M&M Cupcakes!

So after those gorgeous Marshmallow Cupcakes I made yesterday I really fancied making some M&M Cupcakes! I followed the same batter recipe as the Marshmallow Cupcakes, but just added M&Ms in before baking. 

As I've said before I was at first a little wary of this batter but now I absolutely love it and I'm going to probably use it as my first choice when baking. Gorgeously light. Thank you Hummingbird Bakery!

Definitely going to be no more cupcake making this week! & a lot more healthy eating!

I think all my M&Ms sunk to the bottom though?! :( Still gorgeous though. xox

You Give Me That Hummingbird Heartbeat..

Well, maybe not quite but these Marshmallow Cupcakes are gorgeous! I saw the recipe on the net a while back and decided to give it a go and finally got round to buying The Hummingbird Bakery cookbook! So lots of little treats will be appearing here shortly!

The cake mix itself looked oddly runny to me and I was a little weary it wouldn't work but it did! Such a light, moist little cupcake - filled & topped with gooey marshmallow.

The recipe says it makes 12 but I only managed 9. I was probably too generous with the mixture in each case though.

Ingredients:

120g plain flour

140g caster sugar

1½ tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

45g unsalted butter - at room temperature

120ml whole milk

1 egg

¼ tsp vanilla extract

12 medium pink marshmallows

200g mini marshmallows

For the frosting:

1 quantity vanilla frosting 

edible glitter - to decorate

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170'C/Gas 3.

2. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a free-standing electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined. Gradually pour in half the milk and beat until the milk is just incorporated.

3. Whisk the egg, vanilla extract and remaining milk together in a separate bowl for a few seconds, then pour into the flour mixture and continue beating until just incorporated (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Continue mixing for a couple more minutes until the mixture is smooth. Do not over mix.

4. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 minutes, or until light golden and the sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean.

5. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

6. Put the medium marshmallows in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Leave until melted and smooth.

7. When the cupcakes are cold, hollow out a small section in the centre of each one and fill with a dollop of melted marshmallow. Leave to cool.

8. Stir the mini marshmallows into the vanilla frosting by hand until evenly dispersed.

9. Spoon the frosting on top of the cupcakes and decorate with edible glitter.

Yum. yum. Gorgeous recipe courtesy of The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook by Tarek Malouf and The Hummingbird Bakers! xox

Quick Post

Just realised I haven't done a proper post in a while. I will do one tomorrow though after my little baking session! 

So far this week I've failed my driving test, been off ill from work and sucked at my lent. Boo! Hope the rest of  the week turns out better. 

Ps, I've only had take away once in almost 2 weeks which I'm happy with considering it used to be quite a few nights a week, naughty. xox

Peep into my week! #1

Birthday present from my boyfriend | Nail polishes | Coffee Republic's Strawberries & Cream Shake | Thank you present to my parents | Bargain! 49p for 6 cards | Russian doll arranging | Strawberry piglet bath wash | Mug of sweeties | Keri Smith collection | My wonderful man | Swan lake | Cheeky monkey Izumi | Malteaser cake | Giant cupcake mould | Apricot Jam | Being cheeky

I've had a busy week enjoying my last week of holiday before I went back today, wahhh! I received a late birthday present from my boyfriend, changed the colour of my nails more times than my underwear, ate naughty foods to my hearts content, bought cute cards, decorated a dresser up in green, bought my Mummy a cake stand to make her feel better for quitting her job, made a start on my Keri Smith collection, went to bingo and lost my bingo V plates, partied with my family, babysat gorgeous little Izumi, baked some cakes (some not so good, some pretty nice) & snuggled with the most important man in my life! Happy girly! xox

Gift Card Shopping!

So for my birthday I received two New Look gift cards which was lucky as I've been after a new day dress for a while. I hadn't managed to find one that I like until yesterday & it was in New Look meaning I could use my gift cards, yay!

It's a gorgeous chiffon material in a beige colour with black hearts from AX Paris (I love that New Look stock a few of AX Paris range as their dresses are lovely!). It's comfy to wear & covers my boobs - I usually hate covering up my chest as I feel I look absolutely stupid with my larger bust. 

I teamed it with some black knit tights, a small black cardi & one of my favourite scarfs for a casual day look. I think it would also look lovely to wear out in the evening with some cute heels & a black blazer. Beautiful especially at around £23 (I lost the receipt, ooops & got 10% discount on the £23 for a mark that simply wiped off. Bargain!)

I also bought some Gold of Giles nail polish in a golden shade to go with the dress. I'm excited to try this & hope it applies well.

Where do you buy cute day dresses from? & what do you team them with? xox

Graze!

Thank you to the wonderful Issy (of Issy Only Dreams) I was able to try one of these wonderful little 'nibbleboxes' from Graze for free! 

I'd heard of this company before but had never got round to trying them. 

I think it's an amazing idea of sending healthy natural snacks straight to your home/work! - Definitely cuts out the temptation that shops seem to throw at you so might be a good idea for those trying to eat healthier. At £3.79 for a box, which has 4 little punnets of snacks in, I think it's a bit of bargain. (Simply because most of the snacks feature 2/3 ingredients which if you attempted at home would simply just add up!)

My first box arrived this morning in a letter box friendly box! (So helpful as it's such a hassle if you miss packages!) I think it's a gorgeous quality! Feels so nature friendly. I immediately warmed to this product as it came with a personalised little leaflet which included the nutritional information for each of the snacks. It also felt personalised with a little napkin in the bottom! I also noticed a little note written on the box which said "Ellie woz ere" which I thought was really cute (I'm not sure if it's actually specific to the person who made my box or if all of them have them - either way it's cute!) 

In mine I received Natural Vanilla Seeds (vanilla sunflower seeds and vanilla pumpkin seeds), Great Fire Dragon (roasted maize, chilli broad beans and jumbo chilli maize), Fruit Sundae (strawberries, pineapple and cherry sultanas) and Toffee Apple (sticky toffee sauce with granny smith apple slices).

I haven't yet had the chance to try all of these but have eaten Great Fire Dragon which was yummy! It was quite crunchy but reminded me of eating a packet of crisps but obviously this being the more healthy and perhaps more importantly, the more filling option. 

I would definitely recommend that you try Graze for some delicious snacks.
What's even better is that if you use this cheeky code you can get your first box for free!  W4LGXPQ. Maybe it's a bit jammy of me to be giving you this code as it entitles me to £1 off a future graze box (but I could donate it to Graze School of Farming). I think this feature is wonderful. Healthy snacks + giving to charity definitely gives you a little boost. I am pretty impressed with what I've tried from Graze so far and I'm pretty certain I'm going to keep with them at least for a while!


Happy snacking! xox

18 and legal!

On Saturday I celebrated my 18th and it was lovely! 

I spent the day surrounded by my amazing family, boyfriend and a few close friends.

I received so many beautiful gifts, lots of money and some lovely cards and it was all so lush.

Spent the morning drinking champagne with my Mum, Dad, boyfriend and sisters whilst opening a large amount of cards. Went for a little mooch with the boyfriend also and had my first legal drink with our lunch!

My evening was spent dining with 30+ family/friends in a cute little bar in my local town. They decorated it absolutely gorgeously. It was so amazing to walk in to and we also had some lush food! Followed by an evening down town.

I'm not going to bore you any more but eeeeee! :)