Autumn

It's half term here, & it's been a tough few weeks. Poorly children make for a sad Mummy. All motivation has left the building, & I need it to come back!

So, to cheer myself up, here's some recent photos of what we have been up to.

I love Autumn, it's definately my fave season :-)

Autumn walks.

Making new friends.

Waiting to be carved.

Autumnal cowl for me, in progress. Just loving the colours.

Boozy fruit for the xmas cake, to be prepared.

xxx

Chocolately Baking :-)

The week before last was 'Chocolate Week' & last week was 'National Baking Week', so in honour of this, I made an absolutely yummy Chocolate Marble Cake.

** To be honest, I'd finally treated myself to a cake stand (& a gorgeous pink girlie it is!) so I needed something to bake!**

I'm not sure where the recipe originated, I thought it might be the Rachel Allen recipe from the BBC web, but after just checking the site, it's not. The recipe I wrote down stated to cook the cake for 25-30 minutes, but when I checked the cake, the inside was completely uncooked. I let it bake for nearly an hour & it was perfect. I also treated myself to some Green & Blacks cocoa for this cake. I normally use whatever is in the cupboard, but the chocolate taste is normally very weak when done this way. Let me tell you that after using Green & Blacks, I will never go back to any old cocoa for baking. The chocolate taste (& colour) was absolutely lush & creamy.



Chocolate Marble Yumminess Cake (Original Recipe Author Unknown)

200g Butter
200g Caster Sugar
150g Self Raising Flour sifted
50g Plain Flour sifted
4 Eggs
3Tbsp Cocoa sifted (Preferably Green & Blacks!! it's definately worth it!!)

Preheat oven to 180.
Grease & line cake tin.
Cream together the butter & sugar.
Beat the eggs together, then add half the eggs to the butter, plus a spoonful of flour. Mix to combine, then add the rest of the eggs & combine.
Once all the eggs have been combined, add the flour & mix, but don't overmix, otherwise the cake's texture will be tough.
Seperate the cake mixture into two bowls. Add cocoa to one bowl & mix well.
Spoon large dollops of each mixture into the cake tin, until all the mixture is used, level the mixture, then using a knife, swirl the mixture to create the marble effect.
Bake the cake for 45-55 mins, until the cake is springy to touch, comes away from the sides of the tin & when a skewer is inserted, it somes out clean. Cool for 5 mintues, then turn out onto a baking rack to finish cooling.

The original recipe called for the cake to be dusted with icing sugar, but I was needed more of a chocolate fix so I made a batch of chocolate butter frosting (using the Hummingbird Bakery recipe) & added chocolate star decorations for an added touch.

Enjoy!! xxx


xxx

Blueberry Muffin Yumminess!!

Is Yumminess an actual word?

Who knows?

Anyway, today I made a batch of blueberry muffins, so thought I'd share the recipe with you. The recipe was given to me a few years ago by a friend, since then I have tweaked it a bit!!

Blueberry Muffins.

9oz Plain flour

3tsp (15ml) baking powder

half a teaspoon (2.5ml) salt

3oz Muscovado sugar (the original recipe uses white granulated sugar)

1 egg

8fl oz milk

3 oz butter, melted. 

Blueberries (I used 1 pack)

OPTIONAL- Cinnamon, porridge oats, brown sugar.

Preheat oven to 190-200C.

Prepare muffin tin with liners. This makes 12 muffins.

Sift together the flour, baking powder & salt in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar & make a well in the centre. (I usually add a tsp or 2 of cinnamon, but this is optional).

In a seperate bowl, beat the egg, then add the milk & melted butter.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry & stir, until combined. The batter will be lumpy, but no dry flour should be visible. Do not overmix the mixture.

Add the blueberries & stir in quickly.

Fill the cake liners to 3/4 full. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with porridge oats & brown sugar. This gives the muffins a crunchy top.

Cook in the centre of the oven for 20-25 mins, until the tops of the muffins are lightly browned.

Remove from oven & carefully take muffins out of the muffin tin & put them on a baking rack to cool. Be careful as the blueberries will be HOT!! I take them out of the tim straight away to stop them cooking in the hot tin.

When cooled, enjoy with a cuppa!!

                           xxx



Calleigh's Quilt

I was recently commissioned to make a quilt for my friends daughter. Her name is Calleigh & she was a preemie. She's a beautiful, tough little girl & it was a real honour to be asked to make this for her.

I used Cath Kidston fabric for the patchwork piece, edged with plain white cotton. The backing fabric is a stripy flannel, which is so unbelievably soft & will get even softer the more it's washed.

I will admit that this took absolutely ages to make. It had to be so perfect, the pressure was definitely on! I loved the final quilt though, it was definitely hard to let it go.

A beautiful quilt, for a beautiful little girl.

xxx

To Do List Update.

Well unfortunately I only completed 4 of the things on my To Do List. But I did spend some lovely time with my family, which makes up for it. I guess my girls will only be little for a short time, & pretty soon wont want to spend time with me, so I'll take what I can!! But it is nice to have time for me, & a Happy Mum = Happy Family.

So here are the things I completed:

The Foxy Lady Stuffie, from Mollie Makes magazine. Am planning on making a large sized one as a cushion for Miss M.

Embroidered bunting for my friend Helen to use at her first craft fair. I really love how the letters stand out, so much so that I'm thinking of making some to sell :-)

& finally Snickerdoodles!! That did not last long, lol!

I thought I'd taken a photo of the Wobbly Granny, with the latest progress, but I cannot find trace of the photo, so you will have to take my word for it ;-)

xxx