Belgian Cake Recipes

EMPIRE COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream butter. Add sugar, creaming well. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder; gradually add to creamed mixture.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into 2 inch rounds, and place on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 minutes, or until very lightly browned at edges. Cool thoroughly.
• Spread half of the cookies with jam, and top with remaining cookies.
• Combine confectioners' sugar, almond extract, and enough hot water to make a thin icing. Frost tops of cookies. Top each with a small piece of candied cherry.

BELGIAN CAKE

Steps:

• 1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Flour and grease 3 bread pans.
• 2. Cream sugar, shortening, molasses and eggs. Dissolve baking soda in hot coffee, set aside. Mix in salt, cinnamon and raisins. Add coffee and baking soda. Stir and add flour until dough is stiff.
• 3. Scrap dough into loaf pans and cook until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. These are better if not over-baked, so watch them.
• 4. You may sprinkle powered sugar on top and serve sliced!

BELGIAN PANCAKES

Steps:

• Short description: mix everything, bake in a pan, eat
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• Detailed instructions: Mix the flour, baking powder in a bowl. Make a little hole in the middle and add 2 eggs in the hole. While mixing together, carefully add milk. When you stirr everything together you can brake peaces of the flour-wal on the side so the flour mixes in bit by bit. Make sure there are no lumps left in the batter. Add the packet of granulated sugar. It's can also be replaced by the same amount of vanilla suger.
• Now add the 8 tablespoons of water to make the batter more liquid.
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• Now comes the fun part.
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• Put a non-stick pan with a diameter of about 24 cm (=10 inch) on a medium heat. The pan should be warm enough to make a drop of water siss. Add a little bit of butter/margarine/oil but not too much, like the size of a pea to the pan.
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• Pour about 100 ml (= 0.4 cups) of the batter in the pan. Now you have to be quick and spread the batter over the entire pan because we want to make thin pancakes. Move the pan from the wrist. After a while you really get the hang of it and will be able to make perfect circles. If you are not so perfectionistic as I am, this step will be easier.
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• When you see little bubbles all over the pancake it's time to turn them. This can be done by tossing the pancake in the air letting it flip over preferably putting on a big show when there are children watching or just with a spatula. Wait a while for the other side to brown.
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• When you want to keep the pancakes warm while you bake some more, you can put them on a plate over a pan with boiling water and cover them with aluminium foil.
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• This batter will make about 10 pancakes. Yummy!

BELGIAN CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition, then stir in the almond extract. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together; stir into the creamed mixture until well blended. Turn into a greased 15x10x1 inch jelly roll pan and spread evenly to edges.
• Sprinkle a mixture of almonds and cinnamon over batter, then sprinkle with a mixture of red and green sugars.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cut into bars while still warm.

EASY VANILLA WAFFLE CAKE

Steps:

• Make the ganache: bring 1 cup heavy cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once simmering, stir in chocolate chips until smooth. Transfer to refrigerator to cool until it reaches a spoon-able consistency, about 1 hour. Once cooled, use a hand mixer to beat the mixture until it reaches soft peaks. Ganache will stiffen when returned to the refrigerator.
• Make the waffle batter: Use a hand mixer to beat together butter and sugar until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add in buttermilk, egg, and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add in flour and baking powder and mix on a low speed until just combined, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure everything gets mixed in.
• Preheat a Belgian Waffle Maker. Scoop a heaping 2/3 cup of batter onto the waffle iron. Cook waffles one at a time. Transfer cooked waffles to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Assemble cake: layer the cake with at least 4 waffles, frosted with whipped ganache between each layer. Garnish with fresh berries.

BELGIAN CHOCOLATE BIRTHDAY CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place nuts on a baking sheet. Bake until fragrant and toasted, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a clean kitchen towel; rub to loosen skins. Butter a 9-by-3-inch springform pan well; coat with cocoa, tapping out any excess.
• In a food processor, grind nuts with granulated sugar until fine but not pasty; transfer to a large bowl; stir in the flour, baking soda, and salt.
• In a heat-proof bowl, whisk together cocoa and boiling water until smooth. (Mixture will thicken as it cools.)
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar on high until lightened and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time until well blended.
• Stir buttermilk and vanilla into cocoa mixture. Mixing on low, add half of dry ingredients to creamed mixture; when blended, pour in the cocoa mixture, and add remaining dry mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Scrape batter into prepared pan, smooth top. Bake 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely. Place cooled cake on a 9-inch cardboard round.
• Place half the ganache in a bowl; place in a larger bowl of ice water; whip with a balloon whisk until lighter in color and spreadable, removing bowl from ice bath and returning it as necessary.
• Spread the whipped ganache smoothly on top and sides of cooled cake, and chill the cake. Gently stir remaining ganache every 5 minutes until thickened and cool.
• Place cake (still on cardboard round) on a wire rack over a sheet of waxed or parchment paper. Working with a small ladle, pour ganache over top of cake, moving the ladle in a circular fashion while in contact with the cake, letting the ganache run down sides. Scrape up excess and reserve for another use. Let cake stand at room temperature until set. Garnish with nuts and chocolate curls.