Wednesday 26 August 2015

Galaxy Chocolate Cupcakes

Hello everybody! 

Help! I've caught the Great British Bake Off fever! I have had no choice but to have some fun baking cupcakes this afternoon. I cannot bear another Wednesday evening watching the Bake Off drooling over all the yummy cakes, bread and cookies with nothing to eat for myself! 

After work I quickly popped into the supermarket and bought some ingredients before i came home to make some delicious vanilla and galaxy chocolate cupcakes. 

I wanted to make enough cupcakes to feed me and my families needs while watching the Bake Off, so I decided to make enough for 16 cakes. 

 
For this recipe you will need:

4oz of unsalted butter
4oz of self raising flour
4oz of  caster sugar
3 eggs
Vanilla extract 
Sharing (haha) bar of galaxy chocolate 200g
Pink shimmer sugar for the topping (optional, obviously)


How to make:

In a large mixing bowl, put in all the sugar and butter,
It is easier if you soften the butter before hand for mixing. I didn't use an electric mixer as i can't be bothered to wash all the little bits up, but it works just as well hand mixing or electric mixing. 

Mix well until the ingrediants are light and fluffy,
The mix will have gone lighter in colour and be easier to mix once ready

Add in one egg at a time after mixing with a little bit of the flour with each egg
Add in any remaining flour you have left. 

Add about a half a teaspoon of vanilla extract

Mix till all the ingreatiants are well blended 

 Lay out 16 cupcake/muffin cases on a baking tray. 

Add about 1 tablespoon of the mix to each cupcake. 

 Bake the cupcakes in the oven at 160  for a fan assisted oven or 180 for a 'normal' oven for 20-25 minutes. 

Your cupcake should now be golden brown, big and bouncy. 
You can test if your cupcakes are cooked by sticking a skewer into the center of the cake. If the skewer comes out clean, the cupcakes are ready! If not, put the cupcakes back in for 5 minutes at a time to ensure you don't burn them. 

For the topping:

Break up into squares and melt the galaxy chocolate  (if you don't like galaxy use dairy milk or any other chocolate) in a bowl over the hob. I do this by putting some water into a saucepan and putting a glass bowl with the chocoalte in over the top. Don't leave the chocolate alone as you don't want to burn it. Stir it occasionally while the chocoalte melts. 

Once the chocoalte has melted, teaspoon the chococlate onto the tops of the now cool cupcakes and spread to the edges. I added some pink shimmer glitter on the top too. You could add a cherry, or anything that takes your fancy to finish the cakes off. 

Now all there is left to do, is to enjoy eating your scrummy cakes!!






Alice 
xx

Sunday 23 August 2015

Wedding Ideas!

Hello everyone!

If you have read the title of this blog post, you may be thinking that i have some very exciting news..! Well, I'm pleased to say that you are right! I'm ENGAGED!! I am so very happy, I have all of the most wonderful feelings!

So, since I'm getting married and it's all I can think about, I thought I would share a a blog post on all the ideas I have had to maybe give a little wedding inspiration for others. And if you aren't getting married...well it's never to early to start planning!

So first things first, I would love to share with you my engagement ring! Of course the picture never does a beautiful ring justice but here it is!


Its a vintage preloved ring which meant that we got a lot of diamond for our money! I would so recommend getting preloved if your are looking for a ring. It comes with its own little story and journey, and its a nice feeling to think you are making it feel loved all over again! 

I think i am at a lovely stage of the wedding planning process. We have our venue booked and guest list almost sorted (phew!! worst.part.ever) so now i can focus on all the lovely little details like the table decorations, flowers, favours, etc, etc. I am sitting here smiling just thinking about it ! 

SO, here a are few ideas i have thought would make a wedding a little bit unique! 

  1. Flat shoes for tired feet!
Every lady knows there is a constant battle between comfort and looking good. Do i wear the amazing high heel that makes my legs look never-ending ? Or do I go for the lower, I know I will last in these kind of shoes...?!
Well, i thought that it would be a pretty cool idea to give the ladies that decide on looks over comfort, the opportunity to relieve her aching feet for the evening.
So, i am going to have basket full of flip flops tied up in a cute little bow in the ladies bathroom. I think that it will make things a little more unique and i am sure i will be the best friend of lots of aching feet!


I managed to find a picture on Google of exactly the kind of thing I'm looking to do. I love the
 way this lady has labelled the basket 'Dancing Shoes'. I think i may have to steal that idea!


2. Homemade favours

When my sister and brother got married (obviously not together) they both had homemade favours and everybody enjoyed them so much, i knew it was that i wanted at my wedding. My sister had a brilliant idea of giving everyone a photo in a frame summing up the reason they are at the wedding. Whether it was just a lovely photo of the guest and the bride, or a big family photo, it was a really lovely touch and made it feel very personal. It is defiantly a gift the guests will keep! 

For the favours at my brother's wedding, they made homemade sloe gin in cute little bottles. It was amazing! They went and picked the sloe berries together and took a photo of themselves doing so which they stuck on the side of the bottle. It was so lovely and of course everyone remembered to take it home! And for the non drinkers or children, they filled the bottles with  small sweets.

The idea i have for my own wedding favour is homemade jam. I thought that i could get some lovely small jars and make a label up saying something like 'Spread the love' and 'Jam packed with love'. Here is a picture of what i am looking to do.



3. Wedding games

Weddings are long events so it is always great to have an activity that all the guests can get involved in. At my brothers wedding, they set up an adult treasure hunt in the garden to find various little bottles of alcohol. It was so much fun and people still talk about it now. If you didn't want to use alcohol , you could use sweets or little gifts :)

You could also have a little quiz all about the bride and groom after the wedding breakfast. People can work with their table and the winning team could have a free drink or you could buy a small gift already prepared.


So there are just a few of the ideas i have had to make wedding a little more unique. I am sure that as time goes on i will post more wedding themed posts! If you have any ideas that make a wedding that little bit more special, i would LOVE to hear it!!

Thanks for visiting :)

Alice 
xx