My kitchen interview series continues with food photographer and stylist Lou Virkus from Germany.

Lou creates the most STUNNING images full of life and colour so I’m excited for you to get to know her more through this interview. I originally connected with Lou via Instagram to chat about food photography. Since then she has grown her food photography to an amazing level, telling beautiful stories through her photos – check out her photos & vegan recipes and you’ll see why.

It was a pleasure to get to know Lou more through this interview so please do read on AND stay tuned to the end where she shares a delightful Blueberry Streusel Muffin recipe!

What do you love most about working as a food photographer / food stylist?

I love to make my ideas and imagination come to life through photos. For me, food photography is a kind of appreciation of the little things and makes me perceive my surroundings much more. I find it beautiful to capture and celebrate the different seasons!

Do you have a favourite style of photography? And, do you have a favourite food subject?

I always shoot dark and moody in a very busy style! Pancakes, cakes and little treats are my favorite but here and there I like capturing drinks or savoury dishes!

Where do you find inspiration for your food photography/styling?

Nature gives me lots of ideas and inspiration… Flowers which could fill my scenes, seasonal ingredients… But of course also online on social media!

What’s your favourite recipe to make for family or friends?

My family loves my sourdough bread and every time they visit me, they get 3 loaves for the whole family! Any kind of cakes are always very welcome!:)

Who is your dream dinner guest? Would you cook for them OR eat at a specific restaurant?

I would love to share a table with Linda Lomelino! I think I would ask my grandma for her unique dutch baby recipe!

Do you have a favourite food memory? Perhaps a time you shared with family or friends, a food memory from a trip or a meal you’ll never forget?

Maybe it sounds strange but its strawberry jam! When I was on holidays with my parents and my best friend, we bought strawberry jam from a strawberry farm. We could see how the jam was prepared because the kitchen was behind a glass wall. This jam tastes different from anything I have tasted before. But it tastes best by the sea!

Is there one ingredient from your pantry or fridge that you MUST always have available? Is this ingredient particular to a specific recipe?

Soy yoghurt is crucial for everything! Cooking, baking, snacking… Also of course lots of veggies and fruits.. and the key ingredients like butter, sugar, flour.

If you could only have one dish from a restaurant the rest of your life what would it be and which restaurant is it from?

It’s basic but a good pizza with a thick crust from an Italian restaurant always and forever works! I never get bored of baked dough…

I love brunch; if we could hang out in real life and enjoy brunch together, is there a favourite brunch dish you’d make OR restaurant we’d meet at??

Oh to be honest, I had brunch only 1 time in my whole life..I think I was 10 years old; Brunch is not so popular in Germany. We eat breakfast early… usually sometime around 8 am… But I think if we would have brunch together, I would go all in to enjoy a little bit from everything!

Anything else you’d like to share?

Stay safe, dream big and always believe in yourself!

And don’t forget to try Lou’s divine Blueberry Streusel Muffin recipe – I’ve tried them and they are not to be missed!

You can find the recipe here on Instagram

It was such a pleasure to get to know Lou more and I hope her photography has inspired you!

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

The post In the Kitchen With…Lou Virkus appeared first on Cooking in my Genes.

We would all gather at the table, the aroma of coffee in the air and enjoy coffee & cake every afternoon around 3PM.  I absolutely loved this tradition – I mean really, which kid wouldn’t love cake mid-day?!

While I liked the cake part of ‘coffee time,’ having everyone together at the table just being together was what I loved most and remember most.  It was a pretty neat tradition and one I still talk about to this day.

I had my mom send me some of my all-time favourite recipes of my Oma’s, specifically related to ‘coffee time’ and today I’m sharing with you Blueberry Streusel Cake.  When I baked this recently I opened the oven and this wave of sweetness plus baked blueberries hit me, it smelled EXACTLY like it did 20 years ago at the cottage; it was like being transported back in time.

Perhaps this cake will inspire you to start your own coffee & cake tradition.

Prep time: 1 hour for cottage cheese step + 1 hour to prep & bake
Equipment: 15″ x 10″ (approximately) Cookie Sheet, scale & stand mixer (if you choose to use)

Ingredients: (Recipe serves 12-16)

Dough:
200g cottage cheese (drip/drained for 1 hour prior to use in recipe)
6 tbsp milk
1 egg
8 tbsp vegetable oil (only use vegetable oil, do not use olive oil)
100g sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt
400g flour
4 tsp baking powder

Blueberry Streusel Topping:
4 small blueberry containers, washed and dried
Streusel:
65g melted butter
100g flour
65g sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon

Instructions:

**Special Step:  Measure out the cottage cheese.  Rest a sieve on a bowl, put the cottage cheese in and let it drip/drain for 1 hour.  Once most of the liquid is gone, empty liquid and press the cottage cheese through the sieve.  You will end up with a finer curd.

Mix cottage cheese with milk. Then, add the rest of the liquids (egg, vegetable oil, vanilla) and the sugar.

Measure the flour and baking powder into a separate bowl and whisk to combine.

Then mix in half of flour mixture into the liquid mixture. This will start to form a doughy texture.

Knead the rest of flour mixture into the dough you’ve already started to form. I would recommend incorporating the flour gradually, you can use a quarter or half cup to transfer the flour, then knead in until combined. Repeat until the flour is gone. (This part of the recipe is where you get an arm workout OR you can use the knead function if you own a stand mixer at home).

Use butter to grease a cookie sheet.  Then, roll dough to approximately the same size of the cookie sheet – transfer to cookie sheet.  **Helpful tip: I rolled my dough onto a piece of parchment paper approximately the size of the cookie sheet, then used it to help flip the dough onto the cookie sheet.

Layer blueberries onto dough.

To make the streusel topping, measure & then melt the butter.  Combine melted butter, flour, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl – stir until ingredients are combined and form into crumbles (otherwise known as streusels).

Use hands and crumble streusel onto blueberries.

Bake 20 – 30 min at 350. (Berries will start to burst and bottom of cake will be golden)

Once cooled, dust with icing sugar.

Cook’s Note:  This cake is good covered and stored on cookie sheet pan for 1-2 days.  To make it go a bit further, store in an airtight container.  Also, since the cake overall is on the less sweet side, you could definitely have a piece as breakfast – I may have done this a few times growing up.

While this cake is delicious fresh-baked, it’s even better the next day! Pour yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy.

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

The post Blueberry Streusel Cake appeared first on Cooking in my Genes.