chronicles of young

I do weird things in the bathroom. Like taking a blob of shampoo suds (is that what you call it?) and smearing it on my lips. And then imagining that this is what clouds feel like. And imagining how one day I might really be able to create something edible with this. Soap suds taste horrible by the way. THIS. No kidding, this has the texture of clouds, or at least in my imagination. If not for those fluffy things on top, I would have passed posting it, because the cupcakes need more chocolaty oomph. clouds and choc cupcakes   Makes 24 cupcakes plus 4 mini ones (picture below) I only made 12 with clouds because I wasn't sure how things would turn out. 3/4 cup (175g) unsalted butter, diced 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar 2 large eggs, separated 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk 2 heaped tablespoons cocoa powder, mixed with 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water then cooled 1 cup cake flour 2 teaspoons baking powder For the meringue: 2...

Don't this look like macaroons? They are the most sophisticated  demanding thing I have yet baked.I guess I will never bake this again, unless I get a boyfriend (almost impossible now) and its Valentine's Day.  For one, it involves the tedious step of whisking the egg whites till they are stiff. And more importantly, the inner environmentalist in me screamed murder every time I put a batch into the oven. (Each batch needs 90 minutes, and I had 4.) To make matters worst, I thought I'd use my strong, reliable hands to whisk the whites, to save electricity. HALF AND HOUR later... (not to mention the nth number of strokes) Still no stiff meringue in sight. In the end I gave up and used my stand mixer. Thank you, dear stand mixer. I gave them just a hint of orange so the colour would be pastel. A trick would be to pour some colouring into a small bowl and dip a skewer in before waving it through the meringue. Meringue cookies   Adapted from Gorge...