Yumi Yumi

Have you ever heard of an Ambrosia cake? If yes, then what's the cake like? It seems that there is no one single Ambrosia cake. When googling 'ambrosia cake', the Internet search engine returns a number of recipes that seem to contain oranges in one form or another. This version is a Finnish recipe, known as 'Ambrosiakakku'. It's a simple sugar cake that goes well with a cup of tea. Most of the Finnish recipes only use candied orange peel to garnish and juice to make the glaze. I've also added grated orange zest to the cake batter to make the cake even more fragrant and tasty. Ambrosia Cake ( Ambroosiakook ) Serves 8 to 10 150 g unsalted butter, melted 3 large eggs 200 g caster sugar 115 g plain/all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder grated zest of 1 orange To glaze: 100 g confectioners/icing sugar 2 to 3 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice To garnish: candied orange peel Whisk eggs and sugar into a thick, pale foam. Add grated orange zest, slightly cooled mel...

I'm definitely on the "Take Five Ingredients" mood these days. Cooking with a small baby is possible , of course, but I haven't got the time or energy to think up elaborate menus and spend hours in front of the hob these days. Nor do I want it, to be honest. Simple, comforting, delicious dishes are much more attractive - and feasible - at the moment. Here's a very simple and delicious and comforting soup recipe for these cold wintry nights. (Yes, there's still snow out here, even if the days have got a lot longer and there's definitely spring in the air during the daytime). Silky Onion Soup ( Sametine sibulasupp ) Serves 4 50 g butter 500 g onions 2 tsp sugar 1 l / 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock 200 ml (just under a cup) whipping cream 1 to 2 Tbsp plain/all-purpose flour salt and white pepper, to taste For garnish: crispy croutons grated hard cheese fresh chives, chopped Peel the onions, halve and cut into slices. Heat a heavy saucepan and melt the but...

Fancy a lactose-free and fat-free cake that's a little bit more interesting than the simple eggs-sugar-flour sponge cake? Well, this might be the answer. There's a large tin of canned pineapple in the cake, which makes it more moist and rich, so it feels like it's made with at least some butter. I must admit I couldn't taste the pineapple in the cake, not even a little, but I still liked the cake. It's covered with a simple cocoa powder glaze, but you could use some of the pineapple syrup from the can to make a white glaze instead.. Pineapple Cake with Cocoa Glaze ( Ananassikook kakaoglasuuriga ) Cuts into 12 slices 3 large eggs 200 g caster sugar 225 g plain/all-purpose flour 2 tsp baking powder 350 g canned crushed pineapple (drained weight, that's one large 580 g can) Glaze: 150 ml icing sugar 1 Tbsp cocoa powder 2-3 Tbsp water Drain the canned pineapple, blend the pulp into until smooth. Whisk the eggs and sugar until thick, pale and foamy. Gently fold in th...

Here's a broad bean paté I made today. K's mum and auntie came for a short visit to check out the baby girl, and I wanted something savoury to nibble (there was a cake as well, of course). I had boiled 500 grams of broad beans yesterday in order to make Egyptian falafels following a recipe by Claudia Roden , but I decided to 'steal' some of the beans and try out a broad bean paté instead. The result was really lovely. Both K's mum and auntie guessed it was made with chicken livers instead - before wolfing down another thin crisp bread spread with this lovely paté. PS I used unpeeled dried broad beans and didn't peel them after soaking or boiling either. Broad Bean Paté ( Põldoapasteet ) Makes about a cup a cup of boiled broad beans, drained thoroughly* 2 Tbsp concentrated tomati paste/tomato purée 2 to 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 1 tsp dried basil a squeeze of lemon juice salt and freshly ground black pepper For garnish: fr...

K made macarons for the New Year's Eve party. We had quite a few friends over for that occasion, and whereas I was mainly in charge of the savoury dishes, K. had (almost) free hands in deciding which sweet dishes to offer. He had wanted to make macarons for ages, so he decided to go ahead. I must admit that I was a bit hesitant to start with. Macarons, as we all know (or at least that's the feeling I get when reading bloggers who have made them), are a tricky concoction, to say the least. They sound deceptively simple - icing sugar, ground almonds, egg whites - yet there are hundred tricks and insider tips you must know in order to succeed. Also, as you cannot buy ground almonds in Estonia, K. had to grind his own - using our small old coffee grinder - and sieve the meal again and again. Then you had to wait for the egg whites to dry and so on. In the midst of the preparations for a successful New Year's Eve party, our kitchen was a mess - and occupied by him - for much lon...

Me and our little Nora Adeele (32 days old on the photo) making Annemarie's excellent chorizo meatballs . ( Chorizo lihapallid )

Here's a cake I made for K's mum's birthday lunch back in January. After the excessive eating during the festive season, I wanted to make something light, low in sugar and still delicious. An experiment with a pure mango pureé resulted in this delicious yogurt cake. Several people have tried this recipe, also posted on my Estonian site , and they've loved it. I used a can of sweetened Alphonso mango pulp by a UK-based East End company (92% mango), but you could use fresh mango pureé or blend some canned mangoes instead. The cake needs to set for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, so make it on a night before. Mango Yogurt Cake ( Mangotort ) Serves 10 to 12 Base: 200 g gingerbread cookies or cocoa biscuits, crushed 80 g butter, melted Mango filling: 500 g good-quality mango pulp 200 g plain yogurt 200 ml whipping cream (35-38% fat content) 2 Tbsp sugar juice of a large lemon 8 gelatine leaves (or 2 Tbsp gelatine powder) Garnish: pistachio nuts, sliced or mint or lem...

Here's a (old Estonian?) recipe for a simple dessert that costs next to nothing - and is made pretty much out of nothing (raisins, water, sugar). Yet it tastes good.. I vaguely remember it from kindergarten and elementary school lunch breaks, but it had been a looooong time since my last rosinakissell. Until I stayed at the maternity clinic early last month and had to 'feast' on the food that the hospital budget catering had to offer. The desserts were all nursery food and humble, and raisin fruit soup or kissel was served one night. Although the hospital version wasn't the best example of this dessert soup, it still brought back nostalgic food memories. Back home, one of the first dishes I cooked as a young mother, was this dessert soup/fruit soup/kissell (call what you like it). Pretty delicious, actually. For best result, use different type of seedless raisins and currants. I used small yellow and large Californian raisins. Raisin Fruit Soup ( Rosinakissell ) Serves...