"Canvas"

This whole week I have been baking... Cupcakes! Lots of them, all types! You see am participating (with baking) in this arts event where artist of all kind will be showcasing their work. I am obviously inviting you if you are able to attend in such a short notice and if you are interested to see my new cupcake collection :-). For more info go here → "CANVAS"

But... if you are not able to make it, I am not going to be upset with you :-(. Instead I am giving away my favorite cupcake recipe here which I like because this recipe makes beautiful cupcakes even though if they are quite modest without the icing ;-)....

APPLE CINNAMON CUPCAKES
(makes 15)

Ingredients: 3 eggs
                    200g brown sugar
                    200g yogurt
                    50g butter
                    200g flour
                    1½ tsp baking powder
                    50g oats
                    1 tsp cinnamon
                    2½ cooking apples
                    
1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line muffin tin with baking cases
2. Beat the eggs lightly with sugar. Mix in yogurt and melted butter.
3. Sift the flour with the baking powder then mix it with the oats and cinnamon. Mix dry ingredients with butter and yogurt mixture. 
4. Peal two apples and shred them. One half of the apple prepare for decoration by slicing it into really slim trips (I used slicer for that). Mix the shredded  apples into the cupcake mixture.
5. Use spoon to fill the baking cases with mixture, about two-thirds full. Arrange apple strips on top. Bake the cakes for about 25-30min.
 

My trip to Italy

I will start with the official news that I am back to London and the fact that I am experiencing mild writer's block condition (not that I consider myself a writer). So beware of this minor problem as I progress with writing my quick story. Also would like to mention that I no longer work in the cafe... who knows what the future will bring? But for now am focusing on settling in London whilst still feeling really privileged for my year experiences in Windsor.

Anyway... moving on! I had a short gap between moving to London and leaving the cafe job so I did little bit of traveling. I visited Italy, Greece and Lithuania (of course!). What I am going to talk about now however is Italy since it is what the title is suggesting. And since I am only telling short story I will only focus on FOOD. And believe me food was the biggest part of this trip! At least in my opinion...

 And the most amazing thing is that we were staying at our friend's Alex house! You see, I was able to witness the real Italian cuisine. Thanks to Alex's mum as she was really wonderful hostess and cooked three course meal every time. She even showed me how to make gnocchi which is my favorite! I mean, I knew how to make these potato dumplings before, however that used to take me forever. This time I defiantly feel more confident as Alex's mum (sadly forgot her name) demonstrated a good technique how to make them quicker. I am also amazed that her recipe had some ricotta cheese which made gnocchi even more soft and tasty! Try it for yourself....

 GNOCCHI WITH PEAS AND PROSCIUTTO HAM

Ingredients (feeds 4 gnocchi lovers):  300g ricotta cheese
                                                             2 egg yolks
                                                             250g potatoes (boiled, pealed and mashed)
                                                             130g flour plus some for rolling
                                                             100g hard cheese like Parmesan  
                                                             1tbs butter
                                                             1 leek
                                                             200g sweet peas (can be from frozen)
                                                             250ml vegetable stock
                                                             4tbsp cream
                                                             4 slices prosciutto ham
                                                             olive oil
                                                             salt and pepper

1. First, make the dough by mixing ricotta cheese, egg yolks, potatoes, flour and Parmesan together.
2. Then, prepare the sauce. Chop the leeks and fry them with butter. Then add peas, stock and whiz it up all together with hand food processor. Let it cook for further 2-3min and after taking it of the heat add the cream and season to your taste. Set aside.
3. Make the gnocchi by rolling the pieces of dough on the floury surface and then cutting them into little pieces (see picture above). To make them textured roll each gnocchi piece against the fork ribs. Lay them in floured plate by leaving some small gaps between them as they really like to stick together.
4. Lay prosciutto ham slices onto foil and bake for around 15 min until it is slightly golden. Take it out to dry.
5. Cook gnocchi in lightly salted boiling water. But don't go away too far away as the little pieces of gnocchi soon rises up to the top and that's when you should fish them out.
6. To serve mix gnocchi with sauce, little olive oil and dish them up. On top of each plate add crispy prosciutto slice and maybe some Parmesan of course. Buon appetitio!

      
                         
  

My 30th birthday dinner party

Yesterday I have celebrated my memorable 30th birthday with a dinner party. So since my blog has had really really long holidays I thought this was a good occasion for it to come back to "work". 

Anyway... for my party success I am giving a big credit to my friends Joana and Lina who were my loyal slaves all day long and a little bit to myself (I did set up this wonderfully harmonious menu after all). I would also like to grant a massive credit to the "BBC Good Food" website (not that they care), but the recipes there are always tested and the food always comes out like they say it would. Really recommend it for anybody.  Here is one recipe for the cake I made. Practically copied it and pasted it as I did not need to change anything (except the deco since fresh cherries were out of season here in Lithuania). Enjoy!

BLACK FOREST GATEAU

Ingredients:  175g salted butter , plus extra for greasing
                     200g bar dark chocolate
                     300g plain flour
                     375g golden caster sugar
                     25g cocoa
                     1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
                     2 medium eggs
                     200g buttermilk or natural yoghurt
                     425g can pitted cherries, 2 tbsp juice reserved, rest drained
                     100g morello cherry jam
                     4 tbsp kirsch(or more juice from a can if you want it to be non-alcoholic)
                     500ml tub double cream
                     3 tbsp icing sugar1 small punnet fresh berries (optional)

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line the base of 3 x 20cm cake tins. Boil the kettle. Put the butter and 75g chocolate broken into chunks in a small pan and gently heat, stirring, until completely melted.
2. Mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda with a pinch of salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk the eggs and buttermilk or yogurt together. Scrape the melted chocolate mixture and egg mixture into the dry ingredients, add 100ml boiling water and whizz briefly with an electric whisk until the cake batter is lump free.
3. Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for 25 mins, swapping the tins round after 20 mins if they're on different shelves. To test they're done, push in a skewer and check that it comes out clean.
4. Prick the cakes a few times with a skewer. Mix together the 2 tbsp reserved cherry juice and the kirsch (or more juice) and drizzle over the cakes. Cool the cakes.
5. Mix together the remaining drained cherries and jam. Tip 200ml of the cream into a small pan and heat until just below simmering point. Chop the remaining chocolate and put in a heatproof bowl, pour over the hot cream and stir until melted. Set aside until spreadable.
6. When the cakes are cool whisk the remaining cream and the icing sugar together until softly whipped. Spread over two of the cakes, then spoon over the jammy cherries. Stack the cakes together. Spread the chocolate cream over the third cake and sit on top of the other cakes. Pile the fresh berries in and around the cake and serve. I added black current leaves to make it look slightly wild, but this is totally optional!

Summer frangipane

My friend Suzanne went away for a week so she gave me the keys to her house and offered me to use her oven (my oven is still broken). How generous is that! Anyway, I wanted to bake something with the ingredients I had so I started digging around my kitchen. I found frozen sweet pastry (that I made from scratch) in the freezer so my first fought was "tart!!". But later on, after finding ground almonds in my cupboard I made a decision on frangipane (which is a tart technically, but I like the frangipane name better)! So today on my way to my friend's house I bought some strawberries and here it comes the result :)

STRAWBERRY FRANGIPANE

For the sweet pastry:

• 500g plain flour
• 250g unsalted butter
• 125g caster sugar
• 1 egg

For the cream:

• 150g unsalted butter
• 150g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 150g ground almonds
• 50g plain flour
• 1/2 pod of vanilla seeds (optional)
• 250g strawberries

For the glaze:

• 2 tbsp apricot or seedless raspberry jam

1. Place the butter and sugar in mixing bowl and beat them together until they are light and fluffy. Add the egg to the butter mixture and mix it until combined. Then add the flour gradually and mix until it looks like smooth dough.
2. Place the pastry in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes to rest. (or into freezer if you want it to be used another time)
3. Meanwhile make the cream. Place the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl and mix them together until they are creamy and light. Mix the eggs in 1 at a time until well combined. Sift the flour and ground almonds together. Slowly add the almond and flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix the ingredients together until you have a creamy mixture. Set the frangipane cream aside until ready to use.
4. Remove the pastry from the fridge. Roll it out on a well floured surface until it is around .5-.75mm thick. Lightly grease 30cm tart tin (or line it with baking paper). Line the tart tin with the pastry. Place the lined tin in the freezer for 15 minutes or in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
5. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Blind bake the pastry for 10 minutes until just firm and without colour. Remove the pastry from the oven an allow it to cool.
6. Reduce the temperature to 180°C. Place the frangipane cream in the tart tin and spread it out evenly with a palate knife (do not over fill).
7. Place the strawberies in the frangipane so that they are spread out over the tart.
8. Place the tart in the preheated oven and cook it for 30-40 minutes. The frangipane cream will be golden brown, risen and firm when the tart is ready.
9. Remove the tart from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the tart carefully from the tin.
10. Place the apricot or raspberry jam in a small saucepan and place it over a moderate heat. Heat it while stirring until it has melted. Remove it form the heat and brush it over the tart lightly with a pastry brush.

No Coments...

My oven is still broken so here is another no bake desert that I made out of desperation: the chocolate mousse dessert.... I think you have to find it for yourself and actually taste to appreciate. So, NO COMMENTS FROM ME...

COCONUT AND MIXED BERRIES CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

 Ingredients:  200g dark chocolate
                      4 tbsp double cream
                      2 tbsp coconut flavored rum (something like "Malibu")
                      3 eggs
                      4 tbsp sugar
 For serving:  4 tbsp desiccated coconut
                      2 handfuls of mixed berries (like blueberries or raspberries etc... the more the better!)
                      200ml double cream

1. Melt the chocolate and mix it with double cream.
2. Separate egg yolks from whites (reserve the whites in separate bowl). Add sugar to the egg yolks and whisk it until it becomes pale. Gradually add it to melted chocolate mixture.
3. Whisk the egg whites until it forms stiff peaks. Add it gradually into the chocolate mixture by folding and don't overwork it as it would let all the air out!
4. The mixture then is ready to split into 4-6 glasses (I used cups as I thought that looks really cute!). Cover them with cling film and place them into the fridge for at least two hours.
5. Decorate the deserts with whisked double cream, desiccated coconut and mixed berries.

The rest is up to you....

Broken oven??? :'-(

The past couple of weeks I have been a little bit upset as the oven in my house is broken... which means no baking :-(. But this did not stop me from eating deserts... You see, I have been experimenting with no-bake cheesecake, which I tried to fit into little cups. Why? because I think the smaller the cuter! So there you go my best version so far...

CUP-CHEESECAKE
(makes 12)

Ingredients:   200g (14) Bourbons (chocolate biscuits)
                      75g (1/3 cup) unsalted butter
                      200g (7oz) soft cheese (something like Philadelphia)
                      300ml (1¼ cup) sweetened condensed milk
                      250g (9oz) cream fraiche (soured cream) 
                      1tbsp lemon juice
                      10g (4 sheets) gelatine, soaked in cold water
                      36 raspberries (3 per cup) 
                      50g chocolate (optional)

1. Break up the Bourbons into food processor then crush them up. Stir in the butter. Use crumbs to line the base of 12 cupcake cases.

2. Blend the soft cheese with condensed milk and cream fraiche.
3. Heat the lemon juice in a pan. Squeeze water from the gelatine leaves and stir into the juice. Strain trough a sieve over the cheesecake mixture and continue mixing until well combined. Pour the filling into the 12 cups over the base.

4. Drop tree raspberries into each cup and place the whole cupcake pan into the fridge to set for approximately two hours.

 5. Meanwhile melt the chocolate and pour it into the piping bag. On the parchment paper pipe whatever shape you want to decorate your cup-cheesecakes (I tried to create little hearts, but it could be anything).

6. Place the tray with the chocolate decoration into the freezer for 15min and then they are ready for the job.
7. This is the end job to enjoy... yum!

    

What Pinterest told me to bake for the Easter?

I recently fell in love with Pinterest. They say this social website is going to be the next Facebook! I totally agree, however my friend disagree as she is a hardcore Facebook-er. But I bet when Pinterest becomes more popular she will convert. Anyway, the cool think about Pinterest is that is so visual as people "pin" their crafty decor ideas, fashion and of course deliciously looking bakes in picture form.... so when I was looking for Easter ideas, I "repinned" on my profile these speckled Easter eggs...

then these Easter eggs that have been dyed with natural dyes like beetroot juice, blueberries and orange peel (this reminds me of Lithuanian traditions when we dye our Easter eggs with onion peeling)....

and this egg-pot idea, which is not only for Easter...

These Cadbury cream cookie cups have been pinned by Katrina (http://www.inkatrinaskitchen.com/2012/03/cadbury-cream-cookie-cups.html) , but I edited the recipe slightly. I don't know about you, but I find the cadbury eggs a little bit sickly... however these cups taste heavenly....

I tried to make it as natural as I can so I used agave nectar in the cream. Accidentally I used agave nectar that have been flavored with honey. So my chocolate cookie have been flavored with honey which tasted yummm.... however I don't know if this is to everyone taste.

CADBURY CREAM COOKIE CUPS
(makes 12)

Ingredients: 125g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
                    125g (3/4 cup) light brown sugar
                    1 egg (beaten)
                    200g (1 3/4 cups) flour
                    1 tsp baking powder
                    1/2 tsp salt
                    2 tbsp coco powder
                    50g flaked chocolate bar (I used milk chocolate)
                    50g chopped nuts (I did it with coconut flakes since I had none in my cupboard)
                    (for the cream)
                    25g (6 tsp) unsalted butter
                    85g (1/4 cup) honey flavored agave nectar or runny honey
                    260g (2 cups) icing sugar
                    2 tbsp water
                    yellow food colouring                
1. Cream butter with soft brown sugar, then add egg and combine well.
2. Add flour, baking powder, salt, coco powder, chocolate and nuts and mix again.
3. Grease muffin pan with little butter and spoon cookie mixture into it and press it in so it creates a cup.
4. Bake for 10-13min until firm. Let cool for 15 min in the pan and remove them by gently twisting them with your fingers. Let cool completely.
5. In the bowl combine agave nectar and softened butter. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix until incorporated. Remove about 1/3 of cream and dye with yellow food colouring.
6. Pour white cream into the cookie cups. Finish off with small of yellow cream.

Happy Easter :)