http://toriejayne.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html


http://dyingforchocolate.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html

Hello everyone,

Are you all enjoying Pesach?

I do, though it's rather boring for me cause I can't work :(

I would like to present to you, for the people who don't already know them, the

WHOOPIE PIE

A rather simple name for a a very delicious cousin of the cupcake.

I fell totally in love with them (eating them and making them)

A whoopie pie is like a sandwich, but made with two soft cookies with a fluffy filling.
The original and most commonly made whoopie pie is chocolate. but cooks like to experiment, and today they come in all flavors and colors.

The recipe for whoopie pies has its origins with the Amish, and in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania in the United States. Amish cooking is about old recipes that have fed families for generations, with no trendy or cross-cultural fusions or mixtures.
These cake-like whoopie pies were considered a special treat because they were originally made from leftover batter. According to Amish legend, when children would find these treats in their lunch bags, they would shout "Whoopie!"

Here are some links of articles about the whoopie pies

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/dining/18whoop.html

http://www.luxist.com/tag/harrods/page/2/

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/real_food/article7097540.ece

Anyway I'll post some pictures for you all to get familiar with this new trend.

After Pesach of course available at Cupcakes & Cookies.

For now חג שמח

http://www.lovelyish.com/?uni40762360-direction=n&uni40762360-nextdate=3%2F25%2F2011+19%3A30%3A0.000

Last Friday we participated at the Garden Boutique Fair at Netanella's. It was so nice. When I step into Netanella's garden/house I feel so at home because it is such a חוץ לארץ feeling.

It was big fun, had the change to see some sweet people again, with their beautiful products. Everything was just wonderful.

If you want to look up the participants and drool over their things read my last post or go to http://www.pinkaqualife.com/

Being there and seeing people enjoy my cupcakes gives me such a grateful feeling, and such inspiration that I am thinking always about new ideas, and trends.

Well to combine cupcakes with something else has to be totally something in the same area.

A long time ago I started experimenting with macaroons, which are just soooo delicious. And when I was in Paris I went to La Duree. I just totally went through the roof. What a store, just like a fairy tail. Since then the macaroons just don't leave my head ( and that's already 9 years hmhm ago).

now the fact is that macaroons became a trend just like cupcakes so why not combine the two in my business.

So from today on it's Cupcakes, Cookies and Macaroons.

To give away a little secret, which is really just still in baby shoes, I am looking into the fact that for my business at this point, the best thing to do is to open a boutique in Tel Aviv AAAAAAAAAHHHH, I am so exited. But first we have to see if it will be financially worth wile.

Anyway, I will keep you all informed!!!

Have a wonderful Pesah.

Love,

Debbie

Ok it's that time of the year again, the wonderful spring with the amazing orange blossom scent everywhere in the air and .............. yes!! the Garden Boutique sale at Netanella's place. How Nice I'm looking so forward to it.

For me it's a little bit last minute. Because In the beginning I canceled. We planned to travel to Holland, but in the end we decided to take the trip in the summer.

So I am all available to participate in the fair and I am really exited about it.

Here are all the details:



Dana Israeli is going to be there also. she is so talented she made the most beautiful pictures of some of my cupcakes so I am posting them to show of.

I hope to see you all at Netanella's

Wow, I don't believe it. it has been a whole month exactly today since my last post.

Is that a good sign?

A sign that I am busy making cupcakes, instead of having spare time at hand to write my blog. yeah I guess that's it. I have been really almost overbooked with orders this last month. it's like an avalanche, you know until people got to know my cupcakes took some while, but know that they know I am out there, there's no stopping.

And I really love every minute of it because there's almost nothing I love more than making cupcakes.

The really nice thing about this all, is that all the people I meet are so nice, probably only nice people like cupcakes :)

But in the mean time, I also good wounded. Yeah I fell the night of Silvester and hurt my knee, had to spend the whole next morning in the emergency room where they fixed my knee.

So my husband and I decided to take some time of, to spend a nice deserved holiday together. We are enjoying the brake from the rat race and I have time to rest and lay on the couch until my knee is better.

But as I know myself the if there is an order no way i'll say no (cupcakeaholic) what can I do!

I wish you all an amazing and wonderful 2011

It worked, it worked and finally it's raining, how great!!!!

First of all for the fire on the Carmel and second all the plants and trees which so desperately wanted some water already. And third for all the people, like me, who are waiting for the winter.

A very nice fair will take place on the 16th /17th and 18th of December in Tel Aviv.

Here you have all the details:

I will be there also with my cupcakes, I'll try to make them in Retro style also.

And finally, a few photo's of some of the cupcakes I have made lately

Winter doesn't want to show it's face yet in Israel, it's still so warm and no rain what so ever.

I waited for this season for sooo long, all through out the summer I thought never mind in November this will all be over again. But nothing!

It makes it all the more more difficult when my sister calls me, from Holland, a few days ago and tells me, with the excitement of a little girl, that it just started to snow and sends me this picture





I love snow I am just totally crazy about those day's when the snow is falling down, it is so quiet outside when it's snowing. It is like a big white fluffy blanket thrown over the ground.

Any way last year I wrote a post about speculaas cupcakes, speculaas is a typical dutch winter cookie, with the most wonderful combination of spices.

I decided, in order to speed up the winter gods, to post it again. Who knows maybe it will work.

Well and if not it's just a really really good recipe. So go and try it out and taste what a Dutch winter is all about.

Enjoy!

Speculaas cupcakes

Speculaas cookies remind me of winters with warm the and a cozy couch next to the garden window where we would sit with my mom and sister when we returned from school. We'd come home from school cold or wet, In Holland most of the kids go to school with......., you guessed it bicycles, and my mam would always be waiting for us with warm tea and a nice plate of goodies. The problem with these cookies is you can't stop. If you dip one in your tea until it is soft and you taste it it's just impossible to stop. For this reason alone already I think it's good that I live in Israel. No speculaas here, until now that is.





Well I sincerely hope you enjoy this recipe. If you would like to make cookies instead of cupcakes you can look up a recipe for speculaas cookies, because you have the recipe for the spices.

Dutch Speculaas kruiden are a mix of:

15 gram ground Cinnamon
2 gram ground clove
2 gram ground nutmeg
1 gram ground white pepper
1 gram ginger powder
½ gram ground hel (Cardamom)

Be very carefull using these spices, because your recipe will become very (too) spicey if you use too much.

For the cupcakes:

230 Gram flower
1 tsp Bakingpowder
125 Gram butter room temp.
250 Gram white sugar

Speculaas spices according to your taste
1 tsp Vanilla extract
3 eggs room temp.
100 ML milk room temp.
1/5 tsp salt. 1.
preheat oven 175ºC

2. Mix butter until fluffy and white , add sugar and eggs (one by one), mix for 3 minutes.

3. Add to this Sifted flower, baking powder and salt, milk, vanilla and spices . Mix this until it all comes together as a batter

4. put ± 12 cupcake liners in a tray and fill them for 2/3 with batter

5. Bake the cupcakes for 15 - 20 minutes. check with a tooth pick, if it comes out clean they're ready

6. Let them cool in the tray for 15 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack where they can cool.

7. While the cupcakes are cooling you can start making the butter cream

For the butter cream you'll need:
200 gram butter room temp.
1 tsp natural almond essence(or more if you like) -
175 gram confectioners sugar
10 ml milk at room temp.

Method

1. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until fluffy and white for about 3 min.

2. add confectioners sugar (spoon by spoon and scrape the sides of the mixer bowl often), milk and almond essence and mix for about 5-7 minutes at medium speed.

3. When the cupcakes are totally cooled down you can start decorating your cupcakes with the buttercream.

Here some nice ideas for decorating :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yl6IxVXUw8&NR=1

You can buy your ingredients from (of course there are more places but these 2 I personally like):

http://www.motek-cakes.co.il/
http://www.grubstein.co.il/

See you

Designing cakes

Before I got addicted to cupcakes I used to mainly make cakes, wedding cakes and special occasion cakes. I was just looking at some pictures on my computer when I saw my cake photographs. While I was looking at them I suddenly got butterflies in my tummy, and then decided

I am also going to design cakes again!!!

To create a piece of art is such a fulfilling thing to do, and to make beautiful creations from sugar paste is such a wonderful experience. One of the things I like is the smell of my hands when I work with the sugar paste, it' has a very subtle vanilla scent.

Last Friday I have met a very sweet American lady, Mimi Avishai, we had a very nice conversation about desserts, cakes and cake decoration.

You have to check out here website, she shares some tasty vegetarian recipes www.simply-vegetarian.com

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.