CRANBERRY AND YOGURT SPONGECAKE

This spongecake is really good! Ideal for breakfast or tea. It is very easy to make, you don't need to use any electrical kitchen device!

INGREDIENTS

- 300 gr strong wheat flavour 

- 2 yogurts 

- 4 eggs

- 240 gr sugar

- 120 ml olive oil (you can measure this with the yogurt container once you empty it)

- One sachet of baking powder

- One bag of dry cranberries 

STEPS

Put the cranberries in a cup with warm water. We want to hydrate them during 10 minutes.

Put the eggs in a bowl

Measure 240 gr sugar

Add the sugar and beat everything till you obtain a whitish mixture.

Join the yogurts 

Measure the oil with the empty container of the yogurt and pour it into the bowl.

Mix everything to obtain a homogenous blend.

Measure 300 gr strong flour

The flour must be sieved before mixing with the rest of ingredients

Mix with the rest of ingredients 

The mixture must look like this:

Add the baking powder and a pinch of salt and blend all the ingredients.

Drain the cranberries and get them covered with flour. This will prevent that they fall to the bottom of the spongecake.

Add the cranberries to the mixture and distribute them carefully using a fish slice.

Grease a baking tray with butter

And then distribute some flour. By doping this, removing the spongecake from the mould will be easier

Pour the dough into a greased baking tray

Bake the spongecake during 45 minutes. The oven must be pre-heated at 180 degrees 

Check that the spongecake is ready using the toothpick trick (poke the cake, if the toothpick is clean when you take it out, the cake is cooked)

It is ready! Leave it cool

And enjoy it!!

HOT CHOCOLATE (with Thermomix 3300)

A nice breakfast or snack, it goes perfect with "churros" or Three Kings' Cake. Using Thermomix we will have it ready in just a few minutes.

INGREDIENTS

- Special hot chocolate bar (chocolate a la taza)

- Milk

- Sugar

- Corn Flour

- Butter

- A pinch of Salt

STEPS

(These quantities are for two or three mugs of hot chocolate)

- Separate 12 squares of chocolate

Pour Milk into the Thermomix jar, until you cover the blades (350 ml approximately)

Wrap up the jar, place the strainer and set the machine:  speed; 1, temperature: 100 degrees, time:  1 minute. We want to warm the milk just a little

Now, remove the strainer and add the chocolate squares through the hole

Place the strainer again and use speed 1 during some seconds to crush the chocolate. As we have warm milk inside, it will be effortless for the machine

We add now:

- 250 ml milk 

One small Thermomix cup of sugar, and a pinch of salt 

A teaspoon of butter

A full teaspoon of corn flour

And set the machine: Speed 1, temperature 100 degrees, time: 7 minutes. When time is over, leave speed 1 during some minutes to cool the chocolate down

Yummy!!! Have a nice breakfast! 

THREE KINGS CAKE

 It is traditional to have this cake during Christmas, specially the night before the Three Kings visit the houses with presents for all kids :-)  It is delicious with hot chocolate

INGREDIENTS

- 2 eggs 

- 100 ml warm milk 

- 15 ml Orange and lemon juice

- Lemon and orange zest 

- 20 gr Orange blossom water 

- 75 gr butter

- 100 gr sugar

- Nutmeg and Salt 

- Some honey 

- A portion of baker's yeast 

- 450 gr strong wheat flour

DECORATION 

- A beaten egg 

- Humidified sugar

- Orange slices 

- Crunchy Sweet almond

STEPS

First of all we have to prepare the ingredients for the dough.

Grate the Orange peel

And the lemon peel too

Save the lemon and Orange zest for later

Squeeze the orange 

And the lemon and save both juices for later 

Measure:

100 ml of Milk (about 100 gr)

20 gr of Orange blossom water 

75 gr butter

And melt it in the microwave using low temperature

Beat Two eggs

Measure 100 gr sugar

And 450 gr strong wheat flour

Now we are going to mix the previous ingredients using a big bowl

The Milk (it must be warm)

The orange and lemon juice

the orange blossom water

The beaten eggs

The melted butter

The sugar

Mix everything and go on adding ingredients 

The Orange and lemon zest

Some honey

Generous Nutmeg

And a pinch of Salt

Dissolve the baker's yeast 

And finally pour the strong wheat flour

Mix till you obtain a homogenous batter. It must not stick on the bowl's walls so you will probablyl need to add more flour to the mixture

Prepare a transparent kitchen plastic with some Olive oil

Spread it using your hands

Cover the dough

And leave it settle and grow for two hours

As you can see it has grown! Thanks to the plastic wet in oil, the dough won't stick on it

Prepare the countertop with flour. You need to knead the dough for a while, it must not stick in your hands, you can help yourself soaking your hands with oil.

Make a ball with the dough and place it over the oven tray prepared with a baking paper.

Make a big hole in the center. Be sure that it is big enough, as the dough will go on growing and it can "dissapear"! If that happens, the cake wouldn't have the traditional shape...

Now it's time to decorate the cake. Beat an egg 

And "paint" all the cake's surface 

Place some Orange slices cut into halves

Humidify some sugar

And put it over the cake, in those gaps between the orange slices

Finally, spread some Crunchy sweet almond 

Leave it settle and grow for three or four hours inside a cool place (I use the oven, switched off)

Until it doubles its size

Pre - heat the oven 180 degrees, once it is ready, bake the cake during 20 -25 minutes, the surface must be brown. To check that it is cooked inside use a toothpick, poke the cake and take it out. If it leaves clean, that means the cake is cooked.

It's huge!! :-) leave it cool and settle 

Yummy!!

Serving suggestion: with hot chocolate