Cocoa Cupcakes with Banana Frosting

Cocoa cupcakes - the easiest thing to make when unexpected guests arrive.

But it's not very easy for them to wait until I take all these pictures, hahha. You know that feeling when you see steamy muffins on a rack and smell that wonderful scent, but you can't bite and taste them.

Cocoa Cupcakes with Banana Frosting(24 pieces)

Ingredients:

cupcakes:

2 cups water

1 cup cocoa

3 cups wheaten flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2  teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

frosting:

2 medium-size bananas

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions:

1.Boil two cups of water, add cocoa, wait until it melts. Then take a pot from the heat and place it in a refrigerator.

2.Take a bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until a batter becomes fluffy. Then mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and pour this mixture in to the paste. Whisk for a few minutes. Add melted cocoa and beat once again thoroughly.

3.Heat the oven to 180 degrees(Celsius). Take a cupcake pan, put lined paper cups in it and fill three quarters of each of them with the batter. Bake about 20 minutes. Then take muffins out of the oven and while waiting until they get cool, prepare a frosting.

4.Banana frosting making process: Mash bananas, add lemon juice, vanilla and milk and beat for 5 minutes. Then put confectioners' sugar, spoon by spoon and slowly whisk until the mixture is creamy. Frost cupcakes and flavour them with some chocolate chips.

YUUUMMI!!!

Brown Curd Cake

It's the third curd cake that I'm baking, but it's kind of similar to this one - the first which I tried.

To be honest, I could say that this brown curd cake tastes perfect, there's no need to say anything else.

And that smell of cocoa when you take the cake out of the oven.

Mmmm, love it!!!

Brown Curd Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1,1/2 cups cocoa

1,1/2 cups white sugar

pinch vanilla

3 cups wheaten flour

1, 1/2 teaspoons baking powder or baking soda

500g curd

4 eggs

Instructions:

1.Paste making process: Take a pot, melt the butter, take it from the heat and put in the cold place until it gets cool. Then add cocoa, vanilla, 3 cups of white sugar and mix everything thoroughly. Combine wheaten flour with baking powder/soda and put them in the pot, where melted butter and other ingredients are. Knead the pastry for more than 10 minutes. Then place the pot in the refrigerator and keep it there while you prepare the curd filling.

2.Curd filling making process: Beat egg yolks with 1/2 cup of sugar, then add curd and whisk the mixture. In another bowl froth egg whites and put them in the curd filling. Mix for 5 minutes.

3.Heat the oven to 180 degrees(Celsius). Take a cake pan, put half of the pastry in it, then pour curd filling in and then the left batter. Bake about 1 hour.

YUUUMMI!!!

Noodle with Bolognese Sauce

Have you ever heard about 'Mystery shopper'?

I've been looking for a job for several days and I saw an online advert called like this.

I had no idea what it was, but it sounded interesting, so I checked one company's website which had announced this ad.

There was plenty of information that I needed and even a codex that people willing to become a mystery shopper have to sign.

Should I apply for this kind of job(actually I think that it's not a serious job at all, but it could be a great opportunity to try something new out and to have more activity)?

And of course, the recipe:

Noodle with Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients:

1 noodle pack(about 500g)

500g beef mince

2 onions

3 cloves garlic

400g mushrooms(I used chanterelles)

3-4 spoons ketchup

a few laurel leaves

olive oil

pinch salt

pinch pepper

pinch other spice(basil, marjoram and ect.)

Instructions:

1.Chop vegetables(onions and garlic cloves). Take a frying-pan, pour some olive oil in, add chopped veggies and fry until onions and garlic get a golden colour(it takes about 10 minutes).

2.Put the beef mince  in the same frying-pan and fry for another 10 minutes. While waiting, chop mushrooms. Then add them, ketchup, a few laurel leaves and other spice to a beef-onions-garlic mixture. Put a frying-pan's top on and stew for 30-40 minutes.

3.Take a pot, pour some water in and simmer it. Add oil, salt and noodle and cook(about 20-30 minutes). Strain the pasta off.

4.Put the noodle in the plates and then some spoons of the sauce. You may flavour this dish with some grated cheese(parmesan!)

YUUUMMI!!!

Simple Curd Cake

Oh, everything is just great!

I keep doing my workout each morning and afterwards I always feel so energetic, so capable of doing anything. I just love that feeling, as it makes me more concentrated on my future!

Also, today is very warm(22 degrees!!!), it seems that summer came back, doesn't it?

I am really in a good mood, that's why right now it doesn't matter that I didn't pass my driving exam yesterday. I am an optimist and I know that I'll do it next time. I'll get that fuc*ing driving license!

Today I wanted something simple and quickly made, so I baked curd cake. And while waiting until the top of the cake gets a golden colour, I've spent the afternoon in my cosy balcony reading one of my favourite books - 'Jane Eyre' written by Charlotte Brontë(an old version(released in 1954) of the book, which belongs to my grandmother). I think I should also watch a movie, may be in the evening or tomorrow. 

Simple Curd Cake

Ingredients:

base:

1 egg yolk

1,1/2 cups wheaten flour

1/2 cup butter

pinch vanilla

1 tablespoon white sugar

6-7 tablespoons cold water

curd filling:

1/4 cup wheaten flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

pinch vanilla

2 tablespoons cream

3 eggs

450 g curd

Instructions:

1.Base making process: Take a bowl and combine the butter with the flour. Blend until it becomes a crumbly pastry. Add the egg yolk, the vanilla and six tablespoons of the water. Whisk for a few minutes. Then knead a paste for more than 5 minutes and roll a medium-size circle.

2.Curd filling making process: Mix the butter and sugar. Add the curd, flour, cream, egg yolks and vanilla. Beat for a while. In another bowl froth egg whites. Pour them in the curd mixture and slowly beat.

3.Heat the oven to 200 degrees(Celsius). Butter and flour a cake pan and put the rolled batter round in it. Fill with the curd cream mixture. Bake for 50-55 minutes, until the toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

YUUUMMI!!!

Cabbage Soup

A while ago, a friend of mine(actually, my BFF) reminded me the name of my blog: 'Cookbook&other notes'. Yes, OTHER NOTES.

But until now, I've posted just recipes, there were no other notes.

So there is a time for some small changes.

From now I am going to write not only about food, but also my daily life(no too much personal information, just some notes to make the blog more interesting to read).

So here we go:

Today is a big day for me, as I am starting running.

I mean RUNNING, not just jogging some rounds in the stadium.

I have found(on the Internet)  runners' training plan for a half marathon race and now I am so excited.

It will take 18 weeks to prepare, but I am sooo ready to start it right now!!

And today I am having a strength train.

I hope my muscles won't hurt very much tomorrow, as I haven't done sports for a long time.

Of course, I add one recipe(it's still a food blog, right?) - a cabbage soup.

Cabbage Soup

Ingredients:

half cabbage(not a large one)

4 carrots

4 potatoes

2 onions

2 cups chicken bouillon 

pinch salt

pinch pepper

pinch dried herbal(I used basil and parsley)

1/4 cup butter

Instructions:

1.Peel potatoes. Chop them and the cabbage. Take a pot, pour in some water, boil it and then put chopped vegetables, add salt and pepper.

2.Peel carrots and onions, chop them. Take a frying-pan, melt butter, put veggies and fry for about 30 minutes. Then put everything into the pot. Add the chicken bouillon and the mixture of dried herbal. Cook for more than 30 minutes. Also you can add some cream(according to your taste).

YUUUMMI!!! 

P.s. Wish me luck for my new challenge.

Chicken Lasagna

Sadly, my mother and I got sick. It feels that we are in hospital. So, I think, there is no need to say how we feel right now.

And may be it seems that we are insane, but the only one thing which helps us these days is FOOD.

Cooking and eating really increase our moods.

Today I baked lasagna with chicken. I tried it for the first time. Earlier I cooked lasagna with vegetables or pork/beef. But I can say that this version of lasagna is the best. It tastes so good!

Chicken Lasagna

Ingredients:

12 lasagna noodle leaves

350g chicken breast without skin

2 onions 

half leek

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup wheaten flour

150g grated cheese

2 tablespoons cream

pinch salt

pinch pepper

a few laurel leaves

chicken spice

a few cups chicken bouillon

olive oil

Instructions:

1.Chop the chicken breast. Take a pot, pour in some water, put the chicken in, add a few laurel leaves, some pinches of salt, pepper and chicken spice. Boil for about 30 minutes.

2.Chop onions, garlic and leek. Take a frying-pan, melt half of the butter, put chopped vegetables in and fry until veggies get the golden colour.

3.Take another frying-pan, melt the left butter, add flour and mix for about 5 minutes. Then pour in chicken bouillon, cream and a quarter of cheese. Fry for 5 minutes. Then take from the heat and mix for a few times.

4.Boil the water in a pot, add a pinch of salt and one or two tablespoons of olive oil. Put the noodle in, cook for less then 10 minutes and take it out one by one. Pour cold water in the pot and put noodle in once again. After 10 minutes take it out.

5.Take a square-shape pan. Cover the bottom of the pan with some tablespoons of the butter-flour-cream-bouillon-cheese sauce, then put two leaves of lasagna noodle, then add some chicken, grated cheese and again sauce, noodles and etc. On the top of the lasagna should be the sauce layer with some pinches of cheese.

6.Heat the oven to 200 degrees(Celsius) and bake about 40-50 minutes until the lasagna gets golden/dark brown colour.

YUUUMMI!!!

Dark Creamy Hazelnuts Filling Cake

Today's my Dad's celebrating his birthday, so I baked this wonderful taste cake!

Dark Creamy Hazelnuts Filling Cake

Ingredients: 

cookie:

1,3/4 cups wheaten flour

2 cups white sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup strong brewed coffee

1 cup buttermilk(you can buy it or make by yourself(you'll need 1 cup milk and 1 tablespoon lemon juice))

1/2 cup oil(I used sunflower oil, but you can also use olive oil)

1 teaspoon vanilla

filling:

1/2 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup cream

1/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts

1 teaspoon vanilla

frosting:

1,1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup softened butter

pinch salt

half bar melted chocolate

1,1/2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:

1.In a bowl combine flour, white sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. 

2.In a cup of milk pour in the lemon juice and wait for a few minutes.

3.Add eggs, brewed coffee, buttermilk, oil and vanilla in the bowl with flour mixture. Beat for 2 minutes on medium speed.

4.Heat the oven to 175 degrees(Celsius). Butter and flour two cake pans(I used 18,5x18,5cm) and put the batter in. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the pans.

5.Filling making process: In a small saucepan or pot combine sugar, flour, salt, cream, milk and butter. Cook over medium heat until the mixture is creamy. Remove the saucepan/pot from heat, and stir in chopped hazelnuts and vanilla. Cool completely. Then spread this mixture on the cookie and put another one on.

6.Frosting making process: In another bowl mix sugar, softened butter and salt until fluffy. Add melted chocolate, milk and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Then frost the top and all the sides of the cake.

YUUUMMI!!!

P.s. Baking this cake requires a lot of patience, as it takes plenty of time. But I can say: it definitely worths that!

Chocolate Chips Cake

Is it normal to bake something sweet everyday?

I guess it isn't, but I'm addicted to it and there's nothing I can do.

So I just enjoy every bit.

Today I chose a chocolate chips cake and I don't regret of having consumed thousands of calories, as it's really the tastiest cake I've ever eaten!!!

Chocolate Chips Cake

Ingredients:

3 cups wheaten flour

1,1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups softened butter

1,1/2 cups white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

120-150g dark chocolate

Instructions:

1.Combine the softened butter with the sugar and blend for a few minutes.

2.Add the eggs one by one and constantly whisk a dough.

3. Add the vanilla and the mixture of the wheaten flour, the baking powder, the baking soda and the salt and beat very carefully and thoroughly.

4.Chop the chocolate into small pieces, put almost all of them in the dough and blend.

5.Heat the oven to 180 degrees(Celsius). Butter the cake pan, pour a batter in, sprinkle the remained pieces across the top and press them into a dough. Bake 35-40 minutes until the top of the cake becomes golden.

It's really such a tasty cake that I just can't describe it!!!

YUUMMMI!!!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Filling

I'm saying hip-hip hoorey one more time, as I just turned 19(actually yesterday)!!!
And I had a wonderful day with my girl!
Thank you one more time!

For my birthday I baked some vanilla cupcakes with a chocolate filling.
The taste of them was perfect(I suppose because of the chocolate, as I really love it).

  

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Filling(12 pieces)

Ingredients:

paste:

1/4 cup softened butter

3/4 cup white sugar

pinch vanilla

3 large eggs

1,1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1,1/2 cups wheaten flour

chocolate filling:

50g semi or bittersweet chocolate

1/4 cup softened butter

pinch vanilla

1/4 sifted confectioners' sugar/powdered sugar
1 teaspoon instant coffee powder

Instructions:
1.Combine the softened butter with the sugar and blend until it becomes a fluffy dough. Add the vanilla and the egg yolks and beat until smooth.
2.Put the flour and the baking powder to the dough and whisk until well-blended. Froth egg whites, also add them to a paste and blend everything.
3.Chop the chocolate and put it in a place or a bowl. Simmer some cups of water, then put the plate/bowl on the pot in which the simmering water is and wait until the chocolate becomes melted.
4.Take another bowl and blend the butter combined with the vanilla and the sugar until smooth.
5.Dissolve the coffee powder in the hot water. Pour the melted chocolate and the dissolved coffee powder in the mixture of the butter and the vanilla and slowly and carefully whisk.
3.Heat the oven to 180 degrees(Celsius). Put 1 tablespoon of the dough in each of lined muffin/your own made baking paper cups. Divide the chocolate filling 12 ways and pour it in each cup. Then put 1-2 tablespoons of the left paste in each cup. Bake 25-30 minutes until the top of the cupcakes gets a golden colour.

Enjoy the taste!!!

YUUUMMI!!!

Tea

I love drinking tea(I won't lie, coffee is much better, but I drink it more rarely than tea, usually instead of a dessert. And the tea is a thing which warms you, especially in the winter.).
So I decided(actually my mom offered) to stop buying various tea and try to make it at home.

Tea

Ingredients:

mints

lemon-balms

thymes

blueberries

cranberries

lemon/orange zest

Instructions:

1.Dry all the herbal, the berries and the lemon or orange zest(It takes a long time(a few weeks). Put them in the light place and wait until they become dried.)

2.Combine everything and flavour with a vanilla or a cinnamon. You can also add some pinches of ginger(according to your taste).

YUUUMMI!!!

Now you have your own tea, not the one from the shop!

Toasty Sandwiches

When you fall asleep after midnight and get up early in the morning(just after the sun rose up), the only thing you want at that moment is simply and quickly made breakfast.

So I chose the toasty sandwiches, as making them doesn't require any especial skills.

Toasty Sandwiches

Ingredients:

a few slices of bread

grated or sliced cheese

half tomato

a few pieces of paprika

pinch spice

Instructions:

1.Toast the slices of bread in a toaster(1-2 minutes).

2.Grate or slice the cheese, chop the tomato and the paprika.

3.Heat the oven to 150 degrees(Celsius) and while waiting for the right temperature, prepare the sandwiches. Put the grated/sliced cheese, the slices of tomato, the pieces of paprika on the toasty bread and flavour with some pinch of spice(I used the mixture of dried basil and rosemary). Bake about 10 minutes.

YUUUMMI!!!

Make a cup of tea, put a slice of the lemon in it and taste your breakfast!

Pizza

Have I mentioned that my little brother was celebrating his birthday today?

 One of his wishes was a home-made pizza.

I'm a good sister(or just wanted to be good and courteous during his fourteenth birthday), so I like Aladdin made his wish come true.

The result:

A 'Flatbread' pizza with pan-fried chicken and fresh vegetables(olive halves, tomato slices and paprika pieces) flavoured with grated cheese and the mixture of dried herbal.

Pizza

Ingredients:  

Pizza base(one large pizza base):

2 cups wheaten flour

12g leaven

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon white sugar

1 large egg

2 tablespoons cream/softened butter

1/2 cup warm  milk

Pan-fried chicken:

1,1/2 chicken breast without skin

pinch salt

pinch pepper

pinch some spice(whatever you like: chicken spice, basil, rosemary and etc.)

 

Other ingredients:

5-6 tablespoons ketchup

cheese(according to your taste)

1 large tomato

1/4 paprika

 olives(also according to your taste)

2 teaspoons mixture of dried herbal(basil, rosemary, coriander, thymes, garden savory and etc.)

Instructions:

1.Combine all the products that you need to make the pizza base and knead a dough more than 20 minutes(remember: the longer you knead, the tastier the pizza base will be). Then put the bowl in a warm place and keep it there approximately one hour.

2.Chop chicken breast into small squares. Take a pot, pour in some water, put in the chicken squares and add spice. Simmer about 15-20 minutes. Then put them into the frying-pan and pan fry 10-20minutes.

4.Knead a dough once again, then roll until in becomes a really flat base(not more than 5mm).

5.Chop the vegetables, grate the cheese.

6.Put evenly the ketchup, pan-fried chicken, grated cheese, tomato slices, paprika pieces, olive halves on the pizza base. Flavour with the herbal mixture.

7.Heat the oven to 150 degrees(Celsius) and bake about 45 minutes.

Enjoy!!!

YUUUMMI!!!

P.s. Happy birthday dear little brother, happy birthday to you!

French Curd Cake with Apples

         Good morning, girls and boys!!!      

Due to the sun, which shines from the early morning, I'm in such high spirits!

How are you, dears?

 We are baking French curd cake today(actually, I had it for breakfast. I know, shame on me, but diets can wait until the next week, right?).

About the cake:

It differs from other curd cakes, as it contains an apple streak spiced with a cinnamon and sugar mixture.

P.s. To be honest, I don't know if it's really a French cake. I found a curd cake recipe on the Internet website and it was called the French cake. But I wanted something more refreshing so I added some apples. So, I guess, I just borrowed the name of the cake. But still it sounds great(I think so).

Let's get it started!

French Curd Cake with Apples 

Ingredients:

paste:

3/4 cup softened butter

1/2 cup white sugar

pinch vanilla

2 cups wheaten flour

curd streak ingredients:

500g curd

3 large eggs

1/2cup white sugar   

pinch vanilla

apples filling:

5-6 apples

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons white sugar

Instructions:

1.Grate the butter with a grater or a fork. Add the white sugar and the flour and blend until it becomes a crumbly paste(also, you can do the same thing with your fingers). And leave it for a while in the fridge.

2.Combine the curd with all eggs and the white sugar mixed with vanilla. Blend until smooth.

3.Peel 5-6 medium size apples, take another bowl and grate them with the grater. Add the mixture of the cinnamon and sugar and slowly mix for a few minutes.

4.Heat the oven to 200 degrees(Celsius). Take a cake pan, put a baking paper in it. Pour in more than half crumbly paste, then all curd paste, then the apples filling and finally the other part of crumbs. Bake more than one hour until the top of the cake gets a golden colour.

French curd cake's done! Enjoy its taste and have a good day!!!

YUUUMMI!!!

P.s. Don't pay an attention to the time when the post was written(I started in the early morning, but because of some factors it took quite a long time to write this post).

Lemon Cupcakes

Want something sweet?

Lemon cupcakes - perfect idea!!!

                                                
Lemon Cupcakes (12 pieces)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup softened butter

3/4 cup white sugar

pinch vanilla

grated zest of 1 lemon 

3 large eggs

1,1/2 tablespoons baking-powder

1,1/2 cups wheaten flour

Instructions:

1.Combine the butter and the sugar in a bowl and blend on medium speed until it becomes a fluffy paste. Add the vanilla and the grated zest of one lemon. Pour in three egg yolks
and whisk until smooth and well-blended.
2.Put the flour mixed with the baking-powder in to the paste and beat for a few minutes.
Then froth egg whites and add them in the bowl, where other blended ingredients are.
Whisk everything for the last time, but very carefully, as we need the cupcakes to be crumbly.
3.Heat the oven to 180 degrees(Celsius) and while waiting for the right temperature, put two and a half teaspoons of the paste in each of lined muffin cups(I didn't use them this time, as everything was ready for baking, when I saw that I had only three oh these cups left. I had to do something, right? A little bit of the imagination and my own muffin cups were done(of course not lined, but who cares when the cupcakes taste so perfect?)). Bake approximately 30 minutes, until the top of the cupcakes becomes golden and a toothpick inserted in the cupcake comes out clean.
That's all!!! Make a cup of tea or coffee(I definitely choose coffee!!) and delight in tasting the first bit of your cupcake!!


YUUUMMI!!!!!!

And, of course, hip hip hooray, as the first post's already been written!