The week has been all about baking. I love to bake, so whenever there's a birthday in the family, the creative part of my brain starts planning the cakes for the party. The practical and sensible part of my brain, however, tries to convince me that I really do not have the time to all I have in mind....Ususally the creative side wins, and I ALWAYS end up sweating in the kitchen with all my unfinished cakes until waaaay past bedtime the day before the party....
I just never learn!
Macaron triumph!
This week we had another big day to prepare for in the family, and this time I decided to add something completely new to my cake repertoire...French Macarons...
I absolutely LOVE these beautiful little cakes, and after careful studying of several recipies I made my first attempt on some plain vanilla macarons, inspired by the incredibly talented Manuela Kjeilen. Everything this woman bakes and makes is soooo beautiful and so inspirational, so if you are interested in baking you should read her blog.
Anyway, my vanilla macarons came out PERFECT! I really did not expect that, and was so excited about it that I forgot to take a photo of them.....
So, full of confidence after my macaron triumph, I continued with a lime version.....
They looked really nice on the tray.....
But these were not a success! The cakes came out of the oven looking like sticky, green bubble gum.....
I have no idea what I did wrong the seond time around, but on my third attempt - this time with a pink strawberry version - I got back on my feet again. Most of the pink cakes were almost perfect, some had some smaller cracks in them, and a few did not really look like macarons at all, so I changed the name to "fairy princess cakes" for Little Missy and her friends....
I continued forward with a lemon and a blueberry version, and all in all I'm quite happy with the result.
The vanilla ones were smooth and flawless (so proud!!) , the others OK, but for a first timer I think I did quite well :-)
The taste, however, was pure HEAVEN! I made two types of cream filling: One plain with white chocolate, and one with white chocolate and raspberries. So yummy!!
I figured I would have plenty of cakes left to enjoy after the party, but this big tray of goodies was empty in a matter of minutes.....!!
Happy Colours ❤️❤️❤️
Cupcake cuteness overload..
This weekend I also had quite a few cupcakes to make for Little Missy's choir, and spent Friday afternoon making 36 caramel cupcakes for them to bring with them to a big choir festival.
Mmm, fresh from the oven and the kitchens smells divine from caramel and vanilla..❤️
Since this is an all girls choir, I could go all the way with pretty pastel colours and spinkles.....❤️❤️❤️
The recipe is based on a basic vanilla cupcake, but I added some powder for caramel pudding to the batter to get a lovely caramel flavour. Remember to reduce the amount of sugar accordingly if you do this, if not the cupcakes will be way to sweet....
The frosting is yummy Vanilla Bean frosting. This frosting is so easy to work with and the taste is loved by everyone (in my experience, anyway...)
Tip: Put the cupcakes under the grill in the oven for just a few minutes) after they are decorated. 2-3 minutes are enough. Be careful not to leave them in too long - just enough to heat up the surface a little bit. This way the surface hardens a bit, which make it much easier both to eat and to tranport the cupcakes (i.e. to a choir festival.....) without getting the frosting all smudged....
Bad photo! This really does not give justice to the pretty colours....
I added som raspberry flavour to the pink frosting - very poplular among the little singers....:-)
A kiss from a rose...
I had some of the pink Vanilla Bean Frosting left after decorating the cupcakes, so I made a few trays with the sweetest "rose-kisses", spinkled with sugar crystals and pearls. Bake these lovelies in the oven on 100 C (220 F) for about 1 hour. Turn the oven off and leave the merengue in the oven for at least another hour to cool off. These are lovely to eat as they are, or use as decorations on cakes or with ice cream....
Pink yumminess all the way....❤️❤️❤️
Pink yumminess all the way....❤️❤️❤️
I love this beautiful Tilda cake tin. A perfect hostess gift ❤️
Just pretty....❤️
http://www.passionforbaking.com/blog/2013/03/13/vanilla-macarons-made-with-love/
..and one for chocolate and carammacarons. I'm going to make these next time!!
http://en.passionforbaking.com/blog/2013/09/29/chocolate-macarons/
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