Butterbeer cupcake

I always thought, that cupcakes are prettier than tasty, but I guess this was because I only encountered not too good ones in the past. :) I never made cupcakes before this one, but I have the confidence when it comes to cooking or baking, so I was not worried about making them for a party without trying them out first. I am happy to say, that it was a success, and I am going to try and make some more in the future. 

I had to change a couple of ingredients from the original recipe, as it is from an American blog, and we don't have the same things here in Scotland, but it turned out fantastic anyway, so I am going to share my version with you.

Ingredients

Cupcake:

2 cups of flour

2 teaspoons of baking powder

pinch of salt

1/2 cup of soft butter

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

1/2 cup of brown sugar

3 large eggs

1,5 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1/2 cup of buttermilk

1/2 cup of cream soda

Filling:

1/2 cup of butterscotch sauce

1 cup of extra thick cream

Icing:

1/2 cup of soft butter

1/3 cup of the filling you made

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

pinch of salt

450 g icing sugar (or the amount you need to reach the desired consistency)

Preheat the oven to 170 °C. Combine the flour, the baking powder and salt. Cream butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugars. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla flavouring, the buttermilk, and the cream soda. If you can't buy buttermilk, mix regular milk with a teaspoon of lemon juice, and tadaa! :) Add dry ingredients, mix well. Bake for 15-17 minutes, check with a knife to see whether they are ready. This cupcake "dough" was enough for 20 cupcakes.

For the filling, just mix the butterscotch sauce with the cream. Wait for the cupcakes to cool down, then insert the filling to the centres of each cupcake with a cupcake filler (or a big syringe). Don't worry if it comes out a bit. :) 

For the icing, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add the filling you saved earlier, the vanilla extract, and the salt. Beat in icing sugar, one cup at a time, until desired consistency. 

After I decorated my cupcakes with the icing, I used the remaining butterscotch sauce on top. to make it more prettier and tastier. :) Also, it is easier to eat, if you use silicone cupcake/muffin cases. Once the cupcakes cooled down, I removed them from the silicone ones, then used paper cases to make them pretty (and colour coordinated them for the four Hogwarts houses). This way it is easy to eat them, you won't waste half of the cupcake, because it won't be stuck on the paper. But they are still pretty and cupcake looking. 

I hope you will try the recipe out. It takes some time to make them, but it well worth the effort, and it is not hard at all, just time-consuming. 

Our Harry Potter Marathon Party

So as I mentioned in my previous post, I kinda have an obsession with Harry Potter. We also had a party 2 weeks ago, where we watched all the Harry Potter films, and had some fun. I thought (and you guys requested it as well) I am going to tell you about the party. :) 

I love hosting dinner parties, I love having friend over, cooking for them, and stuff. I had many gatherings like this before, but this party was my first themed one. Not the last though, loved all the preparations and brainstorming around it, so we will definitely have an other marathon/themed party in the future. Since there are 8 films, and all together they are almost 20 hours long, I figured it should be a whole weekend, and we broke it into 2 parts, first 4 films on Saturday, the other 4 on Sunday. Finding a weekend which was good for everyone was the hardest bit, since even though we are wand-waving toddlers inside, outside we tend to be adults, who work. After the date was set, we had time to brainstorm and have fun while doing the preparations. 

The first thing I was sure of: we need wands. I know you can buy wands on-line, and they sell it in the Harry Potter studios, but I really like to DIY, and there is nothing really cheaper than that. So I asked my old friend for advice (Pinterest), and she did not disappoint. 

Making the wands was fun and absolutely easy. If you want me to do a tutorial on them let me know, I still have all the ingredients needed, so I can make step-by-step pictures as well. It is quite straight forward though, all you need is chopsticks, a hot glue gun, some beads and paint. And your imagination of course. 

I like to cook and bake, so I also made some butterbeer (was not too keen on it thought, too sweet for my taste) and butterbeer cupcakes. Now these were ah-ma-zing, I will share the recipe with you for sure! This was my first try with cupcakes, they are a bit complicated, but not hard at all, and they tasted like heaven. I also made some cinnamon scones, and for a bit of savoury, I made witches hats from puff pastry, some garlicy tomato sauce and cheese. And we needed to have jelly beans of course. 

Since we like to go full out, we dressed Panda as Dobby. She didn't really mind her pillow case outfit. No socks though, she is still our elf. :)

Our friends brought some food as well, we had lovely jalapeño burgers for dinner, and when we got hungry later on, we went to the nearby 24 hour bakery for some goodies. :)

And of course, the most important, the films. I loved, that everyone had their wand with them for the entire weekend, and when Professor Flitwick was teaching the little guys Wingardium Leviosa, all of us did the movements. And we also sent Lumos up for Dumbledore at the end of the 6th film. I love my friends, it is so nice to be nerdy with them. :) I loved all the conversations throughout the films, about the mistakes (it was always better in the books!), the fun facts, and everything.

It was a really nice and fun weekend, and I literally felt depressed when it was over. We planned it so much, and it was so good to be together and watch all the films, that I never wanted it to be over. 

If you would like to have any of the recipes, or want me to do a tutorial on the wands, let me know! :) Also, if you have any suggestions for marathons like this, feel free to recommend!

My first tattoo

If you follow me on Instagram, you might already know, that I had my first tattoo done last Wednesday. Also you might noticed, that I have a slight obsession with Harry Potter (prepare for some Harry Potter related posts in the following days). Yep, these two are related, my tattoo is the sign of the Deathly Hallows. 

People always say, that you need to think a lot, before deciding on a tattoo, because it is going to stay there for the rest of your life. I agree with this, what I don't like is, when they say you should not get one done, because you are going to look stupid when you grow old. I am going to look stupid anyway, so who cares about the extra ink on my skin. Anyway, I was debating a lot about the placement of the tattoo. I really like them on the wrist and arm, but since I would like to work for NHS, I didn't want to make it unhideable. I decided on my back, even though I can't see it there, it is still a place which I can show without being totally inappropriate, and I can hide it with a uniform if I need to.

I got it done at the Rock 'N' Roll Studio in Dundee. I researched for quite a while, because I didn't want to end up at a crappy place. This stays on me forever, and wanted to make sure, that I am going to be in the best hands possible. I booked my appointment almost 3 weeks prior the session, and the place was really nice and welcoming, I didn't freak out even for a second. So yeah, I recommend it to everyone, they explained everything and answered all my stupid questions. :)

My artist was Piotr, and I am very glad I got him. I felt a bit weird when entering the studio, because I was freaking out a little, didn't know what to expect, but I felt silly at the same time, because I went in for a small tattoo, and the other two guys who were already there under the needle, had so much bigger things painted on them. The guy next to me was really nice, when we started he reached his hand out for me to hold onto it. :) I liked how welcoming even the clients were. 

It only took about 30 minutes, and I was really surprised, it didn't hurt at all. Ok I am lying now, it was a bit sore, but nothing major, kinda like a mosquito bite. It was louder than sore, really. 

2 minutes after it was done, still in the studio.

They explained everything about the aftercare, what should and shouldn't I do with it. I am not going into details about this, because every artist swears on different methods, and you are doing the best if you are listening to the one you got your tattoo with. But yeah, my baby is a week old now, and it was not red or sore or anything abnormal at all. I am applying the cream on it every couple of hours, and it is getting smooth now. Bit dry, but no scabs, no sore bits. I am really pleased with the result. 

1 day old. 

Sorry about the crappy pictures by the way, we had a busy weekend and didn't take pictures of it with our proper camera. 

And what they say is totally true, now that I have one I am hooked, already thinking about the next one, argh, it is addictive. :)

Do you have any tattoos? Are you thinking about getting one?