Public Service Announcement: The Dark Side of Baking

My husband asked me to write on my blog what happens when you bake a lot of bread. Actually he wanted me to show you what happens when your standmixer stalls because the dough is too heavy. Apparently the more you slow down an electric motor the more electricity runs through it, which can lead to broken teeth as you can see in the last photo.

The new part is on the left. What a difference! I am so lucky he could fix it. And just so you know I’ve had this machine for 10 years.

P.s. Kaputt is German for broken ; )

Mushroom Cupcakes for an Og Party

My daughter has read the book The Secret World of Og in school and today they are having an Og party. They are dressed in green, wearing masks and decorated the whole classroom with Og houses. Apparently Ogs like to eat mushrooms with rabbit sauce and so my daughter asked me to make mushroom cupcakes with chocolate drizzle.

My daughter and I discussed for quite a while how we would achieve that shape until I suggested we could try to make the cupcakes overflow. So I stirred up a batch of vanilla batter and filled the liners up to the top. Then we watched them bake, worried about the tops all running together, but it worked.

The icing is just powdered sugar mixed with cream and for the dots I added red food colouring ( and a bit yellow and green).

Yesterday my daughter worried a bit about the cupcakes not having enough flavour ( She wanted plain vanilla) and was glad that we added the chocolate. So maybe these cupcakes are not very exciting when it comes to taste, but they look cute! Happy Og day!

Major Project: Modern Quilt Wrap

I liked this pattern the moment I saw it and when a friend of mine asked me if I could dye the yarn for it I decided I would make one for me as well. The yarn is a mohair blend from Louet.

I have now a quarter done and I am quite surprised that I have so much already. It takes me about one TV show for one of the large squares and a bit longer to make 4 small ones. So I need to watch quite a bit TV until this is finished ; )

It is a fun project especially since I have never knit mitered squares before. To keep the 9 skeins of yarn organized I bought a nylon shower puff, took it apart and cut it into smaller sections. I tied a knot into one end and filled each little mesh bag with a yarn cake. It works really well.

You can find the pattern here for free.

Another Apron: Kaleidoscope

This apron is also from the book A is for Apron, but I have made many changes to it. Before you start you should check out the errata posted on the publisher’s website. You can find the complete pattern and instructions there for this apron. For me it still did not quite work out. So what did I change?

- The Apron is too wide if you use quilting fabric. I briefly considered having a seam in the middle, but decided instead to make the apron about 2 inches narrower.

- I “lined” the apron using the same fabric on the back

- Instead of traditional pin-tucks I used a narrow twin needle on the waistband

- The instructions about the hem did not make much sense to me, so I made up my own version

- The waistband did not match the apron even taking into account that I made my apron narrower, so my waistband ended up not being as wide as it was intended.

Again I had a lot of fun sewing this apron. It is nice when you can do some fancy work and not have to worry about it not fitting!

This is another birthday gift so I should mail it as soon as possible.

Happy Easter With Cake!

This cake that looks like a giant ice-cream cookie is actually a Kaese-
Sahne-Torte. A German variation of the good old Cheese Cake using fresh cheese (Quark), eggs and whipped cream. The bottom and top is a sponge cake. For the decoration I used a stencil I got a while back and icing sugar. It was delicious!

Happy Easter everyone!