Mowielicious

One Year Bloggerversary, Chocolate Salted Cupcakes & A Wedding Photography Request

Happy Bloggerversary To Me!

I can't believe it's been a year since my first blog post. A year of celebrating, of travelling, of learning, of meeting new people, of making great friends, and of achieving so much more than I ever imagined I would with this blog.

A big THANK YOU to all of you, my lovely readers, for all your great support, comments, emails, friendship and love throughout this year - you're the ones that have made this blog what it is, and it's because of you that I push for more, for bigger, for better, for prettier.

There is one person that's been left out throughout this year though - Bruce. And so, for my one year bloggerversary, I thought I'd let him have a say in what gets baked for a change. For months he's been asking me for just a 'simple chocolate cake with caramel'. You have to understand, Bruce isn't a fan of cooked fruit or anything fancy. He likes his basics, so that's exactly what I made for him.

Can you imagine my temptation to prettify it though? These chocolate cupcakes actually started out as a cake, then turned into brownies sandwiched with caramel, then cupcakes topped with caramel, then brownies with caramel chunks, then cupcakes again. That's how versatile this batter is, you can bake it any way you like.

But Bruce didn't want pretty, or fancy, just simple.

He also had a very specific version of caramel that he wanted on it too: dulce de leche, made from a can of condensed milk. Simply place a can of condensed milk (sealed, without holes) into a pot of water, boil on a medium heat for about 2 hours, making sure to keep the can covered with water.

The first time he made this for me, I freaked out: I had images of the can exploding and me sitting on the living room couch, hidden under an open umbrella as dulce de leche dripped down on us from the ceiling for days afterwards. But I have to say, we've never had a can explode yet, and if you're going to try it at home, please be careful!

I also have to add that I think the cupcakes are just right on their own and that the combination of cupcakes and the dulce de leche is almost too sweet, which is what Bruce loves. Funny, considering that he's probably the most sensitive person I know when it comes to eating - he runs a mile from anything too rich. But hey, this isn't my blog post, it's his.

Brucelicious - baking by Bruce. 

Speaking of which, he's just started his own blog, Cunningeye, where he's publishing a themed post of his best photos every week.

After baking these cupcakes for a month, altering things slightly for my final recipe (don't tell Bruce), some with cinnamon, others with caramel, with and without vanilla and/or amber sugar, I finally settled on a recipe that results in super moist cupcakes, and has a higher amount of salt than normal (half a teaspoon) - more than the normal 'pinch' as it really brings out the chocolate flavour, but not too much that it overwhelms the taste.

We've also been having the best weather, and anyone that lives in England knows that for the past 5 years, our Aprils have been the hottest months of the year, even hotter than any day throughout the height of summer. So Beth decided to have her first barbecue of the year at her place in Brighton. A whole bunch of food bloggers were invited and it was like a mini Food Blogger Connect. It was so nice to see and catch up with everyone again.

Taking more advantage of the lovely weather, Bruce & I decided to have a picnic over the weekend and invited Beth and her husband Chris. We chilled in the park with loads of food, pimms, cupcakes, and celebrated later with champagne, dinner and lots of laughs. If only we could have days like these all year round.

Just a quick little mention that I'm in the middle of rearranging the right sidebar (along with a few other details) on this blog, to clean it up and simplify it all, so please bear with me as I do so.

On a final note, I've got a little request: I'm thinking of expanding my wedding portfolio and was hoping that if any of you knew someone getting married in the near future, perhaps you could pass my details onto them?

Thanks so much!

Baked Apple Pancakes

Going back home is always very inspiring.

I spent Easter with my grandmother in Germany, in the little town I was born in. My Oma (the German word for grandmother) lives in an idyllic spot - looking out the kitchen window to the left side, all you see are open green fields that stretch out as far as the eye can see. In the middle, a cherry tree orchard in full bloom for spring, pink cherry blossom petals flittering everywhere in the wind. On the right side, a thick pine forest that smells of a million happy exploratory childhood memories.

Above all this: wide open, big blue skies, filled with parallel & criss-crossing plane trails in the daytime, and endless twinkling stars at night - the universe sprawled out before my eyes. Coming from London, my Oma's is truly the greatest escape, somewhere I can just be myself, think, plan and dream.

As most of you know, my Oma is the inspiration for my passion for baking. Both she and her father ran a bakery from when she was just a young girl, and the stories she tells me about it fascinate me to this day - I could sit there for hours listening to her stories.

The most interesting of which I found is that way back in the day, the way bakeries worked was quite different to how they work now: the customers would bring in most of the ingredients for what they wanted baked, and the baker would provide the flour, and perhaps a few other basic ingredients, and would then bake the desired cake. I love the idea, it's such an organic process, and if for some reason you couldn't bake, which back in those days, not everyone could, you would know exactly what's going in your cake. 

Oma learned so much during those early days, and the result was 112 books filled with her recipes, all meticulously handwritten in pencil. I spent most of my Easter holiday last week at her kitchen table surrounded by piles of those books, going through them with her, trying to find some interesting recipes, recipes I haven't tried before, and some old favourites, making notes as I went along.

One of those favourites is this apple pancake.

A traditionalist through and through, my Oma likes doing things by the book, whereas I love experimenting, trying new things, mixing up ingredients, changing amounts and mould/tin shapes, and having fun while doing it, not taking it too seriously - you don't always have to be precise and follow things exactly to the gram to make something this comforting & delicious.

This recipe was originally something very traditionally German that you would have as a light lunch. It's so easy to make by just stewing a few apples and adding some pancake batter to the pan. I've changed it slightly by putting them in bowls and baking them instead of frying them, so if you're going to try them out, just remember you can achieve similar results in a pan over a medium heat.

The smell of the apples and vanilla is probably one of the most comforting smells I have ever known, reminiscent of fun times spent in the kitchen, and around a lunch table in the garden with family and friends.

 

On a side note, I was asked by the lovley Neel of Learn Food Photography to answer a few questions about food photography. If you're interested, you can read about it HERE.