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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BUSY, BUSY BEE

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This week has been completely manic at work so not only did I not have time to bake, I couldn’t even think about baking or crafts! Sad times…

But there are 3 milestones I would like to share:

  • I installed WordPress on my iPhone so now I should be able to blog on the go (as a matter of fact I am testing the app right now!)
  • We had home made cake in the office twice this week and I didn’t make either one! We had Sacher and Swedish princess cake – lovely! Seems like my passion is contagious.
  • I finally organised all my crafty supplies. Until today they were in a state of complete mess, scattered around the whole apartment. So it would normally take me longer to find everything in order to do crafts, which was really off putting. I hope now I have an extra motivation! Here is my new crafts corner:

arts and crafts organization

On another note, I am off to Vienna for work next week and since most hotels don’t normally come with a fully equipped kitchen, you might not hear from me much. Hope to be back here (and baking) soon!

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MY 15 MINUTES OF FAME

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Living in Gibraltar has it’s ups and downs. While everyday life is not overly exciting, it is also good that not much happens so you get a whole page spread in a local magazine if you (participate in or) win a baking competition!

Nadia in Gibraltar Magazine

P.S. I have just noticed that the show is still available to watch online on the website of the local TV. Not sure how long it is available there for but for the time being, if you have spare 50 minutes and would like to see it, here you GO.

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A CAKE PICNIC!

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This weekend we were incredibly lucky with the weather on the Rock. Sun, no wind and temperatures of around 18 degrees Celsius. What better way to enjoy such ‘winter’ days but with a cake picnic!

I baked the recently mentioned award-winning courgette cake with cream cheese frosting, made some cookie cupcakes (which were a fail in some ways and not a fail in others, but more on that later), and brought coffee, tea and soft drinks. Close friends and family brought their cake appetites and we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at the southernmost point of Gibraltar, Europa Point. On a non-windy day (like yesterday) this is the perfect place for a picnic with its beautiful views of the lighthouse, Africa and the actual Rock.

I even took some photos – the quality isn’t great but I was too busy soaking up the sun and eating cake to spend more time with the camera!

cake picnic

cake picnic

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