My Chocolate Birthday Cake

I introduce to you my messy birthday cake, made with a lot of hurry and impatience, instead of love and care haha.

This year was chaotic, so many things to do, so little time to accomplish everything......didn't even know which type of cake to prepare....so I asked my friends and they all voted the same: Chocolate cake with chocolate filling and chocolate coating, easy and yummy.

Here´s the recipe:

Les presento mi desordenada torta de cumpleaños, hecha con mucho apuro e impaciencia, en vez de amor y cuidado haha.

Este año fue caótico, tantas cosas que hacer, tan poco tiempo para lograr hacerlo todo....ni si quiera sabía que tipo de torta preparar.....así que le pregunté a mis amigos y todos votaron lo mismo: Torta de chocolate con relleno de chocolate y cobertura de chocolate, fácil y rico.

Aquí esta la receta:

Chocolate cake:

- 2 boxes of chocolate cake mix (plus the required ingredients from the box).

Torta de chocolate:

- 2 cajas de mezcla de torta de chocolate (más los ingredientes requeridos en la caja).

Chocolate ganache:

- 800 gr. of bittersweet chocolate.

- 800 ml. of cream.

Ganache de chocolate:

- 800 gr. de chocolate semi amargo.

- 800 ml. de crema.

Syrup:

- 2 cups of sugar

- 2 cups of water

- Whiskey (if wanted).

Almíbar:

- 2 tazas de azúcar

- 2 tazas de agua

- Whisky (optativo).

Meringue:

- 2 egg whites.

- 6 tsp. of sugar

- 6 tsp. of water

- Icing sugar.

- Red food colorant.

Merengue:

- 2 claras de huevo.

- 6 cdtas. de azúcar.

- 6 cdtas. de agua

- Azúcar flor.

- Colorante rojo comestible.

Instructions for the Chocolate cake:

- Follow the instructions of your chocolate cake mix. (So easy!).

Instrucciones para la torta de chocolate:

- Seguir las instrucciones de la mezcla de chocolate. (Tan fácil!).

Chocolate Ganache:

- Put the chocolate and cream in a bow over a pot of simmering water and melt it. When ready, put it in the fridge until it is firm. I recommend to prepare this cake, or at least the chocolate ganache one day ahead.

Ganache de Chocolate:

- Poner el chocolate y la crema en un bowl a baño maría y derretirlo. Cuando este listo ponerlo en el refrigerador hasta que este firme. Recomiendo preparar esta torta, o al menos el ganache de chocolate un día antes.

Syrup:

- Heat 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water until it gets thicker, add whiskey is desired.

Almíbar:

- Calentar 2 tazas de azúcar y 2 tazas de agua hasta que se ponga mas espeso, agregar whisky si se desea.

Meringue:

- Beat 2 egg whites at high speed until stiff peaks are formed, while beating heat 6 tsp of water and sugar until you get heavy syrup, add it to the egg whites and beat until it has cooled, finally add some icing sugar for extra shine and red food coloring.

Merengue:

- Batir 2 claras de huevo a velocidad alta hasta que se formen picos firmes, mientras se bate calentar 6 cdtas. de agua y azúcar hasta obtener almíbar de pelo, agregarlo a las claras y batir hasta que se haya enfriado, finalmente agregar un poco de azúcar flor para obtener extra brillo y el colorante rojo.

- Assemble you cake by cutting both cakes in half, moist them, fill them with the chocolate ganache and coat it with it too, then finally decorate it with the pink meringue ;)

- Armar la torta cortando ambos bizcochos por la mitad, humedecerlos, rellenarlos con el ganache de chocolate y cubrir la torta también, finalmente decorar con el merengue rosado ;)

Peanut Butter Cups

Ok, so I just finished painting my nails golden (yes, golden! and loving it already). So now I'll proceed to upload one of my favorite recipes ever.

Bueno, acabo de terminar de pintarme las uñas de dorado (si, dorado! y ya me encanta). Asi que ahora voy a proceder a subir una de mis recetas favoritas de la vida.

OMG, peanut butter cups are like the best invention ever! So yummy and so much fun to make! They´re one of my favorite party treats. I was planning to save them for my birthday, which is next wednesday, but sadly they didn't even make it through the weekend.

OMG, los peanut butter cups son el mejor invento de la vida! Tan ricos y entretenidos de hacer! Son uno de mis dulces favoritos para las fiestas. Estaba planeando guardarlos para mi cumpleaños, que es el próximo miércoles, pero lamentablemente no sobrevivieron al fin de semana.

So here you can see all I needed to have a fun afternoon, making these cute little things. My laptop, my blackberry, water and chocolate! Damn it was fun.

Aquí pueden ver todo lo que fué necesario para una tarde de entretención, haciendo estas lindas cositas. Mi laptop, mi blackberry, agua y chocolate! Fue muy divertido.

What you'll need (makes 60):

- Tiny silicone molds or any type of chocolate mold.
- 500 grs of chocolate, melted.
- 300 grs of peanut butter.
- Tin foil paper
- Pastry bag

Necesitan (para 60):

- Mini moldes de silicona o cualquier tipo de molde para chocolate.
- 500 grs de chocolate, derretido.
- 300 grs de mantequilla de maní
- Papel aluminio
- Manga de repostería

Instructions:

- Melt the chocolate, and wait for it to chill until it's reached the consistency you want.
- With the back of a spoon create some sort of shell inside the molds. Put them in the fridge until hard.

Instrucciones:

- Derretir el chocolate y esperar que se enfríe hasta que se logre la consistencia deseada.
- Con la parte de atras de una cuchara, crear una especie de cáscara dentro de los moldes. Ponerlos en el refrigerador hasta que endurezcan.

- Fill a pastry bag with peanut butter and add it to each mold. Put the molds in the fridge for a couple more minutes, since the peanut butter will probably be fluffy due to the warmth of your hand.

- Llenar una manga de repostería con mantequilla de maní y agregarla en cada molde. Poner los moldes en el refrigerador durante un par de minutos, ya que la mantequilla de maní probablemente estará suave debido al calor de tu mano.


- If your chocolate is getting too hard, just put it on the microwave for about 10 seconds, stir, and continue to heat it, every 10 seconds and stiring until reaching the right consistency.
- Cover completely the molds with the rest of the chocolate with the help of the back of your spoon, put them once again in the fridge.
- Unmold the peanut butter cups once they're hard enough.

- Si tu chocolate se está comenzando a endurecer, ponlo en el microondas durante 10 segundos, revuelve y continúa calentándolo durante 10 segundos y revolviendo hasta lograr la consistencia adecuada.
- Cubre por completo los moldes con el resto del chocolate con la ayuda de la parte de atrás de tu cuchada, ponlos nuevamente en el refrigerador.
- Desmoldar los peanut butter cups una vez que estén lo suficientemente duros.

- Cut tin foil paper into squares and wrap the peanut butter cups. And that's it, see how easy it was????

- Cortar cuadrados de papel aluminio y envolver los peanut butter cups. Y eso es todo, ven lo fácil que era???

Brownies

Brownies are one of my favorite things to bake, just because they are simple and fun to make...and let's not forget yummy =D

I got this recipe from Martha's, I only used half of he ingredients...and still got a lot of brownies, so I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/brownie-heart-cupcakes?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/valentines-day-treats#slide_2

After you cut the brownies into heart shapes you wonder, what should I do with the scraps? Well...her's what I thought would be the best use for them =) with raspberry ice cream....yum!

New year´s yule log

This yule log is really my pride, I had never make one before, thought it was gonna be difficult, but it turned out to be one of the most simple things I´ve made. The sponge cake is heavenly, it melts away in your mouth, the filling is incredible and the chocolate topping is amazing!

I got the recipe from an incredible website called www.joyofbaking.com, I really recommend this recipe...it's mouthwatering!

The mushrooms and mistletoe are made out of homemade marshmallow fondant (http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm) and food coloring.

Here's the link of the sponge cake and the filling: http://www.joyofbaking.com/YuleLog.html

And here's the recipe of the chocolate frosting: http://www.joyofbaking.com/ChocolateCake.html

This is how it looks on the inside =) Yum!!

Pink and Black cupcakes....classy and sweet!

I made them for Valentine´s day this year...but they are great for any occasion, they are very fun to make and so delicious! Can´t wait to make them again!

Pink strawberry cupcakes, with cream cheese frosting

Ingredients:
- 1 cup strawberry yoghurt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 cups flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 3 large eggs
- Red food coloring
For the cream cheese frosting:
- 1 3oz. cream cheese bar
- 3 tbsp butter or margarine, softened
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp milk
- 1 1/2 cup icing sugar

1. Preheat you oven at 375ºF (180ºC).
2. In a large bowl place yoghurt, vegetable oil, eggs and the rest of the dry ingredients. Then add red food coloring until you get the desired tone.
3. Fill the cupcake molds with an ice-cream spoon until 3/4 of the cup.
4. Put them in the oven for aproximately 15 minutes of until a toothstick comes out clean.

For preparing the cream cheese frosting:
1. Beat the package of cream cheese with the butter and vanilla, until light and fluffy. Then beat in milk and gradually add the icing sugar until the icing is consistent.
2. Dip the cupcakes into this frosting and add sprinkles if you want, eat right away of wait until the frosting has dried.
3. Take a bite out of these pretty cupcakes as soon as possible!

Like I did: Chocolate Cupcakes with mint buttercream


I got this recipe from http://www.marthastewart.com/, it is a vanilla cupcake recipe, but just add a cup of sweet or bitter cocoa, and you´re done! Here´s the recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=1c766b7a81f63110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&backto=true


For the mint buttercream try this recipe, and just add mint extract: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxWmiHRTMz8


And here´s a picture of how they look inside =)