The sweetest Valentine

 

Cupcake ideas for a sweet Valentine's Day!

I don't normally celebrate Valentine's Day, not because I'm single, but because I was never attracted to this holiday in particular, it always felt too...pink for me. However, I decided this time I would try to make an effort an celebrate it in a way that makes me excited and by that I mean baking cupcakes! You might know I am passionate creating this dessert, especially when there is a holiday involved, as you can see here and here. I decided not to skip Valentine's Day and see what I can come up with!

I really wanted to create little marzipan hearts, but I realized I lack the skills, so I opted to use some tiny sugar hearts as decor and since it is Valentine's Day, what kind of frosting can you use if not pink? Even the dough is pink on the inside, too bad you can't see that.

Anyway, instead of creating an outfit post or some makeup tutorials for this occasion, I thought this is a more romantic (and sweet) way to celebrate this day. I hope you feel inspired and don't forget the mandatory glass of wine!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are the ingredients I used:

For the dough: 200 g flour, 150 g sugar, 2 eggs, 120 g butter and orange zest. Baked for 25 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

For the frosting: 200 ml whipped cream mixed with 150 g of mascarpone and 30 g of butter and a bit of vanilla extract. 

I separated the frosting in two bowls and I added some red colorant gel in one of them to make the bright pink frosting.

Easy right? I hope you are willing to try it, I bet it will be a nice surprise for your loved one!

 Good luck and bon appetit!

Sunday Appetizer Cupcakes

 

Happy weekend everyone! 

 It's really cold here, even the idea of going out for a 5 minute walk is a bad one, everything inside you freezes up and it's just incredibly uncomfortable. With this kind of weather, all I want to do is read, do research, snuggle up with my cat and drink hot chocolate. 

However, I woke up today with a sudden urge to actually make something useful and pleasant, by that I mean food! There is no other greater satisfaction on this world than eating a delicious meal, but maybe that's just me. So I decided to make a few appetizer cupcakes, which are ideal for a late breakfast or to take on the go when you are in a rush. I love them because you can eat them warm and cold and they taste incredibly good!

 

The fun part is that among the basic ingredients which are flour, buttermilk, eggs and butter, you can mix in anything you want, so I added some olives, ham, baby mushrooms, green onions, cheese and various herbs, like dill and parsley. You simply mix all the ingredients together with a spoon and the result should be this gooey thick paste which you need to put in some cupcake forms and simply leave them in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes at 200 degrees C / 392 F.

 

Don't they look just delicious? 

When they turn a golden-brown color, then you know they are done, but also you can check them with a toothpick, if it comes out dry, then you can take them out.

The dough should have a sponge texture like in the picture bellow.

This is the full recipe I used:

250 grams flour, 80 grams melted butter, 200 ml buttermilk, 1 egg, 1 tea spoon baking powder.

Next, I added like I said: 8 baby mushrooms, 4 slices of ham, some olives, herbs and spices, a bit of Gorgonzola to add more savor and 100 grams of shredded cheese. 

I made once a recipe using dried tomatoes, Gouda cheese and grilled chicken. You can use many, many ingredients, the possibilities are endless!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and let me know if you tried it, it's sooo easy and fun to make!

Coconut cupcakes with rum chocolate frosting

Hello everyone, I am back with a new cupcake recipe, because the weekend is coming and we need to celebrate it with goodies!

Obviously, I don't need a specific holiday or event to bake cupcakes or even special cakes, I just love to make them and I hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as I did!

Here is what you need:

For the dough:

120 g white chocolate

100 g coconut flakes

120 g butter

120 g sugar

125 g flour

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of baking powder

120 ml coconut milk

For the frosting:

 90 g dark chocolate

75 g butter

2 table spoons of rum essence

50 g powdered sugar

100 ml liquid cream

Ok, first thing's first, you need to melt the white chocolate with the butter on bain-marie while stir it continuously, then you put it aside and let it cool.

In the mean tie, you need to mix the yolks with 60 g out of those 120 g of sugar, then you need to add the white chocolate mix (mine turned brown because I added just a bit of dark chocolate in it too)

Next on, you need to mix the coconut flakes with the flour and baking powder, alternating with the coconut milk. 

In another bowl, you will need to whip the egg whites with the remaining 60 g of sugar and then incorporate it with the rest of the mix.

The dough will not be creamy because of the coconut flakes, so it will have a rough texture, but that is ok.

You need to preheat the oven at 175 C degrees and put the dough in the cupcake forms and let them back for 25 minutes.

This is how they should look like after they are done baking, you can leave them to cool and move on to making the frosting, which is the best part!

You need to melt the dark chocolate with the 75 g of butter, add the rum essence and let it cool.

After this you need to whip it with the liquid cream at a high speed so it can turn into a soft and voluminous cream - I forgot to picture this, I am sorry!

You can then decorate the cupcakes with the frosting and add some colorful decorations as you wish, there are so many option to choose from at the baking counter, from tiny marzipan flowers to silver/golden confetti-like sweets and so on! You only need imagination.

And that is it!

I hope you enjoyed, happy baking and have a lovely weekend!

M(b)aking of: Strawberry cupcakes

How's the weekend treating you so far?

Mine is actually quite sweet, I decided to bake some cupcakes this Saturday and I thought to share this with you, because I really love baking desserts and maybe there are some of you out there who feel the same!

Mind you, this is actually my first baking post on the blog, so I hope I will be on point and not ramble necessarily. Most importantly, I hope you feel inspired!

Ok, onto the actual recipe! 

First and foremost, here is what you will need ( I have my little cupcake book in Romanian and all the quantities are measured in grams and not pounds, so bare with me)

Here are the ingredients for 12 portions

For the dough you will need:

300 g strawberries

125 g of butter

125 g of sugar

2 eggs

150 g flour

1 tea spoon of baking powder

80 g of smashed almonds

For the frosting:

230 g of white chocolate

40 g butter

250 g of mascarpone

a few strawberries for decor

First thing you need to do is to smash the strawberries then boil them a minute while steering them. 

The you need to let them cool down.

While the strawberries are cooling down, you can blend the almond flakes until they feel reach a soft sand texture.

While this is completed, you need to mix the sugar with the butter until it becomes a soft cream - it will take a few minutes -  then add the two eggs. After this you need to add the flour with the baking powder, the smashed almonds and slowly add the strawberries to the end.

You need to preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, put the mixture in cupcakes shapes - I had silicone ones, but you can use disposable paper ones as well and it is best to put them in a muffin/cupcake pan because they will sit there perfectly so the dough will not spill around - that can happen with paper shapes especially.

You need to let them bake for 25 minutes.

While the cupcakes are backing, you can start making the cream. 

You need to melt the white chocolate with the 40 g of butter on bain-marie, carefully steer it so the cream won't cut - it happened to me, but then I added a bit of hot water and steered it until it was fixed!

After it cools down a bit, you can add the mascarpone until you have a dense, thick and fine cream.

After the cupcakes are done and cooled down, you can add the frosting and some strawberries for decor and you're done! It's very important to let them cool down, otherwise the frosting will just melt and you'll have a hot mess.

 Of course, you can add all kinds if things for decor, you only need to use your imagination!

I had loads of fun making this recipe, of course, I made a whole mess in the kitchen and I still need to work on my design skills, but I am determined to master that! The result was really delicious, the cupcakes were really appreciated by my friends, so I call that a success!

I hope you enjoyed it and let me know what you think.

Bon appetit!

Chic picnic

How's your weekend going so far? We are having a wonderful weather here, just the perfect time to go out for a barbecue or a picnic, which is what we did the other day!

I won't take credit for the idea, but I will take credit for all the appetizers I made, I was so proud of that! You know that moment when an idea is planted in your mind and you just want to do everything you can to make the best of it? Well, that is what I did; I searched for picnic food recipes, I stressed myself to find the cutest picnic basket - I bought the last one, I think it was waiting for me! 

So, yes, I can turn the smallest thing into something grand, or a big mess if I'm loosing my patience or I give in to frustration. 

It was fun and creative and that is something I really enjoy! I made finger food of cheese, cherry tomatoes and light ham, we had smoked salmon with cream cheese appetizers, some blue cheese, mozzarella, slices of avocado, olives, almonds and fruits and I also made a wrap with lettuce, sliced cheese and ham, this was so creamy and delicious! We ate everything in 5 minutes and then we sat on the blanket until the sun was gone. 

I guess it could've been more relaxing if the park was less crowded with people, but next time, we'll make it even more grand and we'll invite friends and make it fun!

 I hope you enjoy the photos! 

 How do you guys feel about picnics?

 

Happy Sunday guys!