Owl Baby Shower Theme

Lately everybody it's been obsessed with the owls. And it happens for me to be one of their fans :D

From cake, cupcakes, wrappers  to decorating baby's room with owl theme is just cute. 

Now it happens to have the perfect moment and to have an order of a cake and cupcakes for a baby shower for my friend Andreea www.stylishdreams.com ( what a lucky girl! ) from her coworkers  and they let me choose everything from flavors ( chocolate cake with chocolate filling, her fav ;)  ) to design.

So this is how it came out in the end. I am in love with this cake! And owls! 

And I can't wait to meet baby Luca!

  Photo credit: Emi Trasnitu

Sweets Bar - Part Two

As I promised, I came back with more pictures from my last event. 
Hope you enjoy these sweet treats and I hope they give you a great start this week!

Write to you soon!
xo, xo

Emi 

The center piece of the sweets bar was this large cake,  decorated with the logo of the store as topper

Sweets from the photo: Cookie  Pops, Vanilla & Almond Cupcakes,
Raspberry & Vanilla Cupcakes

Sugar Cookies with White Chocolate

Lemon & Orange Cupcakes

Lemon & Orange Cupcakes

Vanilla & Rhum Cupcakes

Sugar Cookies with White Chocolate

Vanilla & Raspberry Cupcakes 

Cookie Pops 

Mint & Chocolate Cupcakes

 Photo Credit: Emi Trasnitu

Chocolate Cupcakes

Celebrating Chocolate Day with some double chocolate cupcakes.
I wanted to share with you the most simple and delicious chocolate butter-cream frosting I have ever tried.
You can also find it here Recipe along with a nice chocolate cupcakes recipe.
Have a magnificent Friday! 

My naked chocolate cupcakes 

Chocolate Butter-cream Frosting

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups (400 g) butter
• 2 cups (400 g)  chocolate chips or chopped chocolate 

Melt together in double broiler or in microwave with power turned down a little.

Whisk together until combined.

Put it in the freezer until it's pretty firm. 

Beat for at least 5 minutes until fluffy. 

Frost cooled cupcakes immediately and then chill.  Serve them cold. 

Photo credit: Emi Trasnitu

Chocolate candy melts

Another recipe from the baby shower is here. This time  is candy melts made out of chocolate. And not every kind of chocolate, but my favorite- white chocolate.
I think this is a really easy to make recipe and I think is great to fill the table at a candy bar.

You can make them in any color using white chocolate and food dye. Also you can make them with any other type of chocolate that you love.

Here is the simply and delicious recipe that I made.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 white chocolate ( 200 g)
• a few drops food dye

DIRECTIONS:

1. Break chocolate into small pieces and melt it in the microwave or under shimmering water.

2. After melting your chocolate add a few drops of food dye, depending on the intensity of the color you want to obtain.

 3. Spoon the colored chocolate into a plastic bag and leave it rest for a few minutes. Using a scissors cut one small end and form your candy melts on a cooking sheet.

 4. Leave it rest over night or until completely dry. 

I also made purple candy melts for this baby shower party.

Photos by Emi Trasnitu.

Black Chocolate, White Chocolate & Caramel Tart

Last week was National Chocolate Week in UK (I found that out from Jamie Oliver on Facebook) so what a better way to celebrate it then  bake a delicious and very sweet tart! A tart with black and white chocolate and a caramel filling. I feel the sweetness in my mouth just thinking about it.

I found this nice recipe on saveur.com, but I made a few changes. I replaced the black chocolate on top with white one, cause is my favorite. And instead of decorating it with gray sea salt, I shredded some milk chocolate. Hope you also like my version ;)

This tart is perfect for chocolate and caramel lovers, but caution! It's dangerously sweet!!! (For my taste) Even if I cut down a little bit on sugar on the crust, I couldn't reduce any for the caramel sauce or the chocolate ganache.

If you decide to make this tart for a party, you have to make it the day before. It's not a lot of work to do, but it has to stay a lot in the refrigerator, around 4-5 hours after adding  the caramel and then another 4-5  hours  for the ganache to set and chill.

Here is the recipe, with the changes that I made. Happy Baking!

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE CRUST:

• 1 ½ cups flour
• ¼ cup plus 1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¼ tsp. kosher salt
• 10 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed and softened
• ¼ cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar
• 2 egg yolks,  room temperature
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract

FOR THE CARAMEL:

• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 3 tbsp. light corn syrup
• ¼ tsp. kosher salt
• 6 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 6 tbsp. heavy cream
• 1 tbsp. crème fraiche

FOR THE GANACHE:

• ½ cup heavy cream
• 4 oz. white chocolate, chopped
• milk chocolate for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. Make the crust:

Heat oven to 350˚. 

Combine flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. 

Using a handheld mixer, cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until mixture is pale and fluffy; mix in yolks and vanilla. 

Mix in dry ingredients. 

Transfer dough to a 9" fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and press dough evenly into bottom and sides of pan.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Prick the tart shell all over with a fork and bake until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool.

2. Make the caramel:

In a 1-qt. saucepan, whisk together sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 6 tbsp. water and bring to a boil.

Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer inserted into the syrup reads 340°.

Remove pan from heat and whisk in butter, cream, and crème fraîche (the mixture will bubble up) until smooth. 

Pour caramel into cooled tart shell and let cool slightly; refrigerate until firm, 4–5 hours.

3. Make the ganache:

Bring cream to a boil in a 1-qt. saucepan over medium heat. 

Put chocolate into a medium bowl and pour in hot cream; let sit for 1 minute, then stir slowly with a rubber spatula until smooth.

Pour ganache evenly over tart and refrigerate until set, 4–5 hours. 

Decorate tart with shredded chocolate  and serve chilled.

 Photos by Emi Trasnitu