One sweet place in Ukraine. L'VIV !

I have decided that I will post here every-time I discover a sweet place around the world, or better said a place for those with a sweet tooth, hence the category here :sweet places around the world. Sharing is caring, and I do care for those who love deserts as much as I do :)

Me and my boyfriend at that time, currently my husband (yes, I got married ;) planned to travel a bit around his home country, that to be Ukraine. The first and most recommended place by people around, was L'viv. A destination which very much resembles places in the Czech Republic, Austria or Poland. So in case you are looking for something very Easter Europe or Ukrainian-ish looking, this is not for you. But still, it is an absolutely beautiful place, a not to miss spot in Ukraine, in case you are here.

Sweet little Madeleines !!!!

How much I am in love with french patisserie, I guess you already assume that. But I will state it again. I am in love with french patisserie. Today, I decide that I can no longer let a day pass and not try to do my first Madeleine.

I loaded myself with with lemons, eggs, BUTTER, patience and some good recipes and voila !!!!  Few hours later, they were all...GONE ! Cos people around me just sniffed them all in few seconds :)) Well, that can only be good, I thought and smiled. And they were. Super yummy gummy delicious :) Seriously !

Finally...some baking!

Oh, it has been a very very long time since I had the chance to bake something, and now that we are kind of back from our travels and visiting relatives in Ukraine I took advantage of kind Natasha's kitchen and baked something.

When the decision moment came on what to choose, well...u can imagine how difficult that was. It took me a few days...

But finally, I decided. It was going to be a savory cake. Goat cheese, prunes and pistachio cake. I took the recipe from Rachel Khoo's cooking show "The Little Paris Kitchen". It looked great on the screen and it also had really interesting ingredients which I was very much keen to try.

So the recipe can be found here, and below are some pictures on how it should look like and how mine looked. The difference was that I did not have a loaf form so I baked it in a rounded shape cake form.

How it tasted ? I really enjoyed it and it seems like the surrounding family did as well. One a side note, it tasted different than I was expecting, as I felt the goat cheese taste wasn't strong enough, and the taste of prunes was on the other hand too strong.

So if I had to make it again, probably I would choose a different goat cheese, and probably would rise a bit the quantity and less prunes. Well, so far so good and happy baking to me :)

Here is my result :

The basics. 1-THE EQUIPMENT !

The baking business will require from my side, some investment in what actually will make the magic and transform my skills into delicious cakes, pastries, chocolate and anything else that my inspiration will bring. THE EQUIPMENT is fundamental in this business and it should most definitely be of good quality.

I have compiled a list of the necessary utensils, and ..well, it is pretty long, and also expensive. But well, I guess compared to many other businesses the investment is way much lower, and in any case even if this will not succeed I will still use all the equipment for my home. So I consider it a lifetime investment for my home.

1. First and the most pricey will be stand mixer. The most famous brand is Kitchen Aid, but also the most expensive, and personally I think that also other brands have great mixers, but are less expensive and the same quality. Kenwood is a great choice.

How my market stall should look like (stealing ideas)

In the past x months I have been searching and researching the internet for ideas, pictures, inspiration on how a cake stall should look like, or how other people are organizing and designing their own cake stall. Sounds probably ridiculous, but that's what I do :) I look for cake stalls around the world.

And, surprisingly I haven't really found many bloggers or websites belonging to cake stall holders, at least not on the European side. But also maybe because I use English for my search. However I have come across a superb blog/diary of a fine lady from London, who is basically doing what I would like to do. She owns a cake and pastries market stall, at the Saturday Broadway market, East London. Her blog has brought me so much peace that there are other people around the world doing what I want to do, and it is very much possible. I have contacted her, and will be very happy to meet her when I will go to London. I would even make a trip just to meet her, and ask kindly for her advice. I have once read a book called "Steal like an artist" which I would very much recommend to anybody who is in the creative field, and I have learnt that if you have an idol, or you found yourself inspired by somebody you shouldn't hide it, or be ashamed that your ideas are not just your ideas, but put it out there with pride and be thankful to those who inspire you.

And so now, I wish to present you Coco&Me which helped me get a better idea about how much work is involved in setting up a once a week market stall, and how I would like my stall to look like, or at least where to start from.