Author: Nina

Lemon cake with blueberry compote and vanilla swiss meringue buttercream

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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 →

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Nigella’s Nutella Cheesecake – recipe

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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 →

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Chocolate cake with Oreo buttercream frosting – recipe

~ Nina ~ 1 Comment

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 →

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Miniature vanilla cakes with caramel sauce – recipe

~ Nina ~ 3 Comments

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 →

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Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting – recipes

~ Nina ~ 1 Comment

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 →

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The best brownies I’ve ever tasted – recipe

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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 →

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Burgundy, gold and meringue

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“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 →

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Buttercream roses

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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 🙂 Buttercream roses Buttercream roses Buttercream roses

Sweet regards, Nina

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Liquorice meringue and other beautiful things – recipe

~ Nina ~ 1 Comment

Today I stopped by at “Upplifun, bækur og blóm” which is located in Harpa, our largest concert hall here in Iceland. There I can usually hunt down some wonderful flowers that are hard to find elsewhere. Today I managed to find a bundle of peonies, and I LOVE peonies. And I LOVE the scented candles from Voluspa! Not only do they look wonderful but there are so many great scents and I just want to get them all. You can buy them online, but of course you can’t smell them there – you’ll just have to take my word for it. The scents I have at home now are Crisp Champagne and Makassar, Ebony and Peach. Continue reading →

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Celebrating my dad´s 70th birthday in Cuba, almost

~ Nina ~ 2 Comments

Not so long ago my loving father turned 70! Our family, mom, dad and us 5 siblings with our own families rented a small village of cottages at Minni borgir. What is great about Minni borgir is that they offer a small village with seven small cottages and one larger house. That means that every family has their own house where they can have their stuff and relax when that is what they want and then every body can gather in the large house for cooking, dining and partying.

Planing the party was left to us sisters because we love coming up with themed party´s, think about the decorations and seeing everything come to life (more on that in a few days) We decided on a Cuban theme. Continue reading →

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