Chocolate Cupcakes with Sour Cherry Filling

The school year has, once again, started, which means pretty much everyone I know (and myself) has moved back to Ljubljana. Since my birthday was in September, this is the time to celebrate it. So I threw my first adult birthday party!

I live in an apartment by myself, so I had plenty of space to host ''many'' people. Nevertheless, I only invited two.

We ate - and you'll find the recipe below. Inspiration for the recipe struck me two nights before the party. I had recently tried to recreate a chocolate-raspberry cake from a local pastry shop - and failed spectacularly. I thought I should try again, but this time, using cupcakes. After all, this blog used to contain the word cupcakes in its name and I have a few thousand cupcake liners stored in a box, waiting for me to use them.

Since I love the combination of sweet and sour, I decided to make chocolate cupcakes and fill them with a sour cherry filling of some kind, made of frozen sour cherries. I found this great recipe for cupcakes and made up the recipe for the filling. It all turned out great. I've never made such a fluffy and light cupcake before. And it turns out that whipped cream is the perfect cupcake frosting. Beaten to stiff peaks it's easy to decorate the cupcakes with and it makes the whole cupcake lighter than the usual butter-and-sugar based frostings.

Seriously, I have never had a better tasting chocolate cupcake (homemade or bought) in my entire life.

Chocolate Cupcakes (adapted from Bake It In a Cake) - makes 24 cupcakes

4 ounces (110 g) semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups (360 ml) whole milk
1 1/2 sticks (170 g) butter
1 1/2 cups (340 g) granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (60 g) cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups (275 g) flour

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Break the chocolate into small pieces, add two teaspoons of milk and melt it in a microwave or a double boiler. Leave the mixture to cool.
2. Beat butter and sugar on medium speed for 90 seconds - until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and make sure every egg is completely incorporated before adding the next. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
3. Add baking powder, baking soda, vanilla extract and salt to the mixture on medium-low speed. Add cocoa powder and mix for 30 seconds on high speed, until well combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula again.
4. Add the flour, 1 cup at a time, alternating with milk, 1/3 cup at a time. Mix well before every addition. 
5. With the mixer on medium-high, add the melted chocolate mixture and mix for 30 seconds, until smooth.
6. Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcake comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached.

Sour Cherry Filling

1 1/2  - 2 cups frozen sour cherries
4 tbsp water
4 tbsp sugar (optional)

Simmer the frozen or already thawed sour cherries with water and sugar (optional) in a pan for for about 3-4 minutes, then leave them to cool.

Whipped Cream

1 cup whipping cream
powdered sugar, to taste

1. Add as much sugar as you'd like to the cream and mix it with a spoon. 
2. Whip cream to soft or stiff peaks, whichever you prefer.

Assembling the cupcakes

1. Cut out a cone shape from each of the cupcakes, about 1 inch in diameter and about 1 inch deep, depending on how much filling you would like in your cupcakes. Fill the hole with 2-3 cherries and a teaspoon or two of the sour cherry juice remaining in the bowl. 
2. Remove most of the cut-out cone, leaving just a very thin ''lid'' and place it onto the cherries, to seal the cupcake.
3. Top with a tablespoon of fresh whipped cream.
4. Optional: decorate with a cupcake topper, preferably one with a cat on it :)

Hello October!

It's October time!

September was a good month for me. I'll admit, 26 out of 30 days weren't so great. I spent the first 18 studying for the last exam I had on the 19th, and then another week or so worrying about the results.

I got them yesterday and I passed. Which means that I was successful at all four of the exams I took in September and I am officially a fifth (and final) year pharmacy student. Yay! Plus, a week ago was my 23rd birthday and there was cake (two of them, actually). Made by me. The month went by extremely fast.

Every year, but especially this year, October is the start of a new chapter of my life. It's the start of a new winter semester, a new school year and probably my last year of being a student and not a serious, boring ''adult'' (will I ever truly grow up and be a real adult? Nobody knows). There's no more classes, no more exams, just training and research for the master's thesis. Which means a lot of work (and no play).

October literally brought cold weather. My cat, Munjo, has been sleeping under the covers since last week, which usually signifies that Winter is Coming™. So I guess we should have known.

I'm excited about:

School. This year everything is completely new. The first three weeks will be more laid back, since I only have a few lectures at the faculty. Then I will start the internship or the 18 weeks of unpaid work in a pharmacy that I have to do to become a licensed pharmacist. I chose to do it at a hospital instead of a community pharmacy, but more about that when I actually start to work, because I have no idea what to expect from working there. And the best part about school is, I only have to pass one more exam and I shall be finished forever. I thought this moment would never come.

Baking. It's finally cold outside and it's too early for central heating, so turning the oven on is a great excuse to bake things and warm up the apartment as well. I can't wait to start using apples in everything. Apple pies, apple crumbles, everything apple! It's such a versatile fruit and I can't wait to use it more, especially because it makes the kitchen smell so good.

Parties! I'm planning to throw a (belated) birthday party for my friends in the next two weeks. And I haven't hosted a birthday party since... 5 years ago!

Shopping for warmer clothes. I donated more than half of my clothes because I didn't feel good in them anymore, which means I literally have nothing to wear. Hopefully, that's about to change in the next few weeks.

TV! I know, I'm weird, but I'm reeeeally excited about my favorite TV shows returning. Especially New Girl, Parks and Recreation, Grey's Anatomy and the Walking Dead.

My October soundtrack: I am loving London Grammar these days. If You Wait is such an October-y album. I don't mind that my favorite city in the world is a part of their name, I don't mind at all. They only have two singles: Wasting My Young Years and Strong. But trust me, the whole album sounds fantastic and I hope they become crazy successful so I can go to one of their concerts.

What are you excited about this October?

Photo sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

I traveled... Boston

I arrived to Boston from New York City in the afternoon and the trouble started at the bus station. Getting upstairs from the subway station was another story. No one even tried to help me! I'm not one to ask for help, ever, but still. Back in Manhattan people volunteered to carry my suitcases multiple times. Ah.

Coming to Boston from Manhattan was a lot like coming back home. It almost has that small town feel to it. I'm sure it's great to live there, and I would love to, but it's not cheap. It's somewhere in the top 10 most expensive cities in the United States. A single room cost me $70 a night in a very weird hostel. $70!

After a long walk to my hostel (try not only dragging your own body weight in suitcases behind you, but also having no map), I realized it was more like a dormitory/retirement home. Luckily, I had a single room. It was close to important things, like a subway station. Which was pretty cool, and, I guess, worth the money. I wandered off to check my surroundings and I found one store that sold food... at very expensive prices. Excuse me, but where do these people buy their un-processed food? This city food situation is insane. So, I walked around a bit, found a 7-Eleven and bought a can of microwaveable pasta.

When I got back, there was free popcorn in the hostel. For everyone! And then it got dark and it became obvious that the only light in my room wasn't working. Being the great citizen that I am, I reported that to the authorities immediately. By authorities I mean I informed the reception desk. (Five days later the lightbulb situation still remained unchanged.) But the greatest thing about my single, $70 a night room was, that it had no sockets to plug my laptop into. None. I had to charge my laptop's battery in the hallway. That's a first.

And now, let's enjoy this photo of a beautiful subway station somewhere in Boston.

Again, I took advantage of a pass, this time it was the Boston City Pass. Here, I had more time to see all the (six) attractions they were offering. First I visited the Skywalk Observatory. Don't think it's anything like the Empire State Building or Top of the Rock. It's just one of the floors of a skyscraper, where you can look down and take pictures. But still, it was great seeing the city from another perspective. It was there that I learned Leonard Nimoy was born in Boston. Very useful information.

On day 2, I just walked around and looked for cute shops to visit and not buy anything in. Then I decided to have lunch at Friendly's. Because I'm back to New England and one of their  restaurants is sure to be nearby, right? Right. I found one on the map, but it was a long subway ride and walk away. I went anyway, but they were closed for a private party. Closed! The manager then gave me a coupon for a free ice cream sundae and told me they would reopen in 30 minutes. So I waited, and I waited, and I waited. And then I ate. Now, if you've ever been to Friendly's, you'll know that it's a smart idea to order ice cream with your meal, since it's really cheap that way. But I also had a coupon! And I wasn't going to let it go to waste! And I wasn't going to come back to this location ever again!

So I ate two ice cream sundaes.

Don't judge, it was the last time, possibly ever (what if they close down!?) I was able to eat Friendly's ice cream.

I am not ashamed to admit that I spent a lot of time in Cambridge, specifically a mall in Cambridge, shopping. Not ashamed. Therefore, there are lots of things in Boston that I just ''didn't have time to see''. I will be coming back anyway, so it's okay.

In the next few days I visited Harvard (multiple times), did a walking tour around it, felt sorry for myself because I don't study there and then checked out the Harvard Museum of Natural History, which was, surprisingly, empty. By which I mean there were no people, but a lot of dead, stuffed animals, minerals and flowers made of glass. That was fun. Except for the part where they killed and stuffed Bambi. :(

Visit this museum if you fancy seeing the biggest ever marine dinosaur skeleton. The Kronosaurus.

Of course, I had to visit the Fine Arts Museum because a) it was included in the price and b) if I visit now, I won't have to next time I'm in town. It's one of the largest museums in the US and it contains more than 450 000 works of art. Art overload! Yay for seeing more paintings from Cezanne, Renoir, Manet, Monet and van Gogh! And other artists I know nothing about.

I also visited the New England Aquarium. I haven't been to any aquarium in a very long time, but this one smelled like fish, which is what you would expect, really. They have a lot of different penguins with interesting face expressions and a pool where you can touch baby sharks. And rays.

I touched a baby shark, which makes me special.

I snapped photos of the outside of the Boston Logan airport while waiting for the plane. I have this crazy habit of coming to airports and checking in very early. Something could go wrong and I don't exactly want to spend thousands of euros on a flight home if I missed mine.

I was probably the first person to check in for my flight, and I was expecting to pay the fee for my second suitcase. While taking all my credit and debit cards (from back home) out of the wallet to see if I still remembered the PIN number for any of them, the employee told me I didn't have to pay and that I would ''pay next time''. Bless you, good sir. You just saved me a hundred-or-so dollars. (And thank you for implying that I will inevitably come back to your country and buy a lot of clothes again. You know me so well.)

So this is where my great adventure ended. It was good. It was fun. I realized how much I love traveling by myself. I touched a shark. I carried my social security number in my wallet for two weeks and my identity didn't get stolen. I think that makes it a successful trip.