Saturday 20 December 2014

Simple, Quick & Easy Lemon Sponge Cake

I passed my driving theory test last Wednesday and as a surprise, my mum bought me a mixing bowl that I have wanted for so so long! When I got home, the urge took over and I had to try it out! An hour later I had the moistest softest most lovely sponge cake I have ever put in my mouth. Absolutely to die for!

(this is like a week or two later i'm finishing this off.. i'm so bad at this, sorry!)



Ingredients:


  • 200g Sugar 
  • 200g Self Raising flour 
  • 200g Unsalted Butter 
  • 4 Eggs 
  • 1 Teaspoon of Lemon Extract 


Method:

  • Preheat oven to 180 c


  • Cream together the butter and the sugar in a bowl 


  • Add the eggs 


  • Sift in the flour 


  • Add the lemon 


  • Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes
Remove when a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean and the top is springy to the touch.

This was only a very short post, but a few of you have asked for it so here it is!

Have fun guys <3 

Lia 
xoxoxox

  

Ps. I didn't take any pictures of the baking process, sorry again!


Monday 8 December 2014

Double Chocolate Brownies!



I first found this brownie recipe a few years back on a trip with a friend.. It was love at first bite! They're honestly the best things! I think I undercooked mine just a little bit, but if you intend to eat them warm with cream, the gooeyer the better (is gooeyer even a word?). I made these last Monday and a week later I've only just got around to writing this post (I wondered how long it'd be before I got behind on posts! Better late than never though!). The recipe I'm about to give you is the the recipe I was given a few years ago, I think it was originally a Jamie Oliver recipe but with a few tweeks, enjoy!

Ingredients:
4 large eggs 
65g plain flour 
1 teaspoon baking powder 
100g white chocolate 
200g dark or milk chocolate 
360g sugar (caster or granulated)
250g unsalted butter
80g Cocoa powder 

Method: 

In a heatproof bowl add the butter and the 200g of milk or dark chocolate and melt together over a low heat until combined and melted fully. 



Sift the flour into a separate bowl and add the other dry ingredients (not the white chocolate just yet).
Add the dry ingredients into the bowl with the melted chocolate and butter.



Mix together until full combined then add the eggs and mix again. 




On a choping board, chop up the White chocolate into small chunks and add to the mixture.


Mix again and pour into a brownie tray or any other cake pan you have handy (squares work better as they are easier to portion) 

Bake for 35-45 minutes. You don't want a skewer to come out clean as they should be gooey in the centre, the sooner you remove them from the oven, the gooeyer (there I go again) they'll be. 

Leave to cool for around 20-25 minutes then cut into whatever sized portions you'd like. 

They are very rich so usually I find smaller portions are easier to eat, however you can go with your hearts content and eat the whole pan if it suits you! :') 

Lia 
xoxoxox

Don't forget #lialikestobake 




Sunday 30 November 2014

Chocolate & Lemon Pinwheel cookies


I first made these cookies with my mum when i was around 3/4 and I've loved them ever since. I hadn't made any in a while and my friends were coming up to see us from Brighton so I decided to crack out the recipe and make them again. They loved them, from 40 cookies to 4 left in an hour, it's safe to say I think they enjoyed them!

Ingredients:

  • 280g Plain flour
  • half a teaspoon of baking powder
  • half a teaspoon of salt
  • 220g butter
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 3 tablespoons of milk
  • 2 teaspoons of lemon extract
  • 30g cocoa powder
Method:

  • Cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy
  • Add the milk and egg yolk 
  • beat together and then sift in the flour, salt and baking powder.

  • Combine into a soft dough 

  • Half the dough and place into separate bowls then to one add the lemon extract (add a tad more flour to this if the dough is still rather soft) and to the other the cocoa powder.

  • Chill each dough ball for 10/20 minutes

  • Once chilled, roll each ball into a square so you have 2 squares of equal size (one of chocolate and one of lemon)(this is a really bad explanation but my pone ran out of charge so i didn't get any pictures!)

  • Place one square on a piece of clingfilm or greaseproof paper and place the other square on top.

  • Roll together like a swiss roll using the clingfilm or greaseproof paper to help.


  • Once rolled together cut in half and chill whilst the oven is preheating to 200c/gas mark 6




  • Cut into slices around 1cm thick, larger if you'd like and place on a baking tray (lined or greased)




  • Bake for 10-15 minutes,  Until slightly soft to the touch.

  • Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool





Just a quick(ish) little recipe to try over the Christmas holiday, 
I love them, 

Lia 

xoxox








Monday 24 November 2014

Lemon Cupcakes!



I came up (it's probably out there officially somewhere) with this recipe late last Friday night, whilst home alone with nothing to do except bake and watch Elf. My parents were out so I had the kitchen (and all its ingredients) to myself! So I went just a little bit wild on the lemon... 

These cupcakes have a soft lemon sponge cake and a tarty lemon icing. They're perfect with just about anything! They proved a hit with family and friends so I thought I'd share the recipe!

Ingredients: 

  • 250g Sugar (caster or granulated)
  • 250g Self raising Flour 
  • 250g Butter 
  • 4 eggs 
  • The find of 1 lemon 
  • 1 tsp of lemon flavouring (you could also add a drop of the juice from the lemon) 

For Decoration:

  • 250g Icing sugar 
  • 80g Butter 
  • 100g Lemon curd 
  • Sprinkles of your choice 


Method:

  • Preheat oven to 180°c/350°f/Gas Mark 4

  • Cream together the butter and the sugar. Then add the lemon rind and flavouring. 



  • Add the eggs to the bowl and and add a small amount of the flour as well to prevent the mixture from splitting. 

  • Sift in the flour, folding gently. 


  • Spoon into cupcake or muffin cases and bake for 20-25 minutes



  • Once cooked (you can tell this if they're springy to the touch, a skewer comes out clean and they're a golden brown colour on top) remove from the oven and leave to cool completely. 

  • To make the icing, cream the butter until soft and then incorporate the lemon curd, gradually mix in all the icing sugar until a smooth buttercream Is formed. 

  • Pipe onto the cakes in whichever pattern you desire.
Here are some of mine:


Display however you fancy, I opted for this pretty little glass cake stand, but a plate works just fine! 


Thankyou for reading and I hope you have fun baking! 

Lia 

xoxox


Thursday 20 November 2014

Christmas Tree Biscuits


I've never actually made these biscuits before, I'd describe them as very festive tasting and also very fun to make as well as eat! They take around an hour to make ( including chilling, cooking, cooling and decoration) but are super super simple!

Recipe - Makes 25-30:


  • 225g/8 oz butter, softened
  • 140g/5 oz caster or granulated sugar
  • 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
  • grated rid of one orange
  • 280g/10 oz plain flour
  • pinch of salt
For decoration:

  • Icing sugar
  • any small sweets 
Method:


  • Put butter & sugar in a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy.
Recipe inspired by the '1 dough, 50 cookies'  recipe book


  • Beat in the egg yolk and orange rind. Sift together the salt and flour and add to the bowl and stir until thoroughly combined.

  • Half the dough, shape into balls, wrap in clingfilm and chill for anywhere between half an hour to an hour.  


  • Whilst the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 190°c /375°f/ gas mark 5


  • Remove 1 of the balls from the fridge. lightly flour the surface and rolling pin. Roll half the dough to about 3mm/  of an inch thick.



  • Use a shape cutter of your choice to make as many biscuits as you desire, be wary though, the cooking speed is dependent on the size of your biscuits (These took half the recommended cooking time).



  • Repeat the rolling and cutting process with the remaining dough and then use the second ball of dough to do the same.



  • Lightly grease a baking tray (more if you have them. You make a lot of biscuits!) and space out your shapes. The biscuits don't spread so you can place them pretty close (just not touching). 





  • Place into the oven for around 10-15 minutes. Checking them every 3-4 minutes. You want to remove them when they're still rather pale, it took me 3 batches to distinguish when they needed removing! If you can see any golden brown on them, they're overdone so be careful.



  • Once baked, place onto a cooling rack and decorate with items of your choice. I opted for a sprinkle of icing sugar, but you can go as wild as you like! 


I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I did, if you bake any for winter, tag the picture #lialikestobake and I'll check it out! 

Lia 

xoxox




Tuesday 18 November 2014

Ideal Home Show Haul Manchester 16-11-14

Last Sunday, I ventured to the Ideal Home show In Manchester, and let me tell you, it was amazing! Never have I been surrounded by so many bargains!
I've never personally been to an ideal home show before so I wasn't too sure what to expect. My mum went earlier this year and loved it so she bought tickets for this show just gone, I'm so glad she did!

Here's what I bought!

The first thing I bought was this cute little 'Belissimo' lip glitter kit



The retail price when not in the showroom is £13 for one pot of glitter and the lip glue? is that what it's called? I'm not too sure on that one! Anyway, at the ideal home show, it was 2 pots for £13 (basically buy on get one free) plus free application there and then of any colour of their glitter. This was incredibly good value as their competitors store had 3 pots of glitter for £25 and £3 for application! I had my lips done at both stores and Belissimo was far superior, their customer service and attitude was also much better than their competition, hence why I bought from them.
In the bag you get 2 glitter pots and 1 glue pot, as mentioned before. You also get 5 Q-tips for application and their gorgeous business card. I've not yet tried to apply this on myself yet, but it didnt seem complicated at all. The feel on your lips when first applied is a tad strange, but after five minutes of smiling (so the inner corners can dry) you can barely tell it's on. I ate, drank, kissed and had a bath and the glitter stayed perfectly in tact! Each glitter pot has enough glitter for 25 applications which works out at around 26p per application! Absolute bargain, I'm very pleased and cannot wait to try it out for myself! 

    
The next thing i bought was this rather large acrylic rolling pin



I've been in need of a large rolling pin for absolutely ages, when I saw this one at the bake and create stall for £15 I knew I had to have it. It's 20 Inches long which is great for covering large cakes. I had also hoped to get some engraved rolling pins? The ones that leave a pattern on the icing? I'm having a mental block again, I'm sure there's a word for what I'm on about! So yeah I was aiming to buy a few of those too but i had seen them cheaper elsewhere so I didn't purchase any from them.

I also bought another MoYou Proffesional Nail Art Suitcase 



My mum bought me last seasons suitcase and it was the best gift i've ever received, it's changed the way i do my nails forever! I'v always been very passionate at nail art but have never been all that good at it. This kit changed that, not a day goes by anymore where i dont get complimented on my nails, honestly, it's amazing... So i bought another one.



This case contains many new features which i just couldn't resist! The case is rather pricey, verging on £200... But you know me.. i never pay more than i have to! In the show promotion this case was £165, a little bit of bargaining & bartering and the use of my NUS card later, the price dropped to £135. 
This case contains brand new accessories:
  • silver and gold nail foil to create show stopping designs, 
  • what I can only describe as sparkly nail sellotape to create intricate patterns and lines,
  • 5 more Special MoYou nail varnishes (the other case contains 15, I also got to choose my colours but when bout from the website it contains one of each)
  • A dotting tool & brush along with the nail file, buffer and cuticle tool 
  • 2 X-Large MoYou pattern board


There's not a lot extra to the last case but the value for money was also what made me buy this case. For 20 special nail varnishes on their own its £60 and each XL design plate is £45 so to buy the products separately only just falls short of the price i paid, for the quality of the products, i am very pleased!

Here's the old and new case for comparison 

Old
As you can see, there's nail glue and a travel kit which the new case doesn't include. 

15 nail varnishes and 6 glitter pots. 


The exterior of the case.


Here are the 2 together, no difference in appearance at all


New





My latest nail design using my new plates

Pro-Step Mini

The last thing we bought was quite an indulgence. All the way around the exhibition, there were many stalls offering varying model of these vibration boards 


After trying them all we decided on this model. retailing usually at £700, the £300 we paid seems too good to be true! It's not arrived yet as it's coming from the manufacturer however i will do an update on it after i've had a good use of it. It claims to have miracle properties... I'm a little sceptical as apparently 10 minutes on the pro-step equates to 1 hour in the gym. We'll see how that turns out! It does feel like you're working out all over, on its highest frequency, its enough to make your eyes water and make you brake out in a light sweat, just by simply stood there doing nothing. I'm not complaining! 

I hope you enjoyed my little home show haul, I hope to post more like this in the near future.

Lia 

xoxox