A new yummy flavour

I'm back! Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts and wishes for my Dad. The operation went very well and he is recovering very nicely. He stayed in hospital for two and a half days and then I spent a day getting groceries and then the next day I cooked food from morning until night to fill up the refrigerator and freezer so they don't have to think about cooking for a week or so! I haven't been on my feet in the kitchen for so many hours since I baked 700 cupcakes for my Brother-in-law's wedding!

Anyway, the doctors say some sea swimming will help him build up his strength but he has to let 12 weeks pass from the date of the operation, so hopefully they will get to come for some swimming before the summer is over.

Here is a new yummy flavour I experimented with before I left. They were delicious. I'm not going to reveal all my ideas for flavours but if you look closely you can probably tell!


I'd have liked the flavour in the cake to be a little bit stronger, but the frosting was very good!


Liz Cupcakes

Mint choc chip

We're back in Nafplio! We had a really great time! I didn't realise how much I needed that break but I really did! Even though the weather forecast was not looking good when we left and it was really really cold when we arrived in the evening, it picked up and was sunny nearly every day!

Just before we left, the orange groves were starting to bud and the difference two weeks makes is amazing. They are in full bloom! As we were driving home along the last stretch of road towards Nafplio yesterday in the late afternoon we were suddenly engulfed in the delicious scent! We have a grove opposite our house and it's like living in a perfume bottle.


The garden has also gone wild! I'll have to try and tidy it up a little and let you see. I have managed to get a few little things going and it's time to get sowing some more things!

So, now we're back and I really should be unpacking, so the natural thing for me to do was to whip up a new flavour for you to try. One of my favourite flavour combinations is mint and chocolate. It's a popular flavour in the UK but not so often found here in Greece.


This is a Mint Chocolate Chip cupcake. Chocolate chip cake topped with mint infused white chocolate ganache on top and a minty chocolate to crown it off. This one is definitely not sugar-free. It's not fat free either. Or gluten free. It's for pure indulgence. A treat. A one-off. If you can resist the rest.


In other news...I may or may not have done some shopping in the UK and I may or may not have found one or two cute little things to give-away. But we will get to that in another post since I haven't unpacked yet :)

Liz

Behold...the hummingbird!

We're still on our little vacation in the UK, visiting Grandad and Granny cupcakes. Wish you were here. Well, not really! The weather has been very good so far with only two days of rain and it's forecast to be sunny for the rest of our stay so I won't be spending much time in the kitchen!





Here's a little something to keep you going until we get back. This is a hummingbird cupcake (you'll have to excuse the light in these pictures ― they were taken on one of the rainy days). Depending on the recipe you use, hummingbird cupcakes have banana, pineapple, sometimes carrot and coconut inside. The frosting is usually cream cheese. So what's so special about this hummingbird?


Well... (blowing trumpet ahead of me) this is my first attempt at a sugar free cupcake. Yes, sugar free!

What's the point of a sugar free cupcake, you might ask. Well there is a lot of point if you happen to be a diabetic. It was time to try out a few recipes for those who have special dietary requirements, so after doing quite a bit of research and asking for some advice from another lovely cupcake baker, Laura, I had my first attempt.

Now, sugar plays several roles in the baking process. Not only does it add sweetness but it also adds volume (as well as colour) to a recipe. Sugar substitutes don't add volume or colour, only sweetness. Take a look inside the cupcake:


You can see that it is very pale. That is something I am going to try and work on. The overall appearance of the cake was good. The overall taste, well, if you are a sugar addict it might not quite hit the spot, but if you are not allowed to have sugar in your daily life and only on a special occasion, then you would find that this little cake actually does it!

For my first sugar free recipe it wasn't too bad, I thought. I'm going to be experimenting more, so we have a sugar free option on our menu some days or available for special orders.

Liz

Sunset at Silloth, Cumbria, UK ― April 2010
(Nafplio / Shmafplio, it's all the same...)

Apron ― Winner

I'm glad that most of you thought the little apron is cute. It seems that most of you wear an apron at some time or other, even if it's just to cover your good clothes before guests arrive!

The winner of the apron is Comment No. 7! Congratulations Katerina! I'll be in touch to find out where to post it.



We'll have a selection for men, women and children in the shop (and possibly online) for whomever would like to buy for themselves or to buy as a sweet gift from Nafplio!


We're going to be having some days away over the holidays. I'll leave you with these yummy chocolate & orange cupcakes, just so that you don't suffer from low blood sugar while I'm gone!













I might sneak a post in before we get back since I will be cooking while I'm away.


See you when we get back. There is lots of fun stuff coming up in April but I'm just going to keep you guessing about that!

Liz

Flavours ― and winner!

Thanks for all the entries into the give-away. It was enlightening. It seems like coffee was the run away winner of that one! Maybe it has to do with the slight bitterness of coffee together with the sweetness of cake.

By the way, I drink water with cake and Alex likes black coffee, no sugar!

So we had lots of comments on both sides again but the winner of the heart shaped baking tin is...no. 14!



Congratulations Kiki! The tin will be in the post on Monday morning.

On Tuesday I made another cake.


It's a recipe I've been meaning to try for a while and since it had enormous quantities of chocolate, butter and cream, it needed a special occasion!




Thanks again to everyone who entered. There will be another give-away coming up soon. Don't forget to answer the question in your comments in order to be entered into the give-away :)

Liz

Apple Pie

Here is another thing I love to bake. I really, really, love apple pie. This is a good old fashioned apple pie. English style. Freshly baked apple pie reminds me of childhood and it's still one of my Dad's favourite desserts that he looks for when he goes out for a meal.


Unfortunately, many establishments in the UK don't do 'homemade' anymore and serve up something commercially made, which I find rather shocking. I am beginning to sound like Gordon Ramsay or Hector Botrini (without the profanity of course). It's not that difficult to make an apple pie from scratch. It's obviously all about the money, that and serving frozen chips. Don't get me started on why otherwise very good restaurants serve frozen chips...



Anyway, this is how I like my apple pie. It shouldn't be too sweet. There should be a bit of tanginess to it. Double crust. No cinnamon, no raisins. Best served hot with cream, custard or ice-cream.

I'm not sure if apple pie will be on the daily menu at the 'shop'. It will definitely be on somewhere and it will definitely be available for special orders.

The same day I made the apple pie, I made these chocolate truffles. These didn't turn out as beautiful as I would have liked. Partly because I was free-styling a bit with the recipe and partly because I had 'help' from my littlest helper.



They were tasty though. Very tasty.

Don't miss the next post. There'll be a new blog feature.

We're back!

It's been a while I know! Finally the kids are back at school. I've been using the last few days to get my thoughts together and get into the swing of things trying to become a more organized person in general so I can execute 'the plan' better.

We had plenty of visitors in the last three weeks. First, my brother came from England for a week, and then our friends from Madagascar/Athens came for a long week-end too. There was lots of cooking, eating, baking, walking, visiting other friends and playing SCRABBLE with the kids! It's their new favourite game. My brother also brought a couple of nice books for Fin, the sort which take a bit longer to read. He is really enjoying reading stories where you have to wait until the next chapter to find out what happens next...

So, what have I been baking? I owe you something with chocolate, so here we are...


What's so special about these, you might ask? Well, for a start they contain this...


and then there's this


Inside there is this:


Yes, they are filled cakes. Chocolate ganache. Finally to really make them to die for...


I dipped some of them in the leftover ganache. And WOW. More about that in a minute.

I adapted the recipe by Deb at Smitten Kitchen. If you do a quick google search of Guinness and Bailey's you will find plenty of versions of this flavour.

The idea of dipping them came from Kari at Retro Bakery One look at their menu page will have you reaching for the nearest sweet thing you can get your hands on.

I've been meaning to try this recipe for a while and since the recipe makes 24 cupcakes I wanted to make them when I could give several of them away! I have to say that even though the cakes were amazing I promptly made some notes on what I'd do differently when I make them again. I don't think I'd put them on my menu exactly as they are, but the same elements in some different combination maybe.

January is going to be a busy month. I'll be attending HO.RE.CA (an expo for the hotel, restaurant and cafe business) in Athens at the end of the month. Hopefully we'll be applying for some funding within the month and we are also working on the website. Things are definitely going to be getting more business-oriented around here! I'll still post about how great it is living in the country though! I can't help that (like planting my lettuce seedlings into the garden this morning and going down to the beach this evening with the kids to collect driftwood for the fire).

Finally thanks to Gasteroplix and Xanthi for nominating me for a sunshine award! That's so kind of you both. I really appreciate it. It's difficult for me to choose who I'd nominate for one, especially since many of the lovely ladies I read have already received them, so I'll just name some of the blogs I love to read...

So apart from the above mentioned Asproula's recipes and Gasteroplix here are some food related blogs I enjoy reading.

Asterolila, Betty, Ivy, Maria, Cheryl, Eleftheria, Kiki, Niki, Recipes of the heart, Lila

Actually, I check out many more blogs, not all food related, too many to mention here. These are just a small selection that are capable of making my mouth water at any given time! So, for that have a cake...


I'll leave you with the thought of those for now. Soon I'll post some other pics of things I baked on my 'blog holiday'.

Liz

Banana cake with peanut frosting

I know I promised a chocolate recipe but I had some ripe bananas I wanted to use up.


These cupcakes were wonderful, as testified by everyone who ate them (Alex, who obviously gets to eat a lot of cupcakes, couldn't stop going on about how wonderful they were). The cakes are extremely light and the frosting so soft it was almost like mousse. These will definitely be on the menu!


I'll be having various family members and friends over the next couple of weeks, so I'll be busy cooking and spending time with them and the kids while they are on their school holidays. So the blog is going to bed for a couple of weeks. I'll definitely be cooking though, so look forward to plenty more pictures and our shop news again, when cupcakes.gr wakes up from hibernation!

Liz