Happy Blog Birthday!

Today is my blog's second birthday! Awww, my little baby has grown so big! I can hardly believe it! I don't keep a close eye on statistics, but I can see that I have a LOT of visitors. That makes me very happy - thank you all so very much for visiting me!!

Oh - wanna see my very first post? Right here!

Now, a year ago I baked a Princess Cake. Today, I thought I'd make good on my New Year's Resolution, and finally bake a Budapest roll. As with so many kitchen fears, this one turned out to be unfounded. It wasn't very hard at all! And this is a *very* popular cake here, most people I know actually say that it's their very favorite. You can buy it by the piece in most cafés. Where it got its name from? Sorry, I have no idea.



Budapest Roll
Serves 6-8 (or fewer, depending on your appetites, obviously...)

5 egg whites
300 ml sugar (about 1,3 cups)
150 g hazelnuts
2 tbsp cocoa powder
100 ml flour (about 0,4 cups)
3 tbsp flaked almonds

300 ml whipping cream
1 small can (about 300 g) of mandarin orange segments

Start by preheating the oven to 150°C.

Blitz the hazelnuts in a food processor until finely chopped. Mix with cocoa powder and flour in a bowl.

Beat the eggwhites until they start to firm up. Gradually add the sugar, and beat until you have a thick, glossy meringue. Fold in the nut mixture, and spread on baking paper in a jelly roll pan. Sprinkle over the flaked almonds.

Bake for about 20 minutes - but after 15 minutes, turn the heat up to 175°C.

Remove, put the baking paper with the cake on a rack and let cool completely. Then invert on another piece of paper or onto a teflon sheet, and carefully remove the first sheet. (Brush with some cold water if it won't come off easily.)

Drain the mandarin oranges, beat the whipping cream until stiff, and mix together. Spread this onto the cake. Now, it's time to roll! Roll as you would a sushi roll, using the sheet the cake is on to help making it tight. Be very gentle, or the cake will crack. Roll all the way to the end.

Slice off the ends - baker's treat - and move the cake to a plate. Let it set in the fridge for a couple of hours - it can be frozen, too.

Before serving, you can drizzle with melted chocolate or dust with powdered sugar, or what I did - nothing.

Budapestrulle