He turns 25

Last weekend my ♥ turned 25! It's one of the big numbers in life, a milestone, where I guess you turn around and look back at all that you've become so far and look forward at everything you want to achieve (before 30).  The weekend was one of my favourite kinds, filled with food, spontaneity and just pure happiness.  As I made the 3 hour train journey back to my home town, I didn't have time to bake him his surprise cake as I do everyyear. But this weekend when he came to visit me in Geneva, I had a couple of red-velvet cup cakes waiting in the fridge ready to devour.

American icing & the cutest champagne candles

Patiently waiting to party !

Exploring the ultra cosy streets of Colmar with my ♥ 

Us two on a small boat on the Lauch river at "la petite Venise"

Back of the head 1 - Kids playing in the fountains

Back of the head 2 - The cool calm of the river in the shade

 Little gargoyles on Colmar cathedral

Candle daze

Dad made some birthday tapas for the night before

As ♥ comes from Louisiana, he incorporated crayfish into these brushettas

How to make the red velvet cupcakes (small batch)

150g Sugar

60g  White sugar

1 Egg

10-20 ml of red food colouring

1 Tsp Vanilla essence

10 g Rich high quality chocolate powder

120 ml butter milk

Pinch of salt

2Tsp baking powder

150g Flour

Pre-heat your oven to 170°C. In a mixer on slow speed or by hand, cream the butter and sugar for quite some time until it's fluffy and smooth. Add the egg and whisk until incorporated. In a separate bowl you can prepare the 'red' of the velvet, by mixing the vanilla, chocolate powder and food colouring together to form a rich dark paste. Add this to the creamed butter mixture and mix until the batter becomes one colour. Part by part, add the buttermilk, then flower, and salt with the baking powder and once it is fluid in texture, spoon into cupcake cases until they are about 2/3 full. I baked in the oven for 25 minutes as I used large cup cake cases. Please note that I only was able to make 5 maxi-cupcakes with this recipe, so if you would like a large batch, I would double the quantities. For the icing, most make a cream cheese icing, but as my ♥ is partly American, I cheated and bought a tub of  Funfetti American icing (for 9 Fr.-!) from a specialist American shop.

Gold

It's the little things in life, like bringing a batch of home-baked banana-chocolate muffins to work to share with colleagues which make people's days a little brighter. Didn't want to leave them at home anyway because I had three after each other last night and I wouldn't be able to stop myself if I had left them in temptation's reach. My dad got me a food processor ultra robot machine for my birthday and I finally used it (after spending a long time washing all the pieces and working out how to use the cake setting).  The mix was ready so quickly and I wonder if I will at all miss mixing the ingredients by hand like I have been until now.

Love these little gold casings which completely fit in with the Olympics going on at the moment

To get these nuggets of deliciousness:

125g Butter

20g Muscovado sugar (dark and molasses-y)
120g White sugar

1 Tsp ground cinnamon

1 Tsp dried ground vanilla pod (or a little splash of vanilla essence)

1/2 Tsp ground ginger

1/4 Ground cloves 

2 Ripe bananas

2 Eggs
1 Table spoon baking powder

180 Flour

20g High quality chocolate powder

1 Pack of chocolate chips

As fast as you can pre-heat your oven to 180°C these will be ready to bake.  In a large mixing bowl, or even better, a magi-mix processor, cream the butter and both sugars into smooth yellow oblivion. Add all the 'enhancing, yet barely noticeable when cooked flavours, cinnamon, vanilla, ginger & cloves. Throw in the two bananas and make sure they are pulped into the mixture without leaving any noticeable chunks. Once all blended, add the eggs, one at a time, making sure not to over-mix the mixture as you want these muffins to be light and fluffy. On a slow setting, or with a spatula, softly fold in the flour, baking powder and chocolate powder until everything is fully combined. For the finale add the chocolate chips, or chopped nuts if you wish before spooning the mixture into cupcake cases with an icecream scoop (makes nicely sized portions, and Max from '2 broke girls' does this).  I baked in the oven on fan setting for about 18 minutes, however best to check if a toothpick comes out clean as you may be using larger cup-cake cases and need a little longer. Makes about 20.

Proof of Yum: Someone who isn't even keen on bananas even complimented their loveliness

Let's get this Ball rollin'

Hello Everyone,  I'm back in the game!

Now that I have been a strong independent women by moving into my new Swiss chalet-style cosy studio, accomplished a month of work in my new job and loved every day so far... and finally setting up my internet all by myself (8 days late) i'm ready to re-establish my presence on CookMeASmile.

my new home the day I moved in, at the end of September/ looks more homely now

Still not sporting a swanky camera yet but my new phone will have to do. It's Halloween today, and it's kind-of a tradition of mine to make Pumpkin Pie around this time.  I've been on a mission to get to the shops after work in time all week for the missing ingredients to my pie..spices.

 the Jack-O-Lantern in my offices cafeteria on Halloween: Every dish contained pumpkin!

Mashing by Hand

 My pastry Jack-O-Lantern which I forgot to put in the oven after my pie was cooked

 Baking Away in the free standing oven my mum donated to me when I moved

Cooling Pie, ready to be eaten

To make my Halloween Pumpkin Pie you will need:

Enough Shortcrust pasty to fill your pie dish (mine was 9")

Big Slice of Pumpkin, 

2 Eggs, 

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon, 

1/2 Teaspoon Ginger, 

1/8 Teaspoon clove, 

1 vanilla pod or teaspoon of vanilla essence, 

1/8 Teaspoon Nutmeg, 

140ml Cream,

Cut the pumpkin into cubes and simmer for 15 minutes until soft. Drain then blend or mash with fork into a purée. Wait until the purée has cooled before mixing all the ingredients together in a big bowl. This can then be poured into the shortcrust pasty-lined baking tin and popped in the oven for an hour at 180 C.  Was great served with Crème brûlée flavoured ice-cream.  Monday night indulgence !

My Boy's Birthday

It's my ♥'s Birthday today and as usual I bake him a cake every year.  This year, for his 24th he requested a cake with chocolate, walnuts and caramel.  I had to substitute the walnuts for pecans because the biggest coop in our region was sold out...but I think it will taste better this way.  We had a lovely morning opening presents and eating a British breakfast in bed (eggs, beans, mini heart shaped french toast, bacon...) followed by a bath and a nap.  He's very happy to be off work this week. All my jogging and chocolate resistance this week will be on hold for today.  We are just about to make the most of these sun-rays and go have a drink by the Rhine at one of our favourite places, Veronica's.

 Chocolate, Pecan Cake with Caramel Icing & Dulce de leche drizzle

 Angle Shot

 Look at all those Pecans! I roasted them myself

Too many cake photos, I'm sorry for the overdose

 On another note, we finally put up the poster of a Louisiana Tree which I printed in A3 while I worked at HP

 Ready for a cold drink

Lazy morning in bed was so cosy

I better be off, but the cake recipe is coming soon  :-) ,  have a spectacular day everyone !

Red, Blue & Cream

A few flashes of how my weekend went taken with my ♥ 's new phone which I'm liking more & more:

Relaxed Saturday in front of the telly

Afternoon of Ping-Pong & Badminton near his parent's house

Pretty Berries in the Sunshine as I wondered while he re-matched his brother

One of the great things about having a boyfriend who is half American is getting to celebrate all of his holidays such as Thanksgiving and of course the 4th of July. As it is America-Day on Monday, we thought it would be a nice idea to bring a celebratory cake with us when we visited his parents this weekend. 

 The Cake & I

 Took a long time to position all those berries

The final result: Chocolate cake with vanilla butter-cream & star-berries

Too sleepy to post the recipe, but I'm sure I'll make it again and I'll post it then, that icing is too delicious to keep a secret.  Gotta get up in 5.5 hours to be a cleaning lady, ahh the wonders of manual labour! - at least I feel like I've been working out at the end of the day.

Fastest cake in the World

My blue Panasonic Lumix TS1 which I was raving about earlier, and graced me with those groovy underwater shots may not be as tough as I thought.  It has either has needed to take a 'personal day/week', or has retired. For now, I think I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope it comes back to life.

I miss you

Onto a brighter topic, it was my mum's last day of work yesterday and she is off on a 6 week holiday to Australia this Monday.  She organised a little get-together and I thought it would be a good idea to bring dessert...a cake in the form of a Koala !

Cycling the around 7KM to work on my first day of a quick-money-making job as a cleaning lady took a lot out of me (both in energy & time). So once I got back, I was in the biggest rush to make this cake, and it actually turned out really moist and yummy, almost everyone had seconds and there were no left-overs.

Blueberry Koala Cake

You will need these ingredients to make this (purple) blueberry cake which tastes like a muffin: 

2 eggs

1-1/2 cups of blueberries frozen or fresh blueberries

200g (1 cup) Sugar

115g (1/2 cup) soft Butter

Nice dash of vanilla

Pinch of Salt

188g (1 1/2 cups) Flour & some to coat berries

1 Tbsp Baking Powder

80ml (1/3 cup) Milk

Zest of 1/2 lemon

For the Icing/Decoration:

200g or 1 pack of cream cheese

55g 1/2 cup icing sugar

dash of vanilla

2 Tbsp melted milk chocolate to darken slightly

squeezed juice of 1/2 a lemon

To make this cake, I quickly creamed the sugar and butter together and added the vanilla, lemon zest salt and then mixed in the two eggs which I had whisked in separate bowl. Then I added the flour and baking powder bit by bit to make quite a doughy texture. To make it more liquid, the milk is slowly added. The blueberries can be coated in flour (This stops them from sinking to the bottom of the cake) and folded into the cake mixture. If they are frozen, the cake will most likely turn a deep wonderful purple. I baked this in my mum's oven (yes, I transported the uncooked cake mixture in the car to cook in her oven) in a round tin with a removable base for 40-45 minutes at 180 °C/ 356°F.

By the time we had eaten and the cake had cooled, I may not have been in the best mind-set to ice/decorate it.  As I had few glasses of champagne and red wine, I just mixed all the ingredients together and hoped for the best. I made some eyes with cut off tops of Swiss "Kisss" foam-chocolates from Migros and crafted a dodgy mouth with melted chocolate.  If I had more time, it would have looked less like an alien.  

My mum loved it though so all the rushing was worth it in the end.

4 Year Reminiscing

I will be travelling back to Scotland on Monday with my dad to attend my graduation ! As I sit devouring a bag of peanut M&Ms, I can't believe the 4 years have passed, each and every one wonderful in it's own right and teaching me valuable lessons along the way.  Coming soon:  Review of 'Cafe Fish' in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Castle in the Snow

2007 - Edinburgh   Start.

2008 - Munich Exchange

2009 - Edinburgh  Again 

  2010 - Stuttgart Internship

My ♥ has lived in Barcelona, Louisiana, and Montreux
Now we are together again every day !

A photo of the cake I make in the video:  New York Raspberry Cheesecake

I made it for a Birthday & for my colleagues when I left my Internship

For some fun:  While bored inbetween classes one day in my Edinburgh kitchen I decided to film  a 'how to' make this cheesecake video.  Check it out here

Birthday 27

Last week was quite busy and exciting.  It was my older Brother's birthday on Saturday and we had a mini BBQ party for him at my mum's house.  I volunteered to make him his cake this year and thought long and hard about what he would like.  I chose to go with a light raspberry and cream sponge with was inspired by the classic British Victoria Sponge (Which my mum used to make us for many birthdays).

I used the wonderful weather to ride my bike, a 21st birthday present to Coop to get all the goodies. One of the perks of living in Switzerland - everywhere is accessible by bike !

On my bike, the Roadcat with ingredients on the back

 The cake in action with the candles

 Fresh raspberries, white chocolate '27' and a star on top

200g Butter make the cake yummy !

 Mum's cat Moon Muffin

 Found a snail on the way back to the car

To make this summer celebration treat:


200g (~1cup) Butter at room temperature
200g (1cup) Sugar
4 Eggs
200g (1.5 cup) Flour
2 Tablespoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon of Orange Zest/or Lemon
as much Vanilla essence as you wish


For Filling/top
250g Raspberries
500ml Cream
1/2 cup icing sugar
white chocolate
50g butter

Pre-heat oven to 180 °C (375°F). Cream butter & sugar, then add each egg one by one and mix (if it curdles, add a spoon of flour with each egg). Stir in the essence & peel,  then sift in the flour & baking powder while carefully folding it into the mixture.  Bake in oven for about 20 min if you split the mix between two cake tins.  If you choose to split the cake later, bake for about 25 min, then lower temp to 130 °C for another 15-20 min.

 To decorate add generous layer of whipped cream on bottom half and sprinkle raspberries all over. To ice, mix a few blended rasberries & a spoon of sugar & vanilla essence with the left-over cream and spead all over top. Add last rasberries & to make decorations, melt some white chocolate, spread on a greased plate/surface & mould with cookie cutters, or cut out number/letters with knife and cool in fridge until needed.

P.S Because of all the baking on Friday, my love suggested that he make his special southern spiced burgers for dinner.  We did a bit of teamwork and I made these lazy amazing 'chips'. Par-boiled potatoes for 15 min, slice, then drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt & fresh rosemary and pop in the oven until golden! hmmmmm! 

 Lazy but amazing 'chips'