Baking Festive Cupcakes

Chocolate, Cherry, Almond and Sherry Cupcakes

I have been in the festive mood for the longest time! I just love Christmas so so much and I thought that it was now appropriate to bake some festive goodies. I love to bake on my days off work as I find it relaxing and it's just great fun. I always look through my cookbooks or on the internet to see if I can find any easy recipes that I can adapt to suit me. I found a recipe that involved chocolate, cherries and almonds... so I used that one. Not going to lie, but these are probably my favourite cupcakes that I have ever baked and they were so delicious.

INGREDIENTS:

 

For the cupcakes

 

3 tbsps cocoa powder

150g butter

150g caster sugar

3 eggs

150g self-raising flour

glace cherries, chopped (as many as you wish)

50g milk chocolate, melted

1 tbsp. sherry (or any alcohol alternative or milk)

2 tsps almond flavouring

 

For the frosting

 

Icing sugar

Butter

Almond flavouring

(as much as you need for a smooth icing)

Holly decorations

 

Start by pre-heating your oven to 180 degrees celsius and put festive cupcakes cases, if you have them, into a tin. Next mix together your butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. You can crack the eggs into a separate bowl and add them slowly with the cocoa powder and flour an mix with an electric whisk. Now you can add the remaining flour and fold it into the mixture. Add the melted chocolate, sherry, almond flavouring and chopped cherries and mix together. Now you can spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases and pop them into the oven for around 15-20 minutes. A good way to check if they are cooked is, after the 15 minutes take them out of the oven and use a knife to put in the cake. If there is any mixture on the knife, pop them back in the oven for a few minutes.

 

Now for the icing...I usually wait for an hour after the cakes are out of the oven, to make the icing, as this will allow the cakes to cool. I never use any specific measurement for my icing, I just get a scoop of butter and mix in some of the icing sugar and keep adding the sugar until it tastes sweet enough. You can then add the almond flavouring and mix it all together until you have a smooth icing. I just used a spatula to smooth on my icing to the cupcakes. I tried to make it look like snow. Then you can add the decorations to your cakes and place them on a Christmas plate. I got mine from b&m for like £3.

 

And there you have it, festive cupcakes. Give it a go and see what you think.

 

Lots more Christmas posts to come!!

Book Haul

I love to read. To get carried away with a story and a character It's relaxing and fascinating. I have gone and bought more books, when I didn't need to, but I got carried away...so on with the haul.
I was in Morrisons and saw 'Gone Girl' for £4 and I had heard so many good reviews on the film that I'd thought id pick up the book. I read the blurb ad I was captured. I am yet to read tis, but I cannot wait to get stuck into it. Gillian Flynn
My favourite colour is green, but that is not why I bought 'Fangirl'. I love the cover of this book as it is so vibrant and stands out, but I bought it because I felt like I could relate to the characters in the book. I love to write and read and this book is all about that. I have also heard many great reviews about this book and the author. Rainbow Rowell
'Boys Don't Cry' was a book I just stumbled across on amazon and read the description and put it in my basket. I loved the storyline as one simple thing can change your whole life forever, without any warning. It's a story about 'growing up the hard way'. Malorie Blackman
'The Shock of the Fall' is a book I saw being discussed on Twitter. I went onto amazon and read the description and the lines that captured me to buy this book were, 'But in a couple of pages he'll be dead. And he was never the same after that.' This was engaging and terrifying and strange, hence why I bought it. Nathan Filer
I love a good love story and 'Soulmates' caught my eye. It is an 'epic, electrifying and extraordinary debut about falling in love' and I thought it would be a great book to curl up with and get lost in. Holly Bourne
When I was younger, we had a T.V. show called 'Pig Heart Boy' and I saw that there was actually a book, so I thought I'd buy it. Books like this always capture my attention and I really wanted to read it, especially to see what the style is like and it's a shorter story, so should be an easy read. Malorie Blackman
Now, this last book is one I got way too excited about. I LOVE Disney world and I find it fascinating and enchanting, so what better way to express this than to buy, 'The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World'. I am so excited to read this as I have been to Disney World many times. It is definitely a book that I will enjoy reading and I will learn so much more about a place that I love.  I haven't read it yet, but if anyone loves Disney, then buy this book!! Susan Veness

I am also now on the look out for some great Christmas books, so if I find any I will be sure to do a post on those as well!

Autumn/Winter Make-Up Haul

Names from top left: Avon Luxe - 'Glamorous Rose', Avon - 'Deep Wine', Rimmel - 'Smokey Quartz', L'Oreal - Tresors Caches, Colour Riches, Les Ombres'

Names from Left to Right: Maybelline 'Pleasure Me Red' 547, Avon - 'Vixen', Collection - 'Cappuccino 2'

Autumn and Winter are my favourite seasons of the year. I realised that I didn't have a lot of autumnal makeup in my collection, so I decided to shop for some. I love purples and plums and greens and smokey colours as I think this looks gorgeous for the colder months.
Avon has some gorgeous eye shadow palettes and lip colours. I did have to restrain myself from buying all of it as I can get carried away. I bought a duo, which is called 'Deep Wine' and it has a gorgeous deep purple and I light ivory shade. I have been wearing this duo a lot and I am in love with it.
Another Avon purchase was the Luxe palette. his includes five beautiful shades and its called 'Glamorous Rose', which describes this palette wonderfully. The gold casing makes the palate look glamour and expensive but it was only about £7, which is a bargain.
L'Oreal have some amazing eye shadows and I saw this quad and I loved it and couldn't leave it behind. As this is a French brand I haven't got a clue what this quad is called, but the name on the casing is  'Tresors Caches, Colour Riche, Les Ombres'. I love green and this quad has a stunning  green running through the middle of it. The purple is actually darker on than it look in the palette, so I would suggest that you put this colour on sparingly and blending is key.
I bought a single eye shadow from Rimmel called 'Smokey Quartz' and its a really pretty, purple, grey, silver colour. It has a really nice texture and it so easy to wear, either on its own or with a purple in the crease.

Next onto lips. I love a good lipstick and I mostly wear them in the colder months. I brought a gorgeous red from Maybelline called 'Pleasure Me Red' , number 547 and it is so rich and beautiful and I think it would look great at Christmas time with a green smokey eye or a natural smoky eye.
From Avon I saw loads of gorgeous plum colours and deep purples, but the one that stood out to me most was the shade 'Vixen' and it is so deep and dark and I love it. it looks great with a purple smokey eye and would probably look beautiful with a natural smokey eye.
I think that everyone needs a good nude colour for any season and I picked up 'Cappuccino 2' from Collection and it was only like £3, which is great. It is a lip crayon and is like a 'your lips, but better colour'. I think it looks really natural, especially when you have gone bold on your eyes and want just a neutral lip.

I really wanted to try out a new foundation for the colder months and the 'Rimmel, Wake me Up' foundation is too glittery and glowy for the Autumn/Winter months. I chose 'Rimmel Match Perfection' in the shade '100 Ivory'. I don't know much about this foundation, except that it is less glowy. which suits me.

I have no explanation for buying an eyeliner, but I just really wanted to try out the Soap and Glory 'Supercat, Carbon Black Extreme Eyeliner Pen'. I think it will make eyeliner application so much easier.

What are your top make up picks for this Autumn/Winter?

The Vamps Tour

It's no secret that The Vamps are my favourite people ever, and last night I went to see them at the NIA in Birmingham!! They were insane as per usual and put on an incredible show!! I went with my younger sister and we sat pretty close to the front.
As I was taking pictures, they looked okay, but they are not the best, so I will pick the best ones to you as I think they will speak louder than words. We didn't manage to get many of James as he was on the opposite side to us... but other than that we got loads of the others!! Hope you enjoy.