Another challenging Central European dessert, and another time that I failed at the glaze-over-apricot-jam layer on top of the multilayer cake. The icing might have been a touch too runny (and a touch is just far too much), so it kind of slowly slid off the torte. *sigh* Oh well, hopefully it will taste good. (I just finished in order to glide in before the deadline, and it’s supposed to sit in the fridge for at least a day before you cut into it, so I’ll have to update the post tomorrow with what the insides look like)

For the month of January Jelena from A Kingdom for a Cake invited us to start this year with a dreamy celebration cake. She challenged us to make the Esterhazy cake a.k.a the Hungarian dream. What better way to start the year than with a sweet dream?

However it looks on the top, I’m sure the taste will be fantastic: how could toasted hazelnuts, both in meringue and cream layers, with lemon and a touch of chocolate go wrong? It can’t. EDIT: We had a slice. Then two. It is absolutely delicious. If you like hazelnuts, you’ll love this.

Pics after the jump.

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December’s Daring Bakers challenge was Dutch ontbijtkoek which means “breakfast cake.” Considering how busy December was, I’m really glad this was not a terribly difficult thing to bake.

For the month of December, Andrea from 4pure took us on a trip to the Netherlands. She challenged us to take our taste buds on a joyride through the land of sugar and spice by baking three different types of Dutch sweet bread

I went with Andrea’s kruidkoek (“spice cake”) recipe, mostly because I had plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg on hand. I have to say it was delicious, a bit dry (but from what I remember from my time in the Netherlands, the store-bought version was considerably more dry, so this was downright moist by comparison) but aromatic and just the right level of sweetness. It made breakfast fun for a few days.

Pics after the jump.

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