Cherry Blossom (Sakura) Petits Fours

Finally spring has arrived here in Germany. It's about time, I don't remember when we still had snow in April. Within 2 weeks the landscape changed from grey and white to pretty greens and spring colors. Trees are starting to bloom and we can finally sit outside to have a nice cup of tea. Inspired by the starting blossoms I made some cherry blossom petits fours.

I was lucky to find some Cherry Blossom (Sakura) extract, when I was traveling to Japan last year. It was not that easy to get as you might think. I got offered many things, when asking for sakura, like pickled sakura, sakura drinks, or sakura candies, before I got the right thing. The taste is very subtle, maybe a little bit like almond.

I used the same butter-cream I made here as macaron filling, which was really good. Please go ahead and share your sakura desserts, if you have made some.

Triple Coconut Cupcakes

I have been noticing that coconut cupcakes seem to be awfully popular around Easter. I don't know why, but I guess it's probably because coconut shavings make very cute Easter egg nests. So I am going to give this idea a try.

I call this Triple Coconut Cupcakes, because they are not only coconut cupcakes with coconut buttercream, they also hold a little surprise inside. I put some Raffaellos inside each of them, those really addictive coconut confections.

You can decorate them for Easter with some jelly eggs with matching cupcake liners, or just with coconut shaving all year round. They are very rich and a real treat for coconut lovers, like my husband.