Prince Polo bar cake

A delicious cake with layers of chocolate sponge, walnut and coconut meringue and cream bursting with chocolate and famous Polish  Prince Polo bar pieces. It's not overly sweet and it looks elegant. It's quite time-consuming but worth the effort you put into making it.

Photo: Kraft Foods

Ingredients:

Chocolate sponge:

6 eggs 

6 tbsp sugar

6 tbsp flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder


a pinch of salt

• Separate the eggs and beat the whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form. Then add the sugar in three portions and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Add the yolks, one at a time and beat until thick and light in colour. 
• Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa and gently fold into the egg mixture.
• Transfer onto a (25x36 cm) baking tray  which has been lined with parchment paper. Bake at 180 C for 20-25 minutes. 
• When the sponge is cold, cut horizontally into two equal slabs.

Meringue:


7 egg whites

a pinch of salt

150 g sugar

200 g chopped walnuts

100 g shredded coconut

150 g chopped  Prince Polo bars ( 3 large XXL bars)

• Beat the whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form. Then add the sugar in three portions and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
• Fold in the chopped walnuts, Prince Polo bars and the coconut.
• Transfer onto a baking tray (25x36 cm) which has been lined with parchment paper. Bake at 170 C for 20-25 minutes. 

Creamy custard filling:

750 ml milk

7 egg yolks

4 tbsp sugar

4 heaped tbsp potato starch

3 heaped tbsp flour

350 g soft butter

1 bar of dark chocolate (chopped)

150 g chopped Prince Polo  bars ( 3 large XXL bars)

• Beat the egg yolks with the sugar, add the flours and a few spoonfuls of milk and mix everything well making sure that there are no lumps.
• Pour 5 tablespoons of water into a pot ( in this way the milk won't burn and stick to the bottom of the pan) and when it begins to boil pour in the milk and bring everything to a boil.
• Pour the egg mixture into the boiling milk and whisk vigorously until the mixture thickens and begins to bubble. 
• Cream the butter and add the cold custard, in small portions, making sure that everything is well incorporated.
• Fold in the chopped Prince Polo bars and dark chocolate.

Chocolate ganache:

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp milk

3 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp cocoa powder

Put everything in a pan over medium heat and simmer stirring constantly for about 3 minutes until the ganache thickens.

Assembly:

• Line a baking tray with parchment paper and assemble the cake on the paper in the following order:
• a slab of chocolate sponge+one half of the custard filling+the meringue slab+another half of the custard filling+the second chocolate sponge slab.

Pour warm ganache over the assembled cake and spread it evenly using a palette knife. Transfer into the fridge for a few hours to set.
Enjoy:)

Gooseberry jam

Super quick and delicious gooseberry jam. J got the recipe from my neighbour who, in turn, received it in the'40s from an old German lady whose hobby was making preserves. It's the best recipe ever !!!

Ingredients:

125 ml water

500 g sugar

1kg gooseberries (trimmed and washed)

• Bring the water and sugar to a vigorous boil. Add the gooseberries and boil stirring constantly until the mixture begins to boil vigorously. Boil on high for about 60 minutes until it begins to thicken and you can see that the jam begins to set.
• 
• To test the consistency place a saucer in the freezer for 5 minutes, take it out and drop some jam on top of it. Wait until the jam cools down. If you see that the jam has set you can fill the jars.
• Pour into sterilised jars, screw the lids on tightly and cover the jars with a warm blanket.
• Remove the blanket after a few hours when the jam cools down.

Enjoy !

Harira

A delicious Moroccan soup with beef, chickpeas and lentils. Great with steamed couscous. Everybody's favourite !

Ingredients:

500 g  beef (cut into 3x3 cm cubes)

3 onions (diced)

4 celery stalks (diced)

1-2 bullion cubes (beef or veal flavour) - optional

1 tbsp smoked paprika powder

1 tbsp  powdered ginger

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper powder

1 tsp   sea salt

2 tbsp olive oil

• saute everything in a big pot for 3-4 minutes until aromatic and juicy
• next add:

1 tsp  butter

1 bunch  chopped parsley

1 bunch  chopped coriander

• saute everything  for 2-3 minutes
• add 1.5 litres of water and cook gently for about 1 hour until the meat is tender
• then add:

500 ml tomato passata or canned diced tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp sugar

1 handful  red lentils

1 can  cooked chickpeas 

• Boil everything for a few minutes until the lentils are tender. Adjust salt and pepper and serve sprinkled with chopped coriander or parsley. Enjoy :)

Sourdough rye bread with beer and fried onions

I got this recipe from my best cousin, a great cook, an avid baker and a foodie. The bread has a moist soft crumb and an interesting delicate aroma of fried onions and beer. 

Ingredients for 2 loaves:

Day 1

60 g sourdough starter

200 g fine rye flour (type 720)

180 ml water

Mix everything and leave to ferment in a bowl covered with clingfilm for 8-12 hours or overnight.

Day 2

starter from Day 1

800g fine rye flour (type 720)

650 ml wheat beer 

2 large onions ( roughly chopped and sauteed in 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and cooled)

2 tsp salt

• Mix everything well in a stand mixer or by hand and leave to proof in a bowl covered with clingfilm for 8-12 hours at room temperature.
• Grease two 20 cm loaf tins with lard and transfer the dough into the tins in two equal portions. Even out the surface with wet hands. Dust the surface with flour.
• Cover the tins with clingfilm and leave to rise for 3-4 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 220 C, sprinkle the inside of the oven with water and place the tins in the centre of the oven .
• Bake for 45-50 minutes.
• Remove the tins from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Remove e the bread from the tins when the bread is still warm and cool the loaves on a wire rack.

Enjoy:)

General's croissants

I made them last week but had been planning to finally try them for over a year. It's been a year since I laid my hands on this secret recipe literally stolen by the General from his trusted batman's uncle who owns an old-fashioned bakery in Bielsko. So the recipe is really precious and the croissants taste   totally different to French croissants .

Ingredients:

• 1 kg all-purpose flour (type 500 )
• 140 g sugar
• 10 g salt
• 500 ml milk at room temperature
• 60 g fresh yeast
• 200 g butter

egg wash: 1 egg+ 1 tablespoon of water

• Melt the yeast in milk and add sugar. Add sifted flour and salt and knead for 1-2 minutes. 

• Form into a ball and roll into a small rectangle. The middle of the rectangle should be thicker than the four corners. Place the butter in the middle and fold the corners of the rectangle over so as to cover it, making sure that the butter won't leak when the rectangle is rolled.

•  Roll into another rectangle (1 cm thick) and fold like a business letter dividing the rectangle into 3 parts. Cover in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 60 minutes.

• Take the dough out of the fridge and roll to the same thickness repeating the folding process. Put in the fridge again for another 60 minutes.

•  Roll again to the thickness of 0.5 cm and divide the drolled dough into triangles of an even size. 

• .Roll the triangles starting from the base of the triangle to make croissants. Leave to rise on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper spacing the apart as they will rise and expand. Brush with egg wash.

•  Bake at 180 C for 20 minutes.

Masha's Russian wholemeal sourdough bread

An all- time favourite. Intense but not sour, with a uniform soft crumb and a beautiful rustic look.

Ingredients for 1 loaf :

Day 1

Starter

80g wholemeal rye flour (type 2000)

80g water

20g rye sourdough starter

• Mix everything in a mixing bowl and leave to ferment overnight. It should double or triple in size.

Day 2

560g wholemeal wheat flour (type 2000)

40g wholemeal rye flour (type 2000)

340 g water

150 g starter (from day 1)

12g sea salt

1 tbsp honey

• Mix both flours with 300g water and leave to soak for 30 minutes.

• Dissolve the honey and salt in the remaining 40g water and combine all the ingredients .  

• Knead the dough for 8 minutes in a stand mixer with a hook attachment or 15 minutes by hand. 

• Shape into a ball and place in greased bowl. Cover and leave to rise for 30 minutes. 

• Remove the dough from the bowl, stretch into a circle and roll the edges inwards to shape a new ball.

•  Place in a flour-dusted proofing basket or in a deep bowl lined with flour-dusted  cloth, cover and leave to rise for 3 hours. 
• When the dough has risen dust its top with some flour, place a baking stone in the oven and heat it for 45 minutes at 250 C. 

• Put some ice cubes on a tray placed at the bottom of the oven to create humidity and steam  for the bread.

• Transfer the dough onto a bread shovel bottom side up, flip it onto a hot baking stone and bake at 250 C for 10 minutes.

• After 10 minutes open the door of the oven to release the steam and lower the temperature to 180C. 

• Bake for a further 30 minutes or longer if you want a darker crust. Remove the bread from the oven using the bread shovel and place it on a cooling rack.

Enjoy :)