Party Cake - 3D Elephant

Hello cake lovers!

What do you think about this cute cake?
This is my toddler's second cake for his second party.  The idea came from his lovey which is a cute sleeping elephant. I didn't want to make a sleeping elephant on top of a cake, cause nobody would get it.  But I made a nice blue 3D one. I love the idea of a white cake decorated with soft colors .

Among the cake, I made sweets such as muffins and mini cupcakes for the kids. See them as you go.

GO NUTS MUFFINS

VERY BERRY MUFFINS

MINI CUPCAKES

 

 Photo Credit: Emi Trasnitu

Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins

Last week was awful in Zurich. I stayed a lot inside with my toddler which was more then happy to destroy the house. Toys all over the place and my stuff spreed everywhere. It was so hard to find my measuring cups... But when I found them, these delicious muffins were made ;)

I really can't decide if strawberries are my favorites or not. They are  definitely in top 3, but which place? It's a tight battle between them and watermelon. Maybe I should put them in  first joint place.

I love cheesecake and I love strawberries and when I saw this recipe , I knew I have to try it. Immediately!!! And this is the result!

They were a great snack for my toddler, as I cut down the sugar in the recipe. And, of course, my hubby ate them all. Who wouldn't? They are delicious, fruity and really moist.

Here is the recipe as I found it.
Happy baking!


INGREDIENTS:

MUFFINS:

• 2 cup Flour
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 Egg
• 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 cup Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 2 cups chopped Strawberries

FILLING:

• 4 oz Cream Cheese
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/2 beaten egg
• 1 tsp Vanilla

TOPPING:

• 1/4 cup Flour
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 3 tbsp Butter

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400.
Line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake liners or spray with non-stick spray.
Combine 2 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt in a bowl and mix well.
Beat together 1 cup milk, 1/4 cup oil, egg and 1/2 cup sugar in another bowl.
Add flour mixture to milk mixture just until well combined. Do not over mix.

In another bowl, cream together the filling ingredients until smooth.

In another bowl, mix together the dry topping ingredients, then cut in the butter with a fork until you get a grainy mixture (mine wasn't grainy at all)

In each liner, put a tablespoon of the muffin batter then a few strawberry pieces, then a half
tablespoon of the filling, about a half tablespoon of topping, another layer of batter then fruit and finally remaining topping.
Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
Let cool in the muffin tin for 5 minutes and then transfer cooling rack.

Photo credit: Emi Trasnitu

Cranberry & Cinnamon Muffins

Another day, another post, another great recipe with cranberries to inspire you for Christmas.

This time I made muffins with fresh cranberries, cinnamon and clementine juice. All these flavors are simply delicious and soo good for winter.

These muffins really made my morning. I had two of them with a nice winter flavored cup of tea.

Hope this recipe will inspire you and you'll bake them these days ;)

Here is the recipe that I found and adapted to my very personal taste ;)

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups raw cranberries
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 3 tbsp butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 and 1/2 cups Greek Yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 2 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• juice from 2 clementines

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 200 C and prepare you  muffin tin.

Put the cranberries in a saucepan along with caster sugar, cinnamon and juice. Cook over high heat, stirring frequently, until the berries burst and the sugar is dissolved. This takes approximately 3-6 minutes depending on your stove.

Combine the dry ingredients and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs.

Beat in yogurt until smooth.
Stir in half of the dry ingredients to the wet.
Add the cooked cranberries.

Spoon the batter into muffin tin.

Bake for 30-45 minutes or until the top is well browned and the center when pricked with a toothpick comes out clean.Turn out into a rack to cool.

 Photos by EMI TRASNITU