Sweetened Condensed Milk Cupcakes

Look at them, aren't they just lovely? Kind of childish and girly. They remind me of a kids party with a lot of baked stuff, colorful jellies and many sweets. But no. No kids. And no party. It was just me and some friends having mokka with some sweetnened condensed milk cupcakes. Originally, the recipe that I was using was meant to be for a pound cake.  Fabulous but so easy. The batter was very soft but at the same time very fluffy and spongy and went excellent together with the rich and heavy frosting. I'm definitely going to use this recipe again, probably trying a simple sweetened condensed milk pound cake next time.

Sweetened Condensed Milk Cupcakes
makes about 10 regular size cupcakes
cupcake recipe (slightly changed) taken from J's Kitchen

cupcakes
100gm soft butter or margarine
40gm sugar
2 eggs
120gm flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
200gm (1/2 can) sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Line 10 regular size muffin moulds with paper cups or line a 20 x 20-cm cake pan with baking paper. In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat in. Add sweetened condensed milk and beat well until incorporated. In another bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt, sieve over wet mixture and beat in quickly just until everything is combined. Pour into prepared muffin cups or baking pan. Bake for about 20 - 25 minutes (or for about 40 minutes if you bake a cake) until nicely browned. Take out of the oven, remove from the pan and let cool completely.

frosting
250gm curd cheese or cream cheese
2 tsp corn starch
1/2 cup powdered sugar

In a large bowl beat together the ingredients for the frosting using a hand mixer on high speed until everything is well incorporated and the mixture is very fluffy. Frost the cupcakes.

Optional: Decorate with some jelly fruits if you want. Enjoy :)

Moist and Rich Lemon Sour Cream Cake

Let's just say: This cake is an excellent mixture between creamy and fruity. 

If you have been following the recipe posts on my blog (I know you have! right??!!) you have probably noticed that I don't care much about low-fat products. I've never enjoyed them and I rarely use them. Instead, I think that a healthy amount of fat in your food makes the meals even more delicious. So if it says in the recipe 'sour cream' definitely use real sour cream, if it says 'whipping cream 40%' use real whipping cream 40%, if it says 'butter' use real butter. Have you ever tried to make one dessert with low-fat buttermilk (1% fat) and another with usual heavy cream (50% - 60% fat) and then compared the taste of both with each other? Then you know, obviously, that you cannot make a nice dessert or a sweet cake without using fat. Impossible.

That's why this mouth-watering cake contains full-fat sour cream in the frosting and a looot of fresh vegetable oil in the cake layers. 

Bake it. 

Frost it. 

Decorate it. 

Enjoy a piece. 

And then another. 

Never worry about calories. 

If you have a really healthy lifestyle with a lot of exercising, you can enjoy as much baked stuff as you desire without falling sick or becoming overweight.

So here comes the recipe . . .

Lemon Sour Cream Cake

cake layers

3 eggs

zest of 2 large lemons 

16 Tabsp sugar

16 Tabsp vegetable oil

5 Tabsp cold water

16 Tabsp white flour

15gm baking powder

1 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 175C. Line the bottom of two regular round baking pans with baking paper. Beat the eggs, sugar and lemon zest using a hand mixer on high speed until very light and foamy. Add oil and water, beat in quickly. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and sieve it over the wet mixture. Beat in quickly just until incorporated. Fill in the two lined baking pans and bake for about 20 - 30 minutes until nicely golden. Remove from the pans and let cool completely.

lemon glaze

juice of 1 lemon, freshly squeezed

1 tsp sugar

Whisk together lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Brush the top of each cooled cake layer with the sweetened lemon juice. Let soak for a few minutes.

frosting

1000gm full-fat sour cream / crème fraîche

250gm white sugar

1 Tabsp corn starch

grated chocolate (optional)

Combine sour cream, sugar and corn starch in a large bowl and beat using a hand mixer on high speed until the mixture becomes very creamy and fluffy for about 2 - 3 minutes. Frost the two cake layers. (Sprinkle some grated chocolate on top, if desired.) Let cool and soak completely for a few hours or overnight. Enjoy :)

Wedding Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream Frosting

A few days ago my great-grandparents had their 65th wedding anniversary. Since this is a huge number of years and and amazing event, my whole big family was celebrating as if there was no tomorrow. Everyone in my family loves to talk loudly, to eat a lot, to sing out of tune and to hug each other like crazy. So, in short, I was having a great time. Not only because of my lovely family but also because of all our delicious traditional food. And I can say with pride that somewhere on the dessert table between about hundreds of other cakes, there were some beautiful little chocolate cupcakes with a pretty buttercream frosting made by me. And now they are requested and desired for every future celebration or family event. 
That's why you should definitely try them. The batter is extremely moist and soft while the buttercream is very fluffy and creamy. They're perfect for any special occasion. So here comes the recipe ...

Chocolate Cupcakes With Caramel Buttercream Frosting
(cupcake recipe taken from raspberricupcakes, I slightly changed the recipe)

cupcakes (makes about 12 medium size cupcakes)
95gm white flour
150gm sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tabsp unsweetened cocoa powder
6 Tabsp hot water
85gm melted butter
6 Tabsp buttermilk or low-fat yogurt
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line 12 muffin pans with muffin paper cups. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine cocoa powder and hot water and stir until the mixture is a thick paste. (According to Steph, this step intensifies the chocolate flavour of the cupcakes. I think it definitely works. The cupcakes had a very strong and delicious chocolaty taste. So don't skip this process.) Beat together the chocolate paste, butter, buttermilk and the egg. Sieve over the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. Fill the batter in the prepared muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes until done. Remove from the pan and let cool completely. 

buttercream
100gm butter, at room temperature
200gm cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups icing sugar
2 Tabsp caramel syrup (or use any other kind of syrup you like)
3 tsp corn starch

Beat together butter and cream cheese. Sieve over corn starch and beat in quickly. Sieve over the icing sugar and continue beating for about 2 minutes until very smooth and well incorporated. Add the syrup and mix. The mixture should be very thick but smooth. Frost the 12 completely cooled cupcakes. (Optional: I decorated the frosted cakes with some dark chocolate roses. Use whatever you wish.)
Enjoy :)

It's Chai Time ~ Moist Banana Cake

Honestly, this cake needs no introduction. Everything important is mentioned in the title. The cake is amazingly moist. And it contains some yummy bananas. If you have some ripe bananas to use up and if you are a cake lover, try it. It will make you happy :)

Moist Banana Cake

layers
3 eggs
16Tabsp sugar
16Tabsp oil
7 medium size bananas, mashed
16Tabsp white flour
15gm baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
a pinch of nutmeg
banana flavour (optional)

Preheat oven to 150C. Line 3 round baking pans with baking paper.
Beat the eggs and sugar using a hand mixer until very foamy and bubbly. Add mashed bananas and oil, beat in quickly. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Sieve over the wet mixture and beat again, just until incorporated. (Add banana flavour if desired.)
Fill the batter in the three prepared pans, place them in the oven and bake for about 30 - 35 minutes until done and nicely browned. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

frosting
150gm butter, at room temperature
250ml heavy cream
500gm curd cheese
1.5c icing sugar

Beat heavy cream until stiff. Add soft butter and curd cheese and beat until very smooth and well combined. Sieve over icing sugar and beat in. (Add more icing sugar if you want the frosting to be very sweet.)
Take the cooled cake layers out of the baking pans and frost the cake.

topping
80gm dark chocolate
50ml heavy cream
some sliced almonds for sprinkling

Melt the chocolate together with heavy cream until you have a very smooth and liquid mixture. Fill the melted chocolate mixture in a piping bag and decorate the cake (or just sprinkle the top of the cake with the melted chocolate if you want your cake to look a little bit messy.) Arrange the sliced almonds on the sides of the cake. Place the cake in the fridge for a few hours until it's completely cooled.
Enjoy :) 

Carrot Orange Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting

Well, I had some carrot left-overs. I love carrot cake. And I love cream cheese. So I combined those two yummy elements and and about one and a half hours later I had some lovely carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting sitting in my kitchen waiting for me to eat them all up.

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
makes about 12 medium size cupcakes

cupcakes
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
2 cups finely grated carrots
zest of 1 orange

Preheat oven to 150C. Line 12 muffin pans with muffin cups.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
Beat the eggs for about 1 minute. Add sugar and orange zest and continue beating until very light and foamy. Quickly beat in oil. Sieve over the dry ingredients and mix until you have a soft batter without any lumps. Fold in the grated carrots and mix well. Fill the batter into the prepared muffin cups and bake for about 25 - 30 minutes. Let cool completely.

frosting
112gm butter, at room temperature
250gm curd cheese (or cream cheese)
1 cup icing sugar

Beat butter and curd cheese using a hand mixer until incorporated. Sieve over the icing sugar and beat again. The frosting should be very smooth and thick. Fill into a piping bag and frost the cupcakes.
Optional: Use orange jelly and melted chocolate to decorate.
Enjoy :)

It's Chai Time ~ Rocher Chocolate Orange Cake

Although I don't like chocolate that much, especially filled chocolate, I was amazed by this cake. One of my best friends is kind of a chocolate addict and as she was having a really tough week filled with many exams this cake was a gift for her. It turned out great, she liked it very much. So if you have any chocolate or pralinés to use up you should try this recipe, you're going to love it!

Rocher Chocolate Orange Cake

Cake Layers
4 eggs
16 Tabsp sugar
16 Tabsp oil (sunflower or any other)
16 Tabsp white flour
15gm baking powder
zest of 2 ver large oranges

Preheat oven to 150C. Line 2 round baking pans with baking paper. Do not grease the sides.
Beat the eggs with sugar and orange zest until very foamy and light. Add oil and beat in quickly. Combine flour and baking powder and sieve over. Beat in until well incorporated.
Fill into the 2 prepared baking pans and smooth the top. Bake for about 20 - 30 minutes until done and nicely browned. Let cool completely.

Frosting
500ml heavy cream
500gm curd cheese (I used low fat)
200gm dark chocolate, grated
4 Tabsp cocoa powder
1 cup white sugar

Whip the cream to soft peaks. Add rest and beat in until smooth. Frost the two completely cooled cake layers.

Topping
50gm melted chocolate
16 Rocher pralinés

Decorate the top of the cake with melted chocolate as desired. Arrange the Rocher pralinés on top. You can also sprinkle the top of the cake with crushed chocolate bars or any other kind of filled chocolate.
Enjoy :)

Gateau Aux Crêpes

 

Crêpes for breakfast are delicious. A lot of crêpes with cream spread in between are even more delicious. But a lot of crêpes with cream and a topping of raspberries and a dark chocolate ganache are unbeatable. 
You can create so many different breakfast meals or desserts with a simple egg batter fried in a pan, no matter if you prefer the French, the American, the Russian or the Jewish version of pancakes. This is one of them:

Gateau aux Crêpes

Crêpes
1l milk
560gm white flour
salt
6 Tabsp sugar
5 eggs
zest of 1 lemon

Whisk eggs with half of the milk and the lemon zest. Sieve over flour, salt, sugar and whisk in quickly until well incorporated and very smooth. Pour in the remaining milk and whisk well until there are no lumps. The batter should be very liquid and smooth.
Let sit for about 1 h.
Heat some vegetable oil in a medium size pan and fry about 20 crêpes on both sides until golden brown.
Let cool completely.

Frosting
500ml whipping cream
500gm curd cheese
100gm sugar

Combine the ingredients for the frosting in a large bowl and beat using a hand mixer until very smooth.
Place one crêpe on a large plate and spread some frosting on top. Arrange another crêpe on top and frost again. Continue until crêpes and frosting are used up completely (or eat the rest...). Do not frost the sides.
Put the cake in the fridge and let cool.

Topping
100gm very dark chocolate, in pieces
100ml whipping cream
some raspberries (as much as desired)
grated white chocolate (as much as desired)

Place chocolate and cream in a small sauce pan and melt it on medium heat while continously stiring. Remove from heat as soon as the mixture is completely melted.
Sprinkle the top of the cake with the chocolate ganache (or use a piping bag if you want an even pattern). Arrange the raspberries on top of the cake and sprinkle with grated white chocolate.
Enjoy :) 

It's Chai Time ~ Lemon Honey Cupcakes

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? So let's not waste time with words, just take a look at some more pictures...

Lemon Honey Cupcakes

batter
2.5 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup melted honey (or warmed liquid honey)
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 175C. Line an 18 muffin baking pan with muffin cups. Beat eggs and sugar until very fluffy and bubbly. Quickly beat in lemon zest and melted butter. Sieve over flour, baking powder and salt and beat in just until incorporated and without lumps. Fill into 18 muffin cups and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes.

Remove from pan and let cool completely.

frosting + topping
1 can (250gm) Morfat vegetable cream (contains skimmed milk, vegetable oils and emulsifiers) or use anything similar
200gm sweetened condensed milk
a pinch of salt
some candied lemon jellies, if desired

Beat vegetable cream for about 4 minutes using a mixer on high speed until light and fluffy. Slowly add in salt and condensed milk beating continously until well combined. Place in fridge for about 2 hours. Frost the completely cooled cupcakes as desired and place a lemon jelly on top of each cupcake. 

Enjoy :)

Honey Layer Cake

Some weeks ago, my grandpa brought me a huge jar of liquid honey that he got somewhere. The first thing that my mom said was "Please bake a honey layer cake! I want one!" I admit that my first thought about so much honey was the same. If you try this cake you will understand why. It has the incredible ability to take away all bad moods and rainy days within the first two seconds of chewing. No person on this planet has the strenght to refuse to eat a second piece of this cake. Or even a third one, in some cases...

And though I was using a lot of honey there's still so much left, fortunately. I keep looking for another delicious honey cake recipe checking out some baking blogs. So, there's definitely going to be another honey cake post soon. Wait for it!

Honey Layer Cake

layers
4 eggs
300gm sugar
a pinch of salt
8 Tabsp liquid honey
3 tsp baking powder
200gm melted butter or margarine
24 Tabsp white flour

Prepare the batter for the 4 layers. Preheat oven to 175C. Line 4 round baking pans with baking paper. (Or use 2 pans and bake the layers in 2 steps, preparing 2 layers each time.)
Beat eggs, sugar and salt on high speed using a mixer until very light and bubbly, for about 4 minutes.
Quickly beat in the melted butter or margarine until incorporated.
Combine honey and baking powder in a saucepan on medium heat while continously stiring. The baking powder lumps should disappear and the honey should become very watery. Keep stiring until the mixture starts to rise and becomes very bubbly. As soon as it has doubled in amount, remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.
Then pour the honey mixture into the egg-butter-mixture and beat in just until well combined. 
Sieve over white flour and beat in as well. The batter should be really smooth and soft without any lumps.
Pour into prepared pans and bake for about 25 - 30 minutes until done. Let cool completely.

frosting
500gm curd cheese (I was using low-fat)
400gm сметана or sour cream
4 - 5 tsp powdered sugar (depending on how sweet you want your frosting to be)

Prepare the frosting. Combine the ingredients for the frosting and beat well until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is smooth and fluffy. 
Take the cooled honey layers and frost until the complete frosting mixture is used up.

topping
50gm dark chocolate
3 tsp whipping cream
about 50gm sliced and toasted almonds

Prepare the ganache. Melt chocolate and cream in a small saucepan while stiring. Remove from heat when the chocolate has melted completely.
Pour the ganache mixture into an icing bag and decorate the top of the frosted cake as desired. 
Sprinkle sliced almonds onto the sides of the frosted cake.
Enjoy :) 

It's Chai Time ~ Vanilla Cherry Cupcakes

Well, I made these cupcakes some months ago but still, I'd like to post some pictures and the recipe since they were pretty and very delicious. There's just something amazing about a soft, fruity batter combined with a milky, creamy frosting. So if you have no idea what to have with a nice cup of tea today, try them!

Vanilla Cherry Cupcakes
makes about 18 medium size cupcakes

batter
1.5c white flour
2 tsp baking powder
150gm butter or margarine, softened
1/2c (homemade) vanilla sugar
1/2c white sugar
2 eggs
about 1.5c fresh cherries, cut in small pieces

frosting
200gm сметана / sour cream / soft cream cheese
100 - 200gm yogurt (it depends on how much frosting you want to have on your cupcakes)
4 tsp vanilla sugar

Preheat oven to 150-170C. 

Prepare the frosting: Beat together all ingredients for the frosting using a mixer until well combined and fluffy. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and keep in fridge while baking the cupcakes.

Prepare the batter: Line about 18 muffin cups with cupcake baking cases.

Whisk together flour and baking powder.

Beat butter, sugar and eggs using a mixer on high speed until light and creamy. Sieve over flour mixture and quickly beat in, just until incorporated. Do not over beat.

Fold in the cherries. 

Fill batter into prepared muffin cups and bake for about 30 minutes until done and nicely browned. Let cool completely.

Take the cooled frosting out of the fridge and frost the cupcakes as desired.

Decorate with anything pretty, such as cherries, grated chocolate or chocolate beans.

Keep in fridge. 

It's Chai Time ~ Raspberry Lemon Cake

This was the first time ever for me to bake this type of cake. It was for my aunt's and my uncle's 20th wedding anniversary and I wanted to bake something special. Since my aunt is totally in love with berries I decided to use raspberries. The lemon flavour was my own desire, as I'm crazy about citrus fruits. Raspberries and lemons go so well together. I'm so glad everyone liked it. Hopefully, you try this recipe and like it, too.

  

Raspberry Lemon Cake

about 2 cups of raspberries, drained (or use more, if desired)

Batter

2 cups white flour
2 teasp baking powder
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
zest of (at least) 1 lemon
1 cup oil

Preheat oven to 175C. Line 2 round pans with baking paper. Do not grease the sides. 
Combine flour and baking powder. Beat eggs until fluffy, then add sugar and beat in for about 2 minutes until you have an extremely light and bubbly mixture. 
Beat in oil and lemon zest. 
Sieve over flour mixture and quickly beat in just until incorporated.
Pour into 2 prepared pans and bake for about 20 minutes until done. Let cool completely.


Frosting

200gm сметанa (or sour cream, about 25% fat)
1/2 cup yogurt (not low fat)
about 2 Tabsp sugar

Beat together sour cream, yogurt and sugar until incorporated. Set aside.


Topping / Glaze

juice of 1 lemon
130ml water
1 teasp corn starch
(red food coloring, if desired)
+ some almonds for sprinkling

Put lemon juice, water, corn starch (and food coloring) into a medium-size sauce pan and bring to a boil while continiously whisking to avoid lumps. As the mixture starts to become thicker, remove from heat and let cool for about 1 minute.


Take the first layer and place it onto a plate.
Spread half of the frosting mixture on the first layer.
Place half of drained raspberries on the frosting while gently pressing them in.
Cover with second layer.
Place the remaining raspberries equally onto the second layer (For this step I used the pretty raspberries while I put the not-so-pretty berries between the layers, as mentioned before.)
Take the lightly cooled glaze, pour over the top of the raspberries and spread all over.
Now frost the sides of the cake using the rest of the frosting mixture. 
Sprinkle almonds on top. Let sit for about 3 hours.
And enjoy.

My aunt's delicious Raspberry White Chocolate Tiramisu

And of course her amazing Honey Cake. That cake can really make my day.

Gulchathaii

Raspberry Yogurt Cake

 The moment I first saw these cake pictures on wendy's blog, I wanted to try the recipe so bad! Last week I finally had the opportunity to do so and it turned out soo delicious! Now this recipe belongs to my favorite ones. 
I admit that I changed it a bit but I had to because I didn't have all the ingredients at home. But you definitely have to try this, no matter what. The mix of raspberries and yogurt (or originally cream cheese) is amazing and absolutely worth trying!

Raspberry Yogurt Cake

cream cheese mixture
200gm greek yogurt (at least 10% fat)
2 Tabsp sugar

batter
120gm soft margarine
100gm sugar
3 eggs
150gm white flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
+ about 200gm raspberries (I was using more)

Preheat oven to 175degC. Line a round pan with baking paper. Sieve together flour and baking powder. Beat yogurt and sugar together. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy and add eggs one at a time. Beat in well after each addition. Sieve over flour mixture and beat in just until incorporated.
Put half of batter into the lined pan and spread it around well. Put half of yogurt mixture on top of batter using a teaspoon. Do not spread around. Arrange half of the berries on top of that and gently press them in.
Put the remaining batter on the fruits using a teaspoon, add remaining yogurt on top and arrange remaining berries while pressing them in. 
Bake for about 35 - 40 minutes until done and nicely browned. Let cool completely and enjoy :)

Gulchathaii  

Alina's beautiful version of this cake (Patisserie Maison)