Mix It Up Monday: Cafe Bombom Cupcakes & The Infernal Devices Trilogy by Cassandra Clare!

Hello everyone!

Happy Monday! I'm sure some of you might not agree with me, but when you've worked the weekend, and you have Monday off, it is quite an awesome day! If you still don't think Monday is a day worth acknowledging, let me recommend you my friend Bianca's blog and her Motivation Mondays posts!

My own contribution to make Monday a better day will be a new cupcake recipe I finally tried last week and a new book series, so it's gonna be another Mix It Up Monday!


For the Monday Munchies part today, I present to you: Cafe Bombom Cupcakes!

I got the idea for this recipe one day at my bro's, I was grabbing something from the fridge for my sis and I saw this tube of skimmed condensed milk, and I was surprised that condensed milk was now available in skimmed version and in a "pour-easy" ketchup-like container, and my sis told me they bought it to make cafe bombon for when their friends come over. Now, I'm not sure how many of you may know what we Spaniards call "cafe bombon", the translation would be bombom coffee literally, but in essence it's an espresso with a shot of condensed milk (more or less depending on personal taste). That got me thinking into making Cafe Bombon cupcakes!

I used the coffee cupcake base recipe from the Cappuccino cupcakes from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" (really, it's like my Holy Grail of baking!), used an apple corer, filled the whole with condensed milk (skimmed!) and then I had planned to use chocolate mousse to top them, but I didn't have all the ingredients, so I decided to use Cream Cheese frosting with a pair of added tablespoons of nutella for good measure!

They were quite a success with my co-workers on Wednesday night shift, I must say!

And as for the Mark This Book Monday bit, today I'm gonna be highly recommending you all a trilogy which final book came out last week: The Infernal Artifices by Cassandra Clare.

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/series/54144-the-infernal-devices

You might have heard about The Mortal Instruments series, also by Cassandra Clare, after all they have a movie based on the first book, City of Bones, coming out this summer. Well, this series is a prequel to that one, and on my very humble opinion as a reader, a superior one! I've loved The Mortal Instruments, and I started reading The Infernal Devices to go into the Shadowhunters world waiting for the last book on the TMI series that comes out next year, but once I started reading Clockwork Angel I was hooked for good!

Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess. Each book keeps getting better than the previous one, and that is quite saying something. The plot keeps unravelling and deepening with each turn of the page, and we keep on discovering new information and getting new questions. The main characters, Will, Jem and Tessa are the first love triangle in a book that hasn't rubbed me off wrong at any moment, and their journey of love, friendship, loss and loyalty is amazing, the kind that makes you feel happy about humankind. But not just the main characters have that kind of emotional depth, it's something I have to say about Ms Clare, she knows how to bring their characters to life!

The trilogy is set up in Victorian times Great Britain, in the London's Shadowhunters Institute, and it begins with Tessa's journey from New York to London, to meet up with his brother. Tessa's journey to discover who and what she is will continue throughout the books and it is the key to the fight the Shadowhunters have against the villain in these books, a man raised by demons that want to take revenge on all Shadowhunters, since they destroyed his adoptive demonic parents.

All characters have their own demons to fight, emotionals or otherwise, and it's a story of companionship, loyalty and coming of age, and it's also a story of love, love inconditional and selfish and selfless love.

I can't really say anything else about the series without spoiling some of the plots, so I all I can add is: grab a copy and start reading!

I'm so in love with this series that I'm gonna be buying the hardcovers aside from already having the eBooks, I'm already waiting for an autographed copy of Clockwork Princess in the mail!

Mix It Monday: Books & cupcakes, oh my!

Hello there!

Well, it seems that I can't really promise a lot of regularity for the blog, cause my motivation, my mood and my time off is really fluctuating as of late, so I'm gonna try to at least have a blog entry once a week, at least!

Today I'm gonna do a mix of my two regular Monday entries, so today there's gonna be a little bit of Monday Munchies and Mark This Book Monday!

For the Monday Munchies bit, I wanna show you the two latest recipes that I've tried. I hadn't baked anything since before going to India in Jan, and finally last week since I had quite a few days off, I managed to finally try one new recipe I had in my notebook for a long time, and since yesterday was St Patrick's Day, I decided to make the most Irish recipe I have and love!

First off, my Lady Grey cupcakes!

Based on the recipe for Chai cupcakes from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World", but using Lady Grey tea bags instead of chai ones, substituting the spices for orange and lemon zest, and adding 1/4 teaspoon of bergamont extract to the cupcake batter. Once they cooled off, I filled them up with orange marmalade!

For the buttercream, I used the regular buttercream recipe from Alma's book: Objetivo: Cupcake Perfecto and added lemon and orange zest to it, along with 1/2 teaspoon of the bergamont extract. To make them look worthy of any proper tea party, I added some sugarpaste blooms.

I have to say I've been wanted to make this recipe for a long time, but I couldn't get the bergamot extract anywhere, and the only place I found it didn't ship out of the US, so I asked one of the superbly talented ladies from Attack of the Craft, Jamie from Warning Label Creations, and she ordered it for me, and shipped it to me. Thanks a lot, Jamiebuns!

Next we have my fave recipe for St Patrick's cupcakes: Chocolate Guinness cupcakes with Baileys buttercream! The only green thing about these are the lines and the shamrock sprinkles that the very awesome Gloria from En Ocasiones Veo Cupcakes gifted me!

The base cupcakes is also from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World" I only used Guinness instead of the vegan stout they recommend. And the Baileys buttercream is also from Alma's book, Objetivo: Cupcake Perfecto!.

The idea to turn them into little black faced sheep was two-fold, first due to the many adorable black faced sheep me and my nephew Joel saw during our trip in Ireland and also due to the cupcake decorating workshop with kiddies designs, where we made little sheep, among others.

Now, for the Mark This Book Monday part of the entry... I'm gonna be sharing a few books of the ones I've read as of late, not full reviews, just a small recommendation for each one!

Sever by Lauren DeStefano

Sever is the final book of the Chemical Garden Trilogy, and for me, the best book of the whole trilogy. We finally seem to be getting a few more answers, and quite a few are really unexpected! The setting for the whole trilogy is a dystopian future where the human life expectance for males in the former US is 25 and 20 for the females (always getting the shorter end of the stick, aren't we?). Trying to survive in this world and trying to find a cure is the main theme, and of course, love. I feel this trilogy showcases human nature wonderfully, with characters that have a depth that sometimes surprises you (and other characters). The ending is hopeful, but harsh and there's love and loss and a future to work on.


Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone is the first book of a trilogy, with book 2 coming sometime in June this year. It takes place in a place that will remind you of a classic Russia, with Tzars, harsh cold places and even a Rasputin-esque figure. The whole feel of the book is very Slavik/Russian, and the world building is phenomenal. The main character is a girl that has given up on her magic gift without even knowing about it, and once it's discovered by the most powerful magic user in the kingdom, she is taken to train with the elite, and is separated from her best friend and first love. This book is the set up of the whole story and despite putting us in context of many things, it never seems slow or dragging, and there's also some serious action in the last part of the book too!


For Darkness Shows The Stars by Diana Peterfreund

This is a book I read just last week, and it's inspired by Persuasion by Jane Austen, and even if I'm not the biggest Austen fan out there, I do love me some Austen/Brönte literature! This story is set up in a dystopian future caused by the abuse of genetic manipulation. I feel like I can't give a short explanation of the world set up that the author does, and does so magnificently. I will though point out that the book does excellently justice to the Austen original in a very different way, but in the end, a very similar one, because no matter where or when we are, human nature will be quite the same. Moved by love, hurt, frienship, loyalty, duty power and loss. I loved this book, and it made me cry quite a few times while reading it. One of the things I loved the most about it was how the narrative of the story was punctuated by the letters the main characters wrote to each other in the past, and how they give us so many clues about themselves and the world they live in. If you like Jane Austen, you're very likely to love this book, and if you don't, don't let it put you off, it's a great book on its own.

Monday Munchies: Piwi's Tiramisu Cupcakes!

Hello everyone!

New Monday, new week and finally new blog entry and new recipe: Monday Munchies is back!

Quite a while back I shared the recipe of a Cottage Cheese Tiramisu that me and my mum found at our usual cooking magazine Cocina Fácil (Easy Cooking) that we modified a bit, and that everyone in the family totally adores! 

So it was only natural that I wanted to turn that recipe into cupcakes!

Piwi's Tiramisu Cupcakes

I opted for a basic vegan vanilla recipe for the base cupcake, since it'd be the most similar to the lady fingers taste.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup soy milk

- Pinch tumeric powder

- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

- 2 TBS constarch

- 3/4 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp baking soda

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/3 cup sunflower oil

- 3/4 cup granulated/brown sugar

- 2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Pre-heat oven at 350ºF/180ºC. Line tin with papers. Beat tumeric powder with milk, cook stirring often in medium-low heat till the milk starts simmering, about 2 to 3 minutes, when milk has yellow hue, remove from heat and let cool for about 5 minutes.

Add vinegar to milk and whisk to curdle. Beat oil, sugar, extract and milk till foamy. Sift in flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix until no large lump remains. Fill liners about 2/3. Bake 20 to 22 minutes.

Let the cupcakes cool for about 5 minutes in the tin, and then move them to a cooling rack to let them cool completely. Meanwhile make the chicory coffe and the cottage cheese cream.

Cottage Cheese Cream

Ingredients:

- 500 grams goat's cottage cheese

- 100 grams icing sugar

- 4 egg whites

- pinch of salt and drops lemon juice

Method:

Mix the goat's cheese with half the sugar till creamy. Beat egg whites on high speed with the salt and lemon juice, when soft peaks start forming add the rest of the icing sugar. Beat well, fold in with the cheese cream. Refrigerate till needed.

To assemble, make a hole in the cupcakes with an apple corer, soak the cupcakes with the chicory coffee (don't be shy!) and fill in with the cheese cream. Top with the cake topper and then pipe a dollop of cream. Sprinkle with Nesquik! Enjoy!

These were very much liked by my nephews and my co-workers, but on my first try, I was a bit sparse with the coffe soaking, so I'll be more indulgent next time!

Mark This Book for Monday Munchies: Making Cupcakes With Lola!

Hey there! I've been dragging a bit this Monday since I didn't get to sleep much last night, which tends to happen when I work morning shift after a few days off. But now, finally after dinner I've edited some photos for this entry, which is a combination of Mark This Book Monday and Monday Munchies!

Today I'm recommending a recipe book for cupcakes only, that came highly recommended from the very awesome Alma from Alma's Cupcakes when I asked her what book she'd recommend since I already had Cake Days, Primrose Bakery and Eat Me!, and without a doubt she recommended "Making Cupcakes With Lola", and was she right!

As much as I love the Primrose Bakery book and the Eat Me! books, and the Eat Me! book is full of awesome recipes, I adore this one cause it's JUST cupcakes, and it's the kinda book you open and start thinking "I wanna make this" *turn page* "and this!" *turn page* "ooooh, and this!!" and you can go on like that till you run out of pages! I usually put business cards to mark pages for recipes I like and want to make, and I can barely close the book with the amount of cards marking recipes! I think I need to get coloured post-it to avoid damaging the book!

Two of the first recipes I wanted to make and that jumped to the first line as soon as I saw them where the Masala Chai tea cupcakes and the Matcha Chocolate cupcakes! I love tea, and I love chocolate, and I love having chai when I'm in India so those two were a MUST!

So, last Friday I was meeting my friends from college, Pilu and I were having lunch at the new Indian restaurant (and only one, I might add) in town (they have Kingfisher!! = Indian beer) and then we were meeting Esther and Sara for coffee, so I decided to make both recipes on Thursday to have them ready for Friday. I wanted to make half the recipe for both, but since the matcha chocolate cupcakes recipe calls for an egg, and seriously, half an egg? Well, I made 12 of those, and 6 of the masala chai cupcakes!

According to Alma's scale of goodness based on how long the mmmmmmm is, I have to say the masala chai cupcakes were the supreme champion! The three of them kept going "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" at every bite! And I have to say they were damned tasty! The buttercream was delicious, I added a bit of the milk with the tea even if wasn't supposed to be part of the recipe for it, but a bit of milk is a good idea to make the buttercream manageable and not too thick! Which was the problem with the matcha buttercream, a bit too thick, even if I added a bit of milk too. But experimenting is half the fun! I'm thinking of trying the buttercream in this chai recipe with the vegan chai cupcakes from the "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World". And I think I really need to try the recipe for green tea buttercream from the Primrose Bakery book.

And aside from that, I also wanted to share a recipe from the book that I modified to make it a bit more "parents-with-high-cholesterol" friendly, and also added a bit more spice to it, I made it with my friend Irene on Sunday morning!:


Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Makes 12-15

Ingredients:

- 175 gr whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda/bicarbonate of soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 a pinch f salk
- 2 eggs
- 200 gr brown sugar
- 100 ml vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large carrots, peeled and finely grated
- 40 gr canned crushed pineapple, drained (or just finely chop canned pineapple and drain well)
- 3 tablespoons chopped walnuts.

Method:

- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF. Line the cupcake pan with paper liners
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, ground cinnamon, ground ginger and salt in a bowl.
- Put the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until thick and well combined. Add the oil and the vanilla and beat until smooth.
- Add the sifted dry ingredients and beat on low speed/by hand until combined. Stir in the carrots, pineapple and walnuts and mix well.
- Divide the mixture between the muffin cases. Bake in the preheated over for 22-25 minutes or until well risen and a toothpick/cake tester comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then on a wire rack till they're cool enough to decorate.

I used the Cream Cheese Frosting according to the book directions, but I think next time, I'll just make them without frosting, cause they're so very yummy, very fluffly and very moisty! And if I make the frosting, I'll use the one Alma gave us in her latest workshop!

Monday Munchies: Mimosa cupcakes & a bonus recipe for healthier than usual cupcakes

Hello everyone! It's a new Monday, and that means either a recipe or a book recommendation, but giving my latest obsession with baking, it's once again time for Monday Munchies, and this time I'm not sharing one but two recipes! And to make the start of Monday better, both are for cupcakes!


I'm gonna start with a recipe of my own invention for Mimosa cupcakes, based on a recipe from Alma's Cupcakes I modified and using some other bits from a recipe for The Cookie Girl's book.


Mimosa cupcakes
Makes 12

Ingredients:

For the base cupcakes:
- 115 gr unsalted butter
- 220 gr granulated sugar
- 250 gr plain flour
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 70 ml skimmed milk
- 50 ml champagne
- 2 eggs

For the orange curd filling:
- 85 gr unsalted butter
- 60 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 large eggs plus two egg yolks
- 110 gr caster sugar
- grated zest of one big orange
- 1-2 tablespoons champagne

For the buttercream:
- 250 gr unsalted butter, room temperature
- 300 gr icing sugar
- 4 tablespoons champagne
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
- grated zest of 1 orange
- Orange colouring to taste

Method:

For the base cupcake:
- Preheat over 180ºC/350ºF and line a cupcake pan with paper liners.
- Beat sugar and butter together till well mixed and it starts to lighten. Add eggs, one by one, beating well till they're well integrated.
- Sift flour with baking powder together, add half of it to the butter and beat at low speed, add the milk. Then add the other half of the flour to the mixture and lastly add the champagne.
- Distribute the butter evenly between the paper cases till they're 2/3 full. Bake for about 20 to 22 minutes. Make sure they're done by inserting a toothpick, it will come out clean. Let them cool in the pan for 5 mins and then transfer to a rack to finish cooling completely.

For the orange curd filling:
- While the cupcakes are baking, heat the butter and orange juice in a pan over medium heat until the butter is melted. In a medium bowl whisk the eggs, egg yolks and sugar together, pour the butter & orange mix, whisk everything together well, and put it back into the pan.
- Continue cooking over medium heat until it reaches boiling point and it starts to thicken, it should be about 5 minutes, remember to stir often so it doesn't stick to the pan.
- Remove from the heat into the bowl and add the orange zest. Once it cools, add the champagne to taste.
- Any left overs can be kept in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Now fill the cupcakes with the curd, using an apple corer to make your holes in the cupcakes, fill them with the curd and add a little bit of the cupcake you took out to close it again.

For the champagne buttercream:
- This is the moment that I absolutely adore my KitchenAid more than I could ever think I'd love a kitchen appliance, and also the moment when I need to cover my dear Miss Marple (yes, I named her Miss Marple) with a kitchen towel to avoid the dreaded icing sugar storm!
- Sift the icing sugar and add it with the butter and the champagne to the KA bowl. Start mixing first at low speed for about 1 minute and then for 5 more minutes at high speed.
- Now you can use the food colouring. I wanted the frosting to look a bit like orange juice, but I only had an Americolor orange, and ended up with these lovely salmon cupcakes instead. I just didn't want to add more colour and end up with neon orange cupcakes!
- Decorate using Wilton's 2D pipping tip to make pretty roses and add some sprinkles to top them up. Some sugarpaste orange wedges would have looked very cute too!

And now, for today's second recipe, one that I was super happy to find at La Dulce Magdalena's blog! This recipe is for more-healthy-than-usual Red Berries Cupcakes! As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make it for my parents (their high cholesterol leves means they can't really eat any butter-filled cupcakes) and also, it's ideal for my vegan friends to try, since they only have to find a replacement for the eggs and egg whites in the frosting! So without further ado, I give you Magda's Red Berries Cupcakes!


Red Berries Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Makes 12

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:
- 150 gr non-hydrogenated soy margarine
- 190 gr cane brown sugar (non refined)
- 1 vanilla bean
- 2 eggs (or egg replacement)
- 80 ml soy milk
- 190 gr whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
- A handful of frozen or fresh red berries, I added red cranberries

For the Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
- 4 pasteurized egg whites (or egg whites replacer)
- 220 gr granulated sugar (important, NOT icing sugar for this one)
- 340 gr non-hydrogenated soy margarine
- Here the recipe called for raspberry extract and pureed red berries to add, but since I had only the red cranberries for the butter and no raspberry extract, I added 1 teaspoon lemon extract.

Method:

For the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF and line the cupcake pan with paper liners.
- With a knife open the vanilla bean and scrap the seeds. Mix them with the sugar and soy margarine and cream together for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the eggs, one by one, beating well after each one. Next, add the soy milk beating till well incorporated.
- Sift together flour and bicarbonate of soda and add to the batter, mixing till well incorporated, don't overbeat. Now add the red berries mixing with a spatula.
- Distribute the batter evenly between the paper liners, about 3/4 full, depending on how many berries you've added, the more berries the less they'll rise in the oven.
- Bake for about 25 minutes, test with a toothpick. Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to let cool completely.

For the Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
- Heat up water in wide pan, put the egg whites and sugar in a medium bowl (that will fit our pan) and using the bain-marie method, heat up the egg whites and sugar, it should reach 60ºC, but if you don't have thermometre, leave it on medium heat and stir till all the sugar is well integrated, no grains left.
- Tranfer this to the cold KA bowl (I left it for a while in the balcony in Jan, very effective), let it cool for a bit, and beat on high speed till the meringe starts forming soft peaks, and they're cooled off (that's very important!) we start adding little by little the soy margarine in pieces. Again I'll say it, make sure when you start adding the margarine, the egg whites mix are not hot, or the margarine will melt and it'll be a disaster of epic proportions and non-salvageable.
- After adding all the margarine, add the extract and beat on high speed for about 8 to 10 minutes. Now, in the beginning it'll look all curdled and icky, but no worries, it'll get better! Keep on beating and you'll get the most light, bright and fuffly meringe buttercream ever! If you wanna add the the pureed berries, lower the speed, add it and beat till combined.
- I used Wilton 1M pipping tip to create some nice roses with it!

After making this amazing Swiss Meringue buttercream I just had to kiss my KA!

And I leave you with these two recipes and some nice & yummy looking photos. Have a great week!

Monday Munchies: Veggies & beef!

Hello everyone! Monday is here again, starting a new week, and I'm finally returning to blogging again. Last week was a busy week for me, and work was leaving me completely drained and tired.

I had plans to have shared a recipe of my own creation I was planning on working on Sunday for Mimosa cupcakes, but come Sunday I realized I had not enough butter... and not enough motivation to get in the car and drive to look for a place open to buy it. But, I'll make them sometime this week for sure, so I'll probably share it next Monday! So, for this week's Monday Munchies I have another non-cupcakes recipe!

Veggies & Beef

Serves 4

Ingredients:

- 800 gr thin beef steaks

- 1 medium size zucchini

- 2 carrots

- 2 chives

- 1 green pepper

- 2 garlic cloves

- 1 spring of parsley

- Olive oil

- Salt & pepper

Method:

- Wash and cut the ends of the zucchini. Scrape the carrots and wash them. Wash the pepper, cutting off the  seeds. Cut everything in stripes.

- Wash and clean the chives, cutting the roots and the less tender green parts, slice them but not too thin. Cut the beef into thin stripes. Reserve all the ingredients separatedly.

- In a deep frying pan or a wok, heat up enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan and sautee first the pepper for a pair of minutes on high heat, add salt and pepper to taste and remove from the pan, draining well. Saute the rest of the veggies separatedly the same way.

- Add the beef stripes to the same pan and saute till they start turning brown. Add salt & pepper to taste and the reserved cooked veggies. Stir everything together for about 1 minute and serve immediately, sprinkled with some chopped parsley.

- Enjoy!

Monday Munchies: Curry Pasta!

Monday is here again! And if for quite a number of people it can be a bit of tough Monday, going back to work after the Xmas break (here in Spain), we should always look forward to a new week that starts!

For this week's Monday Munchies I'm gonna take a break from all the cupcake recipes I've been sharing as of late, and share something a bit more healthy and more everyday like meal, which combines two of my fave things: pasta and curry! I love the smell of cooking with curry and spices, it makes me think of India and the bf!

Curry Pasta

Serves 4

Ingredients:

- 300 gr farfalle (or any other pasta you have around).

- 2 onions

- 2 apples

- 1/2 lemon

- 1 teaspoon curry (or more, as you like it)

- 1 teaspoon corn flour

- 150 ml cream or double cream, the one for cooking only

- olive oil

- salt and pepper

Method:

- Peel, core and cut the apples in bite size bits. Squeeze the half lemon and pour it over the apple so it doesn't darken. Peel the onions and slice them, so you get long but thing onion bits.

- In a deep pan, heat 4 tablespoons olive oil and saute the onion for about 8 mins until it is soft and transparent. Add the apple bits, and also add with curry and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring carefully with a wooden spoon. Disolve de corn flour in the cream and add it to the pan. Cook in low heat for about 12 minutes stirring with the wooden spoon.

- Boil the pasta in salted water, according to the packet instructions. Drain them and mix them with the onions and apples. 

- Serve hot & Enjoy!

Don't worry if you don't like onions much, I don't and I love this dish! The onions aren't the main flavour here, and if you cook them right, they won't have the crunchy taste you might dislike!

Monday Munchies: Chocolate with Fluff and Nutella Cupcakes!

Hey there! Late Monday today entry today, cause I've gone to have breakfast with my friends with uni (I took some carrot cake cupcakes with me for them) and then came home for lunch and then straight to work, so I'm just sharing my first improvisation for cupcakes that I made for my youngest nephew, Alex!

So for Monday Munchies: Chocolate with fluff & nutella cupcakes! For the base cupcakes, I used the chocolate recipe from Alma's Cupcakes (from the little booklet with recipes that she gave us during the beginners' course).

Chocolate with fluff & nutella cupcakes!

Makes 12

Ingredients:

- 115 gr butter, room temperature

- 220 gr granulated sugar

- 2 medium sized eggs

- 240 gr plain flour

- 30 gr cocoa powder (without sugar)

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 120 ml semi skimmed milk

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

- Preheat the oven at 180ºC (350ºF). Line the cupcake pan with paper cases.

- Cream the butter with the sugar till whitens and is well mixed. Add the eggs one by one, beating well after each one till it's well combined.

- Sift together the flour, with the baking powder and cocoa. In a glass mix the milk with the vanilla extract.

- Add half the flour to the mixture and mix well, then add half the milk and beat till well combined again, then add the other half of the flour, beat well and lastly, add the rest of the milk.

- Distribute the mixture on the paper cases, till about 2/3. Bake for about 22 to 25 minutes, or till a toothpick comes out clean,

- Let cool in the cupcake pan for about 5 mins, and then place in a rack to let cool completely.

Once cooled off, with an apple corer, take a bit off each cupcake, taking care not to get to the bottom of the cupcake!

Then fill them up (not till the very top!) with Fluff! (Marshmallow cream, yum!), I used a pipping bag to fill them up.

Once they're full with Fluff, it's time to put back the chocolate bit we took out, though the Fluff might pop it out a bit! To fix that, I melted a bit of Nutella (I did it in the oven, since it was hot from baking them), and I used it to cover the cupcakes, to keep the chocolate bit in and to finish it off! I added a few snowflake sprinkles!

They looked pretty nice, and Alex absolutely loved them!!

Monday Munchies: Carrot And Cardamom Cupcakes!!s!

Hello everyone!! *yawns* How's Monday going? I hope it's going nicely and starting the week with a bang, but in case you need a little pick me up, I have something to share for this week's Monday Munchies that is sure to help you all perk up a bit: cupcakes!


Carrot and cardamom cupcakes to be precise! This recipe can be found in thecupcakerecipes.com and I was linked by the very awesome Lisa from Birmingham Cupcakes Co. (thanks, Lis!). This recipe has become my mum's fave, and it's a little more healthy than your regular cupcakes recipe since it has oil instead of butter, and it even has some veggies in it! ;)

Also, this was my first recipe made using my Matrioska measuring cups! I just was tired of having to converting cups to grams everytime I wanted to do a recipe!


Carrot & Cardamom Cupcakes
Makes 12

Ingredients:
For the batter:

- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 2/3 cup sunflower oil
- 2 eggs
- Grated peel of 1 unwaxed orange.
- Seeds from 5 cardamom pods, crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 & 1/2 cups self-raising flour
- 2 carrots, grated
- 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, shelled, roughly chopped. I used walnuts.

For the icing:

- 2/3 cup mascarpone
- Finely grated peel of 1 unwaxed orange
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
- 1/3 cup confectioners sugar, sifted.

Method:

- Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF) and line a cupake pan with paper liners (I used this new red foil ones I got recently).
- Break up the sugar in a bowl using the back of a fork (or if you used just regular brown sugar like me, you can skip that bit), then beat in the oil and eggs. Stir in the grated orange peel, the crushed cardamom seeds and the ginger, then sift the flour into the mixture and fold in, adding last the grated carrots and walnuts.
- Distribute the batter between the liners, do not fill more than 2/3 since they raise quite a bit in the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.

- For the icing, beat the mascarpone, sugar, orange peel and lemon juice together in a bowl and spread over the cupcakes. The amount is enough to decorate with a spatula, but if you want to pipe it nicely (like I did with the Wilton 1M tip) you'll need twice as much!

Monday Munchies: Cupcakes Workshop with Alma's Cupcakes!!

Hello everyone! How's the week starting? I hope very good, and if not... take a peek at all the yummy pics I'm sharing with you in this entry, and you'll be sure to cheer up!

This past Saturday I finally attended a course/workshop by Alma of Alma's Cupcakes and Objetivo: Cupcake Perfecto for beginners. After reading Alma's blog, trying some of recipes and seeing all her amazing progress in the world of cakes, cupcakes and cookies, I was extremely excited to attend this 4 hour-class and it was everything I expected and more! Not only I got tons of practical tips and recommendations, learnt about fondant and ingredients, but also had an absolute blast with Alma, her mother (the helper) and the other ladies that were attending the workshop (with my friend Esther too!).

Since my poor brain it's not at its best today, after two night shifts on a row, and depriving myself of sleep during the day so I can sleep tonight, I'm just gonna say a few things: I'm even more obsessed with cupcakes and baking in general, I have a mile long list of things to buy and I NEED A KITCHEN AID!!!

Now, before going for the photos... THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, ALMA!!

Alma's super cute logo

Alma's Peggy Porchen's rose!

Getting a cupcake ready to be filled in with yumminess

The working table, with the materials and the recipe book!

Esther and me, with Alma, the most adorable teacher in existence!

The workshop was already decorated for Xmas!

Esther posing with one of the cupcakes made by Alma

Another amazing flower cupcake made by Alma!

Amazing cakes!

The cakes with Peggy roses!

These are the cupcakes that Esther decorated!

I made too many fondant decorations that I took home with me!

My cupcakes ready to take home and my diploma!

Cookie monster, Yoda, Bobba Fett...

My six cupcakes! They're so cute I don't wanna eat them!!

Monday Munchies: Kiwi Cupcakes via La Dulce Magdalena!!

Monday again! And despite my good intentions, not a blog entry since last Monday... but this time it was a damned cold that kept me running at about 50% and even though I managed not to miss work, I just didn't have the brain power for much more.

I'm thinking that I was very lucky to have managed to make these really yummy cupcakes last Friday, but I had promised cupcakes to my friend Irene for when she came over for coffee, and cupcakes she had!

I got this super yummy recipe from the blog of another amazing Spanish lady that bakes marvels, La Dulce Magdalena!

These cupcakes are amazingly moist and fluffy, I think the kiwi pieces in the batter are the cause, and the cheese & lemon frosting is absolutely delicious! So much, that my dad ate all the left over frosting in the bowl!

You can find the original recipe HERE in Spanish, but I'm gonna translate for all you English speaking ladies.

Kiwi Cupcakes

Makes about 15 regular sized cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the batter:

- 200 gr flour

- 2 teaspoons baking powder

- 170 gr unsalted butter

- 180 gr granulated sugar

- 3 eggs beaten

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 2 kiwis, peeled and cubed

- More kiwi, laminated, to decor.

For the frosting:

- 225 gr cream cheese (Philadelphia type).

- 45 gr room temperature butter

- 75 gr powder sugar

- 1 teaspoon sugar extract, or if you don't have any, subtitute for 2 teaspoons lemon juice and its zest.

Method:

- Preheat the oven at 160ºC (325ºF) and prepare a cupcake pan with cupcakes cases. In a bowl, shift the flour and baking power together. In another bowl cream together butter and sugar, then add the eggs, adding the flour & baking powder and the vanilla extract. Mix well. Add half the cubed kiwis to the batter, combining well, don't overmix.

- Fill the cupcakes cases, not more than 2/3 of them. Make sure the batter is even and then spread the rest of the cubed kiwi on top. Bake for 20-30 minutes, till a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes in the cupcake pan, and then cool off completely in a rack.

- Meanwhile prepare the frosting mixing the butter with the icing sugar, beating well and add the cream cheese, add the lemon and mix well (it can be done by hand, though better with an electric mixer). You can use either a piping bag or just spread it with a spoon. Add a slice of kiwi on top to finish them up.

- Eat them all!!

Monday Munchies: Lemon Muffins!

Hello everyone! Somewhat regular blogging from India! From my tablet, using my sister-in-law's wifi... while we're planning G's nephew b-day party! So in that festive mood, I leave you with a yummy recipe for Monday Munchies!

Lemon Muffins

Makes 16-18

Ingredients:

- 2 or 3 lemons

- 60 ml lemon yogurt

- 300 gr plain flour

- 2 eggs

- 180 gr sugar

- 15 gr baking powder

- 125 ml sunflower oil

Method:

- Wash and dry one lemon, you'll need the grated zest. Squeeze all lemons, to get 125 ml of lemon juice (use more lemons if need be, mine were small, so I used 5). Make sure you filter it so there won't be any seeds. Beat eggs and sugar in a bowl till they whiten and double their size. If you do it with electric mixer it'll be easier and done in a shorter time.

- Add oil, juice, grated zest and yogurt and mix well so there are no lumps. Sieve in the flour with the baking powder, and mix again till al ingredients are well mixed. Let the batter sit for about 30 minutes at room temperature. Preheat oven at 180ºC.

- Prepare the muffin pan with liners (since it yields about 16 to 18, you might need two pans or make two turns in the oven) and fill them up till 3/4. Bake for 20 minutes. Once they're done (test with a toothpick and if it comes out clean, they're done) get them in a rack to cool.