Birthday Cake!

Let's admit it - with all those billions of ideas on Pinterest, saved ideas and recipes from Facebook - there are several choices for a birthday cake!

Well, this year was no different.

We decided to host a small birthday party of the A-Man and V-Man's closest friends and it was more or less (unexpectedly) dinosaur themed.

Let me first point out a few things when it comes to me hosting a birthday party:

1. I am lazy AF.  I don't really decorate - mostly because it's too late and I forgot.
2. I am on a budget.
3. My home is a single bedroom flat - hence I only invited 4-5 kids.
4. I keep it to 2 hours.  One hour for playing and hanging out, another hour for eating and gossiping with the other parents.
5. I put the most effort into the food.  Mostly so I can Instagram it later on and inspire other lazy AF parents like me. :) I also keep it simple!

So!  The cake request from A-Man was originally some super hero thing - that was last year.  Then as it got closer and his interests changed as well - he started leaning toward dinosaurs!

Well, I didn't have to search far for ideas - I am happy to say I didn't even go to Pinterest yet!  I planned something simple like a round cake, frosting or fondant on top and stick some dinosaur toys on top.

EASY RIGHT?!

Then I told the boyfriend (we will discuss this later) about my cake idea - and he got really excited (as most guys do about dinosaurs and big monsters that go ROAR!) and suggested boldly, "You know the cake needs a volcano right?"

WELL YES IT DOES!

So I got really excited...I mean - the little kid that cannot sleep before Christmas morning excited.

THAT is when I went to Pinterest.  And discovered some people made a cake with a volcano and they poured some liquid jello (before chilling it - that liquid stuff) and popped some dry ice in there and POW! Erupting and smokey effect volcano on a cake - easy!

So I planned a chocolate cake, green butter cream frosting, crushed Oreo cookies for dirt, Rice Krispies volcano, red Jello and the dry ice...The boyfriend was not able to attend the party this year - however, he contributed by picking up a bag of mini dinosaur toys - which came with some greenery, a fake stone and a plastic log too!

That damn dried ice doesn't exist in Finland.  Apparently I have to order it as if I am having a raving house party!

I just wanted a tiny piece.  That's it.

Well - seeing as that was a no go - I decided to just make red Jello (including refrigerating it) and pouring that into the volcano.

Here is my step by step tutorial!

Dinosaur Birthday Cake - With a Volcano!

What you need:

• A cake - pick your flavour or boxed cake mix. I threw one together from the top of my head. I baked it the night before...or the morning of at 2am with a glass of wine with a girlfriend - depends how you look at it!
• Buttercream frosting - if you end up with extra - save it or slap it on cupcakes (which I did).
• Crushed cookie crumbs - I used Oreo because it closely resembles dirt/volcanic rocks.
• Dinosaur toys - we honestly found that bag of toys at the second-hand store and disinfected them well! (We also don't have a dollar store here in Finland - so I got lucky and found something on the cheap!)
• **Rice Krispy Square mix (Rice Krispy cereal, marshmallows, butter and chocolate): I added the melted chocolate into the melted mix of marshmallows and butter then the cereal!
• A bowl or cup to form the RK volcano around.
• Red and/or orange ready to eat Jello!
• Birthday candles!

** Make the volcano a few hours beforehand or even the night before so it's really nice and dry and sturdy!  I made mine the morning of the party and popped it in the fridge.  I ended up downsizing it because the bowl was too big and it took up too much space on the cake.  Make sure there's a wide enough opening to fill it with Jello at the top.  If it spills over - it'll look more natural! :)
** Part 2: When making the RK volano - just stick it onto the bowl or cup - I originally tried a plastic cone-shaped sieve and tin foil wrapped around it with cooking spray and it did not stick at all! :)

Once your cake is baked and cooled, frost it, and transfer the cake to your display or serving platter.

Sprinkle some cookie crumbs around, place the volcano on top, fill with Jello and assemble the dinosaurs randomly and evenly around the cake and add your birthday candles!

And there you have it!

Hopefully this helps and I apologize there aren't more step by step pictures!  But you get the idea I hope! :)

Take care and thanks for reading!

BIMU

PS A-Man was really tickled pink about the cake and V-Man was happily helping me out with some things too with it.

BIMU Bakes: Stuffed Apples

I know you're probably thinking stuffed apples are a thing of autumn or winter.  When the leaves are changing colour and falling and everything is so crisp.

Guess what folks? I live in Finland.
That means it's April 25, 2017 as I write this (and I started this a week ago...) and it was snowing this past Easter weekend (not enough to stick around but still!) and it was a hot and balmy -7*C this morning when I went to take the A-Man to daycare (a week ago...).

So in short?  Warm, delicious desserts are welcome - all.  Year.  Round.

I ended up doing Easter dinner on the Easter Monday instead of the traditional Sunday.  Not to be cool but I was fighting a small cold all Sunday - which meant I got to sleep (and therefor drool) most of the day away.

With regards to the kids - they each got an egg and naturally, fought about each other's eggs, toy inside the egg and jelly beans etc.

So for Easter dinner - I decided to skip the lamb - as it was just our family celebrating this year and save some money.
I dug around the freezer and guess what? I had a bag of frozen game stew meat.
Our meal couldn't be more Finnish if I tried.

I cheat and use my bread machine for the dough-making process.
I also should have made cuts BEFORE letting it rice again...oops.
And here's the recipe!

A freshly baked loaf of Italian bread with mashed potatoes, slow cooked game stew and lingon berry sauce was our Easter dinner.  Naturally, that means none of the kids ate this...except V-Man.  He devoured the lingon berry sauce and the other two loved the bread.

Onto the baked apple though!

Pre-heat your oven to 200*C (400*F).
Wash and core almost all the way to the bottom - your choice of apples.  I used Granny Smith.  Using a sharp knife - cut a bigger circle and a tablespoon to scrape out the sides a bit so you have a good sized pocket to fill it with.

In a separate bowl - microwave butter until melted.  Add a cup of oats, some brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Actual amount - I can't say because I just winged it and only made 2 stuffed baked apples...
Mix well.  Spoon generously into apples and flatten with the spoon.
Drizzle honey on top if you like.

Bake in a dish filled with a bit of water for 15-20 minutes.

Serve it up warm with vanilla ice-cream and more honey!  Or maple syrup!
Actually, I used some Ben and Jerry's cinnamon bun ice-cream and it was even better than your typical old fashioned vanilla ice-cream!

You can also add chopped or crushed nuts and raisins with the oatmeal mixture - it'll still be amazing and lovely.

What I really loved about this recipe is that it means portions.  It means I can't get all crazy and eat tons and tons of these apples in one go!
Disclaimer: the extra filling is another story...

Enjoy!
BIMU

PS If you're curious what a more traditional Finnish Easter dessert is - look no further than mämmi.  Yes it looks like a distant relative of what'll come out of your body after eating too much...no need to point it out any more because Finns know it.

Finns either love it or hate it. There is no in between.  And there's usually a ton of sugar and vanilla sauce (similar to custard) to be dumped onto it to make it edible...bearable to look at even.

Then there's these...Mignon - a Finnish solid chocolate egg...made in an actual egg shell.  For realsies.  I recall there was a year where they were sold out...so I panic every year and make sure to buy myself one just in case.

Where can you get such chickens to produce these god-like desserts?

Finland - the land of Moomins, quietness, saunas, poop-like desserts and chicken pooping solid chocolate eggs.

NY Resolution Recipe #18: Cinnamon Buns With a Twist!

Okay, so I still have a few weeks to publish another 34 recipes in order to complete my NY Resolutions here!

So, the idea of these cinnamon buns is just in design!
Use your favourite recipe for cinnamon bun making and have a go with trying them in this shape!
(I made these in school and Finnish sweets almost always seem to have cardamom in their dough and in this particular recipe - it was a cardamom-based filling...so then I snuck in cinnamon!)

This is the recipe I use for the dough using my bread machine.

Step 1: roll your dough out into a rectangle about ½ inch thick.

          

Step 2: Spread your filling generously!

Step 3: Fold your dough - it'll stretch!

Step 4: Cut strips 

Step 5: Twist each strip tightly together.

Step 6:  Twist it on itself and tuck in the end to secure the base from coming undone.

Step 7: Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper with some space in between and bake accordingly.

Step 8: ENJOY!

:)
BIMU

NY Resolution Recipe 17: Death By Chocolate Cookies!

I had a request for the recipe for my Death By Chocolate Cookies - so finally, I am sitting down and doing it! (Apologies it's been 3 weeks?!)

*Warning: I'm not responsible for how many you eat and if you actually die from loving these/eating these cookies! :D*

What you need (all measurements are approximate as I use a 0.4dl coffee mug to measure ingredients!):

• 1 bar of white chocolate chopped in chunks (200g)
• 1 bar of milk chocolate chopped in chunks (200g)
• 1 bar of dark chocolate chopped in chunks (200g)
• ½ Cup of butter (room temperature)
• ½ Cup of brown sugar (soft)
• 1/4 Cup of white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1½-2 Cups of all purpose white flour 
• 2 heaping tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 1 tsp of baking powder

What to do:

• Pre-heat oven to 175*C.
• Line baking pan with parchment paper or silicone mat.
• Beat butter and sugars until smooth with an electric mixer.
• Add eggs and vanilla extract and mix.
• Add flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and mix until dough is soft and well combined.
• Stir in all chunks of chocolate until everything looks chocolate-y and delicious.
• Drop cookie dough by the spoonful - making sure you leave an inch or so between.
• Bake for 12 minutes and allow to cool because you know - melted chocolate hurts and burns! :P

Makes approximately 16 cookies.

Enjoy!
BIMU

NY Resolution Recipe #13: Apple Strudel

I'm in cooking school and recently we had a "German Day" - of which I was ridiculously excited to learn how to make home-made sausages.
But seeing as I don't have a sausage-making machine or a meat grinder - this post isn't about that unfortunately!
What I do have - is things to make apple strudel!  And you probably do too.
I've changed this from the school recipe which I found a bit bland with only boiling apples with a cinnamon stick - by mixing in the cinnamon and nutmeg after draining them.

What you need:

• 3-4 Large apples peeled/cored and chopped small (I used golden delicious since they were on sale)
• Cinnamon stick
• Cinnamon and nutmeg
• Brown sugar
• Filo pastry/puff pastry 4 sheets thawed
• Melted butter
• Optional:
• Slivered almonds or chopped peanuts
• Dark chocolate shaved
• Raisins
• Caramel sauce

What to do:

1. Boil your apples with the cinnamon stick until tender - about 15 minutes.
2. Drain water, discard cinnamon stick and pre-heat oven to 200*C (400*F).
3. Stir in cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar to your taste.
4. Lie out 1 sheet of filo carefully (it tears easily) and keep the rest of the sheets covered so it doesn't dry out.  Brush with melted butter and add the next sheet - adding melted butter between each layer.

Lay apple filling a couple inches wide along the edge - but give yourself an inch or two from the actual edge (see first photo).

Add on top your chocolate/nuts and/or raisins.

Fold in sides carefully (all 4 layers).
Brush butter along the folded edges.

Slowly roll it upwards - be careful of the center not ripping.
Brush butter while rolling because then it prevents it from drying out while baking. Brush butter generously on top.
Sprinkle extra nuts on top if you want!  

Bake in a 200*C/400*F oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Slice and serve warm with vanilla ice-cream and caramel sauce!

Next post will have the caramel sauce recipe! :)
Sorry I'm falling behind on these - but I AM sticking to my resolution and making something new every week! And not just in school :).

Since my husband can't eat nuts - I made him a separate strudel and didn't top it with nuts so that way we could distinguish the two strudels.

This could be made with other fruits I'm sure - just make sure they're well drained so the pastry is easier to roll and less likely to break on you from being soggy!

Enjoy,

BIMU

PS Originally posted here.

New Year's Resolution Recipe #8: Stuffed Brownies

I love Pinterest.  I've had an account for years but only really got into it the past 6 months or so?
I always joke that some people do face masks and stuff before bed time - me?  I scroll through Pinterest! :)

So what's something I keep seeing?

Stuffed brownies.

Sometimes known as "Sex in a pan" (I think it depends on how many or what kind of ingredients you put in it) or Oreo-stuffed brownies or as I saw them: "I'm going to go the gym tomorrow - just one more portion" brownies.

I apologize now that my photos aren't so great - I was in a rush between trying to make the darn things and fighting the kids off and protecting the cookies and the mixing bowl from the kids.

It's fairly straight forward:  You bake brownies and layer something in the middle.
I tried to go for "portion control" and used a cupcake/muffin tin but found they overflowed a bit much and they were baked a tad too long (22 minutes at 175*C) and a bit dry.  Which made me ridiculously sad!
I think in future for cupcake pans - and with a ready to eat center - I'd aim for 15 minutes at 175*C instead.

I went a little gutsy and decided 2 Domino cookies (Finnish version of Oreo's) with peanut butter sandwiched in between was a brilliant idea.

It is but it isn't because it was too tall and there wasn't enough brownie batter encasing it's chocolate/peanut buttery goodness.

But I ate it anyway.  It wasn't easy to cut cleanly that's for sure - but you know - it all gets chewed up anyway.

I've since tried this again with a rectangular pan and decided to say "screw you!" to neat and tidy portion controls and this was the result:

Served with home-made Cookie Monster Ice-cream (another Pinterest find!).
It's a no churning/no ice-cream machine involved kind of recipe too.  Yee haw.

It wasn't over baked and I know you can't see the cookies - but they're in there.  And I opted to mix in a couple monster-sized dallops of peanut butter into the brownies batter to save me some time! :) 

BIMU

PS Originally posted here.

PPS Brownies recipe is from my very first cookbook: "Company's Coming: Kids Cooking" book - yep a good ol' '90's classic!  But I'm sure your favourite brownies recipe will do just fine! :).

New Year's Resolution Recipe #6: Princess Cake

Last weekend I had the joy of celebrating my daughter's 2nd birthday party.
I love prepping for birthday parties - I actually don't find it stressful but find it really fun!

Anyway, the theme was cupcakes...kids decorate their own cupcake and that saves me a bucket load of time! :) And because she's so young, she doesn't care about games-they all just run around and wear themselves out!

Well, super last minute - like 2 days before the party itself and I'm in the grocery store- I decided I wanted to try making one of those Disney princess Barbie cakes.

You know the kind - maybe you had one as a kid - where you bake a cake, shove a Barbie doll in the top of the cake and frost the heck out of it.
Instead of doing a layered cake and shaving it to a dress-shape - I used my favourite cupcake cake pan from Tiger and figured it looked alright!

I used Martha Stewart's Buttermilk cake recipe from her book, "Cakes" (Book Depository Affiliate link) and regular buttercream frosting with Wilton's colourings in teal green and leaf green.

First of all - did you know Ariel is super tall without her fins?

I had to cover up her bottom with some extra frosting...

And if you're wondering about how to pack your Princess Cake - I put her in an Ikea food container with a bottle of maple syrup to support her.  A foil tent on top  - both in front and behind.

Ariel showing off her leg...so scandalous!

Anyway, the birthday girl was pleased as punch about the cake and for my first one - I'm impressed too.

Sure, I could've smoothed the frosting better and used a much lighter green frosting but anyhow, I used this video tutorial and it was a huge help!

Our friends liked the taste and flavour of everything and the vanilla buttercream went great with the buttermilk cake inside (a first for me!).
We can't buy actual buttermilk here - in Finland there's an equivalent called "Piimä" but we don't drink it so instead I just saved the money and used regular milk with a hefty splash of vinegar!

In the treat bags I stuck in a mini Kit Kat bar or mini Smarties and a glow in the dark shape that can be stuck on a child's wall with sticky tack.  And on the side a mini play-dough.

I think it may be my daugher's new thing as she got a plushy version of Princess Ariel as well (we already have the movie) and was ecstatic.

That and Barbies are hella expensive!  But anyway, it was fun and I'll practice frosting more :).

BIMU

PS originally posted on 2 Hookers 2 Kitchens

"An Experience"

We were recently invited to a birthday party of a friend's daughter's - who was turning the big 0-5 and I wanted to be sure of what kind of gift to give.
Last year we gave some pretty awesome pajamas and a Dr. Seuss book and maybe even a quickly sewn blanket to go with (I can't remember).
This year because she's 5 and she probably knows what she wants compared to her younger toddler years - I figured it'd be best to find out what she wanted or more importantly, NEEDED and go with it.

This year, I asked what we could get the birthday girl "E".  E's mom said that they would prefer less on the materialistic side because they want to raise their child with more experiences instead.  And also they only had so much space for more toys - fair enough!

I loved the idea and instantly thought one of the following:

• Movie tickets
• Restaurant gift card
• Hop Lop (indoor play arena) gift card

I had to clarify after a day of thinking what she meant by "experiences".

She kindly explained that it didn't have to be expensive.  It could be an experience of something they could do as a family or with another family.

Fair enough.  Now I had to re-think things and be mindful of our own budget too.

These were the things I thought of:

• Little indoor garden kit - herb garden or beans or something... (boring)
• Nail polish (I'm sure the father would love this..ha.) (messy)
• Cooking or baking utensils - but they probably have a lot already...
• Hiking with us - but they're probably going to do that at some point anyhow - so not very "special" in terms of birthday-ness.
• Handicraft kit - but if the parents don't know how to do it - sure they could learn online or ask questions - it might just be more frustrating for everyone involved.

So as I was cruising through Pinterest (part of my bed time routine - some people wear face masks - I use Pinterest!) - I came across cookie mix in a jar.

So simple and I had 99% of the ingredients at home.

I just needed a jar, some sort of ribbon and a birthday card to write the ingredients and instructions.

BOOM DONE.

I can't find the recipe I used but it was some sort of M&M cookie mix! I figure they're more or less the same depending on how sweet you like your cookies!
That's 2 cups of flour on the bottom - at least I can remember that!

So if you don't know how one of these puppies work it's fairly simple (and obviously you should buy a better sized jar than I did - or fill that up with small cookie cutters or something).

You layer the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda or powder, sugar(s), cocoa powder and candies) in a neat and tight fashion (press down especially if you need the space!) and then put a lid on top.

You can get all fancy pants with it and use a Sharpie, stickers or labels or nice ribbons to decorate it and usually there's a tag involved (I was already over an hour late for this party) - with the instructions.  You can stick the label on the outside of the jar or inside or in a card or on your forehead - I'm sure it'd be greatly appreciated ;) .

Usually an egg or milk or butter is involved and of course the baking instructions!

And guess what?  You don't have to make cookie mix.

You can make brownie mix, bread mix, hot chocolate mixes...the possibilities are endless!

Just be sure to put only the dry ingredients in the jar eh? :)

Here's some fabulous ideas from Pinterest!
Just look up "Mason Jar cookie mixes" or recipes or "brownies/bread" whatever you want mixes :D

These would make great gifts for any season or event and excellent party favours (you can find smaller batched recipes for smaller sized jars online too).

Cheers,
BIMU

PS I don't remember the measurements but here's what I put in that jar:

• 2 Cups of flour
• 2 tsp of baking soda (or maybe it was only 1 - like I said - don't quote me on this!)
• 3/4 Cup of brown sugar
• 1/4 Cup of white sugar
• A good shaking of hot chocolate powder mix :D
• 1 bag of M&M-like chocolate candies
  
  Then I scribbled instructions on her birthday card.

Honey & Oats Banana Bread!

 

Doesn't this look yummy?  Well, it's really easy to make!
I know a lot of my friends who have never tried banana bread thought it was a type of bread made with bananas (true) that you eat with a sandwich - like ham and cheese - and were quite disgusted I would suggest such a thing.  And I can't blame them.

But banana bread is more like a sweet bread or a cake if you really need a comparison.

I've made it sugar-free and gluten-free before - so it's possible for everyone to enjoy it!  Very handy at potlucks, minimal effort in the baking area and tastes delicious warm slathered in butter and with a nice cup of hot tea or milk!

There are a billion recipes for banana bread out there and I just found a basic recipe online and fiddled with it to make this one I'm sharing here.
And who doesn't have bananas lounging on the counter forgotten?  Their peels turning browner by the day....time to get 'em in this bread!

What you need:

• Glass loaf baking dish
• 3-4 ripe bananas mashed up (the browner the peel - the sweeter they taste and the better!)
• 1/3 Cup of melted butter (plus a bit to butter the pan with so the loaf doesn't stick)
• 1/4 Cup of brown sugar (or use a huge, long squirt of honey...)
• or do both! 
• 1 egg
• 1 Cup of flour
• 1 Cup of oats
• 1 tsp. of baking powder
• *Optional - add nuts, raisins, chunks of chocolate - make it your own! :)
• 1 good shake of cinnamon and nutmeg if you like that too...

Pre-heat your oven to 175*C (350*F) and butter your glass loaf dish.
Add butter, honey and sugar and egg to your mashed bananas.  Mix well.
Stir in oats and flour and baking powder and spices if you're using them - mix really well.  It'll look wet and runny - that's normal.
Pour it into the pan and bake for 50-55 minutes.  Top should be golden brown and if you insert a tooth pick in the center, it should come out clean.

Allow to cool before removing from dish and enjoy.
You can slice this and freeze them or microwave with butter on top too.
Great for breakfast, snack or any time - really.

Enjoy,
BIMU

Mini Cheesecakes!!

I went to a BBQ today with some friends and offered to bring dessert and when I found out there would be about twenty people going - I decided cookies was too much work but Mini Cheesecakes usually tickle everyone's fancy.

I used to just post photos of food and not really share recipes but I figure, why not??  
Currently watching "R.I.P.D."...it's interesting and I can barely move from over-eating at this fantastic party...I'm sure I resemble something like Jabba the Hut's sister...no really.
Anyways...ONTO THE FOOD PART!!!!!!!

This is the basic recipe from Kraft.

But I've made these a kajillion times with a wide variety of flavours and I'm going to share the two I made today!

The top photo is a new recipe that I tried today.

PB&J Mini Cheesecakes (made 18)

I used (and I apologize now that my measurements are NEVER exact so just go with the flow!):

• 2 small packages of Light Kraft cream cheese
• 2 eggs
• Fresh halved strawberries
• Half a coffee cup (.4dl is the standard cup size) of sugar 
• Cookies for a base - Oreos, vanilla-cream - whatever you have that's the closest is ideal.
• A whopping tablespoon of peanut butter (I don't mean the tablespoon measurement spoon - I mean a regular huge tablespoon in your utensils drawer and digging into the jar of PB and scooping it out and chucking it in there...)
• Put the strawberry half on the cookie of choice (vanilla cream cookies are nice too) and then cover with peanut butter cheesecake mix. Bake according to the recipe link above.

I was really excited about this because I love PB&J sandwiches and I always wanted to create something sweet but salty at the same time and in a mini cheesecake!
I have also made a Rocky Road version but don't have a photo of one currently.

Peanut-Butter and Jam

 This is the Chocolate & Cherry (made 13) version - same thing but I used chocolate cream cheese (2 packages) and added a candied cherry on top before baking them in the oven.  Super easy and you can use different coloured cherries for holidays too! :)

Enjoy and if you loved these - please share this with your friends and folks!!
BIMU  :D

PS Other flavours I've made using the basic recipe?

• Blueberries
• Chocolate and vanilla swirl
• Lemon with chocolate drizzle
• Rocky Road (candied cherry, chocolate, marshmallows and peanuts)
• Mixed berries
• Mint & Chocolate chip
• Loads others - it's been awhile or making them! :)