THE BIG 3-0

A friend of mine recently turned 30. I thought it deserved some special cupcakes. I wanted to make chocolate ones, but then I remembered that her favourites are cakes with lemon in one way or another. I also really wanted to work on my meringue, so had the best excuse to make my lime cupcakes with lime curd filling and meringue frosting. I know lime aren't lemons, but hey, they are a citrus fruit, so hoped my friend would forgive me!

I used the same lime cupcake base as the mini lime cupcakes I made during Easter and I also made my own lime curd. Even after living in the UK for quite a few years I had never tasted lemon curd, so it took Greece and a passion for cupcakes to try it out! Turns out I love it! The receipe I use calls for lemon, but I replace it with lime and it really is supereasy to make. The recipe doesn't make a whole lot, but just enough to fill the cupcakes, and I use the spare egg whites for the meringue. That way, nothing goes to waste - it really is a win, win situation!

The other two times I have made these cupcakes the meringue has always sunk almost right after taking them out of the oven. I had read that it is important to whisk the meringue long enough and also, one shouldn't make it on a wet or a humid day as the humidity causes the meringue to be limp and sticky. I was looking to get a crispy meringue on the outside and pretty soft and gooey on the inside. I know that a bit of cream of tartar stabilises the egg whites, so I did this and whisked it long enough and the meringue was perfect. It didn't sink when I took the cupcakes out of the oven, but the hard or crispy shell as wanted wasn't exactly there. I guess it is too much to ask after only 5 minutes in the oven...





I like decorating my cupcakes, so had to come up with some nice decorations for these ones as well. I was planning to have the number 30 in sugarpaste on the cupcakes, but I wasn't sure on how I would do it and get them to stay on top of the meringue, but then my creative (his words, not mine!) husband suggested I could have one letter on each cupcakes spelling out "Life begins @ 30". What a perfect idea!! My friend had already said in her blog post about turing 30 that she will embrace it, rather than fighting it, so I thought this was the best decoration ever!
I made the sugarpaste, coloured it, made 12 hearts and added the letters on 10 of them and managed to roll out thin lines to spell out @ and 30 on the last two. I took these pictures in a hurry, but I think they look pretty cool!





Some family members have their names days and birthdays coming up within this week, so I will be making some cupcakes this week again. I think I am definitely trying out a red velvet recipe and possibly a chocolate and cardamom cupcake. If you have any other suggestions, I would love to hear them!

Welcome to my blog

Hello there!

This is my first attempt at this blog about cupcakes.

I have been crazy about cupcakes since March/April this year. Being Norwegian I had hardly heard about cupcakes, as our cupcakes are more akin to the British fairy cakes (a small round sponge cake with a simple icing made of icing sugar and a little bit of water). My passion and slight obsession is the American-style cupcakes. The moist sponge with a nice big dollop of cream cheese frosting or buttercream. Yes, that is what I am talking about!

I live in Greece, a country filled with baklava and syrup eating people. Cupcakes are a novelty here and very hard to come by. As a matter of fact, in the city I live in (Thessaloniki) you cannot buy one nice cupcake to eat if you feel like it. No, you have to go to one big bakery chain and order them for big events like birthday, baptism etc. And can you choose your own flavours? No! You can only have vanilla flavour with what I believe to be a not so nice icing...

The cupcakes they make did look nice in their window though, so I thought to myself. Why don't I make cupcakes myself for my daughter's baptism? And that's how my love for cupcakes started!

The very first cupcakes I tried to make were carrot cupcakes. Lovely, moist carrot cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting. I might try to dig up a picture later.

The cupcakes I made for the baptism were chocolate cupcakes with a pink buttercream topped with brown baby booties with a pink heart for decoration on each boot. I am not a great fan of the buttercream as I often find it too sweet, but as the baptism took place at the very day the Big Easter Week started in Greece any oil, real butter, eggs and milk had to be avoided. The chocolate cupcake had no eggs in them, but used some vegetable margarine and apple sauce to make them moist. The guests loved the cupcakes and I loved the positive feedback. I needed to make more!

This blog is therefore my story about my cupcake adventures. I promise to keep the coming posts shorter (if you managed to read this far, thank you!)