Project 365 #6 Pretty Fairy Cakes

This afternoon whilst my boyfriend was at the gym I decided to do a bit of baking. Cameron had his afternoon nap and I got on with making lots of fairy cakes.

I decorated them with pink and blue icing and lots of sprinkles, hearts and glimmer sugar- very girly! I made sure I made some boy friendly ones as well...

Some Christmas Baking

Yesterday the unthinkable happened... I lost my Christmas spirit! I was (understandably ) devestated and tried to think of things I could do today that would bring it back, without costing much as I have spent way too much lately. I decided to go around my best friend's house and bake christmas goodies. She was intent on baking mince pies despite the fact that neither of us like them, as they look pretty and are probably the most festive things you can bake. I wanted to make my signature brownie, but instead we opted for a cheesecake brownie, and as you can never have too much chocolate, we decided to make some double chocolate chip muffins as well.

Baking all afternoon, we had successes with the mince pies and muffins (and super cute mini muffins we also made) but the chocolate cheesecake brownie did not work at all! We ended up binning it which was a shame, but there was no way I wanted to eat it- it looked uncooked even after an hour in the oven! We made a couple of cookies to decorate as well with leftovers...

Diasterous Cheesecake Brownie.....

Chocolate Muffins

Decorated Muffins

Mince Pies

Biscuits

Cute mini muffins

Have you done any Christmas baking this year?

This evening I carried on the baking over my mum's and made us a chicken pie for dinner which was yummy...

Chicken pie (slightly overflowing!)

Chocolate Brownie Recipe

I have made these chocolate brownies twice now and both times I have had people telling me how nice they were so I thought I would put up the recipe so others can make them and share the deliciousness!

Ingredients:

60g Plain Flour
60g Cocoa Powder
200g Chocolate
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
100g Butter
250g Caster Sugar
4 Medium Eggs

Method:

-Melt the chocolate by breaking it into small pieces in a bowl and placing it above a measuring jug filled with boiling water, stirring every so often until melted.

-Meanwhile, place the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and whisk together.

-Gradually add the eggs to the mixture and whisk to mix. Add the vanilla essence and whisk.

-Add in the cocoa powderm flour and the melted chocolate to the mixture and whisk until smooth in texture.

-Grease and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and spread the mixture evenly.

-Put into a preheated oven at 180 for 20 minutes until risen. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes until cooled slightly. Serve with cream or ice cream.

Nights in are the New Nights Out!

I am not ashamed to say it, I am a little bit addicted to Autumn TV at the moment.... I am obsessed with TOWIE (as you may have noticed) which is on Sunday and Wednesday nights. I also love Glee, which is on Thursdays, after my exercise class, and then X Factor which is on Saturday and Sunday nights! Who needs a social life when you have that much on TV?! Not me! (Which is good, as I have no time for a social life anymore!)

Considering how much I love TV, it is not surprising that I love Sundays at the moment.. Today I had a great time in the sun before coming back to my mum's and spending the afternoon baking a homemade pie and some homemade chocolate brownies for dinner! Both were delicious (if I do say so myself!) and I had a great time watching The X Factor, then Downton Abbey and TOWIE before finishing the evening off with a Family Guy double.. Perfection!

Baking on a Sunny Afternoon

This afternoon I was over my mum's with my cousin and Cameron, when I suddenly had an urge to bake. I went for a walk with Cameron and we bought some eggs from the shop (the only ingredient missing), and then once Cameron was asleep for his afternoon nap, I made some cupcakes, and some shortbread stars.

My cupcakes that didn't rise properly!

My shortbread stars

Considering I have never made shortbread before, I was quite pleased with the results, though I left them in a tiny bit longer than I should have!

Next baking attempt is going to be cheesecake. I love it so much, I should really learn how to make it myself!

Photos of the Day: 23rd September

Today I randomly decided I was going to bake, so I went and got out the leftover ingredients from Cameron's party and I made cupcakes. I decided against making frosting, as I don't like it too much as it is so sickly. Instead, I decorated them with icing sugar, glitter sugar and sprinkles. They were very yummy! After that I thought I should probably make myself and Cameron some lunch so I manged to get together the ingredients for Pasta Bolognese, and I made that to.

Mmmmm! Was a yummy day!

Cameron's 1st Birthday Party!

For someone who studied Events Management at Uni, the first birthday party of my son was always going to be a big deal for me. I started planning it months ago and wanted everything just perfect. I decided early on I wanted to make the food for it, but hadn't realised how stressed it would make me! On Thursday I went on a massive baking supply shop....

and on Friday my mum helped look after Cameron whilst I baked, and baked hard! I made cupcakes, mini cupcakes, cookies, pizza, cheese stars, jellies and the birthday cake!! The only things I didn't make were mini pasties! I was up until 1am finishing everything off, but I was very proud of myself, especially considering that I hadn't baked in years and it was my first attempt at making cupcake frosting!

The next morning I was exhausted...but I got up early and went to meet my friend Mel and her daughter Neve who I hadn't met in person before! Neve is only 11 weeks old and so adorable, was so nice to meet Mel finally as well! After a few final touches and some last minute sandwich making, everything was ready just on time, and guests started arriving. The party went really well and Cameron, although quite tired, had a really good time and loved seeing his friends and family. He got so spoilt again, with lots of lovely toys and some DVDs!

There was a game of pass the parcel, lots of children's music and some adorable dancing by my friend Juliette's baby Callum who is 6 months!

Cameron was a bit confused by the candle blowing so his second cousin Spencer helped him!

The food was a success luckily, and I had quite a few compliments about my cupcakes and the birthday cake so I am very pleased. After the party was over, my family, me, Cameron and Mel went to the beach for a bit before Mel got her train back. It was a bit windy, but a lovely day still and Mel got to see the sea before she went home which was nice.

The most important thing was that Cameron had a lovely day, so I am happy that he did. I think next year to save on the stress, I will be going out for his party instead!