Star cupcakes!

I have been so busy lately traveling and all that kind of fun stuff. But I'm back now and I got something for you! Last tuesday was my little brother's 20th B-day and he had asked me a while ago to make him a cake with Fondant stars, I decided to go forth with it but instead of making the stars with fondant (lack of time) I made them out of white and semi-sweet chocolate. The cupcake was a recipe from Chockylit which on its own was light and fluffy, I added some cherry liquor to it because I wanted that taste from the black forest cake without having to go all the way and guess what? it worked! they were absolutely delicious everyone was raving about them and the frosting, oh my! that was the best part.

So here is the recipe straight from the Chockylit webpage and also a picture of the finished cupcake! I added the cherry liquour after the cupcakes where cooled a tablespoon worked fine and just pour it on top and let them soak up.

Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake
makes 24 cupcakes / 350 degree oven
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Measure out everything but the eggs directly into your mixer bowl.
2. Mix on low speed just until incorporated.
3. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes.
4. Add eggs, beat on high speed again for 2 minutes.
Measure out into cupcake pan lined with cupcake papers. A 2″ ice cream scoop works great for this. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool slightly in the pan then transfer to a rack to cool completely before frosting.
Chocolate Buttercream
enough to lightly frost 24 cupcakes
1 stick butter
1/2 cup cocoa
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
~1/4 cup milk
1. Beat butter on high for about 30 seconds until soft.
2. Add cocoa and 1 cup of sugar and beat until incorporated
3. Add half of the milk and the remainder of sugar and beat until incorporated.
4. Continue to add milk until you get to the consistency you want.
Assemble
There are many ways to go here, in this case, I simply piped the frosting onto the cupcakes with a large star tip.

I've been away for a while traveling and doing other things. This week hurricane Jova hit south of Puerto Vallarta! There was mass destruction and tons of people has been left without sanitation, bedding, food and water, my family is down there they all ok. Sometimes we think we are prepared for this kind of stuff but we never are, nature is something very uncertain, so if there is anyone out there who can help we all will be very grateful!!

Agua de Horchata, Mexican rice drink

Hola, hoy se me antojo un agua de horchata y como se que es comun que a mucha gente nos gusta pero varios no sabemos hacerla, decidi subir la receta!

Today I was thinking about this rice water drink and my mouth started to water, it's a drink very common here in Mexico but not a lot of people knows how to make it so here is my recipe!!

Ingredientes:

Ingredients:

1 taza de arroz

1 cup of rice

1 rajita de canela

1 cinnamon stick

1 lata de leche condensada

1 can of condensed milk

1 lata de leche evaporada

1 can evaporated milk

1 cucharadita de extracto de vainilla

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

Poner a remojar el arroz con la rajita de canela por lo menos 3 horas despues licuar y colar en una jarra junto con la leche evaporada, agregar la cantidad de agua deseada (yo hago dos litros y medio) endulzar con leche condensada y/o azucar al gusto agregar la vainilla y hielo y listo.

Soak the rice with the cinnamon stick for at least 3 hours then blend the rice and cinnamon stick with water strain the rice and just keep the juice put in a jar with the desired amount of water (I make two and half litters) sweeten with condensed milk and/or sugar to your taste, add vanilla and ice and serve. There you have it!

FM3, FMT

I can't believe a whole week went by and all I did was spend my days at the inmigration office in PV trying to get the paperwork for my husband and two of his friends. I love my country and I don't complain about it too much buuuuuuuuuut a whole week!!! Anyways I'm getting to know the system a lot better so if anyone of you fellows out there has any questions or need some help for an FM3 or FMT renewal shoot me an e-mail cuz I might be able to help you out!!

Piggy banks for Lila's 1st. B-day

Today I want to share with you the piggy banks I made for my daughters first b-day party it was a piggy bank, farm & cake smash party... This project took me a good month and a half but it was well worth it, when I saw the kids faces light up when I told them to pick a piggy bank to take home!!

Hoy solo les voy a compartir unas fotografias de unos recuerditos que hice para el primer cumpleaños de mi beba, la fiesta si fue con granjita y alberca entonces el tema de las alcancias quedaba muy bien. Este proyecto me tomo cerca de mes y medio pero la verdad valio la pena ver el resultado y las caras de los pequeños cuando les dije que podia escoger uno y llevarselo a casa!!

Berry Popsicles

El dia de ayer pensando en algo que pudiera aliviar el calor de mi pequeña de 13 meses sin contener una enorme cantidad de azucar y que fuera algo rico, hice estas pequeñas paletitas de fresa con frambuesa... Habia comprado yogurth natural hace unos dias y siempre tengo fresas a la mano así que puse manos a la obra y quedaron... Deliciosas!!

Les paso una foto y más abajo les dejo la receta!

1 taza de berries (fresas, frambuesas, mora azul, etc.)

11/2 taza de yogurth natural

1 cucharadita de miel

1 cucharadita de vainilla

Picar las berries en trozos pequeños y poner la cantidad deseada en los moldes para paletas, mezclar el yogurth con la miel y el extracto de vainilla (en este punto agregar más miel si las deseas más dulces) y agregar a los moldes para paletas con las berries. Congelar toda la noche y listo!! Algo saludable y delicioso que le encatara a tus hijos!

Yesterday I was thinking on how to relieve my 13 old mo. baby (and of course myself) of this crazy tropical heat, wanting to have something healthy and without a ton of added sugar and also delicious... I had bought natural yogurth and had some berries at hand so I came up with these delicious strawberry and blackberry pops! Here is some pictures and the recipe below!

1 cup of berries (Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, etc.)

1 1/2 cups of natural yogurth

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon natural vainilla

Chop berries into small pieces and put them in your popsicle molds, mix honey and vanilla extract with the yogurth and add this mix to your popsicle molds make sure you take air bubles out. Cover and refrigerate overnight! And you have a healthy and delicious treat for your lil ones... Enjoy!