favorite cake or a special recipe from our region and we hide inside a coin (covered with aluminum foil, of course :) and we call it "Vassilopita". It's the equivalent of the "king's cake" or the "Galette de roi" that we find in other christian countries for the Epiphany.
We gather in family and share the cake and the one that will get the hidden coin will be the king of the year, aka the lucky of the year...
I will share with you the recipe that I adopted since the birth of my daughter, that is a very fluffy cake scented with orange zest and rich in ground almonds. You can make it all year through but it has some luxury touch that makes it a good candidate for a special occasion :) Here it goes...

"Juicy" apple pie

Apples are a great ingredient when baking cakes, so find today one more way to enjoy them always with a cinnamon touch :)
Review with the occasion, all the other apple cakes of this blog like this Apple pie, or the apple cake with coconut crust and let me know which one you prefer more (given that you have baked them of course...).
Excellent cake for Autumn!!!

Ingredients
250gr butter
1 cup of sugar
5 eggs
2 cups of self-raising flour (you can replace some with almond powder btw)
2-3 apples (depending how much you like them :)
Some extra sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle on applesas well as ground walnuts

Cake pops!

I was resisting in falling into cake pops mania until ... one day I opened my door and dear John and his girlfriend came holding a bunch of cake pops in their hands ! And you can imagine the rest :)
Kids were crazy, and they kept asking me when I will do them again. So, we went and bought a silicone mold and sticks and here we are making them again and again. I continue to think that it's too much hassle but what the hell :) Let's share this mania with you, dear readers...

Ingredients (check also my cupcake recipes)
113gr of butter
113gr of sugar
113gr of self-raising flour
3 eggs
some cocoa powder (optionally, if you want a chocolate flavor)
Topping: 100gr of chocolate, some colorful decoration

"Karydopita" or moist walnut cake

Classic Greek cake, "karydopita", is a moist walnut cake that smells cinnamon and clove and is rich in walnuts. It's quite sweet, so adapt the recipe to your style but I will give here the one that is the typical that you will be served in a Greek house.

Feta & dried tomatoes cake

I promised to give you the recipe of the mozzarella cake with feta and I always keep my promises :)
So, find today another version of this salty cake with a greek touch this time ...
Just replace the mozzarella with feta cheese and fresh tomatoes with dried tomatoes and add more flour so that in total will be about 250gr. Try it! 
See some photos from the preparation below...

Tomato-mozzarella-oregano cake

Summer is coming soon and I would like to urge all the fanatic ones with cakes like me to calm themselves down by doing salty cakes ! I start the sugar banning :) today by proposing to you a tomato-mozzarella cake that has my favorite oregano to boost it. Easy, fast and excellent starter for a nice dinner or a fancy aperitif.
I would add feta cheese instead of mozzarella to be honest, but I live far from Greece and feta is a precious cheese at home, especially for my daughter :)
As far as it concerns the sugar banning... it was a joke ! I am addicted to sugar, so it's not easy to ban it, for the time being, I can only lower my daily intake ...
Ready? Let's go for it then!

Bugs Bunny's cake or Carrot cake :)

If you want to change from the classic chocolate cake then this tasty carrot cake would do :)
It's simple to do, just mix the ingredients, bake and taste! Try it and you will be addicted as it tastes really nice.
The problem is, that I am not very concentrated these days and although I did 2 times this recipe I made a mistake with the ingredients :)
In the first version (as I call it in the photos :) I added one more cup of flour. Taste was amazing but texture was not very good I have to admit ... We ate all of it in a few hours though! No-one could resist to the smell of cinnamon and the sweet touch of the carrots.
In the second version, I forgot to add the sugar and I came up with the idea to add a light syrup (made by boiling for 5 min 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water) and add it once the cake has cooled a bit down after baking.

See photos of both versions and judge for yourself. Imagine still, that if I am persisting so much in doing this cake it has to be very good in taste :))) I am still working the looks though and once I have a better one I will keep you informed !   

Mug cake, pleasure in a cup!

Are you in a diet, are you living alone or simply you are lazy and a big cake is not for you?
Discover the new trend: the MUG cakes!
Made inside a mug and cooked in a microwave oven in only a few minutes you can enjoy a chocolate cake. Sounds too good to be true, no?  And still, it is possible... Have a look for yourself. The result is quite impressive, at least for me. Would I replace my classic chocolate cake? Probably not... but still...