Today, I wanted to experiment with new recipes.

I had a small pumpkin ("potimarron") leftover and I really wanted to try to use some in a cake.

So, I made Pumpkin and Chocolate chips Cupcakes:

It tasted great!

I cooked the pupmkin and mashed it, then I added it to the batter.

Then, 1/2 TSP of Cinnamon. Finally, the Organic chocolate chips.

The cupcakes were topped with a small amount of Cinnamon icing.

The only thing I would say is that I was expecting to taste the pumpkin a lot more.

I used a small pumpkin, also called Potimarron in french. It is sweeter than an actual pumpkin.

And I used a fresh one, but the one mentionned in the recipe was canned.

I love the orange color.

Then, I made some Marble Cupcakes:

It is a simple Vanilla & Chocolate Marble Cupcake.

For some reason, the liners did not stick to the cupcakes.

It did as they came out of the oven, but after 30 minutes to an hour, the liners started to open up.

Therefore, it looked really bad!

Another thing: It tasted a bit too sugary. 

To make the Marble effect, I put Vanilla batter in a pastry bag, and chocolate batter in another one. Then both of them in the same one.

I did not had any icing or buttercream as I wanted to be able to show the marble effect.

That's it for today! 

Hi there,

For one of my friends' birthday, I decided to make some cupcakes.

I had originally planned to make a massive three tiered cake but, so much has happened lately that i just did not have the time.

It's the advantage of baking cupcakes: it really takes a lot less time!

Despite her not being vegan, i decided to try some new vegan recipes.

First, I decided to use one of her favourite fruit: Rhubarb.

As I personally do not really like Rhubard (I find the taste too odd), it was difficult to know what to expect taste wise and how to use it.

Rhubarb Cupcakes 

 I made Agave Nectar & Vanilla Cupcakes. Then, I cut the tops off and filled the middle of the cupcakes with organic Rhubarb compote.

Then I put the tops back on and sealed them with Rhubarb jam.

 I finally toped them with a simple Vanilla buttercream and a drizzle of Rhubard Jam, which I had drained.

Then, I tried to make Speculoos Tiramisu Cupcakes.

One of my friends made a Tiramisu the other week and added Speculoos to the recipe.

i am not a fan of coffee at all and therefore, not a big fan of Tiramisu. But this time, I loved it.

The Speculoos really complemented the coffee.

Speculoos are little traditionnal Belgium Biscuits.

The only known brand still following the original recipe, suitable for VEGANs, is LOTUS.

Other brands tend to add powdered eggs, milk or honey to it.

 Speculoos Tiramisu Cupcakes

I made a batch of simple vanilla cupcakes, cup the tops off, added a tablespoon of coffee (instant coffee + water + speculoos). Then, I added a Speculoos & Vanilla buttercream and put the tops (dipped in the coffee mixture) back on.

Finally, I crushed some speculoos and mixed them with organic unsweetened cocoa powder and sprinkled a little of this mixture over each cupcake. 

Verdict: They tasted great but nothing like a Tiramisu....!!! 

Finally, I decided to use pears from my friend's garden and apples from my sister's garden.

I made Pear, Apple & Chocolate Chips Cupcakes.

Pear, Apple & Chocolate Chips Cupcakes

First, I made a batch of simple Vanilla cupcakes. I then added chopped pears, chopped apples and organic chocolate chips to the batter.

I then took the tops of and filled the middle of the cupcakes with a homemade compote. (I used the same pears and apples).

I chopped the tops in 2 and put them back on to create butterflies wings.

Finally, I melted the rest of the organic chocolate chips with some Soya Creamer and tried to decorate the cupcakes. After four attempts with swirls, I came up with the idea of highlighting the wings with the melted chocolate.

  All in all, the cupcakes tasted good but I have to solve a little problem: I have swapped my basic flour for an organic one and since then, my cupcakes feel kind of "heavy": not light.

I hope it is just that i am using the wrong type of flour....only way to find out: MAKING MORE CUPCAKES!!!

Last week was my little niece's birthday.

She turned 2! Already!

I really wanted to make something special for her.

While trying to find the perfect idea, I stumbled upon some of my son's books: Mr Men & Little Miss.

I also found a Mr Men & Little Miss toy so I went for that idea.

First: The idea: I wanted to tell a story, or stories: I wanted to have few characters interacting with each other.

Second: finding which characters to make???

There are so many! So i just chose the ones me & my husband loved the most as kids.

Mr BUMP, Miss NAUGHTY, Mr TICKLE, and so on...

Third: Spending a long time wondering what to put on top of the cake. I knew I wanted her name, and her age, and I wanted it to look simple and cute.

So, here is the result:

 And here are the stories:

First story: Miss NAUGHTY laughs as Mr BUMP falls.

 Second story: There is not really a story here....just Mr SMALL and his house on top of the valley.

 Third story: Mr TICKLE tickling Mr GRUMPY, who is clearly not finding it funny!

And finally, the top of the cake:

  Simple little colourful cubes.

The inside of the cake was made out of 3 sponge cakes filled with white chocolate cream and covered with fresh strawberries.

The things my niece loved the most: the cubes! we had to hide them as that's all she wanted to eat

As promised, I am now goignt o reveal my secret ingredient when it comes to Vegan Cupcakes:

This book was written by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

I bought this book this year while on holiday in England.

I bought this book mainly because of one of my co-workers.

We bring food at work for every reasons on earth: birthdays,...I just realised that we don't tend to have a reason but more of an excuse to bring cakes all the times ;)

Anyway, one of my co-workers being vegan, he was most of the time left starring at us while we were pigging out on all the cakes!

So, I decided to try something new.

I have to say that, despite being vegetarian, I was really sceptic on making cakes without eggs, cow's milk,...but it was a revelation!

I was trying out lots of recipes before buying this book: I was trying to find the perfect cupcake batter.

I finally try the basic Vanilla Cupcake from this book and BANG! It tasted better than all the other ones: the texture was right, the flavour was right, the colour, the height...I mean, just perfect!

Bye Bye Martha Stewart!  

Wanting to open a little Home Bakery here too, I am probably going to have to bake both kind of Cakes & Cupcakes: Vegan & Non-Vegan!

We are not the most open-minded kind of people when it comes to food...we are really big meat-eaters and we have a LOT of pre-conceived ideas about being Vegetarian or Vegan.

I have made quite a few recipes from this book and everytime, I gave some of the cupcakes to Non-Vegan people. And it is surprisingly always a winner.

I have done quite a lot this week and it does not look like it is going to slow down for next week!

Let's starts with a big batch of cupcakes made for the departure of one of my co-workers.

I made three different types of Vegan Cupakes and one non-Vegan.

Let's start with the Vegan Ones:

First, we have The Peanut Butter Cupcakes:

As a french person, I never actually had Peanut Butter before or used it.

If you love peanut butter, you will LOVE these. If you don't really like it, you might find it a bit much: the taste is really strong.

Personally, I loved them. The chocolate on top really suits the rest of the cupcakes. 

Next time, I might try to put some chocolate chips inside the actual cupcakes. 

Next, we have:

The Apple Cider Cupcakes

Making these was great! My entire kitchen smelled AMAZING: to make these, you have to put together, in a little pan: Apple cider,Cinnamon sticks, Cloves, Allspice and Agar powder and bring the whole mixture to boil.

It smelled like Xmas for me: it reminded me of the smell of Mulled Wine that we used to make on Xmas day in England.

 I was really hoping that all these beautifuls smells would translate in the taste and it really did!

Finally,

The Crimson Velveteen Cupcakes

I never had a Red Velvet Cupcake before so I really did not know what it was meant to taste like.

If they are meant to taste like these: Man, I understand why it is an American favourite!

And, let's not forget the NON-Vegan cupcake:   

The BRETON Cupcake

I wanted to make a BRETON inspired cupcake:

The cupcake is a base on the "Gâteau au Yaourt" recipe (yogurt cake), then we have a Caramel au beurre salé center (salted caramel), then i covered the cake with the same Caramel and Palet Breton crumbs (Breton biscuits).

Here we go!

I will make a post later on about the book that I use to make these VEGAN Cupcakes.