Spicy Apple Cake

This apple cake I baked last month goes so well with some pleasant afternoon tea. My family and I really enjoyed it, so I thought I would share the recipe here.

Ingredients:

♥ 1/2 cup butter

♥ 1 and 1/4 cup sugar

♥ 2 eggs

♥ 1 and 1/2 cup apple compote

♥ 2 and 1/2 cups flour

♥ 1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

♥ 1/6 teaspoon salt

♥ 1/2 cup raisins

♥ 1 teaspoon cinnamon

♥ 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

♥ 1/4 teaspoon ground clove

♥1/2 cup chopped walnuts

To make the apple compote:

1. Peel 5 average apples (the sourer the better), take the seeds off, and chop them up.
2. Boil the apples in a quarter cup of water for like 7 minutes.
3. Add 1/4 cup sugar and let them boil a little more.

To make the cake:

1. Mix the sugar and the butter with an electric mixer till the color turns lighter, then add the eggs one at a time, beating each for 1 minute.
2. Sift all the dry ingredients together twice, add them to the egg-butter-sugar mixture and mix gently with a spatula. This addition should be done in around three parts, adding some of the apple compote in between.
3. Add the raisins and the walnuts, mixing the whole mixture gently.
4. Oil your cake pan, pour the mixture in and bake in the oven for 30 to 50 minutes with 175°C (350°F). 

To decorate your cake, you can use anything from sprinkles to powdered sugar. Here, I sprinkled some powdered sugar through a DIY heart template I'd made.

I hope you enjoy this cake! :)

♥

Noushin

Cream Puffs

Here's the recipe to these yummy cream puffs I baked a few weeks ago.

You'll need:

♥ 2 cups water

♥ 2 cups all purpose flour

♥ 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

♥ 5 tablespoons oil

♥ 3 large eggs

♥ 1/6 teaspoon salt

For the filling:

♥ 100 gr (3.5 oz) cream

♥ 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Ingredients ready? Tie a beautiful bow with your apron straps behind your back and lets get started! :) 

1. Boil the water + sugar + oil + salt mixture on the stove.
2. Once the mixture starts boiling, add the flour and stir gently till the water evaporates and you get a thick pulpy paste.
3. Place the paste over your counter (or a flat plate) so that it cools off. Once cooled off, bring your paste into a bowl and add the eggs one at a time, mixing well with your cleanly washed hand until the final paste is ready (and kind of sticky).
4. Pour the product into a piping bag and make a little round shape with a pointy finish on your baking tray to shape each cream puff.
5. Bake in the oven with 175°C (350°F) until they start to get brown.
6. While you're waiting for your yummy cream puffs to brown, mix the cream and the powdered sugar in a bowl placed over a larger bowl full of ice (to get a somewhat thick well-built cream).
7. After the puffs are out of the oven and cooled, make a horizontal cut in the middle of each (not thoroughly, though; as if you're making a mouth for a puppet) and fill it with the cream.
8. Voila!

I hope you enjoy both the baking and the puffs!

♥

Noushin

How to Draw a Cupcake

If you're a cupcake person like me, and you're interested in drawing one, then here's this video I did earlier this year on how to draw one! 

♥

Noushin