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.
It is crazy how time flies. In my last year at school, my life looks like this: school, sleep, work, sleep, school, sleep, learn, sleep… And before you can get prepared for it, it is already december. I am so tired of this amount of things I must do. And very sorry for missing the posting days. But still, I have some great soul food for you right here.
Bananas and chocolate are known for their ability to make people happy, especially in combination.
I found this recipe about 2 years ago and loved it ever since. It is from a German Chefkoch user, which explains why it contains quite a lot baking powder and few sugar. But trust me, you won’t miss any sweetness (especially if you put a chocolate glaze on top). I threw in some nutella and baked the originally one-dish recipe in muffin molds, which made exactly 12 cute buddies.
They make a perfect snack if you have lots to learn, as they strenghten both your nerves and your concentration.
Banana Choc Muffins
125 g butter or margarine
130 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt
2 eggs
200 g flour
1 pck. instand vanilla pudding powder
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. milk
3 tbsp ground hazelnuts
2 ripe bananas, cut into small cubes
2 tbsp nutella
100 g semi-sweet chocolate
Preteat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Line a muffin pan with paper molds.
Stir together the butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, eggs, flour, pudding powder, nutella and baking powder until the mass is smooth.
Stir in the nuts, milk and banana with a spoon.
Fill the muffin molds up to 3/4 and bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpicker comes out clean. Let them babies cool.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave or over a water bath and pour over the muffins.
Serve and enjoy.
I’m sitting right here with a warm tea by my side. I’m freezing. It is so freaking cold here in Europe. My brother and I have a cold and in the middle of our sneezing session, we decided we needed a shortbread cake.
I have already showed you the family recipe à la Mama . THis one here is the Easter version of it. Prepared in a round pan and without Nutelly in the whipping cream. Tasted just as good.
I am very proud of this nest which is made of edible Easter grass and marzipan eggs breeded by a chocolate hen. I bet her chicken will be chocolate covered marzipan! :D Hope you have nice holidays, despite the temperatures. xoxo
Bulgarian Shortbread Cake
(makes about 10 pieces)
400 g (14 oz) shortbread
1 l (4 cups + 4 tbsp) milk
2 pck. Chocolate pudding powder
6 tbsp. sugar
500 ml (2 cups) heavy cream
sprinkles, decoration (optional)
Place one layer of cookies in a round cake pan. (Everything about 10“ is okay.)
Prepare the pudding as written on the package with the milk and sugar. Pour a part of the hot pudding on the cookies, which is enough to cover them and smooth it down. Place another layer of cookies on top of the pudding. Put one more layer of pudding on top. Continue like this, until you have no more pudding, the last layer must not be cookies.
Let the cake cool completely. Prepare the topping in the meanwhile.
Beat the heavy cream with a mixer until it is stiff. When the cake is cooled, place the cream on top and smooth down. Decorate as you like. Let the cake chill for at least one hour in the fridge.
Serve and enjoy :)