Carrot (Cup)Cakes with cream cheese topping

If I recall well, it was carrot cake I made for the first time for my hotel family. It was my first go on carrot cake as well. It was Little M, who requested it, and now it's her birthday and I did not forget the day when she has said it was one of her favourite.

I am not sure which recipe I used back in the Summer, so I just looked up one that I liked the look of. This one has some nutmeg in it, and not mixed spice. So following the instructions on this page I mixed everything together. I added slightly more cinnamon purely because I LOVE cinnamon, even though I wasn't making it for myself. OH WELL. Also noticed mine were all baked after 15-20 minutes, they were rocking this dark golden colour, the top bounced back just as it should. When I took them out of the baking tray they did seem tad delicate but as they cooled down, my worries were gone. My baking tray isn't the standard cupcake size, slightly smaller, therefore with these measurements I ended up with a total of 16 cupcakes.

I must admit, I cheated. I know I need to practice making cream cheese frosting, but somehow I can never get the right consistency, and also I always end up with plenty of extra cream cheese I need to get rid off. So instead, I went ahead and purchased Cream cheese style icing by Betty Crocker and I used their icing before, and I was very pleased with it.

As for decoration, I bought a Ready to roll icing from Tesco, again, very easy to handle, and there is plenty of it for the price. I made little carrots to place on top and just added the leaves with green writing icing I already had.

It was a success! They turned out to be so cute and professional looking, I started to regret not making more!

 

Mooo:)

Disney Wall Art

Most people, especially girls, of my age love Disney, simply because we grew up with the classics and as we got older, the technology improved, the and the films developed with us.

But then you get us, the ones who worship Disney and would prefer them to any other kind of movies or cartoons. My bestie is one of these people. Before I first stepped into her apartment, I told her, I am expecting to basically walk into Disney Land (where she worked back in the days, so that is even level 264828 up compared to me). And I wasn't disappointed! Millions of cuddly toys, tsum tsums, quotes and every day use objects, all Disney related, around her flat. I was happy to see, that the Disney Wall Art, I have made for her birthday, made it to the living room. I figured if she appreciates it this much, I should really share it here as well...

Disney Wall Art

I went to a pound shop to find a decent size picture frame. This one has glass in front and had a back that could be taken out. I also needed lots of glue, some white paint, brush, glittery paper and scissors. From a previous conversation I got to know her all time favourite, old school Disney movies, I jumped on the internet and found some silhouette pictures I printed in the desired size later on. I coated the background of the picture with white paint, it needed a few coats to cover it all up, so the project did go over to the next few days, as you need lot of time drying after a few steps. When it was all white, I planned out the design and cut pieces of glitter paper in different colours. After I glued them up, I put the half ready picture under a lot of books to dry. Again, left it over night to make sure it is all set. The next step was to cut out the black silhouette pictures, some of them was a real struggle, for example the umbrella has some reaaaaallly thin parts I almost managed to cut off.

Then, you guessed it right, all I had to do is to glue them on the glitter paper, pile up the books once again on top of it, and let it dry for a few ours. When I was happy with it, I just placed the picture back in its frame, with the glass in front and voilà, it was all finished!

I have found that having the glass on the front was very helpful as it kept the papers in place if the edges would try to come up, also saved her to get glitter all around herself and her flat. I was actually very chuffed how it turned out, and how much she liked it! Can you guess the four Disney movies?

Mooo:)

Fruity cupcakes

Recently I have tried a few more things to bake, new cupcakes are always nice to explore. I have never made a banana and walnut cake and I must admit, I am not big fan of making full on cakes as they are harder to take to work and eat there, meanwhile cupcakes are so easy to deal with!

Banana and walnut cupcakes

For a banana base I followed a recipe on bbcgoodfood. I do find this website very useful, if I have a flavour in mind I want to try, I make sure I have a look for variations there first, as I think they are reliable.

However, I prefer my own presentation of things, so I usually just follow the base instructions and get creative with the toppings. As far as I remember, I didn't even have to double my portions and I ended up with more than the suggested serving number. After filling up the first 12 cupcake cases and putting them in the oven, I finely chopped up some walnuts and added it to the other half of the mixture. I also sliced up a banana and selected some nice walnut pieces for the toppings. When I was finished with all the baking, and both kinds were cooled down, I just added some icing (basic icing sugar and water mixture) on the top of the cupcakes and placed a banana slice or walnut on top - obviously, the only banana ones got the banana and the nutty ones got the walnut... Duh.

I think the nutty ones were more popular. I could see that the banana started to go brown on top after a few hours, which did not mean they did not taste nice anymore, but I guess they were not that appealing after a while. All in all, it is a nice recipe, and I am glad I tried it.

Pink Blueberry

Everyone has a go to standard cupcake recipe. So I always make sure I have the ingredients for the basic cupcake at home, so when I decide to bake at 2am in the morning, I only have to figure what flavour I want to add. This time it was a birthday treat for my bestie, and she loves pink and glittery things just as much as I do. So after I made the cupcakes, I sprayed the top shimmering pink with the edible food spray, then with a help of a cupcake corer (first time I used it) I made little dips in the middle. Filled them up with blueberry jam (just to keep with the colour theme). My friends know I love baking, so back in September I got plenty of baking decorations for my birthday. So I decided that this was the time I used one of the sets. I decorated the cakes with little sticks with purple and pink butterflies on them. Although you could barely see it, but the cupcake cases were matching as well! They just turned out so lovely, it wasn't the most extreme flavour, but it was delicious and so pretty!

Moo :)

Stocking fillers from Christmas #2

As I promised, here the previous continues...

Luggage tag

So a friend of mine looooves travelling and she is on the go all the time, so I figured a nice luggage tag will be suitable and personalised for her. Luckily enough I just recycled my old purse, so to have the tag base I simply cut out the ID section of my purse and glued down three of the edges, leaving one if them unsealed so the tag can be replaced. For this, I used hot glue gun. To be able to attach the tag to the luggage (duh) I added little clip, glued a strip of the purse material on the back, a little flower on the top, this way it created a detachable loop. 

 

On the back I just used a black sharpie to write Follow Your Dreams to make it more personal, and sort of hand made. 

Oh and I just placed a white card paper inside with the Name and Address pattern, so she can just add her details, and clip it on, ready for the next adventure!

Hedgehog Pillow

Okay, so fair enough, this will not fit in a stocking, unless you are lucky enough to have one of those massive Cath Kidston ones, I mean these are the dream, but keep saying, one day when I am rich and famous... Anywhoo.

For this project all you need is 

a pillow and a fitting pillowcase, 

thread and needle, 

buttons and ribbon.

I went with the brown theme, because I was making a hedgehog design. If you are unsure of yourself, just trace out the body of the hedgehog first with a pencil, then sew it up with a lighter shade, sort of creating a sideways drop shape. Then with the help of some pins I laid out the ribbon how I wanted the spikes to look like. With a same colour thin thread I stitched it up, it does take a while, but you want to make sure to show the thread as little as possible but still safe enough to for the pillowcase be hand-washed. For the nose I added an orange button, and a tiny blue one for the eye to make it pop. 

To finish I sewed up 2 large buttons, colour coordinated, to the opposite corner just to balance out the design. This project can be finished within an hour (depending how long does it take for you to get the thread through the needle, ha) but is so cute, I might create a similar one just for myself!

Dog toy

This last stocking filler was not really a human present, but I am sure it was well appreciated. Spot is my friend's dog and I decided to make a toy. I had lots of leftover fabric, the stronger type. I traced out a bone shape twice, cut it out and sewed them together inside out, leaving a hole on each side of the bone (the straight sides, if that makes sense), then turned it back out. I stuffed it with stripes of fabric, I figured sponge or stuffing would be too soft for a dog to chew on. As for the handles I braided fabric stripes together, ended up with a longer (blue) and a shorter (white, spotted) thick "rope". On the top, I created a handle by sewing both ends of the shorter rope to the bone, using the gap I left earlier. On the bottom I only attached one end of the blue rope, again, from the inside, using the gap. It took a couple of goes to secure the strings, as I wanted it to be strong enough so it won't fall apart first thing the dog gets it. This is definitely a project I would use a sewing machine for, but since I don't have one, I had to get used to bleeding fingers and plenty of back and forth sewing. I must admit, I can't exactly remember, but I think I finished it off with blanket stitch all around the bone. Finally, using a sharpie I wrote Spot (the dog's name) on one side and Play Time on the other one. According to my friend, Spot loved it, but I might check on her, now, a month later to see if the toy is still in one piece. Even if it isn't, I am glad it was loved for at least a day! Look at Spot, guarding the new treasure, so worth it!

Moo :)

Stocking fillers from Christmas #1

So finally I get around to post these little stocking fillers I made last Christmas. Most of them is fast and easy to make, that is why they are the perfect gift! I actually wanted to give something small to all my new friends in Bristol, so there will be a following up post with even more!

Cupcake keyring

There are three pieces on the keyring, all of them made of FIMO oven bake clay, I colour coordinated the pieces. The flat cupcake was the master item, the other two is more for extra decoration. The cupcake was made from two big pieces, a rectangular one and a kind of cloud shape one. For the purple sprinkles I used the leftover clay. The heart was made with two long pieces twisted together then shaped as a heart, for the feather I used a pin to add detail. After I punched a hole on them for the jumprings, I baked them following the instructions on a parchment paper. For more detail I added some lighter pink and blue sprinkles on the cupcake with sharpies for more colour coordination. To finish, I just attached them all together to a keyring.

Bow keyring

This keyring was made with the same FIMO clay. This time I have mixed the two colours together first, then created a long, snake-like shape. Then I curled it up like a lollipop to a circular shape. Before placing it in the oven I punched a whole on it for the keyring. After baking it and letting it cool down, using a hot glue gun, I added a little bow in the middle. Simple as that, but I think it is so cute!

Fairy dust keyring

This project was my favourite this year, unfortunately the picture does not do justice to how sweet and sparkly it turned out. I have plenty of mini jars and small glasses just like these, and I like to explore ways to use them. The exact one I have used for this gift was originally a container for small pearls for nail art. I actually kept some of the light pink pearls inside, mixed it with some white ones and added two different shades of glitter in the bottle as well. I shook the mixture up well and it really did look magical to me! After that, I simply glued on the top and attached a jumpring on top. Using a silver butterfly confetti form a previous project and a tiny tag that says Fairy Dust, I composed it all together on the end of a keyring, playing with the length of the pieces. And there you have it. The easiest and simplest of all!

Button made Christmas tree

And last but not least for this first blog, I wanted to show you the tiny home made Christmas tree you can hang on your door, your keys or, as I did, on your actual Christmas tree! I have found inspiration from a local gift store, where they were selling them £5.00 each, so I said, I can make them myself!

With just sorting out different sizes of green buttons, then laying them out in a line, ranging them from large to small, then added some brown ones on the bottom and a tiny yellow one on the top for the tree topper star. After that I simply lead through a colourful thick thread. This way, hanging down, the buttons sat on each other, forming a Christmas tree. One you made one, it is impossible to stop, it is so easy and so cute, I have made a handful of them.

Stay alert for the next one, should follow soon!

Moo :)

Strawberry and white chocolate traybake

I love baking in general. But baking for others makes it more fun. Baking for someone especially is the best. So it was no question that I will bake for most of the birthdays at work!

It wasn't the first time I asked Mr Knight for any special requests, but this time I made sure it was personalised as well.

I used this recipe for the strawberry and chocolate tray bake, I decided with white chocolate. With double the ingredients (there is a lot to feed at work) I just managed to fit everything in my biggest bowl.

I fit the dough in 2 trays, one big one and a smaller one. Since I used regular self-raising flour, the cake was about 6-7cm tall. The bigger piece required longer baking time than the recipe suggests, however I am aware my tray was bigger and probably had more mix in there as well.
          

To present it, I sliced up the bigger piece to squares then simply drizzled melted white chocolate on it. I placed the small square piece on top, uncut; stuck half a big strawberry on top - using melted white chocolate as glue. With my colourful writing icing I wrote 'Merry Bday (don't ask!) Andy'. I also tried to draw a little turtle for him.

Although I haven't tried it myself, everyone has been saying it was well tasty! Yay!

Merry Bday Andy.

Mooo:)

Snowball cupcakes and Christmas Lollies

Christmas was here and it is finally over, I am well proud of myself for coping well - if you didn't know, I DON'T LIKE Christmas. The only reason I enjoy it (alright, fair enough I like the decorations as well) is the excuse for shopping and making presents.

The power of card giving amazes me in England. Every birthday present, every occasion, there is a card for it / with it. Christmas is the queen of the Card-season. My step-mother warned me well in advance about the ways of Christmas at the workplace, especially at a big company like the one I am working for this year.

But instead I decided to bake for them and make sweets - as usual.

At the start of December I made Coconut cupcakes, in snowman themed cases and sprinkled the icing on the top with coconut to look like a snowballs (well, in my head they did!).
I have found the recipe online for coconut cupcake here. Trust me, it was that easy as it looks!
And they are delicious, I made them once more since for different occasion, that time I left out the vanilla but it was still heavenly. Not too sweet, the coconut gives it a little crunchiness, you just can't go wrong with it... that is, if you like coconut!

Someone even said they were the best I made, and I have treated my co-workers to lot of deliciousness before!

For Christmas I wanted to make something they can take home with them if they wanted to, something that is prettier, bit more special, therefore I decided to make chocolate lollies - with a Christmas twist. Not going to lie, I stole the idea from YouTube and it was so worth it. My biggest struggle was to find the lollipop sticks in shops, so I ended up buying them online, luckily for me I received them just in time and they were red, green and white coloured, just perfect for the occasion.

What I used...

-peppermint candy canes

-white chocolate

-parchment paper and a tray

-saucepan and spoons

-lollipop sticks

-popping candy, food colouring, decorating gel, sprinkles etc. for decoration

-cling-film

 I cut the candy canes to the same size and short enough to create a heart shape out of two by turning them against each other. I placed the hearts on the parchment paper and in the middle of each of them I put a stick form the top, all the way down, to make it more secure.I melted the chocolate as per instructions. I used white chocolate so it worked as a plain canvas later on for my decorations. After the chocolate has melted, I let it cool just for a bit so it doesn't melt the candy canes. When I thought has chilled enough on the side (about 5 minutes was enough), I filled out the heart shapes and let them set for another 2 minutes. And here comes the fun part. Some of them I sprinkled with sugar pearls (was a very sweet gift!), popping candy (surprise, surprise) or bits of the leftover candy canes. I used liquid food colouring to marble the hearts. With the ones that I used the decorating gel on I waited slightly longer for the chocolate to set. I actually used up the longer candy cane leftovers to create rectangular lollies as well. Below you will see a very special blue cow edition I made for someone specifically. All I had to do is to keep them in the fridge overnight and the next morning I wrapped them individually in cling-film. I left them in the office on a stand and I was well proud when people questioned if they are home made or not! Definitely worth the mess and I can imagine that it can be a nice activity to decorate the lollies together with children!

   ------>   

Mooo :)