Happy Christmas Cupcakes Everyone!

I plan (as always) to be organised and prepare for Christmas early this year.  So far it's all going well...

August... Started Christmas Shopping
September... Added a few Christmas songs to my MP3 Player
October... Baked the Christmas Cake

Too early?  NEVER!

With the shops starting to stock crackers, mince pies and decorations, I figure, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

So yesterday, after soaking my fruit for 24 hours in Brandy, I set to and made my Christmas cake using a recipe I was given by my mum's friend Peggy.

The Christmas songs and the sweet smell of fruit cake and spices filled the air yesterday as I mixed and baked with a jolly big smile on my face.  (As always I should have been doing housework, but a cake's just not going to bake itself right?!)

So as I filled my tin with the gorgeous mixture, I ran into a problem.... There was too much for the tin to take.  What's a girl to do?!  Well I'll tell you.  I whipped out my cupcake tin, lined it with cases and filled.

After baking, I pricked them all with a toothpick and fed them more Brandy till I thought they would stagger away in a drunken mess!

Just like any good Christmas cake, I topped them all with circles od marzipan and then covered in white, green and red fondant icing.

So while my main Christmas cake cooked away in the oven, filling the house with even more Christmas cheer, I decorated my new little Christmas fruit cupakes.

Merry Cupcakes Everyone!!

Afghan Project

The nights are getting colder and darker.  It's a time when I feel like I need to eat stew and snuggle in the warm living room with a mug of hot coffee and the dog by my side.

When my mum was pregnant with me she crocheted a bright afghan blanket made up of large granny squares using all sorts of lovely colours. Last year I inherited this and I Love it! I always take it camping with me and use it as a picnic blanket and a blanket to snuggle in when it gets cold by the BBQ.


I’ve been wanting to make my own granny square afghan ever since seeing mums but could never quite decide on a colour scheme. I’ve finally decided to gather some of my bright coloured DK stash yarn and set to crocheting a bunch of granny squares in the hope that when they’re all crocheted together it will look fabulous!!

Watch this space!

Biscuits baked to distract

In an attempt to distract myself from housework yesterday, I convinced myself that I needed to make biscuits!

Who doesn't need biscuits huh?

So I set to and baked some lovely little vanilla biscuits and decorated them with piped royal icing.

These ought to keep the fellas at work happy :)

Whoopieeeeeeeeeee

I recently made Whoopie!

Whoopie Pies that is!  I've read a lot about these mysterious little treats and heard they're all the rage in the states so I thought I'd try my hand at baking some.

Whoopie Pies are like a cross between a biscuit and a cake and are a totally delicious indulgance!

I baked Triple Chocolate Whoopies, because let's face it, who doesn't like triple cocolate anything!?
I also made some Beetroot Whoopies out of curiosity.

Both batches of Whoopie Pies were delicious yet very different.  The Triple Chocolate were crunchy on the edges and deliciously soft and chewy in the centre.  The Beetroot however, were more cake like and spongey!