If you love chocolate, keep reading.
The other day I stumbled upon this incredibly edible recipe for chocolate frosting by the super baker and blogger Manuela at Passionforbaking and I just had to try it. I used 70% chocolate which made the frosting a tad bitter, but that didn’t bother my family – they finished every last bite. This frosting is a mixture of dark chocolate, homemade caramel and butter. Continue reading
The best thing about sugar cookies is that they are so versatile, both in flavor and looks. On the flavor side you can add a vanilla bean to the dough, the zest from a lemon, lime or an orange, add cocoa powder for chocolate sugar cookies or even add almond or coconut extract. And on the look side you can cut out any shape, decorate them with stamps (someone’s initials for example), with Royal icing or with sugar paste. The possibilities are endless. Continue reading
I just love all things lemon. Lemon cake, lemon water, lemon cheesecake, lemon macaron, lemon … well you get the drift. After saying that I need to share with you my recipe for lemon cake. This is really “just” a sponge cake but I add the zest of 2 lemons to the batter and I always soak the cake with lemon sugar syrup. Yummy!
Today I baked this cake with blueberry compote and vanilla swiss meringue buttercream. I piped the cake to make it look like a rose. Here’s a fantastic tutorial on how to make this wonderful buttercream rose. Continue reading
My husband and I love to watch cooking shows. Our version of a cozy night in is to cuddle on the sofa with a glass of red and watch Nigella, Gordon Ramsay, Barefoot contessa, Anthony Bourdain or Jamie Oliver cook up a storm. One night we were watching Nigella (cook, eat, give us a sexy look, bake, eat…you know what I’m talking about 😉 ) and she made this super easy Nutella cheesecake. I LOVE Nutella (please don’t tell anyone) so I had to try this cake. And of course my whole family loved it! Continue reading
When I asked my daughter (13) what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday she (almost) shouted; “Nutella cheesecake!” Ok, I get it. I also love that cake but I was hoping to be able to decorate at least one cake for her birthday so I asked her if she would be up for a more traditional birthday cake. “Like what?” she asked. Hmm…how about a chocolate cake covered with Oreo buttercream frosting? Her jaw dropped because she LOVES Oreos 🙂 Then that was decided, one Nutella cheesecake (recipe in my next post 😉 ), chocolate cake with Oreo buttercream frosting and then I decided to also make lemon cake with blueberry compote, vanilla sugar cookies, Oreo filled chocolate pyramids and my husband rigged up some Chili con carne – that’s right, nobody left the party hungry 😉 Continue reading
Oh man, Vanilla cake with caramel sauce – it’s sooo goood. You need to try this one.
I baked these darlings in a silicone mini bunt cake pan from Habitat but of course you can use any pan, small or big, just adjust the baking time to fit the size of the pans you use, for example I baked these for 16 minutes at a 340°F/170°C but if you decide to use 3×8″ pans you need to bake the cake for 40-45 minutes. Continue reading
Oh how I love Red velvet cupcakes! They are so red, light and have the most fantastic subtle chocolate flavor, and the cherry on the top (there is no actual cherry on top 😉 ) is the most wonderful cream cheese frosting. It took me a while to find the perfect recipe but one day while traveling in London I visited Peggy Porschen’s Parlour where I finally tasted the perfect cream cheese frosting! I (almost) immediately ordered her book Boutique baking where I found the recipe amongst many other fantastic recipes. Continue reading
In Iceland, fall is here in all its glory – wind, rain, and all. I really want to swear and curse but then, as I sit here writing this by candlelight, with coffee and brownies, listening to the wind outside I think – nah, this fall isn’t all that bad. It’s so easy to make things all nice and cozy when it starts to get dark again (and the dust is more obvious in sunlight 😉 )
Today I’d like to share with you a recipe for the most incredible brownies. These have chocolate chips in them, both white and milk chocolate. For all you nut-lovers out there, adding about a 100 grams of chopped pistacios or walnuts is just a cherry on top 🙂 Continue reading
“Can you bake me a cake, I´m hosting a dinner party on Saturday?” my sister asked me last week. I shouted (almost too quickly) Yes! for I knew what kind of cake she wanted. I knew that it had to be chocolate cake with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream – ideally the same cake that I made for my dad’s 70th birthday party. My sister is a product designer and it’s so much fun working with her on designing cakes and parties. She told me that she wanted a cake similar to one that I made for the grown ups at my younger son’s first birthday party, except she wanted different colours. Continue reading
When it comes to decorating cakes I have to admit that I´m kind of over the fondand thing. Of course you need fondant for certain types of decorations but I think that I decorate about 90% of my cakes with buttercream. With a bit of practice you can get really smooth and straight edges on your cakes.
Now for the roses, it’s really not that difficult to pipe them. You can search the internet for some great tutorials, like this one here. Then all you need is some good buttercream, a few piping tips, a piping bag, some food coloring, parchment paper and a flower nail. And just remember to enjoy the learning process, soon you will be making the perfect buttercream roses 🙂 
Sweet regards, Nina
