Ikea Wrapping Paper!

Ikea have just launched a new 'Paper Shop' inside their main shop and have loads of really cute products. Check out this funky paper from Ikea, it cost £1.75 per roll and you get 5m which I think is a bargain! Here is the link: Overlagsen Gft Wrap Roll  I love the unusual design and thought it would be great for kids parties it's also really good quality and the paper feels very thick. 

As you can see I bought two - one pink and one white! Other items include, gift ribbon, note pads, gift bags, tissue paper, sticky notes and more...

Mmmmm....My Home Made Birthday Cakes! (Rainbow)

The Rainbow Cake

To make this cake I used 2 x 8" sandwich tins which I used 3 times each to bake the different coloured layers.  Of course if you have more tins of the same size it would probably be easier and you would have to do less washing up but I was trying to save money! ;)

1) Make up a good sponge cake mix and times the quantities by two (you can find my favourite recipe if you go to my main page).  Divide the mixture between six bowls you can do this by eye or use the scales to try and weigh it out.
2) Using gel food colouring, add into each bowl of mixture a few blobs at a time until you get the required colours.  Although I made six layers I only used 5 colours they were: pink, yellow, green, blue and purple. To make the red colour I just used extra of the pink dye to the 'red' bowl and less in the pink bowl to create different shades.
3) Pour the mixtures into separate tins and bake for around 15-20mins each.  Once baked allow to cool.
4) Where each cake has risen in the oven trim each one so they are flat on the top and therefore easy to stack then eat the left over tops - yum!
5) Stack the cakes using butter-cream in between - try and put on an even layer of butter-cream as you will see this when the cake is cut open and you want a dramatic effect. Once all the cakes are layered, crumb coat the entire cake with more butter-cream (I always cheat and use Betty Crocker's butter-cream as I use a lot of it, it saves time and it tastes lovely!) Put the cake in the fridge to let the crumb coat harden for a maximum of half an hour.
6) Remove the cake from the fridge and using a spatula cover the entire cake with yet more butter-cream.  I have added coloured chocolate beans to finish. Here it is:

BAD HAIR DAYS!

So I have pretty much always had long hair and it has been dyed all sorts of colours for the last 12 years- it started as my natural colour brown, then highlighted blonde, dyed back to brown, to black, to red and now highlighted blonde again!  I have always had really badly behaved hair which is frizzy and hard to style so for the last 10 years or so I have pretty much straightened it every day or if I have fancied a change I have plaited it to make it wavy.  As you can probably guess after all that colouring and heat styling I have recently noticed that my hair is wrecked!!

Check out these pics of my hair through the years lol...

Brown

Black

Red

Going Blonde From Red

Blonde

Although I want to stay blonde at the moment my hair has suddenly lost 3" or 4" in length and is very dry, much more than usual. Check out this most recent picture look how short my hair is (PS Do you like my henna lol?):

I presume the ends have been so abused and over-treated that they have given up and snapped off! As I really pride myself on having nice hair I have decided to try and fight back and this is my attempt at a rescue mission.  I'll keep you updated with my progress....

ARTILICIOUS!

Check out my friend Justine's new business - It's a great idea and very inspirational to all Yummy Mummies! Original artwork by Justine Pateman - Dorset based. She is available for commisions and projects of all sizes - portraits, landscapes, books and ebook covers, murals and anything artilicious! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Artilicious/621684964525152

My Favourite Sponge Recipe ...and soooo easy too!

Ingredients:

200g Caster Sugar
200g Softened Butter
4 Eggs
200g Self-Raising Flour
1tsp Baking Powder
2tbsp Milk

Method:

1) Heat oven to 190C (170C Fan/Gas5) Butter two 20cm sandich tins and line with non-stick baking paper (I place the tin on the top of the paper and draw round with a pencil then cut out with scissors).

2) In a large bowl cream together the sugar and butter. Add the eggs and beat together. Add Flour and baking powder and mix until you have a smooth soft batter.  Add the milk if needed to get a good consistency.

3) Divide the mixture equally between the tins and smooth the tops then bake in oven for approx 20mins although I would check after 15mins to be on the safe side. The cake is ready when it looks golden and I would also test the inside of the cake by using a metal skewer. If the skewer comes out dry the cake is ready, if there is wet mixture on the skewer leave in for a little longer and repeat the test.

4) Remove cake from oven when ready and leave on a cooling rack until completely cool. 

Quick Tip: If you have had to make this cake in advance I wrap it tightly in a few layers of cling-film and leave on the side.  I find the cake is much softer and lighter if you use this method and have made a cake up to two days in advance and it is still fresh and tasty!

Mmmmm....My Home Made Birthday Cakes! (Rapunzel)

So this is a cake I made for my daughter Brooke's 5th Birthday 

The Rapunzel Cake

I made this cake at my daughter's request to go with her Rapunzel themed Birthday party. I spent ages researching other Rapunzel style cakes and techniques on the internet - once I had gained enough inspiration I came up with this!

Rapunzel Cake

1) To start I made the tower's house and roof - I made it out of a rice crispie mixture (microwave marshmallows and butter and stir in rice crispies) once I had a mould-able consistency I made it into this shape: 

Quick Tip: To stop the rice crispie mixture sticking to your hands keep your hands oiled with Trex or use some vegetable like I did.

2) Once this was done I left the house and roof in the fridge overnight to harden.  

3) The following day (the day before the party) I baked the main base cake (I'll post a basic sponge recipe if you would like to use it) in a round tin and once cooled I covered it in green butter icing which I dyed using a green gel food colouring.  (The gel food colouring is far superior to the liquid food colour in my opinion and although slightly more expensive it lasts for a really long time.) 

4) Next I made the tower itself using a large shop bought swiss roll and some white sugar paste which I dyed a purpley/grey colour.  My husband helped with this part and rolled the icing fairly thin.  Covered the icing in smooth jam and then wrapped the swiss roll in it by rolling it along the worktop.  We then smoothed the join with a little bit of water.  We covered the 'house' part of the moulded rice crispies in the same way. 

5) Small Details came next. To make the tiny tiles for the tower roof and also the little bricks which were randomly placed over the swiss roll tower (see main photo and photo below)  I used a purple food colour and kneaded it into some white sugar paste, I then rolled this out fairly thin and using a ruler and a knife made lots of tiny square 'tiles' which were placed on the rice crispie roof.

To make the small bricks that are on the main tower I made small cubes of sugar paste dyed different shades of purple and squashed them flat using my thumb.  Using a tiny bit of water I then stuck these onto the icing covered swiss roll.  To decorate the house part of the tower I dyed yet more sugar paste brown and made skinny sausage shaped rolls and a door shape to make it look like wood panelling.

6) To finish I had to 'build' the tower and fix it to the cake base.  To do this I used three dowling poles (food safe plastic poles bought from a local cake supply shop) which my husband cut into different lengths for me. Push three short poles into the crispie house and push the swiss roll into the other ends.  Using longer length poles push into the cake until they reach the cake board and make sure the poles are long enough to come through the cake and half way up through the swiss roll.  Gently lower the swiss roll tower onto the poles to secure. Once the tower is in place add the tiled roof carefully. Finally I piped green coloured butter-cream icing down the side of the tower which made it look a bit overgrown and also helped cover up the icing join, I then added some shop bought edible flowers to finish.  The Rapunzel figure was bought from Amazon and although a bit pricey it acted as a keepsake once the party was over! 

I hope this gives you some inspiration and is not too complicated! Although a little time consuming I think it looked really effective and I received a lot of compliments - I hope you do too!  Feel free to ask me any questions if you need some help! :) x

1st Timer!

Hi this is me, Sophie - welcome to my first ever post! (NB: I am not a teeny tiny person - I am just sitting on a very large chair! :) )