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! :)

Romantic Roses!

Just a really quick photo but my Mum just made this cake for my 18th! Eeeeeeee!

One excited girly! :)

Fire, fire.

So to go with my black dress, black heels, black tights and grey blazer I've decided to brighten my birthday outfit with a touch of red. (Otherwise it just sounded like I was dressed for a funeral, oops!)

All nail polishes I own seem to disappear in this house. Ta-da - the magic of sisters, aye. So I've already ended up buying about 4 red nail polishes in the past 6 months. I am a major fan of the colour red! However, I've never found a red nail polish I've been truely happy with. Be it from the colour being too dark or the polish itself not applying to well. 

This time I think I've found it in the form of Collection 2000's Lasting Colour Nail Polish in shade 5 Fire Engine. As you can tell by the name it's quite vibrant and I adore it. 

(Not the greatest picture, hey-ho. But it's such a lovely colour! Promise my hand isn't bigger than me or that pale.)

I applied two coats as directed and it just has a lovely texture. I find a lot of nail polishes are often too thick but this was just perfect. I wasn't too keen on the shape of the brush itself, I just seemed to get it everywhere but this might just be down to the shape of my nails? 

I'm hoping this product will stay near enough true to it's claim of "upto 10 days wear" as it would be lovely to have a nail polish that I didn't have to touch up every couple of days. I applied a Sally Hansen top-coat just to be extra safe. 

I would definitely recommend this to anyone & if the other shades match up to this one I will certainly be adding more to my collection!

I also purchased Rimmel London's Lasting Finish Lipstick in (2645) Alarm. I previously owned Rimmel's Moisture Renew (I can't remember which shade - but it was a red) which was okay, but didn't last me too long as I broke the stick on a night out. Boo. It was a lovely colour but I ended up re-applying it half way through a night out. I haven't yet tested how long this will last on a night out but it does claim to deliver "upto 8 hours staying power".

(Again not such a good photo. I will take another to replace this as I'm not in a patient mood today, oooops)

I love how easily it applied to my lips. Literally just glided along with a silky, smooth feeling to the lips. It also had a faint candy like scent (I'm not sure if that was intentional but it was quite pleasant!) Such a lovely bright, shiny colour! I can't wait to wear it out for my 18th which is 2 days away. Eeeeeee! Just wish this product would make me look as beautiful as Zooey Deschanel. I can dream? xox

Valentines Biscuits!

Yesterday I made my lovely boyfriend some Valentines Biscuits yesterday. 

Decorated they look a bit messy but he complained he didn't want them to girly, haha. 

I also have a recipe for you today! :)

The recipe makes around 24 biscuits but depending on how thick you roll out your dough/size of cutters I think you could get more. 

They're definitely a cute little treat for anyone and could be adapted for any occasion. 

Ingredients:

100g unsalted, softened room temp butter,

100g caster sugar,

1 egg,

275g plain flour,

1sp vanilla extract,

For decoration:

400g icing sugar,

3-4t bsp of water,

2-3 drops of food colourings,

edible glitter.

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5 & line the baking tray with greaseproof paper.

2. Cream the butter & sugar together until it becomes fluffy.

3. Beat in the egg as well as the vanilla extract.

4. Stir the flour in until the mixture becomes a dough.

5. Roll out your dough using flour on the surface and rolling pin

6. Using your desired cutters to cut out the shapes & place on baking tray.

7. Bake for around 5-10 minutes. The biscuits will be golden in colour when ready.

8. Add all the ingredients for the icing together in a bowl & mix making sure you sift the icing powder. Decorate to your hearts content, not forgetting the sprinkles. :)

Kian loved the biscuits and munched through quite a few whilst we were cooking dinner together. We made fresh chicken burgers with wedges, tasted absolutely gorgeous. We need to cook like that more often rather than opting for take-away. 

Looks a bit messy but it was yummy! 

We didn't doing anything too fancy as Valentine's day as we believe it has no historical/real meaning is just a way for companies to boost profits. We did catch-up on Coppers on 4od! Such a funny documentary series!

Hope you were all spoiled and had lovely days? xox

Kitchen Goddess (I wish)!

Today I spent the morning looking for a blazer for my 18th! I found a lovely grey one in H&M and will probably do a post on it (and the rest of my outfit for my birthday this week). Then came home to bake.

Baking on a Sunday seems to be becoming a regular occurrence! :)

Just spent the evening baking cupcakes and then decorating them with vanilla and chocolate butter-icing. Yummy! 

(Again, I would but recipes but I don't measure anything. I'm also sure that everyone has their own favourite recipe for simple fairy cakes!)

I am extremely clumsy and when removing one of the trays from the oven, burnt myself, chucking the cupcakes all over the floor. Boo! Lucky it wasn't all of them. 

Mum and I have an ever growing collection of decorations that we use to decorate various cakes.

As you can see we are fans of Dr Oetker - our favourite being the Shimmer Spray (retails for around £4.39 from most supermarkets) which is absolutely gorgeous. It gives a nice little sparkle to the icing and simply sprays over the top! Amazing!

These are just some (of what was left after Miss Clumsy dropped half) decorated! Definitely need to get a steadier had as they look a little messy but I'm pretty pleased. Also made a cheeky heart shaped one for my lovely boyfriend. You can see some of the shimmer spray on the plate! Gorgeous! Hope you've all had lovely days? xox

..And relax!

I now have two weeks off of work, yay! 

Definitely a tired girly at the moment so hopefully I can catch up on my beauty sleep and get rid of these bags.

It's seven days till my 18th, how exciting! 

I still have lots I want to buy for it such as new red lipstick, red nail polish, some eyelashes, and a grey blazer. So if anyone has an suggestions on any brands or shades to go for it would be lovely. 

This week I have a hair cut and dye booked, a driving lesson, a spray tan and am cooking a meal for my boyfriend for Valentines! (I will probably do a post on the dinner if it goes well). 

Hope you all have something lovely planned for the next week! xox

Ps. Is anyone else loving the new layout for twitter? I love it!

Cocoa about Palmer's

When applying this product it smelled gorgeous. Just like the Palmer's moisturisers (like scrummy chocolate, mmmm!) As time wore on it lost it's gorgeous smell and started to take on the usual fake tan smell - but in all honesty this wasn't surprise. However, at one point my sister did ask me "Can you smell sick? I can really smell sick." I hope this wasn't about the self tan as I'm pretty sure it doesn't smell like someone's just barfed. 


As the bottle said, it is a gradual tanner, so thank goodness I didn't wake up bright orange but with more of a glow. I'm going to continue using this product for a couple of days and see the outcome. 
It didn't leave me with patches (apart from on my wrist where I washed my hands after and couldn't find a towel so water dripped down, ooops) which I've found with a lot of self tanners before. Especially on the knees and elbows, ickkkkkk. 


I would definitely recommend this product for anyone after a quick, effortless glow. 
Does anyone have a suggestion for another tan for me to try? xo
(Again I don't have any pictures taken by me, sorrrry! Going to resolve that asap!)

Silky skin!

Since I lasted posted I've been a bit of a lazy girl & have spent most of my time chilling with my boyfriend at his (playing Nazi Zombies)! 


I've also been a bit lazy with my hair recently and keep just chucking it up in a bun on the top of my head then adding cute bows and headbands to jazz it up. It's so quick, effortless and looks super cute with some big earrings and scarf.

Just enjoyed a lovely bubble bath (using Soap & Glory Calm One™ Calm All bubble bath - at £5.11, I got mine in a beautiful big case full of Soap & Glory goodies just before Christmas). 
I cannot explain how much I adore all the Soap & Glory products. They leave you smelling absolutely gorgeous and with silky skin. I love this bubble bath as well as it doesn't irritate my skin. As a child most bubble baths left me with horrible rashes, especially Matey's - childhood ruined!! :(


I'm also trying out Palmer's Cocoa Butter Natural Bronze Body Lotion. I'm quite a pale and would like to inject some natural looking colour into me but all other products I've tried haven't really turned out to well. Palmer's products also have a beautiful smell that I can't get enough of, especially in the summer with there moisturisers that include SPF. 


I'm off to feed my Secret Diary of a Call Girl addiction! xo
(Ps, I would have added a picture of my cosy bath & cute hair accessories but my little sister has stolen my camera, grrrr!) 

Lazy Sunday..

After working every single weekend for goodness knows how long I seem to keep getting Sundays off, lovelyyyyyy! 

I've had a really lazy day with my Mummy, snuggled in my chunky knit cardi, baking cakes and discussing our dream of owning a tea-shop/bakery whilst listening to Pixie! We've spent the day making Mumma Shaz's Raspberry Slices' and a lovely chocolate cake. 

 (I would give recipes but Mum and I have never measured ingredients when baking. We prefer to just chuck it in - trial and error baking!)

I now intend to spend the rest of my day snuggled up reading a book, eating a roastie and waiting for my wonderful boyfriend finish work. Hope you've all had a chilled out day? xo

Birthday wishlist!

My birthday is fast approaching, eeeeee! (As you can tell I'm super excited). Everyone keeps asking what I want and I just go blank. The only things I can think of are a bit boring. 

1. Nikon Coolpix S5100 12.2MP Digital Camera in Red (£76.99 from Argos) - I have my Canon 450D DSLR but I really want a little compact camera I can always carry around. A lot more practical for days/nights out with friend. Definitely in red as well, such an avid fan of the colour red.

2. Soap & Glory Kick Ass Concealer (Available at £10 from Boots) - I absolutely adore any Soap & Glory products. They all seem to just 'gel' with my skin. I saw this in Boots the other day and was amazed with it so can't wait to get my hands on it. (Booo at poor work hours meaning I can't really spend on myself at the moment). 

3. Soap & Glory Supercat (Available at £6 from Boots) - I've been after the perfect eyeliner for ages and I can't just seem to find one so hopefully if I do get this for my birthday it will be the one for me.

4 & 5. The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl and The Further Adventures of a London Call Girl by Belle De Jour (You can get both for around £10 on Amazon!) - Recently I've found myself hooked on watching Secret Diary of a Call Girl and I think the books would both be quite a funny read. 

It's not really an exciting list for someone who's about to turn 18 aye? If any of my lovely friends/family stumble across this than pretty please? ;) x

Health kick.

I keep, keep trying to be healthy and just fail each time. I am so disappointed in myself. Especially since I've put a lot of weight on. So once again I'm trying. 

I recently purchased Zumba Fitness for the Wii. I haven't really got the hang of it yet, but I'm sure I will and hopefully it'll help me a bit.

I'm also going to get back into drinking green tea. I absolutely adore it. In fact I am obsessed with all the Clipper tea products, they all taste gorgeous (I am yet to try any of there coffees or hot chocolates - but I'm sure they will be delicious). My favourite being Clipper Green Tea with Lemon. It's so refreshing and my Nana gave me a gorgeous mug to drink it from.

Fingers crossed this time! x

Have your cake & eat it!

I am so, so, so excited for my 18th. I have a lovely meal planned downstairs of Black Sheep which is beautiful, with family and close friends. (It will also be the first time my parents meet the boyfriends parents, eeeeek!) Followed by drunken antics around town.

Once again I've asked for a beautiful cake to be made. Last year I had a fairy castle which took Mum 3 days to make. This year I found a beautiful cake in a book I bought her for Christmas:

It looks absolutely gorgeous, and I can't wait for my Mum to attempt it. So far she's spent around £40 on icing to make 90 roses. 

(They look absolutely amazing, especially for an amateur of cake making!) 

I will update with pictures of the finished article after my birthday!

Valentines day.

This year will be my first year of having a valentines (awwww) and I'm excited to do the coupley thing of a meal etc. We've decided that we are going to make gifts for each other rather than buy some cheap crap from a shop. It's a lot more thoughtful and I love receiving personal/home-made gifts.

I was a little lost on what to make as we don't have many pictures together/souvenirs from days out so a scrap book was totally out. I came across a cute idea on a DIY blog.

 

DIY Love Card Deck

I thought this was perfect as I could really personalise it to us. I'm excited to get started. Probably seems a bit cheesey? But I would definitely prefer to receive something like this rather than chocolates.

My boyfriend does not help healthy eating. Failed after what, 1 day? I have no will power. Starting again today. i have 1 month to get slimmer for my birthday. Bring it.

Time to change and lose this stupid weight, I am becoming hideous.