I didn't make them into strawberry shortcakes. Instead, I made a simple chocolate frosting. They turned out wonderful! They were definitely moist and delicious. Not overly sweet, which was nice.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Chocolate Vegan Cupcakes
For my sister's friend's birthday, I decided to make her chocolate vegan cupcakes. I got the recipe from Cupcake Wars winner, Chef Chloe. I've had several vegan cupcakes out there but most of them have been pretty dry. I remember watching the episode Chef Chloe was on and the judges raved about how moist and tasty her cupcakes were. Not mention that she beat everyone and their non-vegan cupcakes.
I didn't make them into strawberry shortcakes. Instead, I made a simple chocolate frosting. They turned out wonderful! They were definitely moist and delicious. Not overly sweet, which was nice.
I didn't make them into strawberry shortcakes. Instead, I made a simple chocolate frosting. They turned out wonderful! They were definitely moist and delicious. Not overly sweet, which was nice.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Creativity
I have a friend who is a DJ and also enjoys making art. He mostly recreates pieces or draws characters (Peanuts are his favorite). One day we had this conversation:
Friend: Do you have a creative outlet?
Me: Not really, well at least like most people think. I make scrapbooks and I bake so I guess I'm more crafty than artistic.
Friend: Oh yeah, you bake but you use other people's recipes so that doesn't really count.
How dare he! Just because bakers are not artist in the traditional sense, doesn't mean they aren't creative. Music producers and DJ's use beats from other songs all the time. When he makes mixtapes, he uses songs from other people and alters it to make it his own. Bakers do the same, they use recipes from others and make changes to make it their own. Also when he makes his art pieces, he is replicating something another artist did already. Does that make him more artistic than me, when I use another baker's recipe?
Don't think so. No, it doesnt!
Friend: Do you have a creative outlet?
Me: Not really, well at least like most people think. I make scrapbooks and I bake so I guess I'm more crafty than artistic.
Friend: Oh yeah, you bake but you use other people's recipes so that doesn't really count.
How dare he! Just because bakers are not artist in the traditional sense, doesn't mean they aren't creative. Music producers and DJ's use beats from other songs all the time. When he makes mixtapes, he uses songs from other people and alters it to make it his own. Bakers do the same, they use recipes from others and make changes to make it their own. Also when he makes his art pieces, he is replicating something another artist did already. Does that make him more artistic than me, when I use another baker's recipe?
Budapest: Cakes and Bath Houses
One of the destinations on my backpacking trip in Europe was Budapest. I didn't know what to expect of Eastern Europe and I LOVED it! It's a beautiful city. The buildings are historical and gorgeous. The people are so friendly and helpful!
Budapest is famous for their bathhouses, which have been around since the ancient times. One of our days there we spent the morning sightseeing and exploring the city. Once afternoon hit, one of my friends went off on a caving adventure. (Because of the natural springs, caves have formed under the city) My other friend and I decided to go to a traditional bathhouse instead. On the way to the bathhouse, we stopped by a cute cafe to have a snack and expressos. We got a traditional Hungarian cake, Dobostorte, which had a hard top layer of caramelized sugar over alternating layers of sponge cake and chocolate buttercream filing. We also got the cafe special, which was a chocolate cake that had alternating layers of chocolate sponge cake and chocolate buttercream filling. Both were decadent and delicious!
Budapest is famous for their bathhouses, which have been around since the ancient times. One of our days there we spent the morning sightseeing and exploring the city. Once afternoon hit, one of my friends went off on a caving adventure. (Because of the natural springs, caves have formed under the city) My other friend and I decided to go to a traditional bathhouse instead. On the way to the bathhouse, we stopped by a cute cafe to have a snack and expressos. We got a traditional Hungarian cake, Dobostorte, which had a hard top layer of caramelized sugar over alternating layers of sponge cake and chocolate buttercream filing. We also got the cafe special, which was a chocolate cake that had alternating layers of chocolate sponge cake and chocolate buttercream filling. Both were decadent and delicious!
Dobostorte and The Cafe Special Cake
There are several bathouses in Budapest. One of them turns into a nightclub pool party on summer nights. Since we were there in autumn, we were unable to go to that. The bath house we ended up at was more of a locals place. Since it was a women's day, you could go bare. My friend and I also got 1/2 hour massages for only about $12. It felt amazing especially after hitting the pavement for 3 weeks straight. The next day we went to another bath house with our friend who went caving. It was called Széchenyi, which is the big tourist bath house and it was the most pretty looking one. It was ginormous and all the baths and sauna and steam rooms were coed so bathing suits required.
The locals bath house
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