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.
Do you love oreos? Well, pretty much everyone does. And so does my cousin. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he only said this word: oreo.
It was not difficult to figure out what would make him happy, so I did some research in my archive and looked for recipes with the yummy cookies. As I am quite indecesive, I could not help but combine my favourites in one cake. One cake full of oreos. An oreo excess cake.
I loved the way it turned out and so did the kids/teenagers – it is tricky to find the right word for this age. The fluffy cupcake dough with oreo pieces, the oreo truffle mass and the vanilla cream on top… Do I have to convince you any more? Stop dreaming, get inside your kitchen and bake it yourself.
Oreo Excess Cake:
cake layers
10 oreo cookies
300 g (2 ½ cups) flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
200 g (1 cup – 2 tbsp.) sugar
100 g (3 ½ oz) butter at room temperature
2 pck. vanilla sugar or 2 tsp. Vanilla extract
3 eggs, room temperature
160 ml (2/3 cup) milk
100 ml (1/2 cup) milk, for soaking
truffle layer:
16 oreo cookies
150 g (5 oz.) cream cheese
cream layer:
250 ml (1 cup) heavy cream
250 ml (1 cup) vanilla heavy cream (e.g. Rama)
Put the oreos in a freezer bag and crumble them with a rolling pin. Set aside until needed. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside. In a bigger bowl, combine the butter, sugar and vanilla. Cream until the muxture becomes lighter and fluffy. Add one egg at a time and stir until it is fully incorporated. Now add the milk and the dry ingredients by turns while stirring in between so the dough stays smooth. Finally add the shredded oreos. Stir just to combine.
Oil a round pan (26 cm/10´´ diameter) and pour the mass inside. Bake until a toothpicker comes out clean when stuck inside the center of the cake, for about 20 minutes. Let the cake cool.
Crumble the oreos in a freezer bag. Combine them with the cream cheese until the mass is smooth.
Cut the cake into two layers and soak the bottom with 50 ml (1/4 cup) of milk. Place the truffle mass on it. Now place the second layer on top with the muffintop down and the soft side up – do you know what I mean? Now soak this with the rest of the milk.
Combine both kinds of cream and beat the liquid until stiff. Cover the sides of the cake with a thin layer and then place a thick layer on top of the cake.
Decorate. Let the cake sit for a few hours in the fridge to set, then serve cool.
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.