The Make Lounge Cupcakes
Last night I went to a cupcake decorating course at The Make Lounge in Islington and here are the fruits of my labour. It was a lot of fun and I learnt a fair amount about cakes and the different ways you can decorate them. I learned about the joys of marzipan and how best use it, the best way to color ripple butter cream and how to fall in love with cake glitter.
I went for an Ice blue and lemon lime colour-way to be different I managed to resist the pink for once. I think they came out quite nicely, however I would love to practice more so I improve my piping and come up with new ideas. Please note my new milk glass urn in the picture, I snapped up this beauty for a mere £4 at a Hoxton street market – joy!
Enough about the cake and more about The Make Lounge. Anyone near London or visiting you should certainly book yourself on a course, it’s so much fun and there’s such a good atmosphere. The course options are endless with sewing, cushion making, candle making, rubber stamp carving and so much more the list goes no and on. It’s a been a crafty hectic week so far….. I’ve really enjoyed it!
Strawberry Sandwich?
Saturday morning’s American style fluffy pancakes left me with a handful of left-over strawberries and to be resourceful I created my take on the classic victoria sponge. I used fresh cream not buttercream and real strawberries over jam – personally I prefer the fresh version, it’s so sweet, yummy and perfect with a cup of tea.
This cake reminds me of being a child when my mum used to make this exact cake but layer it 3-4 sponges high, filled with lashing of cream and strawberries – makes mine feel quite modest. The higher the better really, perhaps when the weather warms I’ll make a sky high strawberry slice? When strawberries are back in season – it’s now time to use some more seasonal fruit.
I am pretty excited by the week ahead, yes I’ve got to work, but mid-week I am off to the Make Lounge to a cupcake decorating evening course. I am attending with Holly, so hopefully we’ll have lots of fun. If anyone is a crafter in the UK and hasn’t heard of the Make Lounge in London, have a peek they offer some great courses. I’ll be sue to let everyone know how it goes – hopefully I’ll come out a pro piper and dab-hand decorator?!
Matcha Flag Cupcakes
So it seems Sunday really is turning into my baking day, I am strangely addicted to baking and perfecting of late. These latest cupcakes are Matcha, that very strange, bright green ground tea powder that is said to work wonders for you. It’s super rich in anti-oxidants and perks you up a treat, which is just what we all need on these very chilly October days. I am a green tea addict so Matcha makes for the perfect cake, not to mention the novelty factor of chowing down on bright, lush green sponge – grassy.
The colour of the cupcakes really inspired me to create some new cake decorations, as nothing in my baking cupboard matched the green brief. I’ve seen some text flags in cupcakes on other blogs and they are a favourite of Amy Atlas, but with the Japanese feel to Matcha this oriental paper seemed more fitting. The flags themselves are so simple to make all you need is paper and cocktail sticks – and a dab of glue.
It’s been a very relaxing weekend here in Highbury, there’s been lots of cycling, eating steak at Garufa, watching Strictly Come Dancing and listening to my new music lovelies (Mumford and Sons, Hockey and Sky Larkin). Currently hatching craft plans for Christmas – I can’t wait! I will be posting up some of these recipes soon, just working out a place to locate them on the blog.
Sunday is Baking Day Part 2
You guessed it, this is a two part post! The baking didn’t stop with the cupcakes, I moved on to my first attempt at mini meringues, which along with cupcakes are a favourite of mine. I really enjoyed piping them out onto the baking try and then seeing them puff up with the heat of the oven, it’s really quite fascinating stuff. They are a little crumbly, but still tasty – now I need to think what to do with them? With no whipped cream, jam or anything good it’s a tough one, Nutella?
If only I wasn’t so blooming sick, i’d invite everyone round for tea, cakes and some crumbly vanilla meringues – perfect! Alas, as I sit coughing my insides up, wrapped in a blanket I think I’ll save everyone from the misery of my germs. I think it’s back to the newly downloaded Scrabble app on my iphone, it’s been keeping me entertained for hours this weekend. I hope everyone has a great week, any good meringue tips would be welcomed. x
Sunday is Baking Day Part 1
I don’t really like to leave the house a great deal on a Sunday, it really is my lazy indoors day. I don’t sleep in much so I have to seek rest from other things and I find staying for a day works wonders – plus I’ve been pretty ill for over a week now and I’m in need of some serious healing R&R.
Amidst all the relaxing and resting I do enjoy a good bake on a Sunday and I seem to be making it a regular slot. I’m getting a lot quicker at baking these days, whipping up some cakes to keep Miles content doesn’t seem to take up the whole day anymore. After the other weeks’ peach and mascarpone offerings I thought I’d try to perfect my piping skills on the basic (but favourite) vanilla cupcake.
I got inspiration from this month’s Sainsbury’s Magazine (I think I’m the only person under 35 who loves this magazine to pieces) which is filled with how to create the perfect cupcake tips. Note please check out my pink heart shaped doilies, I’ve waited s long to use them! They say ‘Love’ in the middle and I’m totally smitten with them.
House Warming
My very good friend Holly (she’s good with the gifts) treated me to an amazing new house warming gift, a beautiful Greengate jug! It’s a beauty and I love it, thank you Holly! It’s currently filled with lovely flowers that my sister arranged – perfect. It’s really turning into autumn here in London and I’m already getting into a colder weather routine of cozy nights in watching lots of films. Saw 500 Days of Summer recently, with an awesome talk from the director afterwards. It’s a really cool film, with a great soundtrack to boot. Zooey Deschanel has long been a favourite of mine, that girl has style – I type this listening to the She & Him album, if you don’t have it give it a go it’s dreamy!
Flower Love
I’m really in love with flowers and candles lately. There is two downsides to this, 1) I am terrible at flower arranging and 2) I always bitched about people who liked candles – I never saw the point? Now I’m a complete sucker for the ambiance they create. I have real expensive candle lust too, I want Jo Malone, Miller and Harris and Diptyque candles! This is not good news because all of these are around £30 for a glorified tea light.
Back to the flowers, these lovely flowers were created by my dear sister, who forages for natural foliage and made me this creation in a beautiful vintage milk creamer. I really appreciate gifts like this as I’m so hopeless at making flowers look nice. I’m a creative person but flowers just stump me every time, if anyone knows or a great flower arranging book please let me know – I’ll snap it up! So much glorious sun here in London, and so much more to come – I’m off to Athens on Thursday for my annual work holiday…. wish me luck!
New Season, New Colours
Phew! It would appear spring is finally here. I think today must have been the hottest we’ve had so far, my cheeks feel a little warm from sitting in the park for most of the afternoon. As the new season arrives I’ve been feeling itchy for some new colours, styles and accessories – hence being really drawn towards blue! Today I tried the newly opened, Tibits, man was the food good. Amazing vegetarian fare, well worth a visit if your in London.
I’ve been a bit bad at blogging lately, the sad news is my Nikon D40X has died, completely. So, now I am using Miles’ camera – it’s not as much fun as having your own. Back to blue, I managed to find these blue lovelies in TKMax of all places. I love the vintage corn flower blue enamel coffee pot next to the modern retro Jonathan Alder melamine plate. The cool colours are pretty calming – which is always nice in a hectic world!
Tree of Happiness
The tree is up , after so much waiting and excitement! I am really please with how it turned out. In the lead up to Christmas I got slightly over excited and bought a lot of tree decorations and I was beginning to think that they would all clash horribly. However it appears that they al look rather nice together (well, I’m pleased with it). The whole tree is all glass decorations apart from very few which are plastic. I have been collecting and sourcing glass decorations from all over, including a little shop in my home town of Whitstable where I got my glass fishes from Poland. The shop is called Buttercup and is very sweet. Others were from London, my parrots were from Oliver Bonas (a brilliant shop).
We couldn’t have a real tree as we live on the second floor but my slim (space saving) tree has made me surprisingly happy. I have loved collecting bits for it, my dream of a vintage style glass decorated tree has finally come true. I’m a massive fan of Christmas and this is my first Christmas living with Miles, so having our tree that we put up together is really special to me. I don’t want to go on being mushy, but Christmas is a time for love – and Miles rocks! If anyone else is a Strictly Come Dancing fan then you will share my sadness that it’s almost ending. It has been an amazing series, and as someone who danced Ballroom and Latin for nearly 5 years it makes me just want to get the dresses out and hit the floor again……I think I feel a new years resolution coming on!
Christmas Crafts
I’m really early on this one but I am just so damn excited about Christmas! I think it has a lot to do with the fact that this year will be my first year with a place to decorate. Plus it’s my first Christmas living together with Miles … so it’s pretty special. I have been crafting my heart out trying to make some unique and special decorations. Now I am not the best crafter out there so when I set my self a challenge it takes me a while to complete as I am lacking in the skills – however after 8 hours of stitching and felting I finally made a Christmas Russian doll. She’s not perfect, but after all that time and effort she’s going on the tree no matter what (faults and all).
I have also been making lots of felts hearts, they only take 45 or so to make! It will be interesting to see how all these creations turn out, or if I ever get the time to finish the all by Christmas?! Miles and bought our first decorations yesterday and I got so excited I wanted to put them up straight away – obviously I was restrained, it was hard. I can wait to get a tree and decorate it! Is it just me, is anyone else out there excited by Christmas coming?