Hello Strangers...

Well this has been a very long time indeed, so recently I have been out enjoying the summer and haven't found time to sit down and write on my blog. However, I have found some time now and wanted to have a ickle catch up with you all. I had my acrylics done at the start of the holidays and they have lasted so well, at the moment I them black (hard core right.) but in this photo they are a lovely colour by accessorize (of all places) and it's called 'first dance'.

Oh and I did go on holiday but it wasn't to sunny :/ I have my fingers crossed that next year I can go somewhere that is guaranteed hotness. Where have you all been on holiday this year? Did you go somewhere cold or hot? Also I can't forget I made some rainbow cupcakes the other day and am currently writing up the post for my cupcake series :) I hope you all will enjoy that one. Basically, I only wanted to say sorry for not posting anything for while. However I'm back now, for good, at least until I loose inspiration again. Lets hope that doesn't happen for a bit though, I'd love to know what you have been up too over the past weeks?

Lots of love

<3

'No Ordinary Cupcakes' Simple Butter-Icing ...

Hey everyone, hope you have had a good week! Today I wanted to show you how to make lovely butter icing, which you can make in any colour but I wanted to sow you how to make baby pink this time, anyway lets jump in to it...

You will need:
100g Butter
250g of icing sugar

Make sure the cakes have cooled down for at least 5-10 minutes (this is because the butter icing can just melt off the cake, if the cake is too warm)

 Beat the butter and icing sugar together until light and creamy

Next, add some vanilla

Then add your chosen food colouring

To ice the cakes, fill a piping bag with the butter icing and make a swirl in the middle 

Then fill in the rest of the cake (remember to be generous with the icing)

You can just leave them as they are, but why not be creative and
decorate with sprinkles, stars or any other decorations you might have!

I hope you enjoyed this post, let me know if you try this recipe out and if you liked it?

<3

'No Ordinary Cupcakes' The Basics...

Hello beautiful people, how are you? Today I wanted to start a baking series called, 'No Ordinary Cupcakes', in this series I will be showing you how to make cupcakes, that are really easy but look very professional. However, before that I need to tell you about the basic equipment:

First you will need a baking tray, a mixer, a spatula, a cooling tray, an oven (would be quite handy), mixing bowls, wooden spoons, teaspoons, measuring scales and of course cupcake cases!

Then before you can get creative with decorating you need to know how to bake a plain cupcake, which is what I am going to show you now:

You will need...

4oz of caster sugar

4oz of butter

4oz of self-raising flour

2 eggs

1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract (better than vanilla essence)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees or gas mark 4, and put the cupcake cases into the baking tray

2. Then beat together the caster sugar and butter until extremely pale (this is the most important part because this makes the cupcakes light and fluffy)

3. Next add the vanilla and 2 eggs, then beat together

4. Add the self-raising flour, keep mixing until fully combined!

5. Use teaspoons to spoon the mixture in to the cases and then place in the oven for 12-15 minutes

6. Check if they are ready with a cocktail stick, then take them out when they are golden brown.

8. Place the cakes on to a cooling tray and leave for 5 minutes to cool down!

There you have it, the basic cupcake, I'd love if you could leave me some suggestions on what I should decorate cupcakes with next time?

<3

Mid-Week Blues

Hi everyone! Do you ever feel that Wednesday, is just another day in the week that just doesn't need to exist because, it's neither close to the weekend or close to the start of the week. Well my advice to make Wednesdays bearable is firstly wear pink ;) but, secondly bake some cookies...

I hope you have a great week

<3

Christmas Dipped Strawberries

Hello everyone, I can't believe it's Christmas tomorrow, where has December gone! Before you know it, it will be 2014. That's crazy! So, I've been doing a lot of baking today and wanted to show you how to make these easy Festive dipped strawberries. You can make these right now if you want to, they would make a lovely treat for your family...

You will need:

White Chocolate Buttons

Green Sprinkles

Strawberries (of course)

a Tray

Glass bowl

Saucepan

a few bowls

Instructions:

First, wash the strawberries

Then fill the saucepan with water and place the glass bowl on top, don't use too much water though, just enough to surround the bottom of the bowl.

Next, 'eye' how much white chocolate you want to melt. Stir until smooth.

After, dip the strawberries into the white chocolate then in to the green sprinkles.

Lastly place on a tray and put in the fridge until hard.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

<3

Brownie in a Mug

Hey guys I hope your all well today I'm going to show you how to make a brownie in a mug!

You will need...

4 Tablespoons Flour

4 Tablespoons Sugar

2 Tablespoons Cocoa powder (don’t use anything that has sugar added to it)

2 Tablepsoons sunflower oil

2 Tablespoons Water

pinch of salt

Add the sugar, flour, cocoa, and salt to the mug and mix. Then add the oil and water and mix the dry and wet ingredients together. Be sure to be thorough, there’s a tendency for clumps of the dry ingredients to form.

Microwave on high for roughly a minute. You may have to microwave it longer or shorter, depending on your microwave, but the brownie should still be wet in the center when done.

Let me know if you made this?

<3

5 Tips for a Stress Free Christmas

Is the idea of Christmas stressing you out?...well, here are a few tips to help you have a stress free time:

1. Think ahead

Know how many days you have left and plan different tasks to do each day, so that it's not a last minute panic.

2. Ask people what they want

Don't waste hours thinking of what to buy people, it's easier just to ask!

3. Shopping Online

Shopping from home avoids the crazy Christmas crowds and can save money at the same time.

4. Don't look for perfection

Nothing ever will be perfect so just relax and enjoy the Christmas spirit.

5. Make it fun

You can have so much fun making your own tree decorations, baking and watching Christmas movies.

This is what our Christmas Tree looks like this year

Lots of love 

 <3

Christmas Baking Inspiration No.2

Hey everyone, I hope you're all having a fabulous day! I can't believe it is only 16 days until Christmas. However, what makes Christmas, Christmas??? (apart from family and friends of course)..... FOOD! So here is some baking inspiration, just for you:

Snowmen

Christmas Wreaths

Winter Wonderland biscuits

Pink Christmas Cupcakes

Christmas puddings

Gingerbread men

Hot Chocolate Dippers

Biscuit Christmas Tree

Reindeer Biscuits

Have a great day!

 <3

DIY Snowflake Nails

Hey guys, I hope your having a great day! Today I'm going to show you how to create these beautiful and easy Christmas nails:

You will need:

a light blue nail varnish

a white nail pen

a fast drying top/bottom coat

Instructions:

1. To start with paint your nails with a fast drying base coat

2. Then apply two coats of light blue polish until it becomes opaque

3. Use either a sewing pin with white nail polish on to create dots or use a nail pen

4. Then use lines to join the dots up like this:

5. To fill the rest of the nail, place dots wherever looks best, this will give the effect of snow

6. Lastly apply a top coat

7. There you have it, elegant and simple snowflake nails!

 <3

Easy Decorations for Gingerbread

Oh hey there, I hope you're enjoying Blogmas so far! The other day I baked some gingerbread and decided to finish them off today by decorating them in three easy and fast ways.

You will need:

Gingerbread (homemade or bought)

To make a small batch of icing you will need:

1 large egg white

230g of icing sugar

1tsp lemon juice

food colouring (various)

Suggested decorations:

Smarties, chocolate drops and sprinkles

Biscuit Frosting

1. Beat together the egg white, the lemon juice and the icing sugar until the frosting is stiff (like meringue).

2. Then place the icing into a zip lock bag and push the mixture to one corner. Snip a very small triangle off the bag.

3. Next pipe a border around the outside edges of the biscuit.

4. Let it dry

Here are the three designs:

 

<3

Christmas Baking Inspiration No.1

Hello there, how are you? Seeing as Christmas is a time where you are allowed to pig out and no one gives a potty, I wanted to show you some different and easy Christmas baking ideas. I will be making another one like this, let me know if you like these inspiration posts!

<3