Baking inspired by books - Lemon cakes

I just want to say at the beginning of this post, I'm nothing close to a professional baker, but I simply love baking, so I thought I'll share this really easy and quick recipe with you, that reminded me so much of one of my most favorite book series. I hope you'll enjoy reading this and maybe you'll even give it a try!

"There's going to be lemon cakes and tea," Sansa went on, all adult and reasonable. Lady brushed against her leg. Sansa scratched her ears the way she liked, and Lady sat beside her on her haunches, watching Arya chase Nymeria. "Why would you ride a smelly old horse and get all sore and sweaty when you could recline on feather pillows and eat lemon cakes with the queen?" (AGOT, Sansa I)

Later came sweetbreads and pigeon pie and baked apples fragrant with cinnamon and lemon cakes frosted in sugar, but by then Sansa could not manage more than two little lemon cakes, as much as she loved them. She was wondering wether she might attempt a third when the king began to shout.(AGOT, Sansa II)


As every reader of the A song of ice and fire series by George R.R. Martin knows, Sansa Stark absolutely LOVES lemon cakes. The last time I ate lemon cake before reading these fantastic books was probably over five years ago, so I wanted to eat some and when I made them, I realized they taste amazing. They're really lemony and pretty moist (God, I hate that word) and just delicious. One small warning: the "frosting" (or whatever you wanna call it) is really sweet (and quite unhealthy), but since Sansa has such a sweet tooth, I'm sure she'd love it. The lemon cakes are probably not fancy enough to be similiar to those she ate in King's Landing, but I can definitely see her snacking on them with Sweetrobin in the Vale!

Ingredients:

Batter:                                                                     Frosting:
-200g butter                                                            -30g butter
-200g sugar                                                             -30g sugar
-4 eggs                                                                      -1 egg yolk
-1/2 lemon (1 TS lemon juice, lemon peel of half a lemon)                      -30 ml lemon juice
-2/3 teaspoon vanilla sugar/extract
- 200g flour
-1 pinch of baking powder

Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to 175°C (Use the hot air function)
2. Stir your butter, then mix in your sugar and vanilla sugar/extract first and add the eggs one by one and mix everything together.
3. Add in your flour, baking powder, lemon juice and peel and stir until you have a creamy batter.
4. Put the batter in any kind of baking pan or mold. (I used really cute looking flower shaped silicon molds.)
5. Bake them for about 15-25 minutes. Make sure to take them out of the oven BEFORE they turn golden-brown. Let them cool for 20-30 minutes before you add any kind of glaze or frosting.

6. For the glaze, melt your butter, then add in your sugar in small portions and stirr until it's completely dissolved. 
7. Add in your egg yolk and place the container with the mixture over a pot with boiling water and let it sit there for at least 10 minutes to kill off possible sallmonella in the raw egg yolk.
8. Mix the mixture once it's cooled down a bit with as much powdered sugar as you like to create a pretty thick glaze. Spread it onto your lemon cakes, let it harden and enjoy! (Use some lemon peel to decorate and make them look extra fancy.)

(Just mix 1 teaspoon lemon juice with about 30g powdered sugar to create an even simpler, yet still delicious glaze for the lemon cakes.)

So I really hope you enjoyed this slightly different post and you understood all the steps! I won't share recipes often, but whenever a book inspires me to bake something specific, I'll probably post it here. Happy baking!

Leah

My life in books! Book Tag

We really enjoy doing book tags at the moment, so here's another one that looks like a lot of fun. Let's do this!

1. Find a book for each of your initials.

Leah: I chose Love letters to the dead and Red queen for my first and last name. Since I also have a middle name I quite like, I decided to add in Heir of fire for it. I enjoyed all these books, so I'm happy with my pick. 
Vicky: Vampire Diaries and Breaking Dawn. Of course, I have a more or less beautiful middle name therefore I added The Shadow Kiss.

2. Count your age along your bookshelf - which book is it?

Leah: I'm fifteen and landed on The winner's curse. I love that book, it's set in a quite unique world (at least in my opinion), and deals with a lot of politics and intrigues. 
Vicky: I'm fifteen as well and the 15th book on my shelf is The Hunger Games which you probably all know (It seems like everybody has a copy of that book).

3. Pick a book set in your city/state/country.

Leah: I'm not sure if The book thief takes place in Munich, where I live, because I haven't read it yet (but it'll actually be the next book I'll read after I've finished Great expectations), but it's definitely set in Germany.
Vicky: In case you didn't know: There are not many books taking place in Germany or even Munich! After considering for minutes I finally came up with a famous german author called Erich Kästner. So I chose Emil and the detectives bc I loved it when I was a little girl?!

4. Pick a book that represents a destination you would love to travel to.

Leah: Anna and the french kiss really made me wanna visit Paris! It sounds like such an amazing city, with so many special sights (and amazing food. Never forget the food.).
Vicky: There is not a special book but every single one that takes place in London makes me wanna go to London. I've never been there by now but it's a city I really wish I could visit anytime soon...

5. Pick a book that's your favourite color. 

Leah: My favorite colors are probably black and white (especially for clothes) and dark shades of red. So the absolutely perfect cover is Crown of midnight! It looks completely stunning and badass, but is yet quite simple without a lot of decorations. It's honestly just perfect (just like the rest of the series!).
Vicky: Since I love food and my favourite colour is black as well, I have to go with Twilight. I was really looking forward to reading this book bc of its beautiful cover and I think it looks simply good!

6. Which book do you have the fondest memory of?

Leah: Probably Harry Potter. I loved this series the second I started it about eight years ago. I honestly can't even really remember a lot of other books I've read as a child (but I definitely did read plenty of books!), since most of them were historical fiction ones and I recently gave them away. And I absolutely loved the magic treehouse series, but that was in like first and second grade. And who didn't read and liked them at that age?
Vicky: There are so many books but as a child I was crazy about a series called Rainbow Magic. I don't know if you know it but it's basically just about two girls who need to help protecting their fairy friends against the evil Goblins and their master Jack Frost. Okaaay... I just saw that there are like 120 books from this series... When I stopped reading it there were only about 30 books published! Oh and btw, in the German version the Violet Fairy`s name is Vicky (like mine) and because of that it was my favourite book out of them and the book with the fondest memory.

7. Which book did you have the most difficulty reading?

Leah: I read A christmas carol by Charles Dickens last year to get into that christmas mood, and it was by far the hardest story for me to read so far. It's a pretty short book, but the font was quite small and because I'm not a native speaker, I always had to be concentrated while reading to understand everything.
Vicky: I read an original version of Dracula this summer and it was harder to read than I thougt. There were two points that made it difficult to read: At first it was written in very old english and I didn't know too many of the words and secondly, I was destracted by the pictures drawn into the book. They showed strange scenes and yeah... I'm not sure why I even finished it but bc of that it was probably the most difficult book I've ever read.

8. Which book in your TBR pile will give you the biggest sense of accomplishment when you finish it?

Leah: Great expectations by Charles Dickens! I'm about a hundred pages in and I'm really enjoying it so far. But I have the exact same problems as stated above with this one. Anyway, this is such an important book in literature and I'll probably be pretty proud of myself once I've finished it.
Vicky: I recently found out that in my library is a book including four stories written by Charles Dickens. So soon I will be reading it and since it's an english version I'll be pretty proud of myself once I've finished it!

We hope you enjoyed the My life in books! book tag and thanks for reading it!
Have a nice day,

Leah and Vicky

To all the boys I've loved before (Jenny Han)

During fall (which is my most favorite season by the way) I love to read contemporary novels that just make me feel all happy and warm inside. And what's better than being snuggled in blankets, drinking tea or hot chocolate, eating freshly baked muffins and reading an adorable book by candlelight? Yes, you're right: nothing.

To all the boys I've loved before is about 16-year-old Lara Jean, who wrote a secret love letter to all her previous crushes, but kept them hidden in her room. When her older sister Margot leaves for college, she has to take responsibility for the household and care for her little sister Kitty, since their mother died years ago and their father is busy with work. But that's not her only problem: someone sent her hidden love letters, so her past crushes start confronting her. To make things the least akward as possible she agrees with one of them called Peter, who wants to make his ex-girlfriend jealous, to be in a fake relationship. Over the course of this book you see her struggling to figure out what she really wants, while she's trying to keep her family over the great distance, but also her friendships together by attempting to be the best possible sister, daughter, friend and, suprising herself, girlfriend as well.

"Love is scary: it changes; it can go away. That's the part of the risk. I don't want to be scared anymore."

Honestly, this book (and the sequel called P.S I still love you, too) deserves a way better summery than the one I just wrote. I hope I got at least your attention with it, because you shouldn't miss reading these books for anything in the world. There are so many things I love about the story. First of all basically every character is really likeable and - more important - relatable, especially Lara Jean. I simply couldn't help but not to think she's similar to me, probably because she's pretty ordinary: she's rather shy and smart, doesn't have that much, but really good friends, loves baking, painting her nails and stuff like that. I really enjoy it in books, especially contemporary novels, when I can relate to the characters since that makes me feel close to them. Another great thing about the story: it doesn't only focus on the aspect of love, but way more on family, siblings and friendship, and what's it like to lose daily contact to someone who's incredibly important to you. The book just showed me how crucial family, and especially siblings are, and definitely made me appreciate my brothers a lot more. I loved the writing and the way the letters were worked into the story, and - of course - the so so cute and adorable covers!

Rating: 5/5 ✹

So if you're in need of some reads, which are especially great for fall and winter, you have to check these books out. They made me fall in love with Jenny Han's writing and I'm looking forward to reading the The summer I turned pretty trilogy in spring/summer because I've only heard great things about it. If you do pick up these books, I hope you enjoy them (I'm actually really sure you will) and thanks for reading my hopefully not too confusing review!

Leah

The 100 (Kass Morgan)

First of all, I'm sorry if I get anything wrong or mix storylines with the show, but I read the books some time ago (back in April, I think) and have read a lot of other books and rewatched the tv show since then, so I might mess this up a bit, even though I'm trying my best.

The books, which are called The 100, Day 21 and Homecoming, follow the four teenagers (and POV characters) Clarke, Wells, Bellamy and Glass. At the beginning of the series, all of them are on the colony, a spaceship whose inhabitants are the last living humans who managed to escape the nuclear war centuries ago. But supplies, most of all oxygen are running out, so the government decides to send one hundred teenage criminals down to earth to see wether the earth is survivable again. Among these delinquents is Clarke, Well's first love, so he commits a crime in order to accompany her, as well as Glass, who manages to escape back onto the colony last-minute. Bellamy however wants to get onto the transport ship to protect his little sister Octavia, whose relationship had to be a secret all their lives because of the one child rule on the colony. Once they arrive on earth and realize earth in fact is survivable again, they have to fight for not just their survival, but also the survival of mankind. While the unfamiliar environment holds a lot of dangers, the teenagers need to build a new society whilst they still have to deal with secrets from their pasts and unexpected relationships are developing. Glass hopes she got away from all these risks with her escape, but soon realizes, her life is in as much danger as it would be on earth. Everyone of them has to deal with the decisions they made or they will haunt them forever.

"You couldn't expect anyone else to share your suffering. You had to carry your pain alone."

I just realized I wanted to put too much information in this summary, but I hope it still made kind of sense to you. Anyway, I really enjoyed this series, and especially amazing was following those four really different characters and their storylines. At the beginning they all were in the more or less same situation, but during the series thanks to character development and a lot of events they differ more and more from one another. While you learn more about each person through flashbacks and memories, which are done soo good, you can see where they are all connected with each other. Apart from that, the books aren't really special, but definitely a great read if you're into sci-fi or dystopian books.

Now you may ask me wether I prefer the show or the books, I honestly can't give you an anwser. The storylines and characters are nearly completely different, so you'll have a hard time comparing those two. The show made a lot of changes, but I'm glad they did since the book just wouldn't work as a tv show, because it's focus is more on relationships and there's just not enough action and death in there. But reading the book really made me wish they would've included Glass' storyline in the first season. In my opinion it would've fit quite well and added definitely something interesting to the story. Anyway, the great thing about those two versions is you're actually able to experience two very different stories about the similar characters and the world they live in. And if you don't think that's awesome, I don't know what's wrong with you.

Rating:
The 100: 3/5 ✹
Day 21: 3.5/5 ✹
Homecoming: 3.5/5 ✹

Wow. This just became waaay too long. But, my point is, if you enjoyed the show (which you definitely did because it's AMAZING), you should check out the books, and the other way round. I'm quite sure most of you will like the show a lot more, but please give the books a chance, they'll be a nice "addition" to the series and will help get you over the looooong hiatus.
One last thing: Why the f*ck would whoever designed the covers (don't get me wrong, I actually like them a lot, especially the one for Day 21) put Finn on two of them, if he doesn't even exist in the books?
Thanks for reading all of this, I hope you're having a great day!

Leah

TV Show Tag

We know this isn't really book related, but we hope you don't mind that much. Because of our love for tv shows we knew the instant we stumbled over this tag we had to do it. So, here we are and we hope you enjoy it!

Question 1: What was the first tv show you watched?

Leah: The first one I watched was probably H₂O: Just Add Water when I was still in elementary school. But the show that got me obsessed with tv series was definitely Sherlock. I still love it and I'm obviously really excited for the christmas special they're doing this year.
Vicky: So the first series I watched was H₂O: Just Add Water as well (but it doesn't really count bc I was like 9 years old...). In fact the first actual tv show I watched (and got obsessed with) was Sherlock. I got the first episode for free on my phone and I watched it literally ten times and after finishing season one I fell in love with watching series all day...

Question 2: What is your all time favourite tv show?

Leah: The 100! I just love everything about it, from the dangerous post-apocalyptic world it takes place in to the variety of complex characters. The show doesn't have this black and white/good and evil kind of view and is because of that unpredictable and not afraid to kill of important characters. While I have the feeling that shows like Game of Thrones (especially in their fifth season, which was so disappointing for me as a book reader) only want to shock the viewers, The 100 makes you question the character's decisions and think about morals and responsibilities. So, in case you haven't watched the 100 yet, you should do it right now! I promise you, you certainly won't regret it!

Vicky: I can't really decide but if I have to I'd probably say Teen Wolf. I just love the world they were creating and the character development. Like, just look at Lydia! In the beginning she was the stereotyped it-girl and when you look at her now you see that she would do everything to save her friends. I also like that not always everything has a good ending (like certain deaths... #stillnotoverit) because that's realistic.
By the way, I can totally agree with Leah. If you haven't watched The 100 yet, you better go watch it now bc it's so worth the time!

Question 3: What is your ultimate OTP of all tv shows?

Leah: This is a really hard question for me, because I suck at picking favorites. But some of my favorites are Francis/Mary (Reign), Kira/Scott (Teen Wolf) and Dany/Drogo (Game of Thrones).

Vicky: I think picking only one OTP is impossible because in my opinion there are so much couples who are fitting perfectly together. So some of my all time favourites are Chuck/Blair (Gossip Girl), Klaus/Caroline and Damon/ and Elena (both from TVD).

Question 4: Which character would you like to take out on a date?

Leah: Another difficult question! There are so many hot guys in tv shows, but if I have to settle on only one, it would be Robb Stark from Game of Thrones. First of all, he's incredible good looking, but he's also one of the few at least kind of honorable and good characters in the show. And let's be honest, if you see all those Talisa (is that what she's called in the show?) and Robb scenes, wouldn't you like to have such a cute and caring husband?
Vicky: Stiles Stilinski or Damon Salvatore! I guess they would be perfect boyfriends bc they're funny and sarcastic and at the same time they're sweet and caring and obviously damn hot!

Question 5: Which shows are you watching at the moment?

Leah: Actually, all my shows are on hiatus right now, but these are the shows I'll definitely continue watching once they're back:

The 100, Pretty Little Liars, Teen Wolf, Sherlock, Reign, Agent Carter and Game of Thrones. (I hope I didn't forget anything.)
Vicky: Most of the shows I'm watching are currently not on tv but I watch Gossip Girl at the moment and I'm going to continue with Pretty Little Liars, Teen Wolf, The 100, Sherlock, The Vampire Diaries and The Originals once they're back.

Question 6: Which ended tv show deserves an extra season?

Leah: So far, none of my favorite shows have ended yet, but I already know I'll miss Pretty Little Liars a lot after the seventh season has aired.

Vicky: Gossip Girl! I'm currently watching season 5 and there are just 20 episodes left and I don't know what to do with my life when I can't go back to the upper eastside :(

Question 7: Which tv show do you want to watch?

Leah: I'm really looking forward to watching Shadowhunters in January and hopefully I'll manage watching The Originals until all the shows come back from their hiatus(es?!).

Vicky: I really wanna watch Breaking Bad (I started watching it with my older brother but we almost never have the time to go on) and I may start Game of Thrones someday but I'm not sure yet.

Question 8: Have you ever watched an entire tv show again (or watched episodes multiple times)?

Leah: Both. I watched the entire two season of The 100 twice (some episodes even three or four times), and I watched most of season one and two of game of thrones twice. Apart from that, I only rewatched "special" episodes like pilot and season finales from basically all shows I like.
 Vicky: Don't judge me but whenever I'm bored because all series are on hiatus, I start watching an old series again (I just love to see how the characters have changed within the seasons). These are the shows I watched at least twice: Teen Wolf (I actually re-watched all seasons except the fifth four times), The Vampire Diaries (Season 1) and the Hundred (by now just season 1 but I'm going to continue with season 2 with my mum next week).

Question 9: Which tv show did you watch but gave up on after a while?

Leah: I watched How I met your mother till around season three, but stopped because in my opinion it wasn't that funny and it just started to bore the hell out of me. More recently, I watched Once upon a time until episode 3x14 or so, and it was just way too predictable for me and I didn't really like the concept of clearly good and evil characters. I know, it's like that in fairy tales but I just don't like it at all. Anyway, the new trailer for season 5 looked actually quite interesting and different from the seasons I've seen so far, so maybe I'll give it another try.

Vicky: I once started watching Glee but now I'm stuck in the middle of season 2 and I just have no motivation to go on. But I know all of the songs and I'm truly in love with them!

Question 10: Which character would you want to be for a day?

Leah: I have honestly no idea. Probably Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones because DRAGONS (and I'd be really beautiful as well). I mean, who doesn't want to have three badass dragons? But that's probably the only reason since Dany's life kind of sucks apart from the fact she owns dragons. 

Vicky: I guess I'd like to be Serena van der Woodsen from Gossip Girl (but just for one day... Her life isn't as easy as some people think) because I'm really interested in the life of New York's high society and of course it would be fun to visit one of the extraordinary parties on the Upper Eastside.

That's it, we hope you enjoyed it!

Leah and Vicky

              

Taylor Swift Book Tag

I've seen this tag all over booktube and decided to give it a try, since it looks like a lot of fun and I hope you'll enjoy reading my answers as well! (And I'm really sorry for being so inactive, but I'll try to post at least once a week from now on.)

Question 1: We are never ever getting back together (pick a book or series that you were pretty sure you were in love with, but then wanted to break up with)

I have to go with Insurgent and Allegiant by Veronica Roth. I absolutely loved (and I still do) Divergent, so the first time I read those two books, I adored them as well. But when I re-read them last summer, I didn't liked it at all. I realized the story isn't good, it really annoyed me to read it.

Question 2: Red (pick a book with a red cover)

A court of thornes and roses by Sarah J. Maas! It looks simply stunning, and the story is even better than the cover (which is hardly possible).
  
Question 3: The best day (pick a book that makes you feel nostalgic)

I know it's quite a mainstream anwser, but I have to pick the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling for that one. It was such a big part of my childhood, and I still make sure to reread at least one book every year. (And yes, just like you I'm still waiting for my letter...)

Question 4: Love Story (pick a book with a forbidden love)

I'm gonna go with Kestrel and Arin from the Winner's curse series by Marie Rutkoski. I really like both of these characters and think they make a pretty amazing couple. I'm really excited where the story will head to with those two!

Question 5: I knew you were trouble (pick a book with a bad charakter you couldn't help but love)

Petyr Baelish from the A song of ice and fire series by George R.R. Martin. He just adds so much to this fantastic story and you can't help but be intrigued by this character. I kind of hate him for all the stuff he's done, but at the same time I love him for the way he did them. (I hope I make sense?)
  
Question 6: Innocent (pick a book that someone ruined the ending of)

The ending of Allegiant was spoiled by countless instagram and tumblr posts for me. But I honestly didn't even care that much, because I saw that ending coming anyway. 

Question 7: Everything has changed (pick a book that has a character who goes through extensive character development)

I really don't want to, but I have to choose Juliette from the Shatter me series by Tahereh Mafi. I hated that book so much (and feel like I'm the only person in the whole universe who did, since everybody else seems to love those books). Anyway, Juliette managed to become from the scared, slightly insane girl a really badass warrior, who basically rules her world now. I don't like her as character, but I have to give credit for that.

Question 8: Forever and always (pick your favourite book couple)

Lara Jean and Peter from the To all the boys I've loved before series by Jenny Han or Mia and Adam from the If I stay series by Gayle Forman. I just love both of these couples, they're incredibly cute and amazing together, but the most important thing for me is they feel like a real couple.

Question 9: You belong with me (most anticipated book release)

The sixth and seventh books in the A song of ice and fire series by George R.R. Martin called The winds of winter and A dream of spring. I'm completely obsessed with this series and can barely wait any longer  for TWOW to be released. The time I'll spend waiting for ADOS is gonna be horribly long, because George R.R. Martin really takes his time for writing books (like, five years). 

Question 10: Come back, be here (pick a book you wouldn't lend out to anyone for fear of missing it to much)

 I'm in general not a big fan of lending out books (except to my best friend) because I'm just too afraid they won't be treated right. But the books I'll probably miss the most are those from the Throne of glass series from Sarah J. Maas. I honestly can't even describe how much I love this story, the characters and the world it takes place in.

Question 11: Tear drops on my guitar (a book that made you cry a lot)

Books in general just make me cry a lot, but one where I was sobbing the whole time while reading it is Where she went from the If I stay series by Gayle Forman. 

Question 12: Shake it off (a book that you love so much you just shake off the haters)

I know, I've mentiond these books a lot, but definitly ToG and AsoIaF. These are my all time favourite books and I think they shaped my character and my view on the world so much more than most of the other books I've read.

I hope you liked reading my anwsers to this book tag (and I'm sorry for using the word series all the time!). I'll try to post another time this week (probably either a book review or another book tag because I really enjoy doing them). Anyway, I hope you're having a great day!

Leah     

 

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

In honour of the Scorch Trial Movie (which is in theatres now) I’m gonna be reviewing The Maze Runner Series today. First of all: By now I didn’t watch any movie of TMR and I didn’t read The Kill Order (the first prequel of the series) either. And, of course, I’m trying to avoid spoilers (my gosh, how much do I hate spoilers...).

Called The Maze Runner, book one is telling the beginning of Thomas’ story. He wakes up having no memory except his name. He then is pulled out of the elevator he was in by Minho, Alby and Newt, the leaders of a group of boys. They tell him that they’re in a huge maze and the Glade, the place that they’re currently at, is kind of their home. Thomas also discoveres that every week a new Glader is arriving but for two years all attempts to solve the maze failed. On the next day something extraordinary occurs:  Theresa, the first girl ever, comes with the elevator and says before falling into a coma that everything is about to change. A note in her hand also tells the group that she will be the last one ever who joins them. A battle against time and the Grievers (that are giant monster machines) begins and the only way to survive is escaping the maze…

So my summary is not as short as I thought it will be but I hope nobody minds. The first thing that pops in my mind when thinking about TMR is amazing. I enjoyed reading the whole series so much. I love the transformation they all do during the series (especially Thomas, Theresa and Chuck), the mix between total confusion, desperation and hope (I guess those words describe the first book pretty good) and don’t even get me started about the boys… Newt, Minho and Thomas are some of my favourite characters of all time (You can imagine that I’m not fine with a special scene near the end… #actullycryingrightnow) and I just enjoyed reading about them.

So you can tell now that I’m crazy in love with those books and that I can totally just recommend them!!

~Vicky