Pink Cupcakes

CHRIMBO CUPCAKES

CHRISTMAS CUPCAKES

60g soft butter

60g soft brown sugar

1 free range egg

60g self raising flour

zest of 1 orange

1 tablespoon brandy

4 ready to eat dried figs (chopped)

25g sultanas

70g glace cherries (halved)

Decoration

100g blue ready to roll fondant icing

350g icing sugar (sifted)

3 free range egg whites

2.5 teaspoons lemon juice

edible silver balls

edible sparkles

pale blue/silver ribbon (optional)

a mini star shaped biscuit cutter

a 12 hole muffin tin

OK, here's what to do...

Roll out fondant icing, cut out 12 stars and leave to dry overnight.

Next day:  Heat oven to 180 C (350 F) Gas 4.  Line muffin tin with cake cases.

Beat butter and sugar together until creamy. Beat in egg (little at a time folks), then stir in orange zest.  Sift then fold in flour and stir in brandy, then dried fruit and cherries.

Spoon mixture into cases and bake for approx. 14 mins until golden and risen (insert skewer and ensure it comes out clean). Put on a wire rack to cool down.

When ready, you can carefully tie the ribbon around each cake.  Whisk the icing sugar with the egg whites until smooth, then beat in lemon juice. Spoon mixture over cakes and sprinkle with silver balls.  Leave to set.

When happy with that lot, place star icing decoration on top of cakes, brush remaining egg white over top and scatter with edible sparkles, and there you have it!

Yours Karen (aka Nigella wannabe), oh, p.s, talking of Nigella, if you love Christmas, and food, Chintz and lights, tune in to Nigella's Christmas Food programme on UKTV Food on Sunday, I think it's 6pm.

xxx

*click on INTRODUCING A LOVE THAT MAKES LIFE DRUNK blog and downlaod chapters 1-3 *

First Days of Summer...?

No, it's not Glastonbury, it's actually little fella contemplating life in his wigwam in the garden, yes, the garden! After 3 long months of rain, we've finally had some sun, and so the 3 of us have been making the most of it, because you never can trust the damned British weather.

Anyway, me and big fella really went to town last night.  Big fella had been out and about in Birmingham and stopped off at Selfridges for some weekend goodies, so we set the garden up, and I even put on my lovely butterfly lights.  The chickens were happy to have our company and so were the cats.  Little man was safely tucked up in bed, and for once it actually felt like a summer's evening, and since me and big fella love food, we made a real effort and made up the patio table.

The greek salad was stunning, and the focaccia was the accompliment I was yearning for, and washed down with a good glass of red, it was just the ticket.

Anyway, this outdoor living has given me a bit of an appetite and little man too. See, he's a huge fan of the Innocent smoothie, in fact, he guzzles them quite a bit.  Me being me, I love Innocent for their packaging, that alone makes me want to buy it, and since they had an offer on at the supermarket this week, I thought I'd indulge myself.  Check out the one on the right, it's especially for kids and has a face of a cute kitty on it.

I've also become a bit of a fan of Coco Pops, yeah, I know, not a good thing to get into, but they were sitting in the cupboard after I'd bought them as part of a variety pack for little fella, doing nothing, so I guess you could say, I stole a box - but he was in bed, and there was another box, and honest, he didn't notice.

Actually, I quite like my fridge at the moment, so much so, I actually took a photo of it to show you, yes, a strange thing to do, but don't they say you can tell alot about someone by what's in their fridge? No, oops, thinking of something else then, anyway, take a look and see what you can pick out.

Yeah, not very interesting, most of it's little man's stuff, that is, except that lovely looking bottle of chilled white wine, perfect for a summer's evening in the garden, romantic lanterns, cool sounds and even better company - there might even be some olives tucked away in their somewhere.

Anyway, to end, I want to quickly mention the Fore Street Deli in St Ives, Cornwall. As you know, I adore deli's, so when I received confirmation of our Septemeber hols to St Ives, tucked in with it was a cute postcard from this deli announcing they now do "holiday welcome packs", which I thought was really cool - they'll definately be getting a few visits from us in a few weeks, and to top it off, they also sell those great bags I love so much, the ones that help save waste and encourage you to recycle. See what you think. Cheers K.