Cupcakes

I wanted to prepare something sweet for Tame's birthday to share with the other kids at the kindergarten. I found this very simple cupcake recipe here and gave it a try! Well, they came out great and the kids loved them! I got the sugar decorations at the supermarket and the muisjes directly from the Netherlands.

12 cupcakes:
120 gr butter at room temperature
120 gr flour
120 gr sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon yeast
1 packet vanilla sugar
Fresh lemon zest (1/2 lemon)
1 pinch of salt

Glaze:
4 tablespoons boiling water
200 gr confectioners sugar

Beat sugar and butter together until soft and creamy. Add eggs, salt, vanilla sugar and lemon zest. At last add flour and yeast. Beat the ingredients until the mixture is smooth. Divide the mixture between 12 muffin tins. Pre-heat oven at 160 °C and cook for about 20 minutes.
For the glaze: bring to boil some water and add 4 tablespoons to the powdered sugar. Beat vigorously untill smooth and shiny.

Pan di spagna

Pan di spagna is a beautiful sponge cake very simple and soft. I have filled it with crema pasticcera and strawberries and covered with freshly whipped cream. I made it for Tame's second birthday.

for the cake:
4 eggs
150 gr sugar
150 gr cornflour
1 packet of yeast
1 pinch of salt

Beat eggs and sugar together for sometime (at least 10 minutes with an electric mixer). Then add the cornflour and yeast. Pre-heat oven at 150 °C.  Cook for about 35-45 minutes till the cake is lightly golden brown and has begun to pull away from the sides of the pan. Remember to not open the oven at least for the first half an hour. Let cool down and cut in half horizontally. Fill with crema pasticcera and fresh fruit or anything you like. Cover with freslhy whipped cream and decorate with fresh fruit.

This recipe was given to me about 15 years ago by friends of friends that had Sicilian roots and bakers in the family.

Inspired

I am starting a cooking blog. I like to cook and I'd like to share my cooking experiments with you.

Enjoy it!