This was taken by Kev in our kitchen, because we were both talking about how great our home sweet home looks with a kitchen full of fruit.
I know it’s not an amazing photo, and also it’s not displaying the most fancy, weird fruit that exist in the World. It is just some easy, down to Earth type of fruit that most of us have no problem in eating. And some even love these fruit.
I love watermelon, and my beloved parents have lots of photos of me, when I was a kid, devouring slices of watermelon. Good times.
Kev loves bananas. Kev loves Ediana, Ediana Banana. It makes sense. 🙂
Still in the cupcakes frenzy, I decided to make some for Kev.
I loved making them and Kev loved eating them.
He and all his workmates, again.
He told me the cupcakes didn’t last more than three minutes, and that he received lots of emails thanking him for bringing such “sweetness” to their day. (Well, they probably weren’t that enthusiastic about it, but since I am the one that is writing the story, and the one that made the cupcakes, I thought I could add my contribution to it).
Enterpreneur Edie thinking: …hmm, maybe I could start selling cupcakes.
Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale. Beat in the eggs a little at a time and stir in the vanilla extract.
Fold in the flour using a large metal spoon, adding a little milk until the mixture is of a dropping consistency. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until they are half full.
Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into one of the cakes comes out clean. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack.
For the buttercream icing, beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
Then add the remaining icing sugar with one tablespoon of the milk, adding more milk if necessary, until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Add the food colouring and mix until well combined.
Spoon the icing into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe the icing using a spiralling motion onto the cup cakes in a large swirl.
I went all green and put some of the green food coloring in the mixture as well. But this is totally optional, or only for the Paddy’s Day crazies out there!
Guinness Cupcakes (Ginger Cupcakes)
This recipe is quoted from this website. It’s one of those recipes that works! And very well explained by englishmum.com. She even has photos of the process on her blog. I recommend you have a look.
170g Irish butter, softened
200g dark brown soft sugar
3 eggs
2 tbsp black treacle
170g self-raising flour
2 tsp ground ginger
First, beat the butter and sugar.  Soft brown sugar is the way to go here – you want the toffee, fudgy taste that it adds.
Make sure it’s really pale and fluffy before you move on to the next step.
Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition, then add the black treacle. Mix well.
Now, sieve the flour and ginger, and add in to the mix.
Stir gently, without overworking the mixture. Spoon into muffin cases and bake at 180 degrees/gas 4 for about 15 – 20 minutes until just springy in the middle.  Remove to a rack to cool.
Meanwhile, if you want to make cream cheese icing, (this was the one I made) just whisk about 100g of cream cheese like Philadelphia with a squeeze of lemon and 200g sieved icing sugar.
NOTE: As a little trial, you can reserve a bit of the mixture and add in a couple of tbsp of Guinness. The result is pleasingly earthy and not at all unpleasant. Is adds more of an adult taste, but well worth a try.
Both cupcake recipes were tasted by my dear Irish friends, and they loved them!
It was a lovely Market, filled with lovely handmade crafts, and put together by wonderful people.
The day was great! and here are some photos:
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Thanks to everybody that helped in some way, and worked together to make such a beautiful market day.
Special thanks to Alison and Sean, that organised the market. To Heli that brought the market signs. And, last but not least, to Romina, that really helped bringing lots of customers in!
A cake so delicious that it is only possible to happen in a day like today.
A cake for a day that only comes every two years! Yes, that’s the reason and the motivation to bake this one.
29th of February, the day of the Leap Year, that comes full of superstitions and legends.
Here in Ireland, where I live now, the main “thing” about this date is that… if a woman asks a man for their hand in marriage today, the poor soul cannot deny her wish.
I have my own “thing” about this day. As I am already married and happily married, I just like to make something wonderful for my wonderful husband. A sweet tooth he is, nothing better than a special dessert to be savoured, without the fear of being a sugar trap for that ,oh so dreaded question for blokes.
For the singleton gals still out there, all I have to say is, try showing your desired one this treat before you pop the question. Just to prove the point that you can be a good choice in the food department, and also to leave him with his mouth watering. But only give him a slice if the answer is correct. We are very politically correct lassies these days, we don’t waste good food, unless it’s for a good cause.
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C and butter a large round tin.
Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating in well.
Then beat in the vanilla and the coconut milk.
Add the desiccated coconut and the salt, mix it.
At last add the sieved flour and the baking powder. Fold carefully until all is combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin, and bake for about 1 hour.
Leave to cool in the tin. After it has cooled down, pierce the top of the cake with a fork several times.
For the top, heat the coconut milk, the desiccated coconut and the sugar until all the sugar is dissolved. Don’t worry if it the misture is still very liquid.
Pour this liquid over the cake, that should be still in the tin.
The syrup will penetrate the cake and make it really moist, and the desiccated coconut will sit on top of the cake looking delicious.
Let it sit there for a few hours to absorb the syrup.
Imaginarium 