Fun in the Kitchen - Halloween themed cupcake ideas...

It's officially half term holiday - hooray!
If you know me well, you'll understand why so many people would be shocked to hear I've been baking (and managed not to set the house of fire). However, with the kind assistance of my (not so) little sister and a kind gift of icing supplies, which I'll be reviewing from Baking Mad, I've taken my cooking experience a step further with some Halloween themed cupcakes!

Placing myself as head decorator, I let my sister work her magic with the cake mixture, using this recipe (part of which is below) from the Baking Mad website. It was easy to follow and definitely suitable for baking with younger children too. 

The website also had great inspiration for Halloween Baking Recipe's and designs, which were really helpful when deciding how to decorate our cupcakes. My favourite gift was the chocolate icing pen, as it had a number of different shaped funnels, which I enjoyed experimenting with. First there was a larger piping tube, which was effective in creating a base for decoration, a thin tube which added detail and a lined tube which created interesting patterns. The purple colour of colour creator particularly stood out as it worked really well in contrast with the chocolate icing. 

The Recipe we used:

150 grams - Butter
150 grams - Golden Caster Sugar
3 - Free Range Eggs
150 grams - Self Raising White Flour
0.50 tsp - Baking Powder + Lemon Zest

1. Heat the oven to 180°C, 160°C fan, gas 4. Line a cup cake tin with 12 paper cupcake cases.
2. Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs a little at a time until smooth, adding a little flour if the mixture curdles. 
3. Stir in the flour, baking powder and vanilla extract until smooth
4. Place heaped dessertspoon full in each cupcake case and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and just firm to the touch. 
5. Leave in the tins for 5 minutes, then place on a wire rack to cool

For the all important decoration, we decided to use the supplies of icing from Baking Mad, to add the Halloween touch to our cakes. This included two icing pens, that came with various sized ends for different areas of decoration, three colour creators used to add colour to icing, and almond flavouring, to add flavour to the cake.

I'm off now to demolish the lovely cupcakes that I hear calling my name. If you fancy making your own cakes, for Halloween or another occasion I definitely recommend taking a look at the Baking Mad website - I particularly like their cheesecake recipes.

 Get Baking!
Lots of Love...

let's get away, just for one day. Hello Lichfield...

Last week, my mom, sister and nan took a little trip to Lichfield. It's a little town full of tea rooms, charity shops and market stalls (or maybe that was just because it was a market day)! We spent a few hours walking through some beautiful parks - but mainly concentrating on the important task of raiding every charity shop in the 1 mile radius of the town...

Successfully out mission was complete, so the rest of the time was spent eating Victoria sponge in a coffee shop. I have a confession, I will be returning this Friday, as my little choir is going to sing in the Cathedral there - veeeeeeery exciting!

 

Can I first just announce my love for the  SS13 H&M Conscious collection! The collection is just perfection and if your looking for inspiration on how to style it, head over to one of my favourite bloggers, Olivia at What Olivia Did - trust me it's worth it!

Among the many recent purchases from H&M, I brought these gorgeous patterned jeans for a thrifty price of £9.99. I'm loving the tribal feel to spring clothes! But dressed my trousers with an army style jacket from Boohoo, which was only £6 on Ebay (another cheeky bargain purchase) and my sturdy Primak boots. I also layered up, with my coat and scarf as it was freezing outside - don't let the sun fool you!

What I'm Wearing: Trousers - H&M, Jacket - Boohoo, Coat - Bank, Boots/Scarf - Primark.

Part of my art coursework is to pick out pretty fabrics for a final piece (I'll fill you in when it's all finished). So I spent most of the day selecting fabrics - with the help of my mom - and materials to use! I get so excited my pretty materials. weird I know!

I finished the day off with a well deserved hot chocolate... oh and a gigantic slice of Victoria sponge! I think it's about time I thought about a serious diet! 

Well I'm off now to get on with some more revision - yay :(

Lots of Love,

'To love and to cherish'...The National Wedding Show NEC 2013...

First off  - Make sure you enter my giveaway I'm running!

Click here to enter!

I have a special post lined up for you today, following my little visit to the National Wedding Show at the NEC yesterday, accompanied by the lovely friend/photographer - Emma-lee. (she's on twitter: @cakemixture)

For those of you who read my blog regularly will know I'm currently study Weddings as part of my Art project's, and I was keen to seek inspiration for my own designs. I had a chat with a few readers and you suggested I attend the event to give you my own little summary of the event and let you know, this seasons' must have's for your wedding!

Number one of my list was the vintage section (well you know me). I fell in love with a few particular Vintage stalls...

Memories of Vintage - was a lovely company who supply vintage crockery hire! I fell in love with the whole composition of the stall, and for anyone looking to have a vintage style wedding/party event, I strongly suggest you check out their website and see for yourself, what they offer: www.memoriesofvintage.co.uk

Timeless Couture - Another beautifully presented stall, selling handmade timeless wedding dresses and other wedding accessories. I particularly liked the flower bouquet made from a paper map - it was so unique and would look lovely for flower girls.

- Next was the cake stalls - yum yum! Which I smelled a mile away (though I didn't get to taste them!) -

The Red Cake Company - displayed some very elegant cake designs! The detail was exquisite, and the people on the stand were lovely too! For any brides wanting a traditional wedding, the Red Cake Company provided the perfect recipe! Check out more on the website: www.theredcakecompany.co.uk

Miss Lola's Bakehouse - Another company selling beautiful cakes, that took a completely different approach to the 'wedding cake'. Themed around flowers, their was a beautiful display of cakes - my favourite being the flowers that sweeped across the cake!

Candy Girls - A new enterprising idea, that seems popular for this years weddings, is to have a selection of 'sweet' goodies for the guests! Candy Girls had a truly irresistible selection of  sweeties in the shapes of tree's! They cater for a wide range of events, but as a 'sweet-a-holic' myself, I think every bride should hire some sweeties for their wedding!

Finally the highlight of the whole even was the Catwalk (obviously). Their were some irresistible dress designs, and a very distracting male model (that looked particularly handsome). I've left a few shots of the event below, so you can admire!

Finally, I got chance to check out the new Photo booth's, that have been a huge hit at weddings recently! They're great fun, so me and Emma-lee thought we'd test it out too!
Check out www.picture-booth.co.uk to learn more!
And even better we got a goody bag  from The National Wedding Show to take home - which put the cherry on top of a lovely day!

Well that's all from me! I just wan't to say a big, thank you to The National Wedding Show, for organising such a great event, and letting me come along and enjoy the day! If you're a 'bride to be' and want some inspiration for your special day, head over to the Website to get your tickets for next year: http://www.nationalweddingshow.co.uk/

Lots of Love,

Field's of Daisy's X

 It may be Autumn now, but that never stops me!
I've selected one of my favourite dresses today - simply for all the beautiful memories it keeps! I've got some gorgeous snaps from a friends birthday party wearing it. If you've never been to Queenies Cupcakery in Ironbridge, then you have never tasted heaven! Check the website out here and if your ever planning a trip to somewhere beautiful - Queenies is your destination! We had our very own vintage tea party, which has to be the cutest thing ever!!!!!!

I'm already a Vintage freak as it is, so if the 50's music and finger sandwiches wasn't enough, we had an selection of the most gorgeous Cupcakes I'd ever tasted! Obviously I went for the 'Snickerlicious' (Snicker and Chocolate) Cupcake - how I didn't get the entire cake down me, I will never know!