Pretty treat for the Mother's Day // Kaunis herkku äitienpäiväksi

Mother's Day is knocking on the door so I wanted to bake something what I've always wanted to try. These cupcakes are called Red velvet cupcakes and they get their name from the deep red color they have. These ones are perfect treat for all the moms on this upcoming Sunday! :)

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Äitienpäivä on ovella ja ajattelin leipoa jotain, mitä olen aina halunnut kokeilla. Nämä kuppikakut tunnetaan nimellä Red velvet ja ne saavat nimensä syvän punaisesta värityksestään. Nämä ovat täydellinen tarjoaminen äideille tulevana sunnuntaina! :)

Cupcakes// Kuppikakut:

150g (5,5 oz) Butter// Voita

3dl (10 fl oz) Sugar// Sokeria

4 Eggs// Kananmunaa

2,5 dl (8,4 fl oz) Milk// Maitoa

Red food color (prefer gel texture) // Punaista elintarvikeväriä (suosittelen geelimäistä väriä)

5dl (16 fl oz) Flours// Jauhoja

1,5 Tsp Vanilla sugar// Vaniljasokeria

4 Tbsp Cocoa powder// Kaakaojauhetta

1 Tsp Salt // Suolaa

2 Tsp Vinegar// Viinietikkaa

1,5 Tsp Baking powder// Leivinjauhetta

Icing// Kuorrutus:

400g (10,5 oz) Cream cheese// Maustamatonta tuorejuustoa

2dl (7 fl oz) Powdered sugar// Tomusokeria

2 Tsp Vanilla sugar// Vaniljasokeria

A splash of lemon juice// Tilkka sitruunamehua

Preheat the oven to 175° C, 345 F

Mix the sugar and butter into a fluffy foam. Then add the eggs mixing one by one into the foam.

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Lämmitä uuni 175°C

Vatkaa sokeri ja voi kuohkeaksi vaahdoksi. Lisää sitten munat vatkaamalle ne yksi kerrallaan vaahtoon.

Add the milk and food color next. Here I suggest you to use gel type food coloring since the liquid one doesn't do its job here. Liquid colors tend to disappear into the cupcake batter and before you get the right color, you have to use A LOT of it. That might ruin the taste of them. I got this small bottle of gooey Red velvet color/flavor from our local baking supply store and it worked so well!

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Lisää maito ja punainen elintarvikeväri seuraavaksi. Tässä kohtaa suosittelen käyttämään geelimäistä elintarvikeväriä, koska nestemäinen ei oikein tahdo toimia. Nestemäinen väri katoaa tämän tyyppiseen taikinaan ja ennen kuin saat haluamasi värin, saat käyttää sitä paljon. Liika nestemäinen elintarvikeväri voi pilata maun kokonaan. Itse ostin läheisestä leipomotarvikeliikkeestä pienen pullon siirappimaista Red velvet väriä/ aromia ja se toimi tosi hyvin!

Mix the dry ingredients into the batter: flours, vanilla sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Baking powder is going to be mixed with vinegar and added to the batter last. Then pour it into the cups and bake them for 20 mins.

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Sekoita kuivat aineet joukkoon: jauhot, vaniljasokeri, kaakaojauhe ja suola. Leivinjauhe sekoitetaan viinietikkaan ja lisätään taikinaan vasta vimeiseksi. Jaa taikina kuppeihin ja paista kuppikakkuja 20 minuuttia. 

Let the cupcakes cool down well and mix the icing in the meanwhile. Basically just mix the icing ingredients together and your ready to pipe the icing on the cupcakes.

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Anna kuppikakkujen jäähtyä kunnolla ja sekoita kuorrute valmiiksi sillä aikaa. Vatkaa ainekset vain keskenään ja olet valmis pursottamaan sen kuppikakkujen päälle. 

The Candyman Can!

It is time for my favorite part! I will dedicate the next couple of weeks for candies and master the art of candy making!

Today we're starting with the easiest recipe I have ever used. This treat is adored by my family and especially by my  dad. Ice chocolate. Looks like any other chocolate but wait, there's more! As soon as you put it in your mouth, it literally melts and spreads the ice cool-like feeling in your mouth without being cold.

Here you go:

200g (7 oz) Dark chocolate

100g (3,5 oz) Coconut butter

2-4 Drops of peppermint extract

Oh by the way, I found these little candy tins from a normal groserie store and here's a picture for my Finnish chicsters in case you're looking for ones. ;)

Just melt the butter and chocolate separately and then mix them together. The mixture you'll have isn't that thick at all so don't worry, everything's allright. ;)

I like to use this little cup for pouring it in the tins since I can have everything under control and it's easier to pour with the little lip on the cup.

After you're done pouring, place the chocolates into the fridge to harden and that's pretty much it. I hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

Sly as a fox

Candy time! I had never thought that candy making would be such a easy task. This all began when my mom heard this conversation on the radio about rowan berries.  Since it's fall, those trees are FULL of the berries and all I had to do was to get our ladders and pick the prettiest berries from our trees in the backyard! This Finnish candy company Fazer has produced these "fox candies" for centuries and those are one of my favorite ones since when I was a kid. I've read that they used to have actual rowan berries in them in the beginning but nowadays I think they've replaced them with a some kind of aroma. 

I started by cleaning the berries up from leaves and other stuff and stored them in the freezer for the next day. We haven't got any night frost yet so the freezer does the job too. By freezing them, they get a little less sour. The next day I scooped 3dl (1,25 cups) of those frozen buddies and boiled them for 30mins. During this time, berries lose their amygdala which causes stomach problems when eaten in large amounts. My berries lost a lot of their color while boiling them so that's why the candies turned out to be more orange than red. (The real candies are red so that's why they failed my expectations.) After being boiled, the berries should be a little bit softer than before so it easier to strain through a strainer. From this amount of those berries, there should become about 1dl (o,4 cup) of puree .

So on top of that puree you need:

5dl (2 cups) Water

5dl (2 cups) Sugar

15g (0,5 oz) Agar Agar -powder or flakes

1,5dl (2/3 cup) Apple sauce

1 Tsp Tartaric acid powder

+2dl (0,85 cup) Very fine sugar to roll those cubes in (I didn't really measure the sugar for this. Just added more on the plate when needed) :)

So after you're all done with the puree, boil up the water and add the Agar Agar. Remember not to have the stove on too hot! When the liquid get clearer you can go ahead and add the sugar. Boil it up again but be careful, it burns quickly if you're not paying attention! Then lower the heat again.

When the sugar has dissolved, add the apple sauce, rowan berry puree and tartaric acid powder. Mix them carefully and let the mixture cool down. While waiting, you can go ahead and cover a pan or some kind of mold with greaseproof paper. Pour the marmelade mixture in it and let it solidify for a couple of hours. After that you're free to cut it in the pieces of your choice. Put the pieces on a greaseproof paper to a dry place to dry for about 48h. Remember to turn them around at times so they dry evenly. Drying prevents the sugar melting on top of them later. ;) When the marmelades are dry but still a bit sticky, roll them on a plate where's sugar. Keep the marmelades in a airtight box for the future.

Oh and one more thing. I've been always struggling with finding some ingredients. People don't usually tell where to find those in their recipes so let me change that here! If you're wondering where to find tartaric acid powder, the easiest place is to go to the pharmacy and ask for it fromt them. I also happened to see some at our biggest supermarket but the pharmacy is the safest place to find some. Unfortunately it's a bit more expensive there so be prepared for that.

I'll meet you next time with some cake pops so have a chictastic time till then! :)