Wandering around London

As most of you know, I've been doing quite a bit of travelling these past few weeks.  Ireland was the first stop, then London and finally Paris.
London is a really cool city.  There is so much to do, no matter what you're interested in.
After the painfully long trip there (12 hours!) I was exhausted but opted to go on the free walking tour regardless and it was completely worth it.  The weather was great and it was a good orientation to the city.

The highlight of the trip for me was definitely the day trip to Windsor Castle.  It's about 45 minutes outside of London, making it a super easy and enjoyable day trip.  Again, I was lucky with the weather, it was sunny and a little warm!  Windsor is one of the official residences of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the largest and oldest fully functioning castle in existence.  It goes without saying that the castle is HUGE and absolutely beautiful.  Queen Mary's doll house is both charming and impressive; it has electricity and fully functioning appliances!  In honor of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee the Drawing Room was filled with 60 pictures of HM over the course of her reign.  The grounds themselves are stunning! and because of the much smaller crowd, this is definitely the place to watch the Changing of the Guard ceremony!

Nearly all of the major museums in London are free of charge, thank goodness!  The Pound is very valuable (1 P = $0.63) so free museums were definitely my activity of choice.  The British Museum is massive and filled with artifacts from Egyptians through Present Day; the National and Portrait Galleries' collections are extensive enough to keep you busy for days and just walking the streets is really nice.  Harrods, the famous department store, was really cool to walk around.  I bought some fancy tea from the amazing grocery section but other than that no designer prices in this budget!!




















Food is definitely not London's strong point, however, they've mastered teatime and cakes.  I swear, it seems like the British eat prepared cold sandwiches for every meal!  If you plan to visit London, I would suggest eating minimalistic meals and splurging on tea.  For some reason British tea is SO much better!  and the scones. and the clotted cream.  Delish!

I also got the chance to go to the theatre with a friend on my last night!  It's pretty easy to come by discount tickets in London so we decided (pretty spur of the moment!) to go see the Wizard of Oz. I really, really enjoyed it! The set, costumes and production were very well done!!
London is such a big city; I would have liked to have done so much more.  There just wasn't enough time! Five days goes too quickly!  I think I'll make it back there at some point for sure!

French Yogurt Cake

The French Yogurt Cake.  Dorie Greenspan, once again Brilliant.

If you've read my other posts, you'll know that Kaffee und Kuchen is by far the favorite meal of many in Studenten Stadt. It's that time of the day, we need a little break from our studies and a little time with the girls.  The gray, snowy January days make the lure of Kaffee und Kuchen so much stronger. 

I offered to host today's meeting, knowing as I typed my reply exactly what I would make: Dorie Greenspan's French Yogurt Cake.  

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Dorie is the best.  I don't really know how or why I developed such an interest in her recipes but each and every one I have attempted has proved to be successful.  She's an incredibly smart woman and has definitely brought a lot to the culinary world.

I have read about this cake many times.  It's apparently one of the few baked goods the French will actually bake regularly at home as opposed to picking something up and one of the patisseries.  It's incredibly easy to make, requiring no special tools or skills, and is really quite rewarding.  

I don't know what to compare this to in a typical American baker's repertoire.  It's definitely not as dense as a pound cake nor as light as an angel food cake, and a little more tart than a quick bread; perhaps something like a teacake?  But then again, perhaps it can't be grouped at all; it forms it's own genre of cakes.  Bake it, you'll see. The flavors are subtle but certainly not absent; the ground almonds compliment the texture and bring an unexpected slight nuttiness, the lemon zest gives the cake an ever so subtle zing of freshness and citrus flavor, and the yogurt makes the cake perfectly moist and adds just the right amount of tartness.
Make a glaze if you want, either with a jam or simply with powdered sugar and cream, or, there is no shame is serving it au naturel.  It really doesn't need a topping, in my opinion, but typical in France (and definitely would have been nice, had I had them in the apartment) would be a slightly sweetened crème fraîche and fresh berries.

The cake got rave reviews from my guests; it hardly made it through Kaffee und Kuchen!  It really is better if you can give it time to cool to room temperature, probably even better if you can stand to leave it overnight.   

French Yogurt Cake

Dorie Greenspan 

1 cup (128g) all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (85 g) ground almonds 

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt 

1 cup (201 g) sugar

grated zest of one lemon 

1/2 cup (1 dl) plain yogurt

3 lg eggs 

1/4 tsp vanilla extract 

1/2 (1 dl) cup flavorless oil, such a vegetable or canola 

Preheat the oven to 350 F or 180C and butter a standard loaf pan generously.  

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, almonds, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

In a larger bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips. This will bring out the aromatic oils of the lemon zest (and it will smell amazing). 

Add the yogurt, the eggs, and the extract to the sugar and whisk together vigorously.  Add the dry ingredients and whisk to combine.    

Switch to a rubber scraper and fold in the oil, until just combined.  

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the edges are starting to pull away from the sides.  

Bon Appétit!