Rosato Wine Raspberry Cupcakes

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I’m very excited about this recipe because I think it has all you want for Spring and Summer : Cupcakes and a glass of rosé. I’m a super fan of berries and wine. If you haven’t tried raspberries and rosé, I think you are missing out and you need to fix that immediately. This recipe is really easy if you follow all the steps : It has a soft and delicate yellow cake ( you’ll taste rosé and almond), filled with  a little bit of a raspberry compote, topped with a rosé and raspberry buttercream frosting.

I chose a wonderful rosé from my favorite winery Castello Di Amorosa. Rosato is a dry rosé of Pinot Noir with hints of fresh berries and rose petals, very refreshing for this time of the year. If you would like to know more about this winery and their wine visit: www.castellodiamorosa.com

Ready for the recipe? Here it goes!

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Black Forest Cupcakes

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Happy Monday!! Did you watch the Royal Wedding? I did. I woke up around 3 am on Saturday to start watching the whole thing but by 5.30 am I was all tired and ready to sleep. It was worth it though, I loved it! Meghan looked gorgeous and Harry sweet as always! Hope they live happily ever after! (BTW if you haven’t looked at my Royal Wedding themed cake, you should take a look, it tasted really really good).

I was craving something with chocolate but I just didn’t want to go to the grocery store and buy a chocolate bar, I got cherries and guess what! Black Forest Cupcakes it was!

Chocolate cake + Cherry Compote + Vanilla Whipped Cream = HEAVEN!

Let’s start with the recipe ….

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Elderflower and Lemon Cake

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Happy Friday! The Royal Wedding is tomorrow and I wanted to bake something British. I was going to make a Battenberg cake which I baked about 4 years ago (it was not that pretty but tasted good), but then I read an article about the baker who is going to make the cake for Meghan and Harry and she mentioned the 2 flavors that are going to shine that day : Elderflower and Lemon. I was ok with lemon (plus I have a lemon tree at home), but… elderflower… what is that? where do I buy it? I have never tasted it. I searched online and I found out that my local World Market had a couple of bottles left. I went over to buy  a bottle and guess what…. they couldn’t find the product, it was super nice that a couple of employees spent like 15 minutes or more trying to locate the box (the manager told me someone already called asking if they had it too… maybe a baker? ).

I came home super happy with my elderflower bottle (Belvoir Fruit Farms Elderflower Cordial), opened and smelled it… Spring was inside that bottle! Citrus, flowers… perfect match!

Anyway, this recipe is about an elderflower lemon cake with a elderflower mascarpone frosting. Why mascarpone? I’m not a big fan of buttercream (I know.. crazy, right?). Plus, I wanted something lighter, mascarpone and heavy whipping cream it is!

Hope you like this recipe! Cheers!

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Passion Fruit Cheesecake

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Growing up I didn’t drink sodas that much. I always had homemade lemonade, orange juice,  apple and passion fruit juice. We even made homemade ice pops called “marcianos” , one of my favorite parts of Summer.

Passion Fruit is native to Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Peru (South American countries). I think this fruit is pretty popular in the Philippines too . The list of health benefits commonly attributed to passion fruit is due to the nutrient, mineral, and vitamin content of the fruit, which includes antioxidants, flavonoids, vitamin A, vitamin C, riboflavin, niacin, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper, fiber, and protein.

I always find passion fruit at Hispanic supermarkets. I buy it frozen, you can get the pulp with/without the seeds. Other names for passion fruit are : maracuya, parcha,  lilikoʻi , etc.

This cheesecake is perfect for warm days, it’s not very sweet and the fruity flavor makes you want to spend the day in a tropical beach.

Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @Pastry_Tales . I always post all the videos of the desserts I make. If you make this recipe, let me know!

Ready to bake? Let’s start with the recipe!

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Crema Volteada or Peruvian Flan

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Mother’s Day is just around the corner and I thought it would be nice to bake a couple of desserts that remind me of my mom. As you might know, I’m from Lima-Peru and I moved to California because of my husband. All my family is in Peru, so I miss my parents for sure. They don’t travel to visit me anymore because of their health conditions, but I try to visit them twice a year.

My mother’s name is Ana and she is 71 years old. She has always been a wonderful person, very caring and loving. She used to bake a lot (maybe I got the baking skill from her). I remember that every time we celebrated birthdays, Christmas, special dinners, etc. she always cooked and made dessert, everything from scratch, paying attention to every little detail. One of the desserts she used to make a lot was Crema Volteada (Upside-Down Cream = Peruvian version of Flan), everyone who tried it, loved it!

My mom now suffers from an early stage of Alzheimer’s, a terrible disease that there is no cure for. She was diagnosed 3 years ago and it really was super hard on me. I call her everyday and we see each other on camera ( My husband is always finding good and easy devices for video calls and right now we’re using Amazon Show, works great). With her early diagnosis she has been treated with medicine that makes the disease to not progress fast, I’m happy to say that it hasn’t got awfully bad yet. She knows who I am but she can forget what she had for lunch, but that’s ok, we all make mistakes, right? I try to entertain her every day when I call, I love our conversations. I told her I baked this Peruvian flan and she got all excited about it, she was giving me some tips too and those things make me soo happy!

Here is a picture of her with some orange muffins she made right before she was diagnosed. She doesn’t bake anymore but I’ll keep her legacy.

Hope so you like my little story. Let’s start with the recipe!

If you would like to see how I made this flan, visit my Instagram page @pastry_tales

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Best Margarita Cupcakes

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Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing great. Today is National Margarita day so I decided to make something special to celebrate. After our 2 trips to Mexico (so much fun!!), my husband likes to have a bottle of tequila at home, just to sip it or for margaritas. This recipe is really good to celebrate Cinco de Mayo too! I made these cupcakes 2 years ago, but now I have improved the recipe and it has a tequila-lime curd inside which is the bomb! This recipe has 3 parts: the cake, the filling and the frosting.

For the tequila, I used Magave Anejo (You can find it at Costco). Let’s get started and hope you like! Cheers Amigos!

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Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

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Happy May! How is everyone doing? I’m doing ok trying to catch up with my hikes and somewhat eating a bit healthier. I suffer from high blood pressure and cholesterol (it’s in my genes, everyone in my family has the same stuff). Hiking makes me really happy, I enjoy just climbing the hill and relaxing, it’s my happy place.

Like I mentioned before, I have a lemon tree so when life gives you lemons … you bake Lemon Meringue Cupcakes! (I know, I know I was going to make lemons bars, but I completely forgot!)

In this recipe you have to accomplish 3 steps:  the cake part, lemon curd and frosting. I would suggest you make the lemon curd the night before so you don’t feel too tired at the end of the day.

I hope you enjoy the recipe . Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/Pastry_Tales/

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Olive Oil Citrus Cake

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Happy Wednesday everyone!! I love sunny days like today, so I decided to write this post before I go for my hike. Yesterday, I was wondering what dessert to make, I was between lemon bars (which I’ll make soon) OR some kind of lemon cake. I have an orange and lemon tree. Lemon tree is awesome but my oranges are just ok (kinda sour). Anyway, I chose to mix lemon and orange in a cake plus some olive oil and the result was great.

I think this cake is super light and it goes perfect for an afternoon tea or after a heavy meal. Maybe you can try this recipe for Mother’s Day!

I hope you enjoy this recipe and don’t forget to let me know if you make it.

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Apple Crisp

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We were so busy last Sunday with house chores and also worried because one of my dogs was stung by a bee and had a horrible reaction . After a long day, my husband grilled some turkey burgers and I wanted to make dessert but it had to be quick, easy and with stuff I already had (grocery shopping was not in my mind).

I looked around and saw I had some apples so I decided to make an apple crisp. I know it’s not Fall but come on …. who doesn’t love the smell of cinnamon and apples around their house?

This is a recipe of an Apple Crips with a crunchy oats topping. Don’t forget to add a scoop of vanilla ice cream too. Enjoy!!

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