GLUTEN FREE CUPCAKES AND A SNEAK PEAK!

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Today I have 3 exciting stories to share! 4 actually if we count I finally was able to produce (and reproduce) cream cheese frosting which I was able to pipe! ButI think I will dedicate a separate post to this as it is a huge milestone!

So here are 3 pictures with my 3 stories.

Gluten free cupcakes

gluten free cupcakes

I have been wanting to try gluten free baking for a while. This Saturday I was finally brave enough to attempt it. I used my favorite white chocolate and strwaberry cupcake recipe and simply replaced the plain flour with gluten free one (it was made of corn). My baking powder is anyways gluten free and the rest of the ingredients are safe. I was very nervous because I had never really looked into gluten free baking and wasn’t sure if just substituting the flour would give me the desired result or something else had to be done. But I followed my gut and ended up with these delicious beauties. Success!

An extra hand in the kitchen

help in the kitchen

So my other half has been saying he’d like to me to teach him to bake. At first I thought he’s joking but he asked me again this week so today, he baked his first ever batch of cupcakes and I only helped chop the strawberries, he did everything else himself. They came out amazing! So proud of him!

A photo shoot sneak peak

cupcake photosoot

In my last post I talked about my photography drama. But then awesome Whitney came along and said she’s itching to take photos of food (she prefers it to taking photos of people – aren’t I lucky to have such friends???), and I happened to have some cupcakes and we ended up arranging a mini photo shoot in the kitchen this afternoon while drinking coffee and chatting. She is working on the photos and I haven’t seen them even on the camera so I am totally excited to see them soon and share a few here!

On a different note, I am off to Vienna tomorrow for a week so please bare with me. I will be back soon enough!

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PHOTOGRAPHING FOOD (OR MISSION IMPOSSIBLE)

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If you have scrolled through my blog, you have surely noticed that my iPhone and Instagram are my best friends when it comes to taking pictures. This is not for lack of trying or wanting to post lame photos, oh no. It is all because a) I am not very good at taking photos and know close to nothing about angle, light, exposure etc, b) I tend to bake (late) in the evening so the light is mostly horrible, c) I don’t have a great spot/table for nice arrangements, d) I often forget to take pictures or am in such a rush that taking out the proper camera is a mission, e) Food is probably one of the hardest things to photograph, f) Need I go on?

Admittedly, it is difficult to overcome some of these challenges. I won’t become a photographer overnight. I don’t want to / can’t quit my full time job to bake when the light is right. Refurbishing a rented flat to make a good spot for pictures is a bit far fetched. But it is a fact I can do baby steps in the right direction without really going out of my way too much.

I am happy to present baby step number 1 today. Yes, the picture was taken with my phone. Yes, an Instagram filter was (carelessly) slapped on top but there is no actuall food on the picture so it doesn’t count? Here are my newly acquired matching toys to help me present my food better for pictures:

food photography props

So pretty, don’t you agree?

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BATTLE OF THE YEAR: BUTTERCREAM VS. CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

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Ever since I took that cupcake decorating course I wrote about a few weeks ago, one thought does not give me peace.Luckily I haven’t lost much sleep over it but it has kept me occupied during many times. And here it is…

Should you sacrifice flavor for looks and vice versa?

Let me explain: I personally do not like the taste of buttercream – I find it too sweet and too heavy. But it pipes so prettily! My absolute favorite (which comes down a treat with friends and family too) is cream cheese frosting. But I have so far not found a recipe which gives me the proper piping consistency for a (professional) nice finish. I am constantly on the lookout and keep experimenting but the fails prevail until now.

I honestly hope it is not just me who ends up with an extremely runny cream cheese frosting more times than willing to admit. Just last night I was trying out a new recipe I came across which promised nicely piped frosting. But I failed again – or my basic hand mixer which only has slow and fast let me down (I like to believe it is the latter otherwise I end up doubting if I am any good in the kitchen at all). As I write this, an emergency (recycled) cheesecake is in the oven – I didn’t have the heart to throw yet another bowl of runny icing, after my ridiculous cream cheese quest from the previous post, let alone all the nice ingredients which went is, as well as me spending plenty of time trying to make/fix it.

So I need my dear readers’ advice – pretty please, share it in the comments or write me an email. What would you do? Try out new cream cheese frosting recipes until you find a fool-proof one or settle for buttercream which isn’t tasty but looks good? Help!

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FETA & OLIVE SCONES [+RECIPE]

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I’ve just popped the second and final batch of strawberry and white chocolate cupcakes in the oven and am contemplating a midnight-ish run to the supermarket (yes, it will be nearly 10pm by the time cupcakes are done, and yes, I am crazy but a supermarket kind of nearby now works till 12am so who am I to not take advantage of these new working hours, especially if I so thoughtfully forgot to buy the cheese for the frosting). And while the magic is happening in the oven and because I don’t want my dear readers to get diabetes from only reading my blog, I thought I’d share the result and recipe for my first (savory) attempt for scones. The recipe is courtesy of a Marks & Spencer’s baking cookbook and if you are lucky to have tried the Marks & Spencer’s food, you will know they know what they’re doing!

Feta & olive scones

Ingredients:

  • 400g self raising flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 85g butter at room temperature (+extra for greasing – optional)
  • 40g pitted black olives, chopped
  • 40g sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped
  • 85g feta cheese, crumbled
  • 200ml milk + extra for glazing

Method:
First preheat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius. If you have a baking sheet, grease it with a little butter. If not, line a tray with baking parchment (no need to grease it) – I used the parchment and it works just fine.

Then sift the flour and salt in a large bowl. Now prepare to get messy: You need to add the soft butter to the flour and mix with your hands until it all looks like crumbs. The add the olives, feta cheese and tomatoes and mix it all.

Start adding the milk, a little at a time, while kneading the dough. Your hands would be pretty sticky at this point, so pre-measure it (or call someone, if available, to help) in order to avoid having to wash your hands a million times. You need to have a soft (and not too sticky) dough at the end so knead until then.

Roll out until you have a 3 cm thick sheet of dough – don’t worry, it won’t be all nice and smooth. Cut with round cutters or if you cannot be bothered like me, in squares, about 5-6 cm wide. Brush with milk, put on tray/baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden.

Serve warm with butter!

Feta & olive scones

Not bad for a first attempt at scones, eh? Also confirmed by the speed with which these (plus a few more) disappeared!

UPDATE: Don’t you just hate it when you go grocery shopping with a game plan, aka shopping list, with the (apparently false) security that you won’t forget anything because you have a list only to get home, start baking and realize you didn’t put everything you need on the list???

Also, clearly I am the last person to get the memo that said supermarket no longer works till midnight. Or was there no memo for going back to 10pm closing time despite them heavily advertising the new working hours? I guess I will never know. But fact is, I just walked nearly 40 minutes to it and back, crossed a rather windy runway twice and came back without Philadelphia cream cheese.

On a different note, the petrol stations in Gibraltar which open after 10pm have an extensive selection of butter (I counted 5 different types in only one of them), it seems, but do not stock any cream cheese.

Buttercream frosting it is then. *Sigh*

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MY FIRST CUPCAKE ORDER – EEEK!

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Something very exciting happened to me last week! Until now baking was just a very enjoyable hobby of mine but I happened to receive my first cupcake order!!! At first I nearly said no: It was rather last minute, I had been already overly busy and it was for minion cupcakes – and I’d never attempted such fancy designs!

But as it was for a friend, I couldn’t say no. So there I was, painting little minion faces until 1am on a Thursday night… I think the result was pretty good but have a look yourselves:

minion cupcakes

Could this be the first of many orders? I think only time will tell.

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EASY PEANUT BUTTER AND NUTELLA BROWNIES [+RECIPE]

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After a stressful day at work and an intense gym class, all I could do to relax was bake. I didn’t fancy cupcakes or cake though, neither could I really be bothered with biscuits, plus going to the supermarket for extra ingredients seemed like such a mission. But I came across a recipe for a 4-ingredient Nutella brownie. YUM!

I must admit, I did add a 5th ingredient (yummy peanut butter) and the brownies didn’t come out as sweet as they should but I learned from my mistakes so I will share the recipe so you can have fresh brownies with minimum effort in minimum time.

peanut butter and Nutella brownies

Easy peanut butter and Nutella brownies

Makes 12 cupcake-sized brownies

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of Nutella (I didn’t have any and used baking chocolate spread but it turned out not to be sweet enough so I recommend using Nutella or adding some extra sugar)
  • 1,5 tsp peanut butter (you can omit it as it wasn’t in the original recipe)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup of flour
  • A handful of mixed chopped nuts or walnuts to sprinkle on top

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. In a mixing bowl, whisk the Nutella, peanut butter and eggs. If your Nutella (or chocolate spread) is too firm, warm up in the microwave for a few seconds. Add the flour and mix well. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake cases (or if you have an oil spray, spray the tin and don’t use the cases) and fill with a generous teaspoon of the mixture. Sprinkle with the chopped nuts. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until they start cracking lightly and the tops have set. Don’t over-bake as the brownies will be too dry (forget that a toothpick should come out clean – in the case of brownies it should come sticky!).

Leave to cool for a while and enjoy!

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FINALLY A DECORATING COURSE

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So this week I finally did a celebration cake and a cupcake decorating class. While I am not 100% happy with the way the celebration cake came out (fondant can be tricky), my cupcakes turned out absolutely adorable, if I may say so. Without further explanations, here they are:

cupcakes decoration

My only concern is that the newly learned techniques might put a stop to my cream cheese frosting obsession, at least for a while. Buttercream is unfortunately the best for piping this way so this weekend I have had to switch already to buttercream.

Stay tuned for pictures of the 24 courgette and chocolate cupcakes I need to decorate tonight. Yes. On a Friday night. No. I am not crazy. K?

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CHOCOLATE COURGETTE CAKE [+ RECIPE]

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Courgettes have recently become my favorite vegetable to add to cake. Sorry, carrots! But since I’ve made mine award-wining cake way too many times since December, I wanted to try something new. Here I present a recipe for a lush chocolate courgette cake – this time the courgettes are rather unnoticeable taste-wise but they give the chocolate cake the extra bit of moisture any cake needs. Yum! Here we go…

Chocolate courgette cake with cream cheese filling

Ingredients:

  • 4 eggs
  • 250g plain flour
  • 375g caster sugar
  • 350ml vegetable oil
  • 350g grated courgette
  • 65g cocoa powder
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 2tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 100g mixed chopped nuts (or almonds or hazelnuts – according to preference)

Method:
In a deep bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking soda & powder, salt, cocoa and cinnamon. Mix well until it is all blended.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs lightly. Add to dry mix together with the oil and whisk everything together. If the dough is too thick, you can add a little hot water but I left it thick as the courgettes add plenty of moisture afterwards. Grate the courgette and add it to the chocolate mix. Stir in the chopped nuts. Butter and flour the sides of a 9-inch cake tin, butter and line the bottom of it. If you like, you can bake the 2 layers of the cake in 2 tins: just split mix in 2 but I like to bake one and cut it into 2 slices.

Bake in a preheated oven to 180 degrees Celsius for about an hour or until a skewer comes out clean.

To decorate:
Split cake in two. Prepare THIS cream cheese frosting. Spread plenty between layers and ice the cake with the rest. Decorate as desired.

Behold the finished product:

chocolate courgette cake

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HAPPY FRIDAY & VALENTINE’S DAY!

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Plenty of work travel and lack of Internet at home have led to my disappearance from this blog. If blog-shaming.com existed, I’d be a regular.

I do, however, have a lush chocolate and courgette cake recipe (and photos to share) but seeing as it is Friday, and Valentine’s day all at once, it will have to wait a little longer.

Until then – a cheerful little video which always cheers me up!

P.S. I may or may not have had this video on repeat for the last 2 days.

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STRAWBERRY SEASON IS UPON US [+RECIPE]

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Strawberries have started popping up at the supermarket – joy! Especially for the converted cake eater I share most of my life with (besides when I am in the kitchen when he knows well he is to leave me alone!). Now, when we first started dating, he would never eat cake but would demolish any quantity of chocolate chip cookies you are stupid enough to give him access to. Whether the smells coming out of the oven have enticed him over time or my constant requests to try this and that and tell me if he likes it have changed his mind, I don’t know. But recently he has started voluntarily eating cake. Not all types, of course, but as he says: baby steps.

Seeing as it was his birthday yesterday (and his work colleagues had ‘gently’ hinted they are expecting cake, those greedy chops!), on Saturday I asked him what he’d like me to bake it. It didn’t even take 3 seconds for him to decide he wants his favorite strawberry and white chocolate cupcakes. I owe the recipe for the base to the Marks & Spencers book Sensational cupcakes. The addition of the strawberries and chocolate was a lucky hunch which has proven to be a success. I did two batches of the batter – one I transformed into a Giant, and the other turned into actual cupcakes. So behold, first a picture of the finished Giant which birthday boy took to work, and then the recipe!

giant strawberries and white chocolate cupcake

Light strawberries and white chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

For the batter (makes either 1 Giant or 24 cupcakes):

  • 60 ml whole milk
  • 4 large egg whites
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 225 g plain flour
  • 200 g caster sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom (or if you, like me, are never able to find it, skip it)
  • 190 g unsalted butter, softened (or if you, like me, forget to leave it at room temperature, melt it slightly in the microwave)
  • + approx. 300 g fresh strawberries (or cherries work as well but are more of a pain to pit) & 100 g white chocolate chip cookies

For the cream cheese frosting:

  • 200-250 g of full-fat Philadelphia cheese (NB: At room temperature. The longer it sits out of the fridge, the better. Not 2 weeks though, please!)
  • 40 g butter
  • Icing sugar to taste (I don’t like overly sweet frosting so normally put around 100 g but up to you)
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius (fan oven: 150 degrees) or gas mark 3 1/2.

Mix the milk, egg whites and vanilla together in a medium sized bowl till fluffy and set aside. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients to blend. Add the butter to the dry ingredients (I prefer to melt it before as it makes it easier, especially in winter when room temperature is significantly lower) and half the beaten eggs. Mix slowly till everything is moist, then beat vigorously for 1 minute. Add the remaining eggs and beat again. Add chocolate and strawberries. TIP: Gently cover the chopped strawberries with a little flour – this will keep them from sinking to the bottom. Spoon the batter into cupcake cases which you have put in your cupcake tray (or fill kind of equally in a Giant cupcake mold which you have first buttered then sprinkled with flour) – you would need to fill the cases 3/4 as these won’t rise as much as others. Bake cupcakes 25-30 mins or Giant cupcake about an hour or even sligthly more, till they are golden and a skewer comes out clean.

strawberries and white chocolate cake

Frosting:

While the cakes are in the oven, beat the cream cheese on a high speed till smooth yet fluffy (2-3 minutes). Add vanilla extract and beat for a bit again. Then put the mixer speed down and slowly add icing sugar until the mixture has the proper frosting consistency (or you think one more sugar dust and you risk diabetes). Leave in fridge for at least 40 mins to set.

Once the cakes have cooled down, take the frosting out of the fridge and decorate. Voilà!

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