A sneak peek into the past...

So, 2013 has come to an end. It has been a year of growth, of love, of joy and ultimately of faith, learning to trust when all circumstances are saying " Impossible!" , yet believing that it never really is.

Challenging ourselves to a New Year's hike at Skurugata, a big canyon/gorge close to Eksjö

 

The journey of living life is fantastic and fun. The challenge is learning to live a life that is not just about me. It is so easy in our modern society that our eyes are drawn to ourselves...my desires, my dreams, my wants. And while there is nothing wrong in pursuing that, ultimately our focus should be on "What can I give, not what can I get."

My favourite chocolate cake recipe with milk chocolate ganache and fondant snowflakes

How many times don't we get stuck in our feelings, doing something if we feel like it, not doing something when we don't. Yet there is something so beautiful and so powerfully in sacrificing something of ourselves, be it time or money or whatever, in order to help make someone else feel better. It is in those sacred moments that we often end up feeling way better than we would have had we pursued our own wishes.

I love my family!

At the dawn of this new year, let us help each other to think more about others than ourselves. Let us help each other to reach our dreams together. Let us help each other to grow in love.

 

May 2014 be a blessed year of peace, joy, love and hope!

Love,

Heidi

 

Posted with Blogsy

❤️LOVE❤️

Hello everyone!

 

I'm back after a break from blogging! It's been fun and busy running after 2 precious children, renovating and trying to find time to live in the now. It's so easy to long for moments in the future, or miss moments from the past, but learning to REALLY live in the present is a challenge at times. But it's been something that I've been thinking about lately, to make the most of the moments that we have because soon they will be gone and there will be new moments to enjoy.

One of my favourite type of moments is romantic moments, so when I was asked to make a wedding cake for today, I happily agreed! Celebrating LOVE is one of my favourite things to do!

(Please excuse the photos...the dark Swedish winter is not the most ideal for photography😄)

 

So as we head into the new year, let's remind each other to live fully and to LOVE fully!

 

Love,

Heidi

 

Posted with Blogsy

A whole lot of diggin' fun!

Children are a blessing! I remember the first time I held my oldest son, the feelings were overwhelming. Somehow when you get a child, you think you know what love is, but actually, the more time I spend with him the deeper the love grows. It is amazing the ability that children have in impacting our lives.

Now it's 5 years later and I can't believe that my baby is on his way to becoming a thoughtful, intelligent, kind yet strong young man!

What a blessing he is! When he turned 5 in November he wanted to have a building/construction party, here is some snapshots:

When the kids arrived they had a visit from "Builder Bull" who took them into the basement for some challenges. First they had to find head bands which then split the group into two teams depending on the colour headband they found. The two teams then had different relays so they could run off some energy. After that it was time for lunch, a "Build-your-own-burger bar". After lunch the birthday boy opened his presents and then we headed outside for some digging-in-the-sand games. It was a chilly day so after the games we came back inside to eat cake and ended off the day by crafting our own bulldozers. It was super fun!

Elias, I am so proud of you my son. I so look forward to the adventures, the laughter and the memories that lie ahead!




To all of you with kids...remember to cherish the moments, they go by so quickly and can never be brought back!




Love,

Heidi

 

Posted with Blogsy

The legendary Lightning McQueen

Lightning McQueen is one of the most popular Disney characters, at least in my household of boys. So I was happy when a friend of mine asked if I could make a Lightning cake for her 5 year old son. A delicious chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. It came out pretty cute!

Happy baking!

Love,

Heidi

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Happy Easter!

Here are some cute cupcakes for Easter! And they are dangerously delicious! I have found my new favourite "go to" chocolate cake recipe...Ina Garten is my new hero:-). This cake comes with a warning: it is DANGEROUS! Only because it's so easy to make and it's so delicious! Don't say I didn't warn you...

 

To see this recipe in Swedish, click here.

From Barefoot Contessa at Home

Chocolate cake
butter for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

1. Make the cake: sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla.

2. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. with the mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine. Pour the batter into 2 buttered and floured 9 inch cake pans or into your cipcake wrappers. Bake the cake at 180 degrees C for 40-45 minutes and the cupcakes for 15-20 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

Happy baking!

Love,

Heidi

 

 

 

Spring is here!

Easter is one of My favourite times of year...especially here in Sweden because it symbolises the start of spring, which means that summer is on it's way...which is a big thing in Sweden! Seriously, when it is winter here people go into hibernation, which may sound strange if you come from a warm sunny South Africa, but if you've been in Sweden during winter you understand that it's not so fun to stand outside and chit-chat when it is -10 degrees C and the wind is blowing through your bones.

And it is SOOO nice to be able to go outside without it taking half an hour just to get all the jackets, shoes, scarves and gloves on...

But one of the things that I love most about Spring is seeing everything come to life again, the new leaves sprouting on the trees, flowers blooming. It kind of reminds you that there is always a new beginning. When things get tough, there is always a spring around the corner. And it also reminds you what Easter is really all about...new life and second chances!

Here is a springy chocolate cake with cherry blossoms on made for a sweet girl who turned 18.

 

Love,

Heidi

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet 18

Here's a photo of a cake I made for a sweet young lady who recently turned 18. I was happy with how it turned out, and apparently it tasted good...and in the end, that's what is most important isn't it? Cakes are made to be eaten and not just looked at, right? The recipe is Ina Gartens double chocolate cake recipe, it is my new favourite, and it was filled with scrumptious caramel and cream.

 

 

Have a great week, everyone!

 

Love, Heidi

 

 

 

Leaving a legacy...

 My granny, Daphne, was a lady that left a legacy. She was an amazingly generous and loving woman and there are many times that I wished she hadn't died while I was so young because there was so much more that I could've learnt from her.

 

But isn't life like that sometimes...things don't always plan out as we wish them to. Which just reminds me how important it is to make the most of life and enjoy the people that I have been blessed with in my life.

 

One of the legacy's that my gran left for me was her passion for baking and blessing people with cakes. I don't know what it is, but there is something special about making cakes that are designed after people's personalities and likes. Maybe it's because it takes so much time so there's a lot of love poured into it. But whatever it is, it is always fun to see people's reactions when they see the cake that was made just for them.

When my gran died, I inherited all her cake decorating tools and equipment. This cake was made for a friend's wedding and the pillars between the tiers came from Granny Daphne. They have actually been packed in a box in South Africa for a while, but I finally got them here, so it's the first time I've used them. Turned out pretty good!

 

 

 Whenever I'm working with the tools I inherited I say a little thanks to the One above for blessing me with people in my life who have left a legacy, and not just a legacy of belongings, but a legacy of something so much deeper...a legacy of living your life to be a blessing for others!

 

Which makes me think...what legacy am I going to leave behind?

 

Have a great week, everyone!

 

Love,

Heidi

 

Love conquers all...

There are times in life when love is frustrating. There are times in life when love is exhilarating. There are times in life when you wonder why and yet there are times in life when you would never let go. The longer I live, the more I realise that love is a choice and it takes a lot of hard work. There are times when love comes easy, and there are times when it doesn't come so easy. But I have learnt that sometimes it's ok to put my expectations aside and just accept and when I do that it usually turns out better than I would have expected in the first place. I have learnt that sometimes I don't need to pick on the small things, but can just let things go and it will be okay anyway. I have learnt that my way isn't the only way. I have learnt that sometimes saying a little prayer is enough and I have learnt that love is never worth giving up on!

"The fire of love stops at nothing. Flood waters cannot drown love and rain cannot put it out. Love cannot be bought and it cannot be sold. Love is invincible."

 

Valentine's Day is a fantastic time to show those around you that you love how much you appreciate them. Celebrating love doesn't need to be limited to one day a year, but there is something special with the celebration that Valentine's Day has become. 

To my one sweet love - I am grateful got who you are and who you have made me to be. The best is yet to come!

Let love be victorious! Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Love,

Heidi

 

 

30 wonderful years and the world's best family!

This Christmas was the first Christmas that I have spent at home in South Africa since I got married and it was such a special time with the family. It was also the first time that I have flown home in two years, which is definately the longest I've been away for...it was great to come home...and great to see many of my family and friends that I haven't seen for a long time!

 

While we were home, my older sister, Laura, turned 30, so we threw a big party for her. Seen as though she was born in the 80's we decided to have an 80's pool party theme...except when the day came around it was pouring. So the pool party turned into a not-so pool party but whenever my family puts together a party, it is always a blast!

 

To my precious Lauli! I love you and want you to know that I am proud of you, both as a person and a sister. I am grateful for all the years we have had together and look forward to the many more memories that are to be made! You are priceless!

 

Now to the food...we had a buffé of minis: small bacon and cheese rolls, quiche bites, mini sausages, fruit kebabs, cocktail sticks...

The cake was made with chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and the topper was also layered with chocolate and vanilla cake. The cake has a story...

Two of my wonderful sisters helped to bake the cake and cupcakes as my husband and I were celebrating our 5 year anniversary. When we came back home from celebrating, somehow someone had brought out a coaster that lit up in different colours when a glass was put on it. There was only one in the house but I knew that we had to have it for the cake tiers as it would really enhance the 80's feel. The thing is, no-one knew where to get them from, but instead of giving up my dad and little sister go on a search, calling around to find where we could get more. They even called the manufacturers to ask where they sell them, and they were told that these lights are no longer produced. Yet, someone, within a couple of hours my dad found a place that had a few left. That is one of the things I love the most about my fam, nothing is impossible and they go the extra mile! I love you guys!

 

 

 

 

Enjoy the beginning of a new week! Take the opportunity this Valentine's Day on Tuesday to show those that you love how much you appreciate them!

 

Love, Heidi

 

 

Monday, 21 November 2011

Firetruck fun!

So my little boy is not so little any more...over the week-end we celebrated his 3rd birthday party. It was so much fun. In the midst of the craziness of writing my thesis and extra jobs, somehow we managed to find the time to throw together a lovely party for Elias. 

He has really been into firetrucks lately, so he wanted to have a firetruck party. I got inspired to build a firetruck from boxes so that the kids could play with it at the party. So one night I came up from the basement with a bunch of boxes and put my dear man into work. This year, I must give him the credit with coming up with many ideas that made the party a success...like paper machèing the firetruck. It would not have looked nearly as nice without the paper machè. So after several nights work in the basement the firetuck was ready to go!

We sent out firetruck invites to a few of Elias' friends and prepared snacks for about 20 people. I also made cute little firetruck badges for the kids and organised fireman helmets. The kids got to eat and play around together and then it was time for the cake. 

The cake was vanilla sponge with chocolate ganache and cream filling. One of the layers also had daim balls (daim is a swedish chocolate with a crunchy caramel filling). I'm always trying to find ways to get around covering a cake with fondant as I think fondant is so sweet. So this time I coloured cream a light blue and covered the cake so that the background would look like the sky. It didn't look as nice as fondant but it definately tasted better. I then made trees and buildings from fondant covered with flames around the whole side of the cake. On top was fireman "Elias" with a hose. The cake made its grand entrance into the party on top of the firetruck with small firework candles on top. It was so much fun to see the expressions on the children's faces...priceless and definately worth a week of short nights. Unfortunately I forgot to take a good picture of the cake during daylight. Oh well...better something than nothing.

All in all it was a party with many fun memories! And I am so grateful to have the most precious son in the world and the most loving and helpful hubby in the world!

Stay tuned for some fun, home-made Chritmas present ideas and other goodies to get you into the Christmas spirit!

Love,
Heidi

Tuesday, 6 September 2011

Weddings are fun!

Okay! It's finally time to show off the wedding cake that I made for a friend's wedding in August! It was a beautiful wedding for a sweet couple. The theme for the wedding was simple, silver, white and lime green. The cake was a 4 tiered square cake that rotated slightly. It's definately the biggest cake that I've made to date, and there are many things I learnt along the way. Here are some of those lessons:

1. Big cakes need LOTS of space...both when working with them and in the fridge. Luckily I have a pretty large fridge, so even the base of the cake fitted in the fridge...well, I actually measured the fridge first to make sure the cake would fit, because as you know, it was the middle of summer...and creamy cakes NEED to live in a fridge! The cupcakes I kept in the freezer so it all worked out pretty well.

2. Rolling out HUGE pieces of fondant by hand is not easy! Whenever you roll fondant to cover a cake it has to quite a bit bigger then the actual cake so that you don't end up with wrinkled sides. That means that the fondant for the bottom tier had to be almost 1 meter(about 0.8m to be exact). Now that's pretty easy when you watch the Cake Boss and all those shows where they have machines to roll the fondant perfectly smooth...not so easy doing it at home. But with a little bit of patience it turned out ok as well.

3. Dress warmly! Well, not when you are baking the cake, but I had to transport the cake about 3 hours to Malmö, in an air-conditioned car. I have never transported cakes so far, so I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but, thankfully nothing happened along the way. It's a pity I forgot my socks though...my toes were pretty blue when I got there!

All in all...agreeing to do a wedding cake takes a lot of planning and precision...but it's definately worth it when you see the happy couple!
 

Cheers to you, Håkan and Emma! We wish you many happy years together and many blessings over your lives!

Love,
Heidi

Thursday, 21 July 2011

Kärleksmums...

Love is always in the air in Sweden during the summer. There are usually many weddings to attend and many wedding pictures to look over! It's a fun time of year!

This year I have several wedding cakes/cupcakes lined up so it's pretty exciting! A few weeks ago I made a delivery for a cute couple that live close to me and wanted to have cupcakes for their wedding and a little cake as well. They have a great company that works with events and catering, you can check their homepage out here. They wanted pink polka dot cupcake holders with a "kärleksmums" cupcake..which is a chocolatey cake with a delicous icing. "Kärlek" means love in Swedish, so it kind of suits a wedding, don't you think? They also wanted fresh strawberries to decorate the cupcakes. For the cake: they wanted a pink cake, a "princesstårta" which is also a Swedish classic, with chiffon cake layered with a vanilla cream. On the same day of their wedding, I was attending some of my dear friend's wedding, so I was only able to deliver the cake and cupcakes and not set it up at the location, which I usually like to do. But they promised to send photos of what it looked like on the day. I'll keep you posted!

This is how they turned out:

Sunday, 26 June 2011

Birthday blues...

Birthdays are always fun! The older you get the more you should celebrate your birthdays...but many times it's not like that. Many people have terrible anxieties about getting older, which is understandable if you think that for every year that goes by you have 1 year less to live.

Put that way, it sounds really depressing! At times I look forward to growing old...having a life full of memories, both good and bad behind me to keep me content. Knowing that I've been down a road which no-one has gone, learning from the mistakes made and spreading love to those around me...

Yet, at other times, the thought of my now 2-year old son one day shooting up above me and becoming a man or my hair starting to turn grey is a daunting thought and looked forward to with a mixture of dread and anticipation. For me, the secret I think, is in how I live now...making the most of today. Today is all I have, and if I give everything to my life here and now, that's what's going to fill me up with those warm memories...

Even when life has moved many years on, being able to look back and say "I've lived the life I wanted to live. It wasn't always what I planned but somehow God has turned everything for the good", that's what I really look forward to!

I hope you are looking forward to the adventures of life and learning to live today to the full!

Happy 50th birthday, Marianne! You are loved and appreciated!

Tuesday, 14 June 2011

"Först med det senaste!"

Recently I made a cake for one of Jönköping's local newspapers,Jnytt. I don't often get to taste the finished product. I've often thought about trying to find some sneaky way to taste a piece of the cake without it being noticed...but I've realised that I will just have to be content with tasting the crumbs ;-). I didn't get to taste this one either, but rumour has it that it was really tasty. Whenever I hear that, I can breath out. It means that I din't mix up the sugar with the salt or do any other crazy blunder...

So, how did the cake taste? Well..it was a vanilla cake with blackberry mousse, white chocolate mousse and lemon curd. Yummy and fresh! I basically had free hands witht the decoration - as long as it had black and pink in it, the name of the newspaper and "Först med det senaste" on it.

This is how it came out.

I'm pretty happy about it, what do you think?

Love Heidi

Wednesday, 13 April 2011

Starwars forever

I have to be honest...I'm NOT a Starwars girl. I don't even think that I've watched anything to do with Starwars...definately not enough to know who any of the characters are. So when I was going to do a cake for a friend's 5 year old, and found out that he LOVES Starwars, I took on the challenge of delving into the world of Yoda and his gang.

I decided to tackle this cake in one night, I started at about 8 and ended at 3 in the morning, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! Take a look...

Monday, 21 March 2011

Hello Kitty!

Hello everyone!

Wow, what a busy 2 weeks it has been! Life has been a rollercoaster of fun and exciting events!

This week-end we had time to go to a sweet little girl's 4th birthday party! It was a Hello Kitty party, so for the first time ever, I made a Hello Kitty cake. It was really cute!


Lately I've been trying out some new tricks for my cakes. Nothing really beats the look of a cake covered in fondant, but at the same time it's really sweet and not always nice to eat too much of...especially here in Sweden. So instead of covering a whole cake in fondant, I have been covering it with delicious cream cheese frostings instead!!! Even though there is definately a time and a place for fondant covered cakes, I'm learning that sometimes it can be just as nice with a good frosting and some sweet fondant decorations.

For this Hello Kitty cake I made some of the decorations with marsipan and some with fondant. It was perfectly cute for a little girl!



For the base of the cake I wanted to try a new recipe, so I took one from Manuela's blog (Passion for baking). While I was there I found a great white chocolate and cream cheese frosting recipe which I gave a try, with a few little changes here and there...and OH MY WORD...it's my new favourite icing/frosting recipe!!!




Here they are:

Chocolate base: (Can also be found here)



200 g butter or margarine, romms temperature
3 dl sugar (300ml)
1 tsp vanilla essence/sugar
3 eggs
1,5 dl cocoa (150 ml)
5 dl flour (2 cups)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate
1 tsp salt
3 dl water

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Oil 1 large or 2 small cake tins.

2. Beat the butter and sugar until white and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Continue beating for several minutes after all the eggs have been added.

4. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add to the creamed butter mixture together with all the water, mixing slowly at first and then a little faster as the flour gets incorporated. Beat for several minutes.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tins. Bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes, depending on the sizes of the tins used.

6. Remove from the oven and let the cakes cool completely. Cut the top of the cake of and divide them in half. Fill with different fillings, depending on which favour you want. I used my caramel cream and oreo cream fillings. Raspeberry mousse also works great with this chocoalte flavoured base.



White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting: (Check out Manuela's version)


250 g white chocolate
340 g natural cream cheese
85 g butter
1 1/2 tbsp creme fraiche
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 dl icing sugar
food colouring

1. Melt the chocolate carefully.

2. Mix the rest of the ingrediants in a blender very quickly. Add the chocolate and mix until combined.

3. Pour the icing into a bowl and put in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

4. Take out and mix with an electric beater until desired consistency.

Happy baking,
Love Heidi

Tuesday, 15 February 2011

Birthdays and celebrations!

A few week-ends ago my wonderful parent-in-laws came down to Jönköping to celebrate Emanuel's mother's birthday. We had a lovely day together, swimming and relaxing at an indoor pool in Jönköping, eating good food, and just having a great time.

Instead of making a "traditional" cake, I thought that I would try something new and exciting.



First I made a choux pastry:

I used this recipe from taste.com

* 80ml (1/3 cup) water
* 40g butter, at room temperature, cubed
* 50g (1/3 cup) plain flour, sifted
* 2 eggs, at room temperature
* Vegetable oil, to grease

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Place water and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Put the lid on to reduce the water from evaporating and simmer until the butter is melted.
2. Add all the flour to the butter mixture at once and use a wooden spoon to beat until well combined. Place over low heat and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes or until the mixture forms a ball and begins to come away from the side of the saucepan.
3. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Add the egg to the flour mixture, beating well with a wooden spoon. Beat until the mixture just falls from the spoon but still holds its shape.
3. Pipe the pastry dough into a round circle about 20 cm in diameter on a piece of waxpaper. Fill the circle with the pastry. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden.
4. Remove from oven and turn the oven off. Immediately cut the top half of the pastry off. This is important in order to release the steam and prevent the pastry from becoming soggy. Return to the (turned off) oven and leave for 15 minutes to dry out. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

That's a basic choux pastry recipe. It can also be made into small, cute profiteroles. Once the round ring was done I lifted the top half off, filled it with some vanilla cream, topped it with some blueberries and raspberries, put the pastry lid back on, topped it with some more berries and decorated it with some icing sugar.

It looked kind of like a mess, but it was charming, and tasted so fresh and lovely. It's definitely a cake that I'm going to make again!

Happy baking!

Love
Heidi

Wednesday, 12 January 2011

Shaun the sheep cake

Last week-end we went to a very special little girl's party. Elsa turned 2 and loves Shaun the Sheep...so I made her a Shaun the Sheep cake.

We are very grateful for Elsa and her lovely family! We met them when we had just lived in Jönköping a few weeks and they have been wonderful friends to us since then.

This cake is made with a vanilla sponge recipe that you can find here.
Inside, the cake layers were alternated with cream, strawberry puré and white chocolate! It tasted good and quite fresh as well...except the frosting. I always think that the frosting is too sweet, but to get a cake looking really nice, it usually has to have quite a bit of frosting on it. But I suppose if it is too sweet, you don't need to eat it all ;-).



Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Love,
Heidi

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)