Elderflower Cake with Strawberry Filling

When you are spending the day outside, surrounded by amazing smells and beautiful plants, the mind begins to wander. While we drove home from the Heritage Plant and Flower Show that I blogged about yesterday, I noticed a lot of elders, a common roadside tree around here.

Despite the very early appearance of this year's blossoms, there are still some blossoms to be found these days. The blossoms normally continue until the middle of June, gradually becoming harder to find as they transform themselves into that other hedgerow treat – the elderberry. The elder is a very easy plant to identify but there are one or two plants that may be mistaken for elderflowers at a glance. Take a look at the photograph here if you are unsure, but if it smells of elderflowers then that is what it is.

Elderflower has unique aromatics and when I start the very first picking session in our garden, trying to reach as many clusters of flowers as possible (I am by no means what you would call a tall person), the smell reminds me of drinking the elderflower cordial the previous summer.

Elderflowers are for everybody. Yet they still seem to be a seriously under-used resource. Elderflower cordial makes the most wonderful drink when diluted with water or sparkling wine, but it is also a superb cupboard ingredient to add a unique fragrant twist to all sorts of wonderful cakes, tarts and puddings. Apart from making elderflower cordial, wine, champagne, and vinegar, elderflowers have a great many other uses. Like one of my all time favorites and a rather unique treat that my grand-mother always made, namely those unique elderflower fritters. My favorite recipe for those lovely elderflower fritters, can be found here.

If you plan on using elderflowers for your baking, cooking, jam or juice making, make sure to choose elderflowers that have fully opened and still have cream colored florets. If possible, you should pick them on a sunny morning. They break away easily from the fork between two leaves and you can collect a huge number in just a few minutes. Elderflowers do not thrive in captivity so get to work as soon as you arrive home.

This elderflower cake is a delightful and delicate teatime treat. It is airy, light, and sweet, but this cake is also armatic from the homemade elderflower cordial in both the icing and the strawberry filling. You can also vary the filling and add some tart rhubarb to the sweet strawberry mix, rhubarb is wonderful in combination with the aromatic flavors of the elderflower, and there is still some late season rhubarb to be found at the green grocers around here.

Elderflower Cake with Strawberry Filling
(inspired by the Heritage Plant and Garden Show and a recipe from Inaki Aizpitarte)

Ingredients for the Cake

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, slightly cooled, plus more for the cake pan
• 1 cup super fine (baking) sugar, plus more for pan
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla sugar
• 1 1/2 cups AP (plain) flour, sifted
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 6 eggs (L), organic or free range

Ingredients for the Strawberry Filling

• 450 grams (1 pound) local strawberries, washed, hulled, quartered (you could also add some late season rhubarb to the jam filling)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 tbsps elderflower cordial (preferably homemade)

Ingredients for the Icing

• 2  cups powdered sugar
• 2 tbsps cream (or more)
• 1 tbsp elderflower cordial (preferably homemade)
• freshly picked elderflowers ( for serving), optional

Preparation of the Cake

1. Preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
2. Butter a 23 cm (9") - diameter springform cake pan and sprinkle generously with sugar, shake off excess.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Set aside.
4. Whisk eggs, 1 cup sugar and pure vanilla sugar in a heatproof bowl and place over a saucepan of simmering water (take care as the bowl should not touch water).
5. Heat, whisking constantly, until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch, about 4 minutes.
6. Remove bowl from heat and, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat egg mixture until it is pale and tripled in volume, about 5 minutes.
7. Gently fold reserved dry ingredients into egg mixture in 3 additions, then fold in melted butter.
8. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top.
9. Bake cake until golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes.
10. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan before turning out.

Preparation of the Strawberry Filling and Icing

1. Bring strawberries, sugar, and 2 tbsps elderflower cordial to a simmer in a medium saucepan.
2. Crush berries with a spoon to release more juices and simmer until berries are completely soft and mixture resembles a coarse jam, about  5 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl and let cool completely.
3. Using a long serrated knife, slice cake in half horizontally.
4. Spread cooled strawberry mixture over bottom layer of cake and place top layer over strawberry mixture.
5. Whisk powdered sugar, remaining 1 tbsp elderflower cordial, and cream in a medium bowl. Thin icing with more cream as needed (it should be pourable).
6. Place cake on a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet and pour icing over cake.
7. Spread with an offset spatula to smooth top and let drip down the sides.
8. Let stand at room temperature until set, at least 30 minutes.
9. Decorate with elderflowers, if using, just before serving. NOTE: This cake can be made one day ahead. It should be stored covered at room temperature - but then leave the elderflowers off just until serving.

NOTE: Please do keep in mind that while elederflowers can be consumed raw and uncooked, elderberries cannot!

There is a lot of superstition associated with elder trees, which have been thought to have magical qualities. An elderflower tree is also meant to protect the household from evil if planted nearby and is apparently never struck by lightening – good to know, we have an elder tree in our garden.

"Respect your elders..."

Heritage Plant and Garden Show - "Jrön un Jedön" in Lindlar, Germany

What better way to spend a sunny weekend at the end of the beautiful month of May than by visiting a heritage plant and garden show in a romantic setting. With more than 40 exhibitors and artists offering heritage and modern plants, arts, crafts and their advice, it was hard to decide what to buy ot what to marvel at first.

Besides all the beautiful flowers such as primrose, lupines, stonebreakers, lilies, buttercups, and plantains...

...you could also get quite a bit of information on different kinds of ivy – who knew that are are so many varieties of this amazing, ever-growing plant.

The ivy in the far left corner of the collage comes with quite a bit of history  - according to the plant breeder, who was more than happy to share some of his expertise on ivy in general and this one in particular, this variety dates back about about twenty years or so. After the reunification of the two Germanys, the green houses in the former East were left to their own dismise, the ivies grew wild and when the green house were restored to their former glory, this new variety of ivy was found - what a fun bit of plant history.

The stagecoach rides are very popular with visitors, great and small. Especailly when the weather is so beautiful.

Although I am the proud owner of numerous hand-woven baskets in all kinds of shapes, sizes and materials, I always find it rather difficult to resist to add to my collection after having carefully watched the very gifted basket weaver at work. One more basket for the tomatoes, one more for the potatoes and another one to store onions...

These cute garden gnows (and frogs and Dalmatians) that were crafted out of metal and would certainly grace any kind of garden fence. My favorite gnow was the one wearing a yellow frock and holding that fly agaric in one of his hands.

So many herbs to buy. Some with culinary, medicinal or ornamental uses. All smelled amazing. All smelled different.

There were all kinds of different varieties of culinary thymes, such as this "pizza thyme", "lemon thyme", "lime thyme", "orange thyme", "English thyme" (also called the ‘Common’ variety, it has been used by Europeans since ancient times - ah, that play on words), and "French thyme" ( which counts as one of the best culinary thymes).

...or all kinds of different types of oregano, such as the one called "hot and spicy" (the perfect choice for Mexican dishes, or strongly flavored Italian and Greek cuisine) or "Italian oregano" (the most famous variety in the oregano family). There was also "sweet marjoram’ (this relative of oregano is sweeter and milder in flavor, it is great for butter sauces, poultry, and egg dishes), sweet fennel, borage, dill, dock, and many more amazing herbal plants.

This very helpful vendor who dispensed a lot of really great advice throughout the day with respect to the wide array of plants that she was selling, was wearing a t-shirt with the following lovely saying:

"No, basil is not a perennial plant, unless, of course, you happen to live in southern Italy."

Which reminded me of the t-shirts that some of our girls´ teachers are wearing in school - saying "No, I have not corrected your exams yet!" and "Yes, you do have to copy that and write in your notebooks!"

More plants.

More herbs - and an abundance of one of my very favorite herb of all times - purple basil (for my current favorite recipe idea for purple basil, please go here). There was also the lovely and very fragrant thai basil.

There were all kinds of different mustards and chutneys to choose from…

…or you could craft a so-called „insect hotel“ using an old-fashioned saw and a modern-day drill. Our youngest daughter loved that she could assist the handyman. The little "hotel" on the far left is the one that is hanging outside one of our windows now.

Huckelberry Finn seemed to be having a good time fishing. He appeared quite at home amongst the little mice, angels, witches and the real time Holsteins and brown cows in the background.

In my humble opinion there is absolutely nothing more esthetically appealing than when art meets nature. Absolutely nothing.

One more basket weaver – what an amazing craft. We shall be back next year.

Tomorrow´s post will feature a delightfully seasonal cake inspired by the theme of this wonderful show. So, do make sure to visit again tomorrow- you will not regret it, I am sure.

"No, basil is not a perennial plant, unless, of course, you happen to live in southern Italy."

The Cottage Cooking Club - May Recipes

Today we are starting a new online cooking group, the Cottage Cooking Club. As a group, recipe by recipe, we are cooking and learning our way through a wonderful vegetable cookbook written in 2011 by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, called „River Cottage Everyday Veg“.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a well-known British chef, TV personality, journalist, food writer and "real food" campaigner, known for his "back-to-basics philosophy". He is best known for hosting the River Cottage series, in which audiences observe his efforts to become a "self-reliant, downshifted farmer in rural England", his aim is to feed himself, his family and friends with locally produced and sourced fruits, vegetables, fish, eggs and meat.

The Cottage Cooking Club online cooking group is meant to be a project aimed at cooking more vegetable dishes, learning new ways to prepare tasty and healthy dishes and share them with family and friends.

We will make an effort to use as much local, regional, organic and also seasonal produce as is resonably possible. With that goal in mind, I prepared quite a few wonderful dishes from the book already.

My first recipe for the May post is the Courgette and Filo Rice Pie. For the filling of the pie you will need grated courgettes (I used yellow as well as green ones), long-grain rice, red onion, grated hard goat´s cheese, two eggs, fruity olive oil, some freshly chopped dill and flat-leaf parsley plus some freshly ground black pepper and sea salt. The pastry consists of ready-made filo pastry (I used ten sheets) and melted, unsalted butter.

This is a recipe with easy to find ingredients. We thought that this very delicious savory pie also looks pretty enough for company, especially when served in a nice baking dish.

Once the baked pie has had a chance to rest for a while, you can easily cut into it and serve nice slices to everyone around the table.

This pie is very pretty with the folded, crunchy filo sheets on top, it is easy to put together and we were very pleased with the way it tasted – together with a salad, this makes the perfect weeknight dinner for the whole family.

The second recipe from the book is Radishes with Butter and Salt, a colorful, time-honored springtime appetizer.

Eating radishes with salt and butter is not unusual around here and we always enjoy the peppery crunch of those lovely red radishes. Obviously, the fresher the radishes are that you are using, the better this simple dish will taste. I also suggest using a really good-quality butter and a nice salt such as Maldon sea salt or maybe skip the salt altogether and use a wonderful salted French butter.

And, of course, you could also vary the kinds of radishes that you are using.

The third recipe I prepared is the outstading Asparagus Pizza.

Once you have prepared the Magic Bread Dough from the book, you are ready to put this very seasonal pizza together in no time.

We really enjoyed the topping of buffalo mozzarella, a generous grating of Parmigiano Reggiano, sea salt, black pepper, some very fruity olive oil and the freshest regional  green asparagus that I could find. A definite hit with the kids. Rather than make a free-form asparagus pizza, I chose to use my trusted vintage pizza pan and added a bit more asparagus than the recipe called for.

Now onto the fourth recipe that I prepared, this was my personal favorite one this month, the Spring Onion Galette, now there is a winning recipe.

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall comments in his recipe that „the spring onions should be just charred in places and slightly chewy on the outside, yet steamed-tender in the middle“ – that is exactly how the spring onions turned out to be. Once they were baked for a good 20 minutes at about 200 degrees Celsius,  they just tasted like sweet perfection.

The base of the galette is a puff pastry.

And other than fresh spring onions, olive oil, pepper and salt, you will only need some tasty hard cheese. I chose a Pecorino Romano. A cinch to put together and such a delight to eat. The spring onions are rather bulbous at this time of year and while that look is rather pretty, it might be advisable to halve the onions before placing them on the galette – puff pastry is a nice treat and this galette is best enjoyed while still lukewarm. Love that recipe.

As a fifth recipe, I made the Quinoa with Courgettes and Onions. With the tender courgettes, the sweet onions, some lovely thyme from the garden and a bit of young garlic, this was such an unbelievably tasty salad. It does get even better when it had a few hours rest prior to serving.

The recipe calls for flat-leaf parsley, I used fresh basil instead and left out the pine nuts – my taste testers do not really like nuts in their salad – but other than these minor change, I stayed true to the recipe and really enjoyed it. Just remember if you are planning to make this salad  a few hours ahead of serving it, you will have to taste for seasoning again just before serving, I ended up re-seasoning with pepper and salt and a lot of lemon juice – I also served some fresh lemon wedges on the side with this salad – it really tastes fabulous with a last-minute squeeze of lemon juice.

The sixth recipe is Lemony Guacomole. The ingredients for this recipe are small chilies, chopped coriander, freshly squeezed lemon and/or lime juice, ripe and creamy avocados,  rapeseed oil, fine sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and some optinal yoghurt (I used 10% Greek yoghurt). Easy to find fresh ingredients, the remainder are pantry items. Perfect for a weekday evening. Got lucky and found two perfectly ripe avocados sans blemishes for this recipe.

I decided to make some homemade pita chips with fresh chives for dipping and served freshly cut limes on the side.This was a very well-received nibble/appetizer and while the kids support some spiciness in their food, I made sure not to overdo it - we all agreed that this is a fabulous recipe. This guacamole is equally delicious as a topping for burgers and as a dip for oven-roasted potatoes and freshly cut vegetables such as carrots and celery sticks. It can also be served as an accompaniment to fajitas, along with sour cream.

You can make it chunky or smooth, according to taste. Whichever way you serve it, if you do make it in advance, do remember to sprinkle the guacamole with lemon or lime juice and cover well with plastic wrap because avocados turn brown quite quickly once they are exposed to air.

The seventh recipe is Roasted Aubergine Boats. I decided to serve these warm with some lovely cold, thick Greek yogurt and a homemade wild garlic pesto. It certainly never hurts to have another aubergine recipe on hand and we enjoyed the contrasting flavors of the sweet, creamy, chili-oil spiked roasted aubergine, the cool yogurt and the fresh, peppery taste of the wild garlic pesto.

Last but not least, I prepared the Asian inspired Stir-fried Sesame Cauliflower. Cauliflower is available year round, and we have been able to find some really nice cauliflower this month, making this lovely vegetable a good choice for the eighth recipe from this book.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall comments his recipe with the following words “cauliflower takes strong seasonings exceptionally well and this easy stir-fry – flavoured with chili, garlic and ginger – is a good example”. After taking one bite of this dish, I could not agree with him more.

This vegetable stir-fry is quickly put together and you can enjoy this as a full meal or as a side-dish. The cauliflower florets get a ten minute soak in cold water. The sesame seeds get toasted for a good minute or two until fragrant. In the meantime, you need to stir-fry some onion, two garlic cloves, chili and freshly grated ginger. Then add the drained cauliflower florets and continue to stir-fry. Finally, add the sesame seeds, good quality toasted sesame oil, low sodium soy sauce and finish with fresh coriander - although I took the liberty of adding coarsely chopped Italian parsley instead, as my dear family is not all that crazy about fresh coriander.

All of us really enjoyed this stir-fried sesame cauliflower – the fresh ginger and the chilies are wonderful in combination with the mild, delicate flavor of the cauliflower. It is true that this vegetable can certainly take some strong seasonings such as the soy sauce and the toasted sesame oil without being overpowered. This recipe seems to be nice variation on the other cauliflower recipes that I usually prepare. I also appreciated the fact that the stir-fried cauliflower florets kept their shape and still looked nice when plated.

Overall, we are extremly pleased with the way these recipes tasted and I am quite happy to report that this cookbook has become one of my favorites these days as the kids really enjoy the different dishes that I prepared from the book so far - it is truly a wonderful vegatable cookbook.

And I cannot stress enough that the recipes are easy to follow, with ingredients that are not difficult to find, making it a cinch to cook seasonally.

Please note, that for copyright reasons, we will not publish the recipes - maybe I can encourage you to buy this book and cook along with our wonderful group - we certainly would not mind some friendly company. For more information on the participation rules, please go here.

The designated recipes for the month of May were the following:

Courgette and rice filo pie (page 51), Rocket, fennel and puy lentil salad (page 82), Radishes with butter and salt OR Fennel and goat´s cheese (page 102), Pea and parsley soup (page 141), Asparagus pizza (page 185), Spring onion galette (page 220), Quinoa with courgettes and onions (page 279), Lemony guacamole OR Carrot hummus (page 296), Roasted aubergine boats (page 344), Stir-fried cauliflower (page 376).

To see which wonderful dishes the other members of the Cottage Cooking Club prepared in the month of May, please go here.

FFwD - Smoked Salmon Waffles

Today´s recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group is "Smoked Salmon Waffles" or "Gaufres au saumon fumé".

These are delicious savory homemade waffles laced with pieces of smoked salmon and scallions and served with all the trimmings (crème fraîche, smoked salmon, trout roe, and fresh dill) - they are quite an indulgent treat for a special day.

Although I am the proud ownwer of many a waffle iron (heart-shaped, Belgian waffle maker, crespelle maker, etc.), I cannot remember ever having made savory waffles before. We do not have the habit of eating waffles for breakfast around here. We ususally enjoy them with tea or coffee in the afternnon. Sometimes I prepare buttermilk waffles and serve some Canadian maple syrup alongside, or Belgian waffles with a yeast-based dough, or crispy crespelle-like waffles like my grand-mother used to bake but most often, I will make heart-shaped waffles with a light dusting powdered sugar, my kids favorite.

I decided to use my beloved heart-shaped waffle iron for this recipe and simply added a heaping tablespoon full of batter in the middle of the waffle maker - so I would end up with mini waffles, perfect for stacking them up and serving them as appetizers. It took a bit of time to use up all the batter, it did make a lot of small waffles, but once all the waffles were baked, I was quite enamored with the way these waffle stacks looked like - very pretty.

The batter is simple and very quick to put together, no rest period required either - all you need is plain flour, baking powder, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, whole milk, eggs, unsalted butter, smoked salmon, a few scallions, and chives. After I took a look at the recipe, I decided to omit the scallions altogether and load up on chives instead and to add the smoked salmon on top of the finished waffles, instead of adding it to the batter. I just did not want to have my precious waffle maker to have a lingering smell of smoked salmon and onions after making these. And, in the end, I believe the waffles taste better and look prettier this way.

These savory salmon waffles have a nice golden color and wonderful flavor from the chives. They turned out a bit crispy on the outside and soft in the inside. Perfect.

When they are all dressed up with that lovely and decadent dollop of crème fraîche, a bit of vibrant and salty trout roe and some wonderfully fragrant fresh dill - they are impossible to resist. With these toppings, they do remind me of my mini Potato Rösti that I usually dress the same way, or some buckwheat blinis.

To see how much the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group enjoyed this recipe, please go here.

If you happen to own Dorie Greenspan´s "Around my French Table", you will find the recipe for these lovely Smoked Salmon Waffles on pages 170-171.