Birthday & Photoshoot

So, last Friday was my birthday. I’m now officially 27 years old. I don’t feel very old though.. But I guess that will come crashing down on me eventually. Until then I’m going to be as weird and childish as I possibly can ^^

Anyway, it was a very nice birthday 🙂 I spent it with my family and we had a very nice dinner together. On Sunday the rest of them showed up to celebrate me and to give me all my presents ^^ I’m such a girl when it comes to presents, and I can never act my age 😛

I got some very nice things though so I can’t complain. My honey, Mashiara, gave me an experience – to go and blow glass 🙂 I love glass and glassblowing is a process that’s always fascinated me so it will be fun to see how it’s all done. I also got some new books – classics, Terry Pratchett and cookbooks – cake decorating kit from my sister, gift card for a pair of red leather gloves, a new apron, a gift card for afternoon tea, lots of money and tickets to go see the Swedish production of Sweeney Todd 😀

Happy girl is happy ^^

Tomorrow is my last shoot before I bury myself completely in my studies and I’m really looking forward to it. It seems we’re going to have some nice weather too, will be nice not to freeze while dressed in latex.

Anyways, I’ll end this post by showing you one of the things that I bakes for my birthday: white chocolate miniature cupcakes with a failed lemon curd frosting and a raspberry on top ❤

Easter Cupcakes

Sometimes, when I’m not studying or stand in front of a camera, I get creative in the kitchen. I’ve always loved to cook and bake and after I got diagnosed as gluten intolerant, I’ve been experimenting a little more with new recipes. I also want to eat tasty cakes, cookies and other sweet things, and if I make them myself I know what’s in them 🙂

We had some marzipan chickens left after me and my mother made an Easter cheesecake so I decided to put them to good use. The result: Easter cupcakes ^^

I used the same meringue based cupcake recipe that I always use, but this time something went wrong. Either I overbeat the egg whites or the oven was too hot, or all of the above, but instead of looking all puffed up and beautiful, the cupcakes acted like failed soufflés and collapsed. I’m a perfectionist so I hate it when that happens >_<

Luckily I had lots of frosting to cover up the mess 😛

The cupcakes themselves are flavoured with lemon and coconut (one of my favourites), and they’re covered with white chocolate frosting coloured green, fancy sprinkles and a few marzipan chicken ^^ And boy, were they delicious ❤

Saffron Cupcakes Recipe

I spent this morning baking a batch of saffron cupcakes to be used as a Christmas Dessert on Monday (here in Sweden we celebrate Christmas on the 24th). After I posted a photo of them on my Facebook Page, several people have been poking me for the recipe.

So I thought I’d be nice and share it ^^ The recipe says it will make 12 muffins/cupcakes, but I always get more out of it ^^

What You Need:

150 grams butter
200 gram of white chocolate, in chunks
0,5 grams saffron
5 eggs, separated
125 grams caster sugar
150 gram ground almonds

What You Do:

1) Turn the oven to 175 °C and line a muffin tray with paper cupcake liners.

2) Put butter & chocolate in a small saucepan and melt on a low heat, make sure to stir every so often. When it’s all melted, take it off the heat, add the saffron and allow to cool slightly. Once it’s cooled, add the egg yolks and 93 grams of the caster sugar and stir until it’s all combined. Note: since it’s white chocolate, the mixture will split! But don’t worry, it will all come together once we stir the sugar and egg yolks in 🙂

3) Whisk the egg whites in a dry & clean bowl until they form soft peaks. Add the remaining 31 grams of caster sugar gradually while you keep whisking. This will form a fluffy meringue. With a metal spoon, fold in the chocolate mixture and the ground almonds. When it’s all folded in, fill up the cupcake liners to about 75 %.

4) Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the cupcakes have risen and look golden, if you test with a stick it should be dry. Take out the cupcakes and let them cool in the tray for a little while before transferring them onto a rack.

5) Decorate with frosting and decorations of your choice and enjoy!

Dont worry if the cupcakes sink a little in the middle when they cool down, I think it forms a nice little well for the frosting ^^