A Tea Party & Raspberry Filled Vanilla Cupcakes with a Lemon Buttercream

Last weekend the boyfriend and I bought a set of teacups that came with saucers and plates at the flea market behind Frederiksberg Rådhus. So of course I had to have a tea party! Yesterday, the daughters of one of my Danish classmates came over for some tea, painting and cupcake decorating. The boyfriend and I have babysat the girls before and they are two very sweet and funny kids.

We had some tea (of course), sandwiches, chips, and fruit salad before diving into the really sweet stuff. I prepared vanilla cupcakes the day before and made a quick raspberry jam type filling to go with it. I cut a cone out of the tops of the cupcakes yesterday morning so that the girls could fill them later on. I also prepared the lemon buttercream in the morning so that it would be ready to go in the afternoon. After the girls filled the cupcakes, I piped them, and they carefully decorated each one. All of the cupcakes were decorated differently and they looked amazing!

The combination of the sweet vanilla cake with the raspberry filling and the sweet and sour lemon frosting was great. You could taste each of the flavors but they all went together as well. Most of the recipes I post for chocolate or vanilla cupcakes and the different buttercreams are interchangeable. Feel free to use this vanilla cupcake recipe with the mocha frosting or make a chocolate cupcake and fill it with a raspberry filling for example. There are so many possibilities with (cup)cakes! 

Vanilla Cupcakes (barely adapted from Pastry Affair)

Makes 18 cupcakes

1/4 cup or 57g unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/3 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (I used skyr because that is what we had in the fridge)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 cup cake flour

11/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup milk

Raspberry Filling 

Enough for 1 tsp of filling for about 15 cupcakes

175g frozen raspberries 

juice from half a lemon

2 tbsp sugar, or to taste

Lemon Buttercream (slightly adapted from Sweetapolita) 

Enough to frost 18 cupcakes

1 cup or 227g unsalted butter, softened

2 tsp lemon zest 

5 cups icing sugar, sifted

2.5 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup whipping/heavy cream

a pinch of salt

Vanilla Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350F/175C and fill a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.

Start by sifting together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt so that it is ready once the wet mixture is prepared.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy with your mixer. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the sour cream/yogurt/skyr, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and the seeds from the vanilla bean. 

Gradually add in the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in the milk, mixing until the batter is uniform and smooth. This batter is quite runny compared to other vanilla cakes, so don't worry!

Place 3 tbsps of batter in each cupcake liner or fill until about 2/3 full, and bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or  until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven, and carefully remove the cupcakes from the pan and let them cool on a rack or on the counter. Allow them to completely cool before filling or frosting.

Raspberry Filling:

Pour the frozen raspberries into a small saucepan/pot. Cook on a low heat for a few minutes before adding the sugar and lemon juice. Let it boil slightly and continue to stir  until you reach a jam like consistency. Remove from the heat and let it cool completely before using it to fill the cupcakes (or you can use this as a warm ice cream topping!). Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.

Lemon Buttercream:

Cream butter and lemon zest for 3 minutes. The butter should become very light in color and have a whipped like consistency. Slowly add the icing sugar and mix on low speed for about 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice, cream, and salt and beat on medium-high for 3 to 4 minutes until very fluffy.

I think these raspberry filled vanilla cupcakes with lemon buttercream are a great summery treat. I hope you'll like them! God fornøjelse! 

Devil's Food Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream Frosting

The last time I made cupcakes was in...January?! The last cupcakes I remember making were for New Years so it was about time to whip up another batch! Although I love Sweetapolita's chocolate cake recipe,  I have been meaning to try David Lebovitz's recipe for devil's food cake and I must say, it is equally as good if not better! At Craftenhagen last month, we decorated cupcakes and one of the frostings we used was this mocha buttercream. It is so good, I have been thinking about it the last 3 weeks!

Devil's Food Cake (adapted from David Lebovitz)
Makes 12 cupcakes

4.5 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 cup cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp baking powder
56g unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/4 cup strong coffee
1/4 cup milk

To start, preheat the oven to 350F or 175C and line a cupcake tray.

Sift together the cake flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.

In a larger bowl, cream together butter and sugar with a mixer or by hand until smooth. Add the egg and mix until fully incorporated.

Mix the coffee and milk. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter and sugar mixture. Pour in the coffee and milk and stir again. And lastly, stir in the last half of the flour mixture.

Spoon about 2 tablespoons of batter into each cupcake liner. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool before frosting.

Mocha Buttercream (adapted from Ghiradelli)

151g unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g dark chocolate, melted and slightly cooled (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
2 tsp granulated instant coffee
2 tbsp boiling water

Melt chocolate over a double broiler and set aside to cool. Dissolve coffee with boiling water.

Beat butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar and vanilla extract to the butter and whip until smooth. Pour melted chocolate and coffee into the frosting and mix until combined.

*I found that the buttercream was a little too runny for my liking and as I was out of icing sugar, I just stuck it in the fridge for about 15 minutes before re-whipping it. The buttercream turned out fine, but you may want to either increase the amount of butter or add about 1/4 cup more icing sugar!

Pipe or spread frosting onto the cupcakes and cover with sprinkles! I used confetti quins, nonpareils, and some silver flakes on these babies.


These cupcakes are the perfect midweek pick-me-up! Especially as it's snowing in Copenhagen again! (Ah! Where are you spring?)

The Boyfriend + 12 + Cupcakes + Krenit + This Week's Flowers

(The boyfriend had his Master's thesis defense yesterday so this post is a mish mash of many things that revolve around that.)

The boyfriend has been doing his Master's in Economics and Finance for the last 2 years and yesterday, he and his thesis partner did their defenses and they got the highest mark! 12's! He has worked really hard and juggled a lot of things including school, work, and me! His parents, brother, and I were at the school to celebrate with him right after his defense and it was so great to see how everyone reacted when he told us his grade. His parents are amazing and they were so incredibly happy and proud of him.

After celebrating at school for a bit and then going out for lunch, we invited our friend/the boyfriend's thesis partner and his girlfriend, and a bunch of their good friends over to our apartment. And of course, I had to make cupcakes to celebrate! I bought a Valhrona cocoa powder on the weekend and used it in my usual chocolate cake recipe and it tastes even more amazing! The flavor is so much better than the regular cocoa powder I use. However, I wouldn't expect less from the Valhrona cocoa powder as it costs 3 times the price of the other cocoa powder I use! (Side note, there is zero choice here in terms of cocoa powder. All the grocery stores sell the same generic cocoa powder, so when I saw the Valhrona one available at one of the higher end grocery stores, I had to try it out and taste the difference!) The chocolate cupcakes were topped with peanut butter frosting and some chocolate flakes. They were delicious!

As I mentioned, the boyfriend's family came to celebrate yesterday and his parents gave him a number
of graduation presents. His mom is so sweet and spoils all of us and well, yesterday, they really outdid themselves. The boyfriend (and I ;)) got 6 Krenit bowls from Normann in lime green and baby blue. They are gorgeous and a Danish classic. You can read more about the Krenit bowls here. We love them!

On Monday, I went into town to my favorite flower store and bought some hydrangeas, calla lillies, and fillers for a graduation bouquet for the boyfriend. The hydrangeas didn't last very long as two of them wilted yesterday and the rest of them followed suit today so I took them out. However, you can see the hydrangeas and the full arrangement in the photo with the cupcakes.

And now we have reached the end of this incredibly long and all-over-the-place post! If you have some free time, browse the Normann site and shop, they have some really great products!

Hope your week has been going well!

Banana Cupcakes With Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Frosting

I have been wanting to try out the combination of banana cake and peanut butter for a few weeks now and I finally got around to it earlier this week. The peanut butter frosting and the chocolate coating together tasted like a Reese's peanut butter cup. It was amazing! According to the boyfriend, it may be one of my best cupcakes yet!

For the banana cupcake, I used my good ol' banana sponge cake recipe. I like this recipe as it is lower in sugar compared to other recipes I have seen. You can get the recipe for the banana cake here. And now for the best part, the frosting!

Peanut Butter Frosting (adapted from Annie's Eats)

Enough to lightly frost 18 cupcakes 

113 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp heavy cream (I just used milk as that is what we had)

Combine the butter and peanut butter in a medium bowl and beat on medium-high until smooth. Mix in the powdered sugar. With the mixer on low speed, add the vanilla and the milk just until everything is incorporated. Increase the mixing speed to medium-high and whip until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Scoop frosting into a piping bag and pipe away!

Chocolate Coating 

I just played this by ear

200g semisweet chocolate
2 tsp of vegetable oil

Melt chocolate in a double broiler or in the microwave. Add the vegetable oil once everything is melted and mix to combine. (The vegetable oil or you may use butter as well, keeps the chocolate from getting too thick. This way, you'll get a lighter chocolate coating instead of a really thick one.) Pour into a deep cup or bowl and dip cooled frosting into it! (I placed my frosted cupcakes in the freezer for 5 minutes before dipping and 5 minutes in the freezer after dipping.)

And there you have it!

Whipped Vanilla Dream Cupcakes

Two weeks ago, I tested out Sweetapolita's Whipped Vanilla Dream Cupcakes and I must say, they are absolutely wonderful. It had the perfect texture, it was light and moist, and it was a beautiful light color (as it is a white cake). I don't have much more to say about it except that I loved this cake and that I'm looking forward to making and eating it again soon! 

Whipped Vanilla Dream Cupcakes (adapted from Sweetapolita)

Makes 24 cupcakes (I halved the recipe to make a dozen)

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour 

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk, at room temperature

2 large egg whites, at room temperature

1 whole egg, at room temperature

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

1 1/2 cup sugar

8 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup whipping/heavy cream, cold

Preheat oven to 350F or 180C and line muffin pans.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium-sized bowl. Whisk the milk, eggs, and the insides of the vanilla bean together in another bowl. 

With a mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until it is light and fluffy.

With the mixer still on medium speed, alternate additions of the flour mixture and the milk-egg mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (3 dry additions, 2 wet). Beat after each addition until incorporated. Continue to mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.

In another mixing bowl, whip the cream until soft peaks form. (Don't beat until stiff.) Fold whipped cream into the cake batter. 

Divide batter evenly among the cupcake liners, about 2/3 full, and bake until a toothpick comes out with only a few crumbs. Takes approximately 16 minutes. 

Carefully remove cupcakes from pan and let cool on a wire rack. 

Prepare your favorite frosting and frost when the cupcakes are completely cool.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Cloud Frosting

Another classic cupcake, chocolate on chocolate! I am still loving Sweetapolita's Classic One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes as it is so easy (and quick) to make and it is moist and has the light texture that I love. As I have had success with a few of Sweetapolita's recipes already, I paired the chocolate cupcake with her Chocolate Cloud Frosting. The Chocolate Cloud Frosting is light and airy and uses melted dark chocolate rather than cocoa powder. It only takes a few minutes to whip up this frosting and it is delicious! The recipe for Classic (One Bowl) Chocolate Cupcakes can be found on my first cupcake post here, and now for the frosting...

Chocolate Cloud Frosting (adapted from Sweetapolita) 

Enough to generously frost 12 cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter, softened but still cool
11/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate (70% cacao and up), melted (over a double broiler) and cooled slightly 

1 tbsp milk
a pinch of salt

Combine butter and icing sugar and beat on low speed for about 1 minute.

Add vanilla and beat mixture on low speed until combined. Gradually add the melted and slightly cooled chocolate and beat on medium speed until smooth (about 2 minutes). 

Add the milk and a pinch of salt and beat on high speed for another minute. (If the frosting is too thick, feel free to add a bit more milk and beat until combined and smooth.) And that's it! 

This week I went to Special Købmand and bought a few baking supplies. I bought a icing spatula as well as a new extra large round piping tip which I'm hoping to use soon! I'm looking to try a new vanilla cupcake recipe in the next few days and if all goes well, I will definitely post the recipe here! But for now, I must get to my Danish homework before bed! 

Happy Tuesday! 

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Whipped Vanilla Bean Frosting

This last week was full of sweet experiments. We had strawberries getting old in the fridge so I made strawberry scones and a strawberry panna cotta, I bought some dulce de leche that was on sale this week so I made a mini banoffee pie, and for our housewarming party last night, I made two different cupcakes, a chocolate cupcake with oreo cream cheese frosting, and this vanilla bean cupcake with whipped vanilla bean frosting.

I like to google recipes and compare different ones and read the comments before choosing a recipe to try and this can sometimes take up quite a bit of time! There are hundreds of recipes for vanilla cakes, white cakes, and yellow cakes available. With all these recipes available, sometimes it is quite difficult to know which is best! I try to choose recipes based on the best reviews/comments from those who have tried them and the ingredients I have available.

I was really happy with how these vanilla bean cupcakes and frosting turned out. The cake was moist, the frosting was light, fluffy, and the perfect amount of sweet, and I loved seeing the tiny flecks of vanilla bean throughout the cupcake. I topped them off with a sprinkle of gold flakes I found at a small specialty tea and chocolate store just down the street from our apartment.

Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Cupcakes (adapted from Baking Bites)
Makes 12 cupcakes

1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F/175C and place cupcake liners in a 12 cup muffin tin.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

With a electric mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter for a minute and then gradually add the sugar until it looks creamy. Add the egg, the insides of the vanilla bean, and the vanilla extract to the mixture and mix until smooth.

Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until almost combined. Add buttermilk and mix until almost combined. Add the rest of the flour and mix until everything has been incorporated (I did this last mix with a rubber spatula as I didn't want to overmix).

Divide batter evenly into muffin cups, fill about halfway as these will rise. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Let cupcakes cool for a few minutes before removing them from the pan. Cool completely before frosting them.

Whipped Vanilla Bean Frosting (adapted from Sweetapolita)
Enough to frost 12 cupcakes and a few more

188g unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes
1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tbsp milk
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whip butter for 8 minutes with a mixer on medium speed. Butter will become very pale and creamy.

Add remaining ingredients and mix on low speed for 1 minute, then on medium speed for 6 minutes. Frosting will be very light, creamy, and fluffy.

Now you're ready to frost!

The cupcakes were devoured by the end of the night at our house warming and everyone really enjoyed them so I hope you will too. Sometimes a delicious double vanilla cupcake is better than a fancy cupcake concoction!

Banana Sponge Cake

I love bananas. They are delicious on their own, in yogurt, with whipped cream, frozen and dipped in chocolate, and in banana bread of course! My mom had a recipe for banana bread which we have used for many years however, we seem to have lost the little piece of paper we had the recipe written on. The banana bread that we made was very light and definitely more like a sponge cake than a dense bread. After scouring the internet for banana sponge cake recipes, I have found one that is just like the recipe we had at home. Although it may seem like there are many steps involved in this recipe, it is definitely worth it. I promise! 

Banana Sponge Cake (adapted from 18Boot's)

I was able to make one loaf of banana bread, 12 cupcakes, and 24 mini cupcakes with this recipe

8 eggs, with the egg whites and yolks separated in large bowls

1 cup sugar

11/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tatar 

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup oil (vegetable oil, or something similar)

3 super ripe bananas, quickly mashed with a fork

To prep, preheat the oven to 350F or 175C and sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

Pour the cup of sugar into the egg yolks and beat with a mixer until it becomes fluffy and the color of the mixture is a light yellow. Add the oil and the mashed banana into the mixture and combine with the mixer. Next, gradually fold in the sifted flour into the wet mixture until there are no traces of dry flour left.

Add the cream of tatar to the egg whites. (Make sure your mixer/whisks/beaters are cleaned before proceeding with this!) Turn your mixer onto its highest speed and whisk the egg whites and cream of tatar to create a meringue. Whisk until the meringue forms stiff peaks.

Gradually add the yellow banana mixture into the meringue and fold until combined. Pour into desired pan and bake for about 40 minutes if using a loaf pan and about 15-20 minutes in a cupcake pan. The cake is ready when a tooth pick comes out clean.

I topped the cupcake with a nutella cream cheese frosting. I am still working on my frostings and when I have one that I am really happy with, I will be sharing it on here! This banana sponge is amazing on its own, but if you are so inclined, a little nutella on it doesn't hurt either!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Although I consume cupcakes on a regular basis (it's not as much as you may think!), I've never really made my own cupcakes from scratch. I mean, when Betty Crocker's Devil's Food Cake tastes so, so, so, good, why bother?

There are two cupcake places that I visit in Copenhagen, Agnes Cupcakes and Serenity Cupcakes. I like different things about both companies. I guess you could say that Agnes does the box mix cupcake with some fresh fruit and other ingredients mixed into their batter and frostings to create their 30 different cupcakes. I like the simple, clean, and professional look of their cupcakes and to me, they taste wonderful! My favorite is the "Queen" cupcake. A chocolate cupcake with dark chocolate frosting, a coffee cream filling, and powdered raspberry sifted on top. And then there's Serenity. I like going to Serenity because of the environment. The cafe is really cosy and they have a great selection of tea's and drinks to go along with their cupcakes. Although their cupcakes are good, the texture of their cake and their cream cheese frosting is not what I prefer. Serenity makes all their cupcakes from scratch from quality ingredients, however, I've found that their cupcakes are a little dense like muffins and they only do cream cheese frostings. I am not a big cream cheese fan and in small doses it's ok, but there are many different types of frostings that could be used. For myself, I like Agnes for the taste of their cupcakes and for spending time in a cozy environment, I like Serenity.

So, all of this cupcake eating in Copenhagen has led me to making my own cupcakes. I want to create  fluffy and moist cupcakes from scratch and perfect different types of frostings. I have pinned a number of cupcake recipes on my Pinterest and for my first batch of cupcakes, I made Sweetapolita's Classic (One Bowl) Chocolate Cupcakes paired with Best Friend's For Frosting's Fluffy Strawberry Buttercream. For my first attempt and working with a hand mixer only, I must say I am really happy with Sweetapolita's One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes. The texture is exactly what I am looking for and it tastes similar to Devil's Food Cake. The strawberry buttercream I made wasn't as smooth and as fluffy as I was hoping, but that may be because I did not whip it for long enough. However, it is a good recipe and I may try it again, just with a little less sugar perhaps. I am really happy with how my first venture into making cupcakes has gone and am excited to try out other recipes and flavors!

Classic (One Bowl) Chocolate Cupcakes (from Sweetapolita)

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup dark cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp corn starch

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup buttermilk (can substitute with milk and a squeeze of lemon juice)

1/4 cup brewed coffee or espresso, hot

3 tbsp vegetable oil (or a similar type of oil)

1 egg at room temperature

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F or about 170C and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. 

Sift all of the dry ingredients in the bowl that you will be mixing in. Sweetapolita suggests sifting with the electric mixer but I just did it by hand with a fork. 

Add all of the remaining ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix for 2 minutes on medium speed and pour batter into the prepared cupcake pan until about 2/3 full (or just less). The batter for these cupcakes are quite liquidy but once they're in the oven they'll come out perfect!  

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer comes out with a few crumbs. Try not to overbake! Immediately take the cupcakes out of the muffin pan and place them on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting. 

Fluffy Strawberry Buttercream (from Best Friends for Frosting)

1 cup butter at room temperature (I used unsalted butter)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup strawberry preserves (I used fresh pureed strawberries, and increased their amount and used 1/2 cup)

2 cups powdered sugar

Beat butter with mixer for 3 minutes until fluffy. Then add the vanilla extract and beat until incorporated. The strawberry preservers/puree go in next, and again, beat until incorporated. Lastly, add powdered sugar one cup at a time and mix until frosting is fluffy with medium peaks. 

Looking to take on a vanilla bean cupcake next and am constantly on the hunt for recipes, do you have a favorite cupcake recipe you'd like to share?