Recipe | Vanilla and Chocolate Cupcakes

Another day, another cupcake.

Everything's been a bit mental recently and it all feels a bit up and down. I was looking forward to a busy weekend and decided a batch of cupcakes (which I'd no doubt feel guilty about scoffing afterwards) was a good idea to keep me even more busy and bring a little goodness back into the moment.

I still have lemons from my pink lemonade cupcakes but this time I felt like something a bit different. And I'd been sort of ordered to make them chocolate-y by a friend. So these are chocolate-y.

Winning.

Vanilla and Chocolate Cupcakes

makes 12

125g butter

125g caster sugar

2 eggs, beaten

150g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla essence

100g butter
200g icing sugar
cocoa powder
a few drops vanilla essence

(melted) white chocolate
milk chocolate drops

1. Preheat the oven to 180*C.

2. Cream butter until soft and add caster sugar; beat mixture until light and fluffy.

3. Gradually add beaten eggs.

4. Sift in (although I didn't...but someone more professional than me would) the flour and baking powder and fold into the mixture.

5. Add vanilla essence.

6. Divide mixture into 12 cases and bake until a knife comes out clean (about 18 minutes).

7. Cream the butter for the icing and add icing sugar gradually. Beat the mixture.

8. Add cocoa powder to taste. I used a recipe that said 1 teaspoon and ended up adding way more. And it still wasn't enough (coming from a massive choco-holic).

9. When cupcakes have cooled, ice with chocolate buttercream. Drizzle melted white chocolate (melt carefully in the microwave) and sprinkle chocolate drops.

Snazzy Stork background.

There's another birthday coming up at work...

Better get baking.

Recipe | (Accidentally Pepto) Pink Lemonade Cupcakes!

Not that I EVER need an excuse but a birthday is the perfect excuse for cake and all things sugar. I had seen this recipe for pink lemonade cupcakes over at A Beautiful Mess and was determined to whip up my own version. I used this lemon cupcake recipe as it was the only one I could find that didn't involve buying a whole pint to use a couple of tablespoons of milk.

I thought pink lemonade was a nice twist on regular lemon cupcakes but, turns out, a little dye goes a long way...

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

makes 12
125g butter
125g caster sugar
zest of 1/2 large lemon
2 eggs, beaten
150g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

butter
icing sugar
zest 1/2 large lemon
2 teaspoons lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 180*C.

2. Cream butter until soft and add caster sugar and grated lemon zest. Beat mixture until light and fluffy.

3. Gradually add beaten eggs.

4. Sift in (although I didn't...but someone more professional than me would) the flour and baking powder and fold into the mixture.

5. Divide mixture into 12 cases and bake until a knife comes out clean (about 18 minutes).

6. Cream the butter for the icing and add icing sugar gradually (I did not. It was...messy). Beat the mixture, adding the lemon zest and lemon juice.

7. Add a drop or two of pink food colouring.

I added a tad too much food colouring and ended up with a slightly pepto bismol concoction...

8. When cupcakes have cooled, smooth on buttercream and decorate!

I added some freeze-dried strawberry-bits to the cupcakes and ta-da! Pink lemonade cupcakes.

It's not happiness in a tin unless it's cupcakes in a happy tin!

I was worried these wouldn't be very lemon-y but the cake and buttercream combo was perfect. I do, however, need to work on my icing and find the right amounts as I kind of completely ignored the original recipe thinking I knew better... I didn't. I can never get it right! Always too buttery or too sugary. Guess I'd better get some more practice...

May Roundup

Merhaba!

Once again I find myself apologising for the distinct lack of posts... This time I sort of have an excuse - I've been in Turkey! I just returned from a lovely 2 week trip which included touring around Istanbul, Cappadocia and Ephesus and a lovely week at a hotel near Faralya with my mama and I'm so sad to be back. Everything was amazing - the food, the people, the landscape and everyone at the hotel felt like family, so I'm missing everyone and everything terribly. But enough of my blubbering and of Turkey-talk - there will be plenty of picture-heavy posts coming soon(ish). For now, a little round-up of May through the medium of Instagram. The best kind of roundup.

Bioderma Sébium H20 | nakd bars | Prosecco Fridays!

Found this dinky little bottle of Bioderma in my local pharmacy and thought I'd give the Sébium range (for combination skin types) a go. I am absolutely in LOVE with nakd bars at the moment. When I picked these up in Holland & Barratt they were on offer so I stocked up for the week! May also saw an incredible feat - we managed to convince our boss that prosecco Fridays were a good idea...wonder how long it'll last...

Adorable & delicious cocktails in teapots at Simmons, Kings Cross | Winona warning at The Lexington, Islington | New bikinis from Topshop

Had a lovely night out with friends at Simmons and The Lexington. Divine cocktails in the most adorable teacups followed by tune after tune, we ended our evening chatting to a vegan rasta outside Angel station. Perfection. Picked these new bikinis up at Topshop after finally finding some that fit and looked decent! Mama treated me to this cover up which was perfect for popping to the loo poolside.

Sunset at Göreme (#nofilter) | Elephant towel in Ephesus | More towel art!

Absolutely stunning sunset in Turkey, such a beautiful country. These cute towels were actually in our hotel in Selçuk but I like a bit of alliteration where I can. I think every hotel should follow suit, swiftly.

 Stalks in Selçuk (#nofilter) | The travertines at Pamukkale (#nofilter) | Poolside near Faralya

There's that alliteration again! We could see these stalk nests from our hotel terrace restaurant - the stalks are dotted all around the town, some of them have even set up nest on top of ancient columns! These stunning travertines are formed from the natural springs at Pamukkale, which means 'cotton castle'. It was like being surrounded by snow - in the boiling, boiling heat. Finally, the beautiful hotel we ended our trip at. I miss it so much it hurts a little.

So that's May in a little, heavily-condensed nutshell. Absolute heaven, followed by a miserable 1st June mourning the end of our holiday and our return to dreary England. Even the sunny days here are cold. WTF.

Even thoughts of London can't cheer me up. It's time for a big change, I'm just trying to work out what that should be.