Let's Stay Home

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The hubby isn't feeling well today so we're having a Cave Day.

Man flu...someone help me! (hehe)

Long Summer Days

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Welcome

JUNE

Chocolate Cupcakes

You may have noticed that I have been posting several photos of cupcakes lately. There is a reason for that. I have been obsessing over cupcakes for the last 3 months. I decided to go on a crusade in search of the perfect cupcake and while I can't yet post the recipe here, I can always share the pictures of some attempts. It shouldn't be that difficult to find the perfect cupcake but... my perfect cupcakes needs:

- a good cake base, preferably with a strong chocolate flavour;

- a good frosting but it cannot be the normal butter-cream because the Mr. doesn't like it;

- to be easy and quick to make without having to use the electric mixer or a scale;

- just enough for two people...meaning I don't want to end up with 20 cupcakes that we can't (well we can but we shouldn't) handle.

These pictures show my last attempt. The cake was actually kind of awesome! but I didn't nail the frosting yet. I converted all measures in cups and spoons and used a simple whisker to mix the batter. And it made 6 cupcakes...perfectly acceptable, I say!

   

Cupcakes&Chocolate photos

   

Tuesday Mood - Cupcakes

indulgence... 

Food

 What to make for dinner...

Chocolate Mousse

One of the easiest desserts I've ever made and not less delicious because of it. This is my mothers recipe of an airy, fluffy mousse, not to dark and not to sweet. It's the mousse I used to eat in my childhood (there was no birthday party without it) with strawberries or strawberry jelly. I decided to serve it in individual flasks , which made it a lot more fun and perfect for eating in from of the TV while watching my favourite series.  Hope you like it.

250g dark cooking chocolate

4 table spoons confectioners sugar

1 table spoon butter 

8 eggs ( 8 yolks, 7 whites)

Melt the chocolate with the butter (I did it in the microwave) and mix. Add the yolks and the sugar to the chocolate and mix well. Beat the egg whites until stiffened. Add the whites to the chocolate mixture and mix it slowly with a whisker until you get an airy mixture. Pour the mouse in a bowl, or like in my case in small recipients/flasks for individual portions, and let it rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour. In my opinion it tastes better if you leave it longer, but that's a matter of personal taste. If you like it darker and stronger just add less egg whites. Oh! And for some extra "punch", and when we got older, my father used to had a bit of whisky or Frangelico (hazelnut liquor). 

Scones

When the days start getting shorter and darker, and it's cold and raining outside, there's nothing better than a warm cup of tea and some sort of "munchies" while watching a good series on TV. And there's no better "munchie" for this than scones. My problem was that I didn't really like the recipe I had. The scones would get very compact and hard. I swear they could make a hole in the wall if I had thrown them. So I asked my sister if she had a good scones recipe that I could try. She gave me the one I'm posting here and I'm very happy about it. Done it twice now (in a week!) because it's so easy and quick to make, and the scones are delicious. Even Emil, that is normally picky with this sort of food, loved them. 

3 cups of flour

2 tea spoons of baking powder

½ tea spoon sal

125g (half a pack) butter

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 yolk to brush on top of the scones.

Mix very well all the ingredients in a bowl. Pre-heat the oven at 180.C. Shape the scones and placed them on an oven tray covered with cooking paper. with these quantities I made 9 scones, but I like them big(ish). Brush the top of the scones with the remaining yolk. Goes to the oven at 180.C for 30 minutes (more or less depending on the oven).

I love having them right out of the oven, with butter and my home made jams, and when no one is looking I also add some whipped cream (shame on me!).

   

Orange and Blackcurrants Muffins - recipe

Last week my friend Linda suggested we should go pick blackcurrants to make some jam. Before I moved to Denmark I was always very much of a city girl, so picking my own berries sounded really exciting... plus, I had no idea what blackcurrants were! With the help of Google translate I found out it was something that I only knew from a concentrated drink but had never actually seen the fruit. It was a fun and new experience, and when I got home I just couldn't wait to make the jam. I left the blackcurrants in the sink, in cold water, for 30 min. and then followed, more or lees, the same recipe that I use for strawberry jam, only this time I actually used half the weight of the berries of sugar. (note: the damn things release a lot of juice when you handle them, careful with stains in your clothes or even the kitchen counter).

I saved a few berries but wasn't sure what to do with them until I saw some muffins on TV (on a commercial I think, wasn't really paying attention) and decided that that's what I wanted - blackcurrant muffins. I looked up some cake recipes and picked my grandmothers orange cake. I figured it would be consistent enough for muffins, I liked the idea of the 2 flavours together and... I had oranges at home. The idea was to make just some normal cake mixture, pour it in silicone muffin forms and add blackcurrants (I also made some with little pieces of dark chocolate for Emil  because he doesn't like berries).

The result was delicious! So I'm writing here the recipe:

250g sugar
150g butter
250g all purpose flour
4 eggs (separate yolks and whites)
1 big orange (zest and juice)
2 tea spoons baking powder
100 ml milk
a few blackcurrants

Pre-heat the oven at 180.C
Mix the sugar with the butter. Beat well.
Add the yolks and the orange zest. Beat a bit more.
Alternate adding the flour and the milk. Beat slowly.
Add the orange juice. Beat again.
Beat the egg whites until stiffened and then mix them by hand with the rest of the cake mixture.
Pour the mixture in muffin forms and add 3 blackcurrants to each.
Goes to the oven for 20 min. (for a cake it should take 1 hour in the oven)

   

For September I Want...

photography by Amy Neunsinger

photography by Alessandro Guerani

photography by Alessandro Guerani

photography by  Katie Quinn Davies

photography by Amy Neunsinger

photography by Glen Proebstel

photography by Alessandro Guerani