Ginger Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting

Last weekend 2 of our best friends in Berlin were moving apartment, we were of course roped in to helping so I thought it was the perfect occasion for baking! House-warming/moving motivation goodies of choice; Ginger Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting:

Ingredients

• 120g of Plain Flour
• 140g of Sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp of Baking Powder
• Pinch of Salt
• 165g of Butter
• 120ml of Milk
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 tsp of Vanilla Extract
• 4tsp of Ginger Powder
• 100g of Icing Sugar
• 2tsp of Finely Grated Lemon Rind
• 1tsp of Fresh Lemon Juice

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C
2. Prepare your bun tin with your paper cake cases for later
3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together then add 40g of the butter and mix until crumbly
4. In a jug thoroughly whisk the milk, egg and vanilla extract together
5. Pour the wet ingredients gradually into the dry ingredients whilst continually mixing until smooth
6. Then add the ginger and mix in thoroughly
7. Pour the mixture evenly into the cake cases
8. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes
9. Once cooked allow to cool thoroughly
10. Once cool cream the rest of the butter and icing sugar together then add the lemon rind and juice and mix
11. Then use to decorate the top of the cupcakes, either by hand with a palette knife or use an icing bag

This week unfortunately my icing was not the best, this is because I still haven’t been bought an icing bag (hint hint boyfriend) and I had a small accident when getting the cupcakes out of the oven, a badly burnt hand. However it did not stop the baking and at least there was a treat to make me feel better! These Ginger Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting were definitely needed at the end of that moving day so it was a good job that they tasted delicious too, the lemon did over power the taste of the ginger a little but they were really tasty regardless. This recipe will definitely be made again in the future and I think that cupcake flavour experiments could be my new hobby!

Being Tourists in Berlin

I think this is the longest I have been without posting on my blog, however, I have a good reason, last weekend we had guests come to visit all the way from Hong Kong! So instead of my usually relaxed weekends that are focused around baking and watching sport mostly, we were off out being tourists in Berlin for a few days!

Mainly the weekend consisted of seeing the usual tourist sights here in Berlin, the remains of the wall, the Reichstag, Brandenburger Tor, the Memorial to the Jews of Europe and the list goes on here in Berlin. We also ate out a lot, meals that included a delicious halloumi burger and lunch in a lovely Italian restaurant, as well as the foolish task I set upon myself of cooking for 8 that went surprisingly better than I thought it would. However the stand out visit for me was our visit to the Pergamon Museum on Museum Island in the centre of Berlin.

I had been to the Pergamon Museum before but after a long day attempting to make the most of my ticket and visiting all of the museums on the island – not advisable! So I was really excited to go again and truly remember what I had seen, as you enter this museum you will not be disappointed by what it has to offer, the glorious gates of Babylon stand proudly in the entrance rooms of the museums and the sight is impressive, all I could think was ‘how did they get them here’ but I was in awe all the same.

The Impressive Gates at the Pergamon Museum

The antiquities they have to offer are breath-taking and impressive and unlike some of the museums the size of the Pergamon Museum is great for a 2 hour trip. However the one disappointing aspect of the museum was the logical flow in which you were guided around the museum was not smooth and left me feeling slightly confused and a little lost as to whether there was any chronological  to the exhibits or whether it was just a case of ‘look at all this cool history stuff we have’.

I would still recommend the Pergamon Museum to anyone visiting Berlin as a tourist as the site of the gates is very impressive however, if you are a history buff or expert this one might not be for you!

I am also extremely happy to be getting back to my normal weekend routine this week and I am currently in the process of baking my next exciting recipe!

Fruit Tarts with White Chocolate Cream Filling

Yesterday was Canada Day and I was invited around to my Canadian friends apartment for a ‘Happy Canada Day‘ party.  There was a plentiful supply for food and drinks but I thought it would be rude to turn up empty handed so I made Fruit Tarts with White Chocolate Cream Filling. The idea for fruit tarts has been inspired by the hot summer we have been having here in Berlin this week and my craving for fruit as opposed to the usual need for chocolate. I have been seeing lots of these recipes about and wanted to try one for myself, I will admit this recipe has been adapted to make up for the slight kitchen disaster I had when the tarts collapsed in the oven, but I managed to save them and they still tasted great. So this is my recipe;

Ingredients

• 192g of Flour
• 113g of Butter
• 50g of Sugar
• 1/4 Tsp of Salt
• 1 Egg
• 200g of White Chocolate
• 4 Tsp of Icing Sugar
• 300g of Cream Cheese
• 1 Kiwi
• 50g of Strawberry’s

My Tart Shells Ready for the Oven

Method

1. Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a bowl
2. Cut the butter into thin slices and add to the mixture
3. Mix together until it is crumbly
4. Add the egg and mix together until all of the ingredients are moistened and beginning to form together
5. Lightly press the mixture into a ball and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes
6. After 30 minutes take out of the fridge and pull of a small chunk of the dough and press into a silicone mould with your fingers – be careful to keep the thickness consistent
7. Use a knife to trim any excess from around the top and repeat this process until all of the dough is used
8. Place into a preheated oven at 180C and cook for 20-25 minutes watching carefully as cooking times can vary
9. Remove from the oven and leave to cool
10. Whilst the tarts are cooling you can prepare the filling
11. Mix the cream cheese and icing sugar together in a bowl
12. In another glass bowl melt the white chocolate over a pan of simmering water
13. When all of the chocolate has melted add half of the cream chesses and stir thoroughly, then repeat with the rest of the cream cheese
14. Set side and slice up your kiwi and strawberry’s
15. One the tarts have cooled remove them from the mould carefully and fill with the white chocolate cream filling and place the desired fruit on top
16. Chill for 1 hour before serving

My Fruit Tarts with White Chocolate Cream Filling

These little tarts came out really well in the end, thankfully better than I had expected half way through. They were really delicious and not sickly so they were great to enjoy for Canada Day in a very hot and humid Berlin. If you are going to make these I would love to know how they come out for you, but be warned this recipe is time consuming and fiddly!

Lemon Cake with White Chocolate Frosting

Last night we had a friend over for dinner to unfortunately say goodbye as he is leaving Berlin later this month so it was my prerogative to make sure he left remembering how amazing at cooking I was!  I had dinner and dessert all planned but as we know things never go to plan, after spending the day enjoying the sunshine here in Berlin watching my boyfriend play football and an end of season BBQ, we were running extremely late. I was very proud of myself for whipping up the lasagne in 30 minutes and having it cooking in the oven when our guest arrived but their was no time for me to prepare dessert. So the pressure was on as our dining table is in our kitchen, so I had to bake in front of everyone, something I usually try to avoid. Especially when making a recipe that I had ‘adapted’ myself – on the menu tonight Lemon Cake with White Chocolate Frosting;

Ingredients

• 100g of Sugar
• 100g of Butter
• 100g of Flour
• 2 Large Eggs
• 100g of White Chocolate
• 150g of Icing Sugar
• 3tbsp of Water
• 5tbsp of Lemon Juice

My Lemon Cake with White Chocolate Frosting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190
2. Mix the flour and sugar in a bowl
3. Add the butter and mix until the mixture is crumbly
4. Add the 2 eggs and stir until the mixture is smooth
5. Finally add the lemon juice and stir
6. Pour into a greased (with butter) cake tin (the one I use is 18cm)
7. Put into the oven for 15-20 minutes until cooked
8. When it is baked allow to cool for 15minutes
9. Mix the icing sugar and water into a bowl
10. Then in a glass bowl melt the white chocolate over a pan of boiling water
11. When melted add the white chocolate to the icing and stir thoroughly – this needs to be done quickly before the chocolate hardens
12. Then pour the frosting onto the cake and spread evenly over the top
13. Allow to cool for a further 15 minutes and serve

The cake was really delicious and thankfully successful. The result was a dense lemony sponge that is much lighter to enjoy than a chocolate cake. This was the first time that I had made this recipe this way and I will be doing it again as it is the perfect accompaniment to a summer’s evening.

My Week in Pictures

As you may have read this week I was back in the UK visiting my friends and family in sunny Poole, I had an amazing time whilst enjoying the May sunshine that seems to have graced most of Europe over the past few weeks. As I have lived out of my suitcase for the past week, I have no recipes or cooking disasters to share so I thought I would share my week with you in Pictures.

Sunday – was the first day in the UK, after arriving late Saturday night, and I spend the day with my dad shopping at Gunwarth Quays Outlet Shops .

New UGG Shop at Gunwarth Quays – Must Go Back!

I was lucky enough to have my Dad spoil me!

My New Clothes

Followed by a drive through the New Forest and dinner in a lovely country pub!

Driving through the New Forest

Monday – I went to see my best friend and her daughter who is just beautiful and growing so fast.

Cuddles with Alice

Later that afternoon it made us very happy to hear the ice cream van down the road!

Ice-cream from the Ice-cream Van

Then we enjoyed the evening with a BBQ in the garden – with some of my favourite BBQ food including Halloumi!

Grilling on the BBQ

Tuesday – was spent with the bestie again and involved shopping in town, of course! I was also lucky enough to witness one her firsts – rolling from her back to her tummy, which made me a very proud Auntie!

Alice on her Tummy after a Successful Roll

Followed by a trip to spend the evening with a few drinks and snacks with some of my closest friends.

Enjoying my Evening with the Girls

Wednesday - my bestie and I (are you seeing the trend) spent some time with Alice’s nanny, my gran and my mum, so it was yet again a very busy day that did not end there;

Alice with her Nanny

Later that evening I met my dad for dinner and the cinema at Tower Park, we saw Men In Black 3 which was amazing and I highly recommend you see it!

MIB3 Cinema Tickets

And yesterday I headed back to Berlin and the excitement of starting my new job in the morning! However the UK will be missed, but I had a great time at home the past few days so I thought I would also share with you my favourite picture from my entire trip;

Jenny, Alice and I

I hope you enjoyed my pictures as much as I enjoyed spending the time taking them

Over and Out for now!

May Day in Berlin

May Day in Berlin is actually celebrated on May Day, not on the first Monday of May as it is in the UK, but if it falls on a weekday we still get a day off work. Although in Berlin May Day is not always the most celebratory of days with violent traditions of mini riots prominent within the city on this day.

However, we were luckily enough to avoid any of the demonstrations in the city and instead chose to spend our day off of work in Treptower Park, a large recreational park located on the bank of the River Spree. This park takes you away from the city and allows you to relax and watch the world go by, we even did a spot of feeding the birds after spotting this nest on the bank of the river.

A Bird’s Nest on the Bank of the River Spree

The rest of the day was spent here and we enjoyed laying in the sun and had a picnic and played card games with our friends. We were lucky that the day was really hot, my favourite denim shorts had their first outing this summer, and there was a wonderful little market open within the park so we could enjoy an ice cream at the end of the day.

David and I on May Day in Treptower Park

I hope that this lovely spring is a reflection of the summer we will have here in Berlin so we can enjoy more of the city and get a tan obviously!

My Weekend Back in the UK

This weekend I went back to the UK for a holiday, although it never seems much of a holiday when you come back more exhausted than before you left! But nonetheless I had a great time catching up with my friends and family and going to see the football! I was only back for a flying visit of 3 days but this is what I got up to:

Thursday

Since I have been gone my best friend Jenny gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Alice. I visited after she was born but she is growing so quickly that so much changes every time I go back that I have to take advantage of the valuable time I get with her. We made the most of the brief gap in the horrid weather that has plagued the south of England and went into town for the afternoon. I love the town I grew up in but it is such a weird feeling when it doesn’t feel like home anymore.

Enjoying Cuddles with Baby Alice

In the evening we went to my dads for a good ol’british favourite of ‘chippy tea’. You just can’t get fish and chips like they make it in the UK in Berlin so it was the perfect holiday treat.

Friday

Old habits die hard so on Friday I had my haircut by my favourite hairdresser, she did a great job as usual, and if you are in the Bournemouth area and looking for a great hairdresser please get in contact and I will pass on her details. Another day of retail therapy in town whilst enjoying a rare bit of British sunshine and a pub lunch was just what the doctor ordered before meeting my mum and sister for a catch up. A highlight of my weekend was spending Friday night with some of my closest friends. We enjoyed snacks and a lot of alcohol whilst talking the night away.

Drinks with Friends

Saturday

My whole trip was planned around this day, the last game of the championship season day. As a Southampton fan and season ticket holder I probably moved away at the most pivotal time in the clubs 125 year history. I unfortunately missed the promotion party from League 1 last year but I was not going to make the same mistake again! I was so excited, I am always excited when I am going to football, especially now that is only once or twice every 3-4 months, but this was an even bigger excitement. Today was the day that Southampton FC could be back in the premier league, back where we belong and I could finally put those haunting memories on the day we were relegated in 2005 behind me. Although the game was not as tense as I had anticipated with a comfortable final result of 4-0 over Coventry it did not take away from the celebrations that began.

Celebrating on the Pitch with my Dad

I am proud to say I was one of 20,00 on the pitch celebrating with players and friends alike our long awaited return to the Premier League, and despite a long and nerveracking season at the top I could not be prouder as a Southampton fan. I had a great day and I cannot wait for next season to begin, I just hope that the first game of the 2012/2013 Premiership Campaign does not clash with my holiday to Vancouver in August!

Sunday

After saying our goodbyes we said goodbye to the UK and headed back to Berlin and to the glorious sunshine that awaits. I had a great weekend but one full of emotion. I love seeing my friends but it does tend to remind me of how much I miss them despite loving my life here in Berlin and the drive to the airport was certainly the hardest one I have done since moving in February 2011.

Thankfully I took over 150 photos and can look back and remember a great weekend and certainly one I will be telling people about for the rest of my life.