Absence...

I can't believe my last post was over a month ago!!! what is wrong with me?!
I guess I can catch you up in all my culinary adventures ;)

It seems cake design has become sort of a trend in Portugal... everyone wants a decorated cake to celebrate special occasions. So I've been having quite a few cake orders.

One of my cousins turned 18 this year and in Portugal that is the birthday you go all out and do big celebrations. So I was asked to do her cake:) Of course I went all out and created the best cake ever!!

I put together a few elements I was told she liked... eh voilá!!!

A Mini Cooper with destination Rome!!! It turned out so good! It took me a long time to do this cake, it required a lot of measuring and precision.

For the cake I made a simple orange butter cake with an orange buttercream. On top, I covered the cake with fondant, lots of it! I buy all my fondant already dyed, it works out cheaper and less time consuming.

Back for good ;)

My apologies for not posting on the blog for so long!!!

Things have been crazy in my life and I have let myself get sucked into all the turbulence around me. As a result, in some ways I have shut down, so I stop sharing with the world and keep my thoughts to myself.

But I am back and ready to let you know of all my baking adventures :)
I want to create a new trend... something cute and delicious. Well it's not new but not very popular here... mini cupcakes!!!!!

They are such a good alternative to a regular size cupcake. Bite size cupcakes makes it easier (and less awkward) to eat at parties, the kids love it(no need to take loads of bites to finish it) and if you are on a diet you can have one and not feel as guilty!

They look so adorable!! And you can make your favourite cupcake this size and keep all its flavour :) Bare in mind that the cupcake size is smaller and requires less time in the oven so it doesn't dry out.

It's time to Party!!!!

How was your weekend? Mine was Awesome!!!

So I overcame my cake dilemma... it took me a while to come up with the perfect cake! But after a lot of searching I finally made my decision (I take forever to make a decision... I always over think things) and found the cutest cake! Following a picture I found online, I adapted the cake and made it mine:)

And here is my beautiful cake...

Tea for one?! I love love love it!!!
When I started considering doing this cake a few issues came up. One of which was related to humidity... the weather here in Porto was terrible and we had way too much rain. As a result my house was very humid which makes it very hard, well nearly impossible, for the fondant to dry. But I really wanted this to be my cake so I tried all the tricks in the book to make it work.

To all the fondant pieces that required to be fully dry to hold I added powdered CMC and placed wire inside them to keep them stuck to the cake. I then ensured I had the heating on in my bedroom to dry the air and left them in there to see if they dried quicker. Luckily the weather changed completely and the cake came out a success!

I also had to change the cake batter from carrot cake to a vanilla and chocolate chip cake because I was afraid the lightness of the carrot cake wouldn't hold the teapot structure and height. And to make it my own I had to go for Polka dots ;) It looked amazing and I was very proud of how it turned out!

And you know your cake is good when your friend walks in and asks 'show me the cake! I'm very curious to see what you made!' and you reply 'you just walked past the cake... it's in the middle of the table!' hehehe

I had an amazing party surrounded by friends and family. A truly amazing Birthday! Thank you!!!!! 

It's my party...

Another Valentine's day gone by... How was your day?

Mine was spent working and then I had a wonderful dinner with amazing people:) We had so much fun !!

This year I had less orders for Love day, but it was good because I got a chance to focus more on those orders and create some gorgeous and delicious cupcakes.

And look at what I created...

A cute couple in love having a cuddle :D

It turned out to be so easy and quick to make! And definitely worth making just for the expressions on people's faces when they saw the cupcake.

Now that love day is over I have to focus my attentions on a very special cake... Mine!!!! but unbelievably I have no ideas for my OWN cake!! How is that possible?!

Well lets just hope I get a burst of inspiration in time for my party!!!

Love is in the air...

And it's February... can you feel the love floating around?! Valentine's Day is just around the corner. 

Although I am not a big fan of the day, I do enjoy being busy and preparing yummy creations for others to enjoy and celebrate the day. It does feel nice to be surrounded by red, pink and hearts, but to be honest I'm not the most romantic person in the world!!! 

So today I spent the day in the kitchen creating some delicious goodies for others to share :D 

After the success of the chocolate lollipops I made for Christmas, I decided to make some for Valentine's. 

 

Some of these were made with raspberry flavoured dark chocolate, which turned out really good and others were made with dark chocolate and candy melts. They look really good!! and I hope they taste amazing :) 

Give them a try! they are so easy and fun to make. Kids will love to help make them and will definitely enjoy eating the end result. You can also use candy melts to add detail to them. I used a mix of candy melts, marshmallows and other type of candy. 

It's raining it's pouring...

The weather in Portugal has been terrible!!! we had a big storm over the weekend (lots of trees fell and many things were damaged) and it was not fun having to move around to get to work!

Although it seemed like it was going to get better, it hasn't... still a lot of rain and wind to mess up my new hair do :P

But you have to look on the positive side of things, always. So this weather always makes me think of cozy fireplaces, watching TV all day and the best part... HOT CHOCOLATE! when it's done properly it is so smooth, dense and delicious. To me the gooeyness of the drink is what makes it so appealing. Also I prefer the dark chocolate ones but through my research I've seen there is a recipe for every taste.

If you live in Porto and can't be bothered to make your own you should definitely try a hot chocolate from Casa Grande Chocolatier in Matosinhos (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pot-Bar/257946557552552?fref=ts#!/CGmatosinhos?fref=ts). It is delicious and the fact that the shop is covered in chocolate, leaving that wonderful cocoa aroma in the air, is an added bonus!

If you are feeling adventurous, and don't feel like venturing the inclement weather, why not try to make it yourself? Jamie Oliver says he as an 'Epic hot chocolate'(jamieoliver.com). With that name i would be up for trying it.

Here is his recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 pints semi-skimmed milk

• For the epic hot chocolate mix

• 2 tablespoons Horlicks
• 2 tablespoons cornflour
• 3 tablespoons icing sugar
• 4 tablespoons quality organic cocoa
• 100 g good-quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), finely grated
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch sea salt

Method

Pour the milk into a large pan, and bring almost to the boil over a medium heat.

Meanwhile, add all the chocolate mix ingredients to a large jar and give it a good shake to combine. You need around 10 heaped tablespoons of the chocolate mix for this amount of milk. Simply spoon the chocolate mix into the hot milk, give it a good whisk and leave to bubble away for a few minutes before serving. You're looking for that gorgeous, thick, almost claggy, knockout texture.

You can also find a variety of recipes on Martha Stewart's wonderful site :

http://www.marthastewart.com/874616/hot-chocolate-recipes/@center/874882/chocolate-recipes  

There is a recipe on here that caught my eye... Peppermint Hot chocolate... yummy

 source: www.marthastewart.com

Happy New Year!!!!!

I think I'm still in time to wish you all a Happy 2013!!! may the best of 2012 be the worst of 2013!

My apologies for such a big break on my posts but all the xmas work and preparation wore me off!! I hope you partied your to 2013 and that you made New Year resolutions. I made one... the only one I feel I need to follow and accomplish... To start taking risks again. Since I broke my arm I became afraid to take risks and to follow my dreams. So with all that has been going on with my life I need to change and fight for what I want!

So I will definitely keep baking and making sweet goodies for all :D

To help me grow as a baker I have started doing a cross-training in the bakery of the hotel I work for and I have been having fun and learning a lot. It's interesting to see how different professional baking is from home baking. The things you have to consider from taste, presentation and most of all how to make it easy to assemble the dessert before service. It's so different from baking a cake at home!

Well I hope I learn lots of new things so that I can apply it to my home baking.

This week I saw a photo from a good friend of mine (on facebook), who is also a home baker, and I can tell you I was very very jealous of her!!!! She has received and gorgeous pink... very pink KitchenAid!!!! one day... one day :P

source: www.google.com

And now I ask... KitchenAid or Kenwood?!