Recipe: Spice Cakes with Lemon Icing

When you move overseas, to a country where you don't speak the language, you often rely on the kindness of new friends. I've been baking lots of treats recently as thankyou's to people who have helped us get bulky baby items home (and up steep flights of stairs) and translated various important papers for us. The currency of homemade cupcakes seems to be just as appreciated here in Amsterdam as it was in Montreal. So wherever you are, if you want a sweet treat or to say thank you to a kind friend, these cupcakes are a nice alternative to my Scrumptious Chocolate Cupcakes and just as delicious.


Lemon Spice Cupcake

This spice cake recipe was often made as a birthday cake when I was growing up and was always accompanied by lemon icing. The two are inextricably linked for me. This is a no-fuss one-bowl type of cake.

Spice Cake
Makes two round 9" layer cakes or about 16 cupcakes.

In a large bowl, mix all at once:

• 2 c flour
• 1 c sugar
• 1/2 c soft butter
• 1/2 tsp each: cloves, nutmeg (grate fresh!) and salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 each: tsp allspice, baking soda
• 1/4 c molasses (fancy-grade)
• 1/2 c milk

Grating the nutmeg fresh makes a big difference and it only takes half a minute on a microplane. (Seriously, we thought this step was going to be fiddly and annoying, but it grates up so fluffy that you don't need to do much to get your 1/2 tsp!) If you're using electric beaters, beat for just 2 minutes until it comes together. If you overmix, the cake will turn out dry.

Stir in:

• 2 tsp baking powder

Beat in:

• 2 eggs
• 1/3 c milk

Beat batter for another 2 minutes or less, until just combined, then pour into your pans. If you're making it as a cake, be sure to grease and flour the cake tins. For cupcakes, you can do the same, use paper liners, or bake in silicone muffin cups.

The original cake baking instructions are to bake at 375°F (190°C) for 25-30 minutes. For these cupcakes, I baked at 180°C (355°F) in a convection oven for 20-25 minutes. Check on them early and test with a toothpick to determine when they're done.

For the icing, I blend about 1/4 cup butter with 1 1/2 - 2 cups icing sugar, the juice of half a lemon and the zest of 2 lemons.


Lemon Spice Cupcake

You can find more of my recipes in the Food section, in the tabs along the top.

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Recipe: Scrumptious Chocolate Cupcakes

Happy February 15! If Valentine's Day didn't go quite as you hoped and you need to console yourself (or plead forgiveness) with chocolate, then follow along for some super easy chocolate cupcakes! They're also good if you just want to shower someone with extra chocolatey affection and have something yummy to nibble on with your coffee, tea, or a glass of milk!


Breakfast Cupcakes

We have a lot of birthdays to celebrate in February, so this recipe often appears about now for that reason. Of course, this year, we're mostly occupied thinking of the expected new birth day, which will probably be sometime in March! In any case, I made these last night and I must say, cupcakes for breakfast are delightful!

Scrumptious Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes a batch of 24, so you'll have plenty to share (or freeze for later).
Preheat oven to 375°F or 180°C.

Combine in a medium sized pot (about 1 quart size):

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup margarine, Crisco, or butter
• 1/2 cup good quality cocoa powder (the bittersweet stuff for baking, not the drink mix!)

Bring to a boil and remove from heat; stir until shortening is melted (put on heat again if necessary).

Whisk in:

• 2 cups white sugar and 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups flour and 1 tsp baking soda

Whisk well to get out the lumps.

Stir in:

• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cups sour cream (or plain yogourt)

In a pinch, you can replace the sour cream or yogourt with milk or soy milk, but use a scant 2/3 cup or it will be too runny.

Ladle the batter into greased or lined muffins tins (or silicone muffin cups) and bake for 15-20 mins. You can also make this as a cake in a 9x13" pan or two round 8" pans and bake it for about 35-40 mins.


Scrumptious Chocolate Cupcakes

I like to decorate my cupcakes with lemon or mocha icing and sprinkles. I use about 2 c of icing sugar to something like 1/4 or 1/2 c of butter. Do not even think of using anything other than butter! I don't really measure it, but just adjust as I go until it tastes "right" and is a good consistency. If you're making the lemon icing, then thin it out with lemon juice and add the zest of 1 lemon. If you're making the mocha icing, then replace some of the icing sugar with bittersweet cocoa powder and thin it out with strong coffee.

Spread the icing on your cupcakes, add some fancy sprinkles, and then gobble with glee!

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Cranberry Cottage Pudding

When I was at the Naturwinkel (a local health/organic grocery store) the other day looking for wheat bran and molasses (to make bran muffins), I noticed that they had fresh cranberries. I couldn't resist getting a big bag full to make Cranberry Cottage Pudding! This recipe is something my family tends to make around Thanksgiving particularly, but also sometimes at Christmas. It's best eaten slightly warm and it's oh-so-good the next morning for breakfast.


cranberry cottage pudding

When I got home with my sack of gorgeous cranberries and looked at the recipe I noticed that it called for baking soda. This gave me a bit of pause. So far, I've avoided using baking soda here since it's not a commonly available ingredient. In muffins and cookies, it's usually just to aid browning, not to provide any sort of rising action, so you can safely skip it. But in this cake-y pudding I wasn't sure. I have a gingerbread cake recipe that has only baking soda and once I accidentally used baking powder instead. It was horrible ... the cake stayed like gooey batter and even with loads more cooking time it never "set". It remains one of my few totally inedible baking disasters. So I didn't want to waste ingredients on a similar debacle this time.

I decided to wait a couple days and seek out some baking soda. I ended up resorting to the US and British food store on the Leidsestraat, which had the familiar orange cardboard boxes of baking soda. Baking in a foreign country definitely has its challenges, even once you track down the ingredients. My oven here is about the size of a microwave (in fact, it's also a microwave) and things tend to bake faster. Also, most of my recipes list the temperature in °F, so I have to convert to °C and then account for a convection baking setting.

But on to the recipe!


cranberry cottage pudding

Cranberry Cottage Pudding

Simmer 2 cups fresh cranberries in 2 cups water just until the skins pop.
Drain the berries, saving the cranberry water for the the lemon sauce.

Mix in a large bowl:

• 1-1/2 cups white flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp baking soda

In a small bowl, beat together with a fork:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup melted butter

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and combine. Then gently fold in the cranberries.

Put into a greased and floured 8x8x2" pan (or a round dish like I used).

Bake 30-40 minutes at 400°F (or 190°C for 25 mins if you have a small convection oven). Keep an eye on it the first time you make it, to determine how long it needs in your oven. It should be golden brown on top and a toothpick should come out cleanly.

Lemon Sauce

In a small saucepan, mix together:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 Tbsp corn starch (mix into sugar)
• 2 cups of the water used for simmering the cranberries

Stir over low heat to dissolve. Then bring it to a boil, stirring constantly. It should start to change from cloudy to clear(ish) as it heats. Once it comes up to the boil, turn it down immediately, stirring on low heat until it thickens.

Stir in 1/4 cup butter, and the juice and zest of 1 lemon (at least 1 Tbsp peel and 3 Tbsp juice).


cranberry cottage pudding

Rather a lot of cakes

pretty cakes
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

One of the strange things about engaging in a creative activity, is that sometimes, I feel inspired and compelled to make something without really knowing why or where it's going (if anywhere). Of late, I've found myself rather obsessed with drawing little fancy dessert spreads. I have NO idea why or what I'm meant to do with these drawings. Dear mysterious mind, please enlighten me as to what's going on in my subconscious!


more pretty cakes
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

I tried painting one in watercolours instead of colouring it with pencil crayon. Still no answers. Maybe I should try painting one in oils? I'm feeling intimidated by my oil paints. Perhaps starting with something frivolous like a lot of fancy jellies and cakes is the way to go? So far, this inspiration is highly confusing.


fancy cakes and fruit
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Any other creative types reading this have any idea how to channel apparently random inspiration into something more directed? In the meantime, it's starting to make me crave a fancy afternoon tea...


fancy dessert buffet
Originally uploaded by allisongryski