Six.

I'm so behind on updating this blog, and even though THESE were actually made in time (Sunday 16th of May), I'm also behind on making the cupcakes. So, I've decided not to restrict myself this much. Like I said in the beginning, my goal remains the same: 52 cupcakes in a year, which would be the equivallent of one cupcake a week, only, I'm not going to make one a week anymore. I'll make them when I have the time, just as long as I make sure I'm on track with the whole 52 thing. That should work out better, right?

Alright, on to the cupcakes, which, like I said, I made Sunday the 16th.

Chocolate-hazel cupcakes.
from "500 cakejes" by Fergal Connoly.

ingredients
115g butter
100g pure chocolate-drops
115g fine (white) sugar
4 eggs, split
2 spoons of flour
50g chopped and roasted hazel nuts

How? 
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Melt the chocolate and the butter au bain marie (in a pan that's drifting in a pot of boiling water, basically) though (shht) a microwave oven works wonders, too. Stir it so it's nice and smooth and let it cool of afterwards.

Mix the sugar and the egg yellow in a middle large bowl with a handmixer 2-3 minutes until it's a smooth mixture. Stir the chocolate mass, the flour and the hazel nuts through it.

In another bowl, mix the egg whites till it's a solid foam and spoon it through the mixture.


Fill your cupcake shapes and bake them about 20 minutes.

These turned out quite alright taste-wise, though something really strange happened in the baking process. The top of the cupcakes hardened a lot more then the middle (that remained brownie-ish) and the middle set back down after the cupcakes cooled off, which made the top sort of hang over an in between space like a roof. I know.. weird huh. The roof .. thing was very vulnerable, so they looked a lot better when they were fresh out of the oven, but hey, as long as they taste a-okay, I'm one happy camper.

Next time, I'm trying a (big) cake!

Fail. I mean, five.

Coffee-raspberry muffins.
from "500 cakejes" by Fergal Connoly.

ingredients
2 spoons of boiling water
2 spoons of instant coffee
1 spoon of milk
115g butter, melted
3 spoons of chopped hazelnuts
400g self-rising flour
300g white sugar
1 spoon baking powder
2 scrambled eggs
3 3/4 dl buttermilk
175g fresh raspberries

How? 
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Put the coffee in a bowl and pour the hot water on it. Add the milk and the melted butter and stir it through. Let the mixture cool.

In the meanwhile, mix the hazelnuts, flour, baking powder and sugar with a spoon in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl, mix the scrambled eggs with the buttermilk with a handmixer for about 2-3 minutes. (it will foam a little). Stir the cooled coffee-mix through it. Then spoon the flour-mix through and mix well. Add the raspberries and stir gently.

Bake the muffins for twenty minutes - though I baked them a lot longer, more like 30, and they were still not the way they were supposed to be. Even though I sticked my fork in it every few minutes, I can't say they're well done. Hence, fail.

The mixture itself required more bowls and more effort than all the others I did so far. Nothing too challenging, just make sure you have a lot of room and a clear head - you'll have enough ingredients bouncing around in your head to have any other thoughts there, trust me. When it was done, I had quite a lot of the mixture, and it was very runny. I was really scared it would run over in my shapes, or not get any shape at all.

The cupcakes did start to get form after a while, though, so all well that ends well, but they should have baked a lot longer then the recipe said. Even when my fork came out completely clean, it wasn't really the way it was supposed to be. The taste is good, the structure? not so much...

On to the next and hoping for a better outcome, there.

PS. I totally forgot the picture when they were ready.