Green Short Sleeve Blouse

I found a lovely fabric last week, a green one with tulips called "Tender Tulips" from Soft Cactus. It is a really happy pattern that makes me think of spring and summer and because it is so nice I thought long and hard what kind of pattern I would use to make the best out of it. I thought of a skirt at first but then it might be nice with a blouse... Finally I decided to make a blouse and I found a pretty blouse pattern in Burda Style 5/2014. The model is quite straight in the waist area and it has some wrinkles on both right and left chest and on the back. It is a cute model and I will definitely use this pattern again! :)
As usual I started to follow the pattern instructions step by step but when I got to the neckline I had trouble understanding the instructions. I read it over and over again (maybe I had a bad day or maybe I was just tired) so I gave up and skipped the instructions and did my own thing haha! I think it turned up pretty well and I actually think it is my best work of sewing I have ever made! Hurray!

Lemon Cake with Raspberry/Blueberry Jam and Vanilla Custard

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGELICA'S HANDICRAFTS - ONE YEAR HAS PAST!

Oh, I can't believe that the blog turns one year this weekend! It has been a wonderful year and I have blogged about many new projects. This year has made me realized that I actually can finish things and not just start them! As you probably have experienced this year I try to do different projects from week to week so you readers get variation. I hope you have enjoyed the past year's posts and keep coming back and always feel free to give me a comment :) As a birthday present for the blog I have started a Instagram profile today named angelicashandicrafts where I will start posting pictures of projects and other things regarding the blog - I hope we meet there!

For this week I made a birthday cake for my blog, I wanted to make it in many layers and I wanted to make all the parts by myself and not use any semi-manufactures.
The cake contains three layers of filling; two layers of homemade blueberry/raspberry jam and one layer of homemade vanilla custard.

Lemon Cake with Blueberry/Raspberry Jam and Vanilla Custard

Garnish
5 dl whipped cream
Red food coloring
Sprinkles

Homemade bluberry/raspberry jam
250 grams frozen raspberries
250 grams frozen blueberries
1 deciliter sugar
Sheet of gelatin (optional)

1. Let the berries thaw and become soft in a sauce pan on medium heat while stirring. 
2. When the berries are soft you can use a spoon or a masher to crush the berries.
3. Add sugar and let the jam simmer for about 15 minutes.
4. If you want you can add gelatin sheet, follow the instuctions on the package.
5. Put the jam into the fridge to cool completely.

Vanilla Custard
2 deciliter milk
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

1. Put all the ingrediets, except for the vanilla sugar, into a sauce pan.
2. Whisk until you get a smooth batter.
3. Heat on low to medium heat while you continue to whisk constantly until the custard is firm and fine in texture. The custarn must not boil!
4. Stir gentley and add the vanilla sugar.
5. Let the custard cool and keep it in he fridge until making the cake.

Lemon Cake (make TWO of this!)
3 eggs
2 deciliter sugar
1 deciliter wheat flour
60 grams potato flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Juice and grated lemon zest of 1/2 lemon

1. Put the oven on 175 Celsius.
2. Grease and bread a spring form diameter 20 cm.
3. Whisk the eggs and sugar until the batter is light and white.
4. Mix flour, potatoflour and baking powder and then stirr it into the egg batter.
5. Add the lemon juce and the grated lemon zest into the batter. 
6. Pour the batter into the spring form and bake in the loer part of the oven for about 40 minutes (but use a test stick to see when it is dry.
7. Let the cake cool in the form and then take it out and let it rest on a grid.

Assembly the cake
1. If the two lemon cakes are rounded on top, even out with a knife. Cut both cakes in two so you get a total of four cake layers.
2. Put the first cake layer on a cake stad or a plate and spread half of the blueberry/raspberry jam on it.
3. Add the next cake layer and spread all of the vanilla custard on it.
4. Add the next cake layer and add the rest of the blueberry/raspberry jam on it.
5. Add the final cake layer.
6. Whip 5 the cream and add a few drops of red food coloring to make it pink.
7. Use a spatula to spread a layer of pink cream all over the cake.
8. Use a piping bag to make decorations on top and cover the cake with sprinkles!

Tip: I made the jam and the vanilla custard the day before I made the cake - good to divide the various stages and not do everything at once!

Eye Mask

Sometimes I think it is difficult to fall asleep when it is not completly dark in the room. The issue is quite small in the wintertime because here in Sweden it can be dark from 15.00-09.00 but now when spring and summer is coming it will be a bigger issue - at least for me. One thing I have discovered these past few years is a sleeping mask that covers the eyes making sure all light is getting away from the eyes. The mask helps me to relax and makes it easier to fall asleep. For some time now my eye mask has been ready for the trash can because I have used it so much and today I finally made a new one of some left over fabric :)

I used my old mask as a model for the new one and I will give you my steps to the final result by drawings.

I used a patterned fabric with cute flowers for the outside and a solid black fabric for the inside closest to the eyes. For the edging I used white satin ribbon (approximately 3 cm wide) to make the finish a little more glamours :) The stripes around the head is stripes of white cotton fabric.

You will need:
1 piece 21cm*10cm patterned fabric
1 piece 21cm*10cm black fabric
2 cotton fabric stripes 3cm*40cm
1 satin ribbon 3cm*45cm
White thread

Fold the long edges of a fabric stripe into the middle of the stripe and iron it flat. Fold the stripe in the middle on the long side and iron it again, see picture below:

Use this technique for both the cotton fabric stripes and the satin ribbon.

Here is the pattern you need for the eye mask. Print it or draw it by hand. Make sure you get the right measurements.

Make sure the black fabric is thick enough so the daylight does not get through.

Let the front sides of the both fabrics face eachother.

Turn the mask inside out and iron it flat. Fold satin ribbon all around the edges and sew it into place.

Babybody with Apple Print

As I have mentioned before I think it is fun to make baby clothes because they are small and thereby easy and fast to sew and knit. Last week I was strolling about in a fabric store called Ohlssons Tyger in my hometown and when I walked by the children's tricot department I couldn't help myself...! The fabrics were so colorful and cute so I just had to buy some. When I got home I found a cute little baby body pattern in one of my Burda Style magazines and in five hours I made this cutie!
The fabric I used for this baby body is a tricot fabric called "Applelicious" from Poppy (this link is to the only online shop I could find who had this fabric, you can change language in the bottom of the homepage)

It does not take long to finish this kind of  garment and I did not use any special tools to get a good result. This type of body only contains four pieces and the only things you should remember is to first use a narrow zigzag stich to prepare all the cut fabric edges and then use straight stitches to make the nice finish. You can also use overlock but I think zigzag stitches is just as good.

I thought the buttons Prym 10 mm Jersey would be difficult to manage but in the package I got a plastic stick which allowed me to get a nice look just by using a hammer!

So, my point is that it really is easy and you just need ordinary sewing knowledge to make this kind of garment, so if you are inspired just go a head and buy a pattern and some cute fabric and get started!

Have fun!

Semlor

So, my dear friends, it is time for the special day, Fettisdagen (Shrove Tuesday), tomorrow and of course I want to give you my recipe of these lovely pastries we eat like crazy here in Sweden this time of year: Cardamom wheat buns filled with almond paste and whipped cream!
The recipe for the buns is very easy, it takes quite some time to let the buns raise but they will be worth the wait! The filling is quickly managed, especially if you use ready almond paste from the store like I did. However, if you don't have the possibility to buy almond paste, I will give you a recipe for it in this post too.

Cardamom buns filled with whipped cream and almond paste

Buns
640 grams flour
112 grams sugar
112 grams room temperatured butter
15 grams powdered cardamom
3 grams salt
280 grams milk
1/2 egg
25 grams fresh yeast

Filling
Whipped cream 
Almond paste 

Almond Paste
This recipe gives 100 grams almond paste
75 grams of almonds
2 bitter almonds
3 deciliter icing sugar
1,5 tablespoon water

1. Boild the almonds and the bitter almonds in water a minute until the shells will begin to loosen.Rinse the almonds with cold water and remove the shells.
2. Dry the almonds.
3. Mix the almonds together with sugar in a food processor until you get a flour.
4. Add water and mix until it gets a smooth texture.


Garnish
Sieved icing sugar

1. Put all the ingredients in room temperature for a couple of hours before baking.
2. Use a baking machine and just put all the ingredients into the bowl without heating or sifting and led the machine work the dough for about 20 minutes on low speed. 
3. When the dough is ready you will be able to take a piece of dough between your hands and make a thin membrane that will not crack. If you are kneading my hand you will have to knead for about 40 minutes.
4. Without letting the dough raise you make buns (60 grams each) of it and put them on a baking tray. Make sure you give them space so they will not raise into eachother.
5. Boil water and put the pan with the water in the bottom of your cold oven. Put the trays with the buns. The water will evaporate and it will me warm and moist into the oven while the buns raise. Let the buns raise to double size, it took about 90 minutes for me.
6. Get the trays out of the oven and put the oven to 200 Celcius.
7. When the oven is heated, bake the buns for about 5 minutes until the buns have a nice golden color.
8. Let the buns cool on a grid.
9. Whip the cream until the texture is good enough to pipe it.
10. Mix the ready made almond paste with a spoon of water and use a fork to make the texture smooth.
11. Cut off the top of the buns so you get a little hat.
12. Put the almond paste on the cut surface and this is a matter of taste how much you want to put on.
13. Now it is time to pipe the cream on top of the almond paste. Try to cover on the sides som the almond paste doesn't show.
14. Put the little hat on top and sift powdered sugar over.

Valentines Day Cinnamon Heart Buns

Next Saturday, the 14th of February, is the day you either hate or love - Valentine's Day. Regardless what kind you are, these buns I show you today will be the answer to a happy day in both cases. Even if we may be heartbroken, happily married or not interested in romance at the moment we all can find a reason to enjoy a coffee break (well, I prefer ice cold milk any day!) with cinnamon hearts.
I have always been quite disappointed in ordinary cinnamon buns because they are heavenly to eat freshly baked but gets dry and boring after a day or two. The main reason is that the filling I use to make is containing just sugar, cinnamon and a little bit of butter just prinkled on the dough before rolling it together. This time I made a new twist mixing butter, sugar, cinnamon AND almond paste! The result is mindblowing for me, the filling is sticky and delicious even after several days. I can assure you I will never go back to my old ways again!

Happy Valentine's Day people!

Cinnamon Heart Buns (approximately 15 buns)
600 grams flour
3 deciliter milk (room temperatured)
75 grams butter (room temperatured
1,5 deciliter sugar
25 grams fresh yeast (for sweet dough)
1 teaspoon cardamom

Filling
100 grams butter (room temperatured)
1 deciliter sugar
1,5 deciliter grated almond paste
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Decoration
1 egg
granulated sugar

1. Dissolve the yeast in the milk and then add sugar and cardamom.
2. Add 300 grams of flour little by little while stirring with a ladle or use a baking machine. If you use machine let it work for about 15 minutes.
3. Let the dough rise for about 30 minutes.
4. Keep on using the machine or and start working the dough while adding the rest of the flour and the butter in small pieces. You can also knead by hand if you feel more comfortable with that.
5. When the dough is nice and even without being sticky, let it rise for about 30 minutes.
6. Roll out the dough to a rectangle shape approximately 40*30 centimeter (40 cm horizontal) and about 0,5 cm thick.
7. Mix the room temperatured ingredients for the filling in a bowl and then spread it evenly all over the rectangel all the way out to the edges. 
8. Start rolling the two 40 cm edges into the middle of the rectangle and make sure the rolls are getting the same size when they meet.
9. Use a sharp knife to make 2 cm slices and lay the buns on a baking tray covered with baking paper. To get the heart shape you need to use the handle of a spoon sticking it right between the two rolls and drag the middle part down so you get the sharp lower edge of the heart. You can also use your thumb and forefinger to squeeze the rolls together a bit. Let the buns raise for about an hour under towel.
10. Put the oven on 225 Celcius.
11. Beat the egg and brush it on top and around all edges of the buns, sparkle the granulated sugar on top.
12. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 8-10 minutes until they get a nice golden brown color.

Apple and Cinnamon Muffin

This weekend I have had a terrible cold and while my nose was running and my head was hurting I wanted to make something easy and really tasty to bury my troubles in and I came up with the perfect treat - apple and cinnamon muffin!
I bought the lovely baking cups in a Swedish interior design shop called Lagerhaus, click here to see their offers on baking accessories!

Apple and Cinnamon Muffin
100 grams margarine or butter
1 1/2 dl sugar
4 eggs
5 deciliter flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
1 deciliter milk
2 peeled apples in small pieces
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar

Put your oven to 200 Celcius.
Work margarine and sugar together well in a bowl.
Add one egg at the time while you stirring vigorously.
Mix flour, vanilla powder and baking powder.
Pour the mixture into the egg/margarine/sugar batter and then add milk little by little.
Make sure to stirr until the batter is homogeneous and without lumps.
Use two tablespoons to distribute the mix into paper cups.
Poke down the apple pieces into the batter and sprinkle a mixture of sugar and cinnamon on top.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 15 minues.