Red & White Ruffle Cake - Christmas inspiration

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you had a great day and Santa brought you the best gifts you wished for ;)

We had a wonderful day and delicious food on our table. Specially for this occasion I made a beautiful cake (Ohhh! I'm so modest) in the Christmas spirit,in red and white. 

It was my first cake covered in fondant and the first time I made ruffles. And I'm so happy with the result! 
Can't wait for the New Year's party to challenge myself again :)

Inside I made a pink velvet cake with cream cheese and mascarpone frosting. Delicious!
Hope you like my cake and hope I'll inspire you ;)

Happy Holidays!

 

 Photos by Emi Trasnitu

Christmas Bread

I cannot believe that Christmas is in two days! It felt like this year went way too fast for me, but I'm happy because great memories were made. My baby sure knew how to make the best year so far. Looking forward to the future!

To celebrate the holidays by baking something nice, here you can find a delicious and good looking Christmas bread recipe. Is full of coconut, carrots and cherries. I made a cream cheese frosting that goes in pure harmony with the bread and topped it with fresh yellow berries. But you can serve it alone.

I chose a nice round baking tray with a hole inside for  a special look.
The recipe I found it Here and is so easy to make and the result is great. Just 5 steps :) Anybody can do it. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 C A/P flour
• 1 C sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 C vegetable oil
• 1/2 C milk
• 2 C shredded carrots
• 1 1/3 C shredded coconut
• 1/2 C maraschino cherries, drained and cut in quarters

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix dry.
2. Mix wet and add to dry.
3. Fold in the carrots, coconut and cherries.

4. Pour batter into greased 9x5x3 loaf pan or 3-4 mini loaf pans. I used a round pan with a hole in the middle.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes for big pan, 35 minutes for mini loaf pans, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Here is my delicious Christmas bread :)

 

 Photos by Emi Trasnitu

Double Chocolate Cupcakes - Winter Decoration

I was challenged by a friend on Facebook with a nice picture of a chocolate cupcake with a light blue frosting and decorated with some icing snowflakes on top. And I instantly said that I have to make it,  so based on that photo I choose a double chocolate cupcakes recipe with a butter cream frosting. I decorated the cupcakes with snowflakes made out of white fondant.

This is how  it came out in the end. I hope you like it.

The cupcake is rich and moist and just melts in your mouth. This is a perfect recipe for chocolate lovers.

I love the Christmasy look that these cupcakes have. For me, the color blue just stated to be the new red for Christmas :D
Here is the recipe that I made and adapted. The original you can find it here and it's for 36 cupcakes. If you think that's too much  (depends on the occasion) just use half of the ingredients.

INGREDIENTS :
For 36 cupcakes

• 3/4 cup unsweetened  cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup hot water
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1-1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1-1/2 cups unsalted butter
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup shredded chocolate

For frosting:
Go HERE

DIRECTION:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with 36 cupcake liners.

Whisk together cocoa and hot water until smooth. 

In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Melt butter with sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat, and pour into a mixing bowl. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat until mixture is cooled, 4 to 5 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. 

Add vanilla, then cocoa mixture, and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low.

Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and beating until just combined after each.

Add shredded chocolate and mix with a spoon.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake 17 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Cool completely before frosting.
Decorate as you like :)

Photos by Emi Trasnitu

Decorating idea - Snowflake cookies

I hope you like cookies cause lately I'm thinking a lot about them especially now in winter time when you can find all kinds of awesome cutters. 

 I was  never that interested in baking cookies, but it turns out to be really fun. I need to practice  though on my decorating skills cause it's not that easy.

This time I tried a simple recipe of almond flavored cookies. The recipe that I followed you can find it here and it's called Almond Meltaway Cookies.

This is my version of  decorating Christmasy cookies.

Happy baking everyone!

Photos by Emi Trasnitu