Finds of the day

 

 

 

1. 

 

 

 

Baxter Boots in black via Beginning Boutique. I need to get me these (drool..)

 

2.

Coco Daydream candles are to die for!

 

3.

Karen Walker cat ring via Beginning Boutique. Meow.

 

 

4.

Meow for Measuring cups via One Hundred 80 Degrees . These are too cute!

 

5.

She's got Purse-o-nality via Modcloth. Oh my god this makes me giggle.

 

 

I am having a quiet weekend this week finishing off some university assignments and doing boring stuff like clean. Happy Saturday.

Wholemeal Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

Wholemeal Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

using my mama's recipe

 

Bake and freeze. Makes 24 cupcakes.

Cupcake Ingredients
200 grams butter, unsalted
200 grams caster sugar
4 eggs
50 ml skim milk
180 grams self-raising wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon vanilla abstract

Icing Ingredients
125 grams butter, unsalted
250 grams icing sugar
60 ml skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract/ powder

Method
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and line a cupcake baking tin with cupcake papers. Melt the butter in a separate bowl and add the sugar and whisk together. Add milk to the butter mix. Sift flour into a mixing bowl and add the butter mix. On a medium speed, add the vanilla extract and add the eggs in one at a time. Once the mixture is smooth and glossy, add to baking cups and pop it in the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

To make the icing, add the butter ( at room temperature) into the mixing bowl with the milk and vanilla. Start mixing on a medium to high speed whilst adding the icing sugar into the mix in small portions. Continue until the icing sugar is added and the icing is fluffy and almost stiff.

This cupcake recipe works for me every time I use it. Today I used wholemeal flour and they still tasted perfectly light and fluffy. The icing isn't like your typical icing made with water, it is creamy and almost meringue-like.

 

Happy Baking dolls.



Pumpkin and Chia Muffins

The other day my best girl Nicola sent me a photo of her Pumpkin and Chia Muffins she baked using Sarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar recipe from her 8-week Detox Program and Cookbook.  They looked so fab I asked her for the recipe and a photo so I could share it with you all!

 

 

Fluffy Pumpkin and Chia Muffins

Baked by my girl, Nicola



 

Batch and freeze. Makes 12.

 

Ingredients

100 g pumpkin

2 cups of gluten-free flour

1 cup almond meal

Sprinkle ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

Handful of basil leaves, chopped

Fistful of chia seeds

2 eggs, separated

2-3 tablespoons of granulated stevia

2 tablespoons olive oil

Handful of pepitas

 

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line each cup of a 12-cup muffin tray with a 10cm square of baking paper (or use cupcake papers). Grate the pumpkin using a food processor with a shredding disc - you need 1 cup grated pumpkin. Combine the pumpkin, flour, almond meal, cinnamon, baking powder, basil and chia seeds.

 

In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks, stevia and olive oil using a stick blender, then add to the pumpkin mixture. Stir in enough water to make a consistency. Whip the egg whites until soft peaks form and stir into the pumpkin mixture. Spoon into the muffin tray and pop in the oven. After about 5 minutes, sprinkle the muffins with the pepitas. Bake for about 10 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

 

Yummo! I am yet to try these, but maybe I should just get Nicola to make me another batch instead cause hers look ahh-mazing. Happy Baking dolls ♥  

 



Happy Snaps.

I spent the day at my Mum's place last week. It was such a beautiful, sunny day I couldn't resist taking some pictures while I was there. I might have got a bit carried away with snaps of my family cat, Puss. He's just so photogenic.

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Just a bit of gardening: part 2

Seedlings Update
It's been a month since I first posted about the seedlings my best friend bought as part of her anniversary gift to me (read here). On the package it said it would take up to 12 weeks for the seedlings to blossom into beautiful flowers and I am 4 weeks into that process. Here is an update.

Day 1

 

Day 5

 

1 month

 

 

I'm having fun watching my seedlings grow and change literally every day. It's quite an inspiring process having seen them start as just small seeds to now growing into vibrant flower bushes. I'll keep you updated on their progress. 

 
Bye dolls.

 

 

Microwavable Double-Choc Cake

I spent some time at Mum's house today and really felt like something homemade and sweet. Unfortunately, Mum doesn't have an oven at the moment so I was a bit stumped until I looked up some microwavable recipes. The recipe I ended up using was a concoction of Edwina Hanslo's microwave cake recipes, but the gist is always the same.. you put it in the microwave! Is it just me or is this not the perfect late-night indulgent snack? It turned out so moist and spongey, but almost had a pudding texture to it. It was decadent and dark, and I had to share it!

(Excuse the not great quality of the pictures, I only had my phone on me)

 

Microwavable Double-Choc Cake

 



Prep time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 7-10 minutes

Serves: 10

 

Ingredients

100 ml sunflower oil, plus extra for your pan

175g caster sugar

140g plain flour

3 tbsp. cocoa

3 tsp. baking powder

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla essence 

100g dark chocolate chunks

 

 

Method

Grease a 22cm silicone microwaveable cake pan with a little oil and place a circle of baking parchment in the bottom.

 

Mix sugar, flour, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl. In a jug, whisk the oil, eggs, vanilla and 100ml hot water until combined.

 

Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly until you have a lump-free batter. Add in dark chocolate hunks to mixture and pour into the cake pan and gently tap to pop any air bubbles. Cover with cling film.

 

Microwave on Full power for 7 minutes. Remove and check if the cake is cooked by poking a skewer into the middle: if it comes out clean it is ready. Allow cake to stand for 5 mins, then remove cling film and turn out onto a cooling rack.

 

 

 

 

 

 This is such an easy recipe and is so quick its perfect for a late night snack or for busy mums and workers. I served mine with some fresh berries and a dollop of vanilla bean ice cream to balance out the decadent chocolate.. HEAVEN! I definitely recommend you try this recipe and alter it to your favourite types of cakes. For a great midnight treat, simply quarter the ingredients and cook it in a microwavable pot or mug, drizzle with some chocolate syrup and ice cream and enjoy it. You deserve it!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

 

Meet Sookie.

Well its been about two months since I brought blogging into my life and I thought it seemed only right that I started to share a bit more about myself and some of the things in my life that make me happy. One important aspect of my life is my beautiful pets. I have already shared with you the story of how we adopted Chewie (here), our first adopted cat together so I thought I would now share with you our newest baby, Sookie.

We adopted Sookie from the same animal shelter we adopted Chewie from, at our local Animal Welfare League on the 26th March 2013. It was love at first sight. She was asleep on a platform on the jungle gym and was so fluffy! I immediately looked at her and wanted to meet her.

About an hour later she was home and meeting her new brother. Chewie is used to cats, as he grew up with the family cat back at mum's place, but he was quite unsure of her for the first few days. Sookie has such a wonderful personality and is so gentle and kind, we are so happy and thankful to have found her, she's the perfect addition to our family.

Here's a collection of a few photos of her since we got her. She's pretty cute, huh?