Valentine's Day Confetti Cupcakes!

This Valentines day why buy something to show you love someone, instead BAKE something with LOVE <3  In doing this baking project, I realized that making frosting is more of a challenge than I expected, BUT this recipe I used is simple and always gets you an amazing tasty cream cheese frosting so ENJOY!

Ingredients for Cupcakes:

3/4 a Cup of Melted Butter
3/4 a Cup of Sugar
1 Egg
1 Egg white
1 Tsp of Vanilla Extract
1/2 a Cup of Milk
1 and 1/4 a cup of Flour(sifted)
1/4 Tsp of salt
1 and 1/2 Tsp of Baking Powder
2-3 Tbs of Sprinkles(i used pink white and red sprinkles)

Ingredients for Cream Cheese Frosting:
8oz of Cream Cheese
4 tbs of Butter
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
4 cups of Powdered sugar(make sure it is sifted)

1) In one bowl mix the Sugar, Milk, Melted Butter, vanilla extract and the eggs

2) In a separate bowl mix the Flour, Salt, and baking powder and slowly add it to the liquid mixture while continuously mixing.

3) while mixing still you can add food coloring if you want pink cupcakes

4) Once you have a smooth mixture you can add in the sprinkles and mix it with a spoon.

5) Fill each cupcake 3/4's of the way up and put it in the oven for 15-18 mins on 365 degrees

You will know when the cupcakes are done when you stick a toothpick in them and nothing comes out.

When you take the cupcakes out you will have the fluffiest, mouth watering cupcakes! While the cupcakes are cooling you can work on the Cream Cheese Frosting :)

1) In a bowl add the cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract and mix until smooth

2) In separate bowl sift the powdered sugar and slowly mix into the cream cheese mixture

3) Now you have a cream Cheese frosting! If you want to add spunk, add in a Tbs of sprinkles

Now that you're frosting is done and your cupcakes are cooled, you can ice your cupcakes! To make it a little bit funner I added heart gobstopper candies on top as shown below

I hope you and your loved one enjoy :)

Simple Tiramisu Recipe :)

I love to bake, and although I am not a pro, I get recipe's and tweek them so I can come up with something new.  I work with all guys, so it helps because I get to use them as my guinea pigs(Thanks guys!).
In this post I will show you my Tiramisu recipe.

 Ingredients(you will need multiple bowls for mixing):

4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar   
1/2 cup sweet Marsala wine
1 lb mascarpone cheese   
1 cup heavy cream
20-40 ladyfinger cookies(not the soft kind)

Ingredients to soaking coffee:
2 cups of espresso
2 tsp sugar
2 Tbs cocoa powder
(Optional)
1/2 cup of bacardi
1/2 cup of Disaronno Amaretto

1) In a double broiler(*) mix the eggs, the sugar and the Marsala wine.

2) Mix over the double broiler until the mixture thickens and becomes a custard

3) In another bowl mix the Mascarpone Cheese until smooth and creamy

 4) Mix the custard mixture and the mascarpone cheese together until smooth.

5) In a separate bowl whip the heavy cream until it is thicker and looks like whip cream

6) Add the cream into the mixture by folding it in as shown above (do not stir)

 Once you have the mixture made you need to get your setup together to put it all together....

7) In a separate bowl mix the espresso, the sugar (if you want to add alcohol, add the bacardi and Amaretto as well)

This is the needed setup, now you are ready to start layering

8) Soak the lady fingers in the espresso mixture for 3-6seconds and place in the pan as shown above

9) Spread a think layers of the mixture over the lady fingers and start a second layer

10) After the second layer is complete, sprinkle cocoa all over the top then put in the refrigerator to chill for 1-2hours

Now you are done! Enjoy, I hope you enjoy the recipe!!!

Eritrean Homemade Lasagna Recipe (or Homemade Pasta Sauce recipe)

I'm not sure if it was because we were colonized by Italy back in the 19th century but lasagna is a common dish in the Eritrean household. So I would like to share my personal homemade lasagna recipe! Enjoy :)

Ingredients for  Pasta Sauce:
2 Onions Diced
2 Tomatos diced
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
2 Tbs of Berbere(Eritrean spice, you can use Paprika or Cayenne)
2 Tbs of minced Garlic
2 Jalepenos diced
1 can of whole tomatoes
1 tsp of salt
1 bottle of tomato sauce(I use Prego)
1/4 tsp of pepper
1 package of ground beef


Ingredients for Lasagna:
1 Box of Lasagna
1 cup of milk
1 egg
A bowl of shredded cheese

1) Put the diced onions in a pot and put the heat on medium

2) Add the tomatoes and stir so vegetables cook but DON'T burn

This is berbere it makes the sauce spicy

3) Add the Vegetable oil, the berbere and the salt and continue to stir(fyi, this is how you start a majority of Eritrean dishes as you will see in my later posts)

4) In a blender add in one Jalapeno diced and 1 Tbs of garlic with the canned Tomato. Blend until liquefied

5) Add the contents of the blender into the sauce and continue to stir

6) Add the tomato sauce to the pot and stir for 10-15mins

7) In a separate pan, cook the ground beef and add the pepper, 1/2 tbs of garlic and whatever spices you would like to add to the meat to give it flavor

8) Once the meat is done add it to the sauce with the remaining diced jalenpenos and garlic. Continuously stir the pot on a setting between low and medium heat for 30mins.  

Once the sauce is tasting great and done, you can get on to making the Lasagna.

1) Boil water with a tsp of vegetable oil and a tsp of Salt. Add the Lasagna and leave on til it is cooked

 

2) Once the lasagna is done, mix the egg and milk together in one bowl and prepare your setup (Sauce, Cheese, Milk/egg mixture, and lasagna)

3) Spread sauce on the bottom of the pan (so later it doesn't stick)

4) Layer the lasagna over the Sauce

5) Add sauce, then add milk and egg mixture and spread evenly

6) Add cheese and spread evenly

7) Continue adding layers until the pan is full

8) Put the pan in the oven and bake on 350 for 30-45mins

9) When it looks like this, take it out of the oven and let it cool for 20mins.

 :)

This is for you Donny :)

check it outttt Baking and Cooking with Lou :)
(coming soon)