I’m not dead.
I’m not dead, but my eating habits sort of are. You know, I’m having a tough time right now, not eating regularly, because I am a slave of my stupid eating-disordered brain.
I had this diet week in February which was Detox, and somehow it made my body gain weight, although I ate less than what the diet plan told me and from that point on I have gained and lost weight and definitely lost my mind on food. But I still love baking – combining flavours, mixing ingredients together and decorating sweets makes me really really happy. But you must excuse that I cannot bake so often – I kind of lost my appetite – craving food is something uncommon for me these days.
Still, I bake for special occasions and I enjoy every second of it, for example these cute mini cupcakes I made to garnish a friend’s present with some sweet delight.
Their name sounds like a tongue twister if you say it out loud and if you repeat it quite a few times, it will blow your mind, just like their taste. Putting kitkat pieces in brownie batter was definitely not my worst idea.
To top the whole thing and underline the hazelnut taste in the candy bar, I put some whipped cream with nutella on top. The Kit-kat piece stuck in the cupcake is just one ore feature to make the delight more intense. So if you have a good friend whose birthday is near or if you just crave something both creamy and chocolatey, you might very well consider this recipe.
Kit-kat Cupcakes
(makes about 30 cupcakes)
225 g (2 sticks) butter
300 g (1 1/3 cup) sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
85 g (3/4 cup) dark cocoa powder
120 g (1 cup) flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
8 mini Kit-kat bars
Topping:
250 ml heavy cream
2 heaped tbsp nutella or any other nougat cream
5 mini Kit-kat bars
Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Cut the Kit-kat bars into chunks and set them aside.
Melt the butter in a microwave. Combine with sugar. Add the eggs one at a time and stir in vanilla. Sift together all dry ingredients and stir them in. At the end, put in the Kit-kat chunks. Line a muffin mold with cups and fill with dough up to 2/3. After about 18 minutes you will have cute mini cupcakes waiting for decoration. Let them babies cool properly.
Beat the heavy cream until stiff and finally stir in the nutella. Place about 1 tsp of topping on each mini cupcake.
Now cut each Kit-kat single bar into half and stick the halves inside the cupcakes, so they stand upright.
Et voilà, adorable sweetness.
I am so glad my bf got me a gorgeous ice cream maker for Christmas, because I adore ice cream.
I love frozen yoghurt.
I love sorbet.
I love soft ice cream.
Ice cream in a cone.
In a bowl.
A big melba.
Just every kind of ice cream (except mint).
It feels just right to make my own one with the machine and it is pretty easy, if you ask me.
You can just toss the ingredients together an freeze them or make a deluxe version with egg yolks (this is the kind that takes more time – but believe me that it is absolutely worth the stress).
This recipe is based on the basic ice cream recipe that I found in the gadget’s manual. It worked pretty good, I just added the molten chocolate toffee to the mass.
Chocolate Toffee Ice Cream
(makes about 750 ml/3 cups)
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp corn starch
100 g (1/2 cup – 1 tbsp) sugar
250 g (8 oz.) chocolate toffee
350 ml (1 2/3 cup) milk
150 ml (2/3 cup) heavy cream
Prepare your ice cream maker. I had to put my bowl in the freezer for 24 hours before I could get started. Be sue sou have this prepared.
Place the egg yolks, corn starch and sugar in a bowl. Whisk by hand or with a mixer until the mass thickens and turns pale (abour 90 seconds) .
Melt the unwrapped chocolate toffee in the microwave, heating it for no more than 30 seconds at a time. Stir before you place the bowl in the microwave for another 30 s. Set the dish aside.
Combine the milk and cream in a medium saucepan and heat until the liquid starts to boil. Remove from heat. Start stirring the egg yolk mass and gently incorporate the hot dairy mixture.
When you have poured in all the milk and cream, add the molten toffee and let it dissolve.
Now pour the mass back into the saucepan and heat one more time while stirring, until the mixture thickens a bit (it should not boil).
Let it cool on the counter and then place it in the fridge for at least 12 hours. (You may not put hot ingredients in the mixing bowl of the ice cream machine.)
Now turn on the mmachine and slowly pour in the prepared ice cream mixture. You should get a nice portion of chocolatey, creamy goodness.
Hey guys, it has been a few busy days around here. Because of my exhibition, which is coming soon, it is auite hard to document my baking… :/
In these days full of [mental] action, I have been craving especially one thing: NUTELLA. The good thing about this stuff is its flexibility. Put it anywhere and it will be a hit (we are talking about sweets right here, remember). And if you want to share a chocolaty melty dessert with someone you like or you are alone and hungry or frustrated or both, I have an idea for you. Only with a few ingredients you can make one or two persons happy. And don’t feel guilty if one of these is you.
All you have to do is bake this tiny cake in a 10 cm (4´´) round pan, slice up some strawberries and whip up cream.
Then put nutella (as much as you like) onto the warm cake layer. Then place the strawberry slices on top.
Put on some cream. More strawberries.
2nd cake layer on top,some more cream, decoration, done. Takes all in all about 15 minutes and will make you happy for much longer.
Happiness Cake
makes about 2 servings (depending on your apetite :D)
60 g butter (1/2 stick)
50 g sugar (1/6 cup)
1 egg
75 g all purpose flour (2/3 cup)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
Whisk together the flour baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside. Preheat oven to 180° C (350° F).
Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. Add the egg and stir until fully and incorporated. Now add the dry ingredients and stir until the dough is smooth.
Transfer the mixture into an oiled pan and bake about 12 minutes or until a toothpicker comes out clean.
Cut the cake into two layery and put nutella on the hot bottom. Let it cool a little, then go on with strawberries and cream.
Then: dig in.