The summer is finally here! // Kesä on vihdoin täällä!

We meet again!
Can't believe it's been six months since I entertained you here last time. The spring and beginning of the summer has just flown by and I haven't even realized the fact that I've abandoned you here.
  No worries, finally I confronted myself and got myself to bake something not for a customer. I have to admit that I missed that feeling a lot. When there's no schedule and stress that everything has to come out perfect. Getting back to the roots of why I really love this whole baking thing means that I can't really enjoy my free time anymore. Yes, I do love to sleep in and other relaxing pastime activities but only to a certain point. I used to spend days doing basically nothing but not anymore. For example today, I spent most of my morning lying around and watching Orange Is the New Black on Netflix (which is by the way the greatest show ever!). I started to feel like I really need to get something done and not just anything but naturally some serious baking has to happen before I'm content.
  Hah, I had to resist that since I promise to get myself to write this piece as soon as possible. Plus for the first time in my life I'm seriously trying to decrease the amount of candy, dessert and whatnot I'm munching every week. Therefore the daily baking would do some serious damage to that deal. :D

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Tapaamme jälleen!

En voi uskoa, että siitä on kuusi kuukautta kun viimeksi viihdytin teitä täällä. Kevät ja alkukesä sujahtivat hujauksessa ohi enkä ole edes tajunnut, kuinka hylkäsin teidät tänne. 

  Ei hätää, otin vihdoin itseäni niskasta kiinni ja päätin leipoa jotain ihan vain blogiani varten. Pakko myöntää kuinka olen kaivannut tätä fiilistä. Sitä, kun ei ole tiukkaa aikataulua ja stressiä siitä että kaiken pitää osua kohdalleen heti ensimmäisellä kerralla täydellisesti. Palatessani takaisin intohimoni ytimeen tarkoittaa se myös sitä etten osaa nauttia vapaa-ajastani samalla tavalla kuin ennen. Kyllä, rakastan edelleen nukkua pitkään ja harrastaa muita rentouttavia aktiviteetteja, mutta vain tiettyyn pisteeseen asti. Ennen saatoin viettää montakin päivää tekemättä käytännössä yhtään mitään, mutta se on historiaa. Esimerkiksi tänään vietin koko aamun makoilessa ja tujotellessa Orange Is the New Black -sarjaa Netflixistä (mikä muuten on maailman paras sarja ikinä!). Lounaaseen mennessä tuli pakottava tarve saada jotain järkevää aikaiseksi, mutta ei mitä vaan, vaan luonnollisesti leipominen saisi minut tyytyväiseksi.

  Hah, oli pakko vastustaa kiusausta, koska lupasin itselleni että hoidan tämän tekstin ennen seuraavaa leipomiskertaa. Kaiken lisäksi ensimmäistä kertaa elämässäni yritän rajoittaa ahmimieni herkkujen määrää ja päivittäinen leipominen vain vahingoittaisi sopimusta kerta toisensa jälkeen. :D

What else has happened? Hmm let's see.. The graduation time was luckily extremely busy for me and I got to expand clientele once again. That's why I want to thank you guys greatly for spreading the word about me and my company!
  Cake pops are really hitting off for the people and that's why I've started to develop them even further and creating them as THE product for my company.
  I also gave (probably) the last tennis lessons at least for now. I take a bow and want to thank all the awesome people and kids I've had a chance to work with in these past six years as a tennis coach.

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Mitä muuta elämääni kuuluu? Hmm katsotaas.. Valmistujaisviikko oli onnekseni kiireistä aikaa ja sain laajentaa asiakaskuntaani jälleen. Siitä haluankin kiittää teitä arvoisat fanit, jotka olette levittäneet sanaa minusta ja yrityksestäni!

  Kakkutikkarit ovat ehdoton suosikki tällä hetkellä ja siksi olenkin aloittanut kehitystyön niiden eteen jotta tikkareista tulisi yritykseni lippulaivatuote.

  Vedin myös (todennäköisesti) viimeiset tennistuntini tältä erää. Iso kiitos ja kumarrus mahtaville työkavereille, pomoille sekä lapsille, joiden kanssa olen saanut tehdä töitä viimeisen kuuden vuoden aikana tennisvalmentajana.

Traditional birthday brunch in my family. Got a box of my favorite chocolates and a american football as present! :) // Perheemme perinteinen synttäribrunssi. Lahjaksi sain rasian lempisuklaitani ja jenkkifutispallon! :)

Cute, right? ^^ // Eikö olekin söpöjä? ^^

  Two weeks ago was also my 21st birthday, luckily I haven't had a age crisis yet. Maybe it hits me in few years :D Last time I baked myself a cute sushi cake. This time it was time to bake something new once again.. well almost. I made a batch of panda themed cake pops and you guys can't even imagine how crazy people went when I offered them those.

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Pari viikkoa sitten oli myös minun 21-vuotis synttärit ja onnekseni en ole vielä kärsinyt ikäkriisistä. Ehkä se iskee sitten parin vuoden päästä. :D Vuosi sitten leivoin itselleni söpön sushikakun. Tällä kertaa päätin leipoa taas jotain täysin uuttaa.. tai ainakin melkein. Tein kasan panda teemaisia kakkutikkareita, ettekä voi edes kuvitella kuinka sekaisin kaikki menivät kun tarjosin niitä heille.

So there you have a small summary of the last six months. Then we get back to business. On monday I got extra active and baked two different desserts. The first one were those amazing, fluffy chocolate cupcakes in the first picture which unfortunately fell straight on my menu so I have to keep the recipe for myself at least for now. The other one was this small strawberry-lime cheesecake which captures the whole summer inside of it. I'm content with the result since I'm actually bad at oven-baked cheesecakes and the taste isn't just the same as with the cold ones so not big fan of these. Altho this one here was different and incredibly tasty! :)

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Siinä oli siis teille pieni tiivistelmä viimeisestä kuudesta kuukaudesta. Sitten pääsemmänki takasin asiaan. Olin maanantaina extra toimelias ja leivoin kaksi eri herkkua. Ensimmäiset olivat nuo samaiset ihanan kuohkeat suklaakuppikakut ensimmäisessä kuvassa. Valitettavasti ne päätyivät pidemmittä puheitta suoraan yritykseni menuhun, joten pidän reseptin ainakin toistaiseksi itselläni. Toinen herkku oli tämä pieni mansikka-lime juustokakku, joka kätkee sisäänsä koko kesän. Olen tyytyväinen lopputulokseen sillä olen erittäin huono uunissapaistettavien juustokakkujen kanssa ja maun takia en ole myöskään kovinkaa iso fani. Tämä tässä oli kuitenki poikkeus ja erittäin maukas! :)

10 Digestive cookies

75g (2,6 oz) Butter

500g (17,6 oz) Cream cheese

200g (7 oz) Crème Fraîche

3 Eggs

100g (3,5 oz) Sugar

1 tbsp Vanilla sugar

1 Grated lime zest

Lime juice

1,5 Gelatine leaves

250g (8,8 oz) Frozen strawberries

100g (3,5 oz) Water

4 tbsp Sugar

Lime juice

24cm (9inch) cake tin

Heat up the oven to 175°C (350 F)

Chop the cookies into a small crumble, melt the butter and mix them together.

Spread it in the bottom of the cake tin tightly with spoon.

Bake the crust in the oven for 7 minutes.

Whisk the cream cheese, crème fraîche and eggs together.

Add both of the sugars, lime zest and some lime juice according to your taste.

Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake it in the oven for 35-40 minutes.

Soak those gelatin leaves in some cold water for 5 minutes.

Let the strawberries, lime juice (according to your own taste), sugar and water to boil for 5 minutes.

Run it through the sieve and pour the glaze back into the pan.

If necessary, heat it up again to melt the gelatine leaves into it.

Let it cool down just a bit and then pour it on top of the cake.

Let it set in the fridge at least for 2 hours.

//

10 Digestive keksiä

75g Voita

500g Maustamatonta tuorejuustoa

200g Crème Fraîchea

3 Kananmunaa

100g Sokeria

1rkl Vaniljasokeria

1 Limen kuoriraaste

Lime mehua

1,5 Liivatelehteä

250g Pakastemansikoita

100g Vettä

4rkl Sokeria

Limemehua

24cm Irtopohjavuoka

Lämmitä uuni 175°C

Murusta keksit hienoksi tehosekoittimessa tai kaulimella, sulata voi ja yhdistä ne keskenään.

Levitä keksiseos vuoan pohjalle tiiviisti lusikalla painellen.

Paista pohjaa 7 minuuttia uunin keskitasossa.

Vatkaa tuorejuusto, crème fraîche ja kanamunat kulhossa.

Lisää molemmat sokerit, limen kuori ja lime mehua maun mukaan.

Kaada täyte vuokaan ja paista kakkua 35-40 minuuttia.

Liota liivatelehtiä kylmässä vedessä noin 5 minuuttia.

Keitä mannsikoita, sokeria, vettä ja limemehua kattilassa toiset 5 minuuttia kunnes se sakenee.

Siivilöi kiilteestä mansikatpois ja kaada kiille takasin kattilaan.

Kuumenna seosta tarvittaessa, jotta liivatelehdet sulavat kokonaan sekoittaessa.

Anna jäähtyä hieman ja kaada kakun päälle.

Anna jähmettyä jääkaapissa vähintään 2 tuntia.

Competition time! // Kilpailun aika!

So I noticed there's a competition going on by Arla Ingman and the goal was to use their newest ice cream product and pimp it with garnishes. I put all of my skills and ideas in this one so we'll see what happens. :) The catch on this one was the prize of course. They hand out 5 Kitchen Aid mixers for the winners and my god how I have dreamt about that machine! It's way too expensive for me to buy it so I keep all my fingers crossed!

//

Huomasin kuinka Arla Ingmanilla on käynnissä kilpailu, jonka tarkoituksena on käyttää heidän uusia pehmytjäätelö tuotteita ja tuunata annos lisukkeilla. Käytin kaikki mahdolliset taidot ja ideat tähän annokseen joten saa nähdä miten käy. :) Kuokku tässä oli tietenki itse pakinto. Viidelle voittajalle jaetaan Kitchen Aid -yleiskoneet ja voi luoja miten olenkaan haaveillut kyseisestä koneesta! Se on aivan liian kallis ostettavaksi, joten pidänkin kaikki sormet ristissä toivoen parasta!

Colors on this one look a bit weird since I snapped this with my phone.

//

Kuvan värit on näyttää tässä vähän hurjalata, mutta syynä siihen on se että otin tämän kännykälläni.

First out of three has a sugar leaf as a decoration. This was my first time making decorations out of sugar but it turned out to be pretty amazing in my opinion. The problem was pretty much the weather since the hot and humid summer day made those pieces all sticky and they actually started to melt without being in a freezer.

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Ensimmäistä niistä kolmesta koristi sokeri lehti. Tämä oli mun eka kerta sokerikoristeiden parissa, mutta mielestäni niistä loppujen lopuksi tuli aika mahtavia. Ainoa ongelma oli sää, koska kuuma ja kostea kesäpäivä sai kovettuneet koristeet tahmaisiksi ja ne alkoivat pikkuhiljaa sulaa ilman pakkasta.

For the middle one, I wanted to bring some natural beauty and freshness with a bunch of bright colored cloudberries and top it of with chocolate.

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Keskimmäiseen halusin tuoda luonnollista kauneutta sekä raikkautta kirkkaan värisillä lakoilla ja lopulta kruunata kokonaisuuden suklaalla.

The last one got a little sugar cage around it.

//

Viimeinen sai pienen sokerihäkin ympärilleen. 

The dessert of Gods // Jumalten jälkiruoka [Gluten free]

Greetings my chicsters!

On Sunday I celebrated the first actual warm spring day with this delicacy. I totally have fell in love with this recipe book I found from the library a couple of weeks ago and this recipe here just strengthen my love to gluten free baking. At first I hesitated with the tart, whether I'd bake it or not, but in the end I thought these two were combined for a reason. On this recipe you'll need an ice cream machine! Both of these two contain a good amount of pistachio nuts so I started to hunt for the best value to size ratio out there. Turned out that nuts are darn expensive!! :D The most reasonable bag I found was 400g (14 oz) and cost about 6€. The next step was to get a couple sore fingers by releasing every single nut from their shells. In total you'll need 200g (7oz) of those nuts and one 400g bag only gave me about 160g so another trip to the store was necessary. After 45mins I was ready to go! Notice, they sell plain pistachio nuts without any shells in some health store but the price rises way too high because of that.. Almost 20€/200g (7oz)!

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Tervehdys chicsterini! Sunnuntaina juhlistin ensimmäistä kunnon lämmintä kevätpäivää tällä herkulla. Rakastuin täysin tähän leivontakirjaan (Leivo Gluteenitonta, Hannah Miles), jonka löysin kirjastosta muutama viikko sitten ja tämä kyseinen resepti vahvistaa vain rakkauttani gluteenitonta leivontaa kohtaa. Epäröin alussa josko tekisin torttua ollenkaan, mutta lopulta päädyin siihen tulokseen, että nämä kaksi on laitettu yhteen syystä. Tässä reseptissä tarvitset jäätelökoneen!

Molemmat näistä sisältävät kunnon määrän pistaasipähkinöitä, joten lähdin metsästämään parasta hinta/määrä suhdetta. Kävi ilmi, että pähkinät ovat hiton kalliita!! :D Kaikista järkevin pussi, jonka löysin, oli 400g ja maksoi vähän päälle 6€ (Prismasta, X-tra:n tuote). Seuraava vaihe oli saada muutama kipeä sormi vapauttamalla jokainen pähkinä kuorestaan. Kokonaisuudessaan pähkinöitä tarvitaan 200g ja yksi pussi tuotti tulosta vain 160g verran, joten toinen kauppareissu oli tarpeen. 45 minuutin jälkeen oli vihdoin valmis leipomaan!

Huomaa, että valmiiksi kuorittuja pähkinöitä löytyy esim. terveyskaupasta, mutta hintakin pomppaa taivaisiin sen myötä.. melkein 20€/200g!

Let's begin from the ice cream // Aloitetaan jäätelöstä

3 Egg yolks // Munankeltuaista

5 Tbsp Sugar // Sokeria

3dl (10 fl oz) Cream // Kermaa

100g (3,5 oz) Chopped pistachio nuts// rouhittuja pistaasipähkinöitä

0,5 Tsp Vanilla extract // Vaniljauutetta

Green food color if you want // Vihreää elintarvikeväriä halutessasi

The original recipe told to use 1dl (3,5 fl oz) of milk and 2dl (7 fl oz) of cream but I wanted to have extra creamy ice cream so I replace the milk with cream. It's up to you how you like your ice cream. :)

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Alkuperäisessä reseptissä oli 1dl maitoa ja 2dl kermaa, mutta itse halusin oikein kermaista jäätelöä, joten korvasin maidon kermalla. Voit päättää itse oman jäätelösi koostumuksen. :)

Whip the egg yolks and sugar lightly. Measure the cream (possible milk) and pistachios into a pot and bring it up to the boil.

//

Vatkaa keltuaiset ja sokeri kevyeksi vaahdoksi. Mittaa kerma (mahdollinen maito) ja pistaasit kattilaan ja kiehauta nopeasti. 

Pour the cream-pistachio mixture into the yolk mixture and whip it up with a mixer. Pour it back into the pot and heat it up until the texture gets thicker. Then add the vanilla extract and the possible food coloring and let it cool down.

//

Kaada kerma-pistaasi seos keltuaisiin ja vatkaa ne keskenään sekaisin. Kaada seos takaisin kattilaan ja kuumenna sitä, kunnes se tulee paksummaksi. Lisää sitten vaniljauute ja mahdollinen elintarvikeväri ja anna seoksen jäähtyä.

Start up the ice cream machine and pour the mixture in. Let the machine do its job for 25-35 mins (check your own machine's instructions) and then pour it into a box with a lid and store it in a freezer.

 //

Käynnistä jäätelökone ja kaada jäähtynyt seos koneeseen. Anna koneen tehdä tehtävänsä 25-35 minuutin ajan (tarkista oman koneesi ohjeet) ja kaada se sitten kannelliseen rasiaan pakastamista varten.

Then the chocolate tart // Sitten suklaatorttu

260g (9 1/5 oz) Dark chocolate // Tummaa suklaata

100g (3,5 oz) Butter // Voita

3 2/3dl (12,2 fl oz) Powdered sugar // Tomusokeria

4 Eggs (yolks and egg whites separated) // Kananmunaa (keltuaiset ja valkuaiset eroteltuna)

1 Tsp Vanilla extract // Vaniljauutetta

100g (3,5 oz) Powdered pistachios (use a mixer to powder them) // Pistaasipähkinäjauhetta (jauha pähkinät yleiskoneessa)

+ 23cm (9 inch) buttered springform pan // voideltu irtopohjavuoka

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350F)

Melt the chocolate and butter in a water bath. Let it cool down to room temperature after melting.

//

Sulata suklaa ja voi vesihauteessa. Anna sen sitten jäähtyä huoneenlämpöiseksi. 

Whip the egg yolks and powdered sugar lightly. Fold lightly in the cooled down chocolate, vanilla extract and pistachio powder. Then whip the egg whites till you can form little peaks from it. Fold it also in. The egg whites are supposed to make the tart batter smoother and reduce the thickness.

//

Vatkaa keltuaiset tomusokerin kanssa kevyesti. Kääntele mukaan jäähtynyt suklaa, vaniljauute ja pistaasijauhe. Vatkaa sitten valkuaisia niin kauan, että voit lopulta muodostaa pieniä huippuja siitä. Kääntele vaahto myös mukaan. Valkuaisten pitäisi notkistaa taikinaa reilusti.

Pour the batter into a buttered springform and let it bake for 25-30 mins. The surface should be nice and crispy meanwhile the insides are still a bit squishy. Almost like an mud cake. When cooling down, the cake gets more solid so make sure to release the springform pan after the cake has completely cooled down.

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Kaada taikina voideltuun irtopohjavuokaan ja anna paistua uunissa 25-30 minuuttia. Tortun pinnan pitäisi olla rapea, mutta sisus vielä pehmeä. Melkein kuin mutakakku. Jäähtyessään tortusta tulee kiinteämpi, joten ennen vuuan irroittamista, anna tortun jäähtyä kokonaan. 

Why do all good things come to an end?

Greetings!

Right in the beginning I want to apologize for the long delay in my posts. I got some sort of tourists stomach flu and I've been sick for whole February. Despite the sickness, the trip was a blast! We didn't do as much stuff as we did the last time I was there and that bothered me at first. Seeing all these other friends experiencing awesome stuff on the other side of the world made me think.. It actually took me a couple of days to realize that I had never been so happy in my life. Just feeling that other person's warmth on you while watching tv for example. That's the real thing I miss. Sharing those simple everyday moments with each other in real time. Not days after on Skype. 

Moving on to some happier thoughts; where did we visit the last time? Well, we headed our way to the Countryside Mall. We wanted to see this awesome zombie movie "Warm bodies" (coming out on April 5th in Finland!!) and while we had some extra time afterwards, I wanted to find something delicious. First I spotted the place called Great American Cookies. They basically make cookie cakes with fancy decoration on them. We got some different brownies and a cookie sandwich from there.

Up there in that picture we have chocolate fudge brownies (dark ones), peanut butter brownies and that sandwich. I was pretty surprised since I've always considered brownies as fluffy, cake kind of treat. These ones, on the other hand, were more cookie like. They were harder to bite in and crumbled easily. Therefore I still stand for fluffy "normal" brownies! :D The cookie sandwich was pretty good. At first I thought the filling was going to be ice cream so I was kind of disappointed when it turned out to be some sort of cream-icing filling.

After shopping for some scented candles, sweater and food we ended up to  Morrow's Fine Candy & Nuts.

Yup, I found some Finnish candy from there!

Once again, I couldn't do anything else but drool over the chocolates they had there. As the name of the store says, they also had a huge variety of different kind of nuts. You guys probably know me so well that you know I only picked the chocolates ;) On the pictures above, we have colorful little marzipan treats, chocolate covered orange peels, red velvet dome, chocolate covered marshmallow stick, chocolate/m&m covered pretzel aaand chocolate covered pretzel sticks. My favorite one was absolutely the M&M pretzel but basically anything covered in chocolate goes.

I had some better day in between being sick so we tried to take advantage of them and do as much stuff as we could. Unfortunately The last few days we saved for the most awesome amusement park, Busch Gardens, I had to feel bad again. -.- Then a little bit more that few tears were shed at the airport. For few things I'm extremely happy to be home, like the ease to go to the doctor's here compared to USA. So here comes to an end the 8 absolutely A-M-A-Z-I-N-G weeks in Florida and my booboo. Eagerly waiting for the adventures in the future. Yea, what's going to happen next?

Well, I have few important things to tell you. First of all, I have applied to the vocational school for the baker's education. I know! I've never been this excited about anything school related hahah. I also applied to the same art school as last year. Which brings me to the next topic. This March is going to be tough for me since I need to work on those entry exam artworks. It's going to take a lot of time along the work. So don't get scared if I'm not posting as much as I do usually. :) I'll get into this more after this month.

Thirdly, I have some big plans concerning the blog. As you can see, I have put up a little poll on my Facebook page whether I'd start to write also in Finnish or not. I really would like to get your opinion on this so I could improve as a blogger and please my readers. :) Feel free to give me other feedback too! I've also considered starting to make short videos of different baking tips and tricks.  I got some great new cookbooks from Florida so there's going to be amazing new recipes as soon as I get to bake.

With these word I wish you all chictastic spring and I'll see you guys soon! ;)

Chocolate here and there and everywhere! pt. 2

.... aaand we're back! How's it going guys?

Okay, so today the spotlight is on the chocolates we got from the festival. They were almost too beautiful to be eaten but hey, unfortunately this is my job. :P So let's see what we got first..

From top left: Giant marshmallow on pretzel stick, s'mores, rice crispy treat, a pile of marshmallows

All of these were pretty much some basic stuff. Not saying that they weren't delicious but the flavors just didn't give any wow- effect. I just really like the idea of putting different kind of treats on a stick.. or pretzel :D I'd say the s'mores was my favorite one out of these four. For some one who doesn't know what a s'mores is, let me explain.. There's marshmallow and chocolate squeezed between two cookies and, in this case, dipped into chocolate. Yup, I just found myself drooling over that thought. :P Let's move on..

This is a tricky one because I can't really remember what the flavors were on these ones. Therefore I'm trying my best to describe the flavor I tasted.

I didn't know what to expect from these because my poor memory so I nibbled a first bite from the purple macaroon. It turned out to be a very pleasant experience. The flavor was extremely delicate and I actually had to close my eyes to define the flavor. It was almost like some kind of flower. I'd say it's lavender but I might be wrong as well. Definitely my favorite one!

The there was the blue one. Don't let the pretty colors fool you! Now this one was a let down. The flavor was notably stronger. I'd definitely say that there was some sort of licorice in that filling. I'm not a licorice hater but nope, I did NOT enjoy this one at all. It was just too weird to be likable.

Black: Lava, blue: Vanilla bean, yellow: Piña colada, oranges: Peanutbutter & Jelly, brown: Champagne, green: Key Lime

These were definitely my favorite ones from all of the treats we got. They're like Gym Badges from Pokemon! Okay, let's start from the top.. That black diamond is called Lava. Pretty scary, huh? We were expecting some super spicy chocolate but it was a disappointment. It was basically just dark chocolate ganache covered with dark chocolate. Where's the chili man?! Oh well..

Then we have Vanilla Bean. OH. MY. GOD! This one just melted in your mouth and the vanilla flavor was so gentle that you just wanted to live the rest of your life in it! Definitely 12/10.

Next up there's Piña Colada which almost reaches to Vanilla Bean's level. The sweet and creamy coconut flavor just spreads in your mouth after you bite it and makes you want more. Vanilla Bean just happened to be super gentle so this one holds the solid second place.

PB & Jelly was alright. The lady who sold these to us told that it's going to be amazing but meh.. I think it was overrated and it tasted like Reese's peanut butter cups which I don't really enjoy that much. Although it was cool to see a different combination/filling in chocolate truffles.

We got a champagne truffle just so I could compare again. This one was pretty much the same one we had on Schakolad chocolates. The champagne in the ganache wasn't too strong and the milk chocolate covering it was just the best!

The last but not the least we have Key Lime. It tasted EXACTLY like my key lime pie! It was such a surprise when I got a bite and tasted something familiar but in the form of chocolate! Definitely on the third place on my list. :)

Overall these showed me how beautiful chocolate can actually be when you put some effort in them. Also the flavors have surprised and taught me that there's much more than just the basic flavors like caramel, mint and orange for example.

Push-up Red velvet Pop

This one here was like the king of all of the cupcakes. I fell in love with Red Velvet cupcakes back in Sweet! cupcakes. That was the first time I got to taste Red Velvet flavor and oh my goodness how I love it! I love the push-up idea in this and reminds me of the ice creams I had when I was little. I would actually prefere these over actual Red Velvet cupcakes since it's so much easier to eat it without having the icing all over your face! :D I bet kids go even crazier over these than me. Such a great idea! 10/10

Pretty little fortune cookies

Look at these!! Aren't these the cutest thing you've ever seen? Yea, I've totally fallen in love with fortune cookies while being here. I've never had one in my entire life until we went to Panda Express. People who have had a fortune cookie can agree that they're pretty simple but something in them just makes me adore them. When dipped in chocolate they only get better, I can tell you that. ;)

Blue ribbon winner by Sweet Tweets Cakery: Hazelnut praline cupcake

 This cupcake got a blue ribbon from some kind of competition so of course we had to get one. The cupcake itself was HUGE! A rich chocolate flavor muffin underneath a gorgeous chocolate cream icing. After taking a bite I understood why this cupcake won a blur ribbon. The sensation was pretty much the same when I tasted the Vanilla Bean truffle. You just wanted to clse your eyes and concentrate on the flavor with all of your senses. Thank you Sweet Tweets Cakery for baking such a delicious cupcake for us! 

Coco Fizz! Yup, it's chocolate soda

 Sunday's absolute star was a bottle of this Chocolate Soda. I saw some kids running around the festival with these bottles and all I could think of was: "Who gave beer to all of these kids?!" After closer inspection I realized I was awfully wrong and started to seek this weird drink from the counters. They had a huge box full of ice and dozens of Coco Fizz bottles in it so of course we had to get one. The idea of chocolate soda was something really absurd but once you got a sip, it wasn't even that bad. I'd say it was like chocolate milk with bubbles. I'm not best friends with sodas so one bottle was enough for me. What I learned from this? Don't be afraid something way too weird until you have tasted it. :)  

The best thing I bought from that festival

 Yes, I actually got something else that edibles from the festival. This book was for half price and definitely a treasure. There's a lot of stuff they don't really have in my other candy books and I bet this will help me a lot in the future. Even the recipes are already converted into grams and whatnot so I couldn't be happier! I guess you guys will see some of these candies on my blog eventually. ;)

The chocolate festival was absolutely a blast and I wish I could go back. Hopefully you guys enjoyed these as much as we did! I have already set a couple of day for the adventures in the future, like Cheesecake Factory and a baking supply store. Therefore I'm going to see you soon chicsters!

Chocolate here and there and everywhere! pt. 1

Good day ladies and gentlemen and what a beautiful day we actually have here!

Last weekend was amazing and especially Sunday since it was time for adventures at Mosi (Museum of Science and Industry). Kind of like we have Heureka for us Finns. We learnt about natural disasters, human life, space junk, stars and the most important part... CHOCOLATE!

They had arranged a chocolate festival for people all ages. There was cookie stacking competitions, candy counting competitions, fashion show, two attempts for Guinness World Record and of course counter after counter full of chocolate.

I didn't really have any expectations beforehand so one can imagine how amazed and excited I was once we arrived to the hall full of chocolate. You could just smell the chocolate before you even stepped into the actual hall. I couldn't love my life more at that moment! :))

They had this system that people buy sort of like tokens and then buy chocolate and whatnot with the tokens. I loved that idea and tried to calm myself so I wouldn't spend all my money there.

Get ready for a delicious pictures because here they come!

Winner dress from the fashion show

Love the idea of putting the flowers on the right into the vase full of white chocolate. Also some mustache lollipops on the far left.

Some AMAZING candy apples by Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Didn't buy any because they seemed over priced. ($7 each)

Some cute cupcakes, love those mini ones!

This guy made the ice cream you ordered right in front of you by using liquid nitrogen.

Beautiful macaroons, we got the light blue one and the purple one :3

Such a romantic strawberries, too bad they were $3 each :(

Yep, these are cakes. :D Amazing, right?

Closeup from my favorite cake

Truffles by Irresistible Confections. I've never seen anything that beautiful made out of chocolate!

There was plenty of different kind of treats on the stick for ex. oreos, giant marshmallows, s'mores, rice crispy treats etc. All of them covered in chocolate of course ;)

They just created the cutest things from sugar!

Chocolate fountains by Schakolad. Dipping options were strawberries and marshmallows :3

I'm so happy my boyfriend found this event since we don't have anything like this in Finland. I got so much inspiration from this place and it would be a dream come true to be one of those companies bringing out their products! :) On the part 2 I'm going to show you guys what we got from the festival and review them for you. ;) See you then!