Super Basic Easter Cupcakes To Make While On Lockdown!

Hey beaut's!

It's been a while...about 3 weeks to be exact and that's all down to the horrendous situation we are all in! The place I work thankfully closed it's doors a week and a half ago, and although that means I'm temporary out of work until the store re-opens I'm just so glad I can stay home and keep as safe as possible! Making sure we all stay at home can be boring but it's absolutely essential right now to protect our NHS and ourselves, so something fun you could do alone or with your kiddies is bake!

The recipe I'm sharing today is pretty basic (plain sponge and chocolate buttercream) and is made up of the simplest ingredients which hopefully you'll already have in your cupboards at home, I bake a lot so I do always have a stash of ingredients in my baking cupboard and the Easter mini eggs I already had as I was planing on doing lots of Easter recipes for you guys, but that's not worked out as I'd hoped so I'm using up the bit's and pieces I'd bought already! 

What You Will Need For The Cupcakes - Makes 12
125g butter
2 free-range eggs
125g self raising flour
100g caster sugar
25g light brown sugar
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
splash of milk

What You Will Need For The Icing
150g unsalted butter
300g icing sugar
15g cocoa powder
2-3 tbsp milk
Any Easter treats you have to decorate.

How To - Cupcakes
1. Firstly pre-heat your oven to gas mark 4 /180 and line a muffin tin with your cupcake cases.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whack in your butter and both of your sugars and cream together, then pop in the rest of your cupcake ingredients and mix until smooth with a hand whizzer or standing mixer. If the mixture is a bit thick then add a splash of milk to loosen things up.
3. Pop a heaped tablespoon of the cupcake batter into each cupcake case and bake in the oven for around 16-18 minutes or until the top of the cupcakes are springy to the touch, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

How To - Icing
1. In a large bowl, beat the butter until it becomes smooth and silky, then start adding the icing sugar and cocoa powder slowly to avoid the dreaded icing sugar cloud and mix again until combined. If your buttercream becomes thick just add in a tablespoon of milk at a time until you get the perfect consistency.
2. Pipe or spoon the icing on top of the cupcakes and decorate how you wish, I used up some Cadbury Mini Eggs and some Smarties Orange Eggs for mine.

 And there you have it, a simple yet effective bake which can be adapted if needs be, if you don't have any light brown sugar then just add an extra 25 grams of caster sugar or vice versa, if you only have light brown just use that. If you only have plain flour that's fine too but you'll need to add some baking powder!

Do let me know if you give these a go beaut's!

Autumn Spice Cupcake Recipe!

 Hey beaut's!

I'm fully aboard the Autumn train, I'm literally obsessed with all things autumn at the moment and I just couldn't resist getting the spices back out and whipping up something yummy and seasonal! If your like spice cakes or gingerbread men then your going to love the taste of these beauties, I'm certainly going to be making a lot of batches of these that's for sure!

What You Will Need For The Cupcakes
75g unsalted butter
125ml black treacle
125ml milk
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
175g plain flour
100g caster sugar
1tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/4tsp ground ginger
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground allspice
1/2tsp ground nutmeg
1/4tsp salt
1tsp bicarbonate soda

What You Will Need For The Buttercream
200g unsalted butter
450g icing sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
splash of milk

How To - Cupcakes
* Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 4 /180 and line a muffin tin with your cupcake cases.
* In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and the sugar with an electric whizzer until well combined, then add in the egg and egg yolk along with the treacle and mix again!
3. Then add in your flour, all of the spices, bicarbonate soda, salt and mix until you get a batter start to form, then add in the milk loosen things up so you get a silky batter.
4. Pop a tablespoon of the cupcake batter into each cupcake case and bake in the oven for around 18-20 minutes or until the top of the cupcakes are springy to the touch, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool.


How To - Buttercream
* In a large bowl, beat the butter until it becomes super light in colour and whippy, then start adding the icing sugar slowly to avoid the dreaded icing sugar cloud and mix again until combined. As usual if the buttercream is too stiff then pop in some milk until you get your desired constancy.
* Pipe or spoon the icing on top of the cupcakes and decorate with some sprinkles if you wish, I actually crumbled up one of the cupcakes to use as sprinkles, and voila!

Whats your favourite thing to bake at this time of the year beaut's? I'd love to know!

Terry's Chocolate Orange Cupcakes Recipe

Hey beaut's!

I've finally started my festive bakes and cakes.....YASSSS! And what better way to start than with a Terry's Chocolate Orange Cupcake recipe! Theres something so festive about a Terry's Chocolate Orange isn't there, I remember when I was little it just wouldn't be Christmas without finding a chocolate orange in my stocking and it's stuck with me forever I must admit! These cupcakes are so quick and easy to bake and they really do capture the exact taste of a chocolate orange, so if your a fan of Terry himself you need to bake some of these!

What You Will Need For The Cupcakes

135g unsalted butter

110g self raising flour

1/4tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g caster sugar

25g dark brown sugar

15g cocoa powder

2 eggs

1/2 tsp orange extract OR zest of 1 orange

1.5 tbsp milk

1 tsp treacle

What You Will Need For The Buttercream

150g unsalted butter

300g icing sugar

15g cocoa powder

1/4tsp orange extract

2-3 tbsp milk

Terry's Chocolate orange to decorate

How To - Cupcakes

* Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 4 /180 and line a muffin tin with your cupcake cases.

* In a large mixing bowl, throw in all of your cupcake ingredients and mix with an electric whizzer until well combined, this is such an easy 'throw it all in' recipe!

*Once your mixture is completely smooth pop a heaped tablespoon of the cupcake batter into each cupcake case and bake in the oven for around 15 minutes or until the top of the cupcakes are springy to the touch, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

How To - Buttercream

* In a large bowl, beat the butter until it becomes super whippy, then start adding the icing sugar and cocoa powder slowly to avoid the dreaded icing sugar cloud and mix until combined. As usual if the buttercream is too stiff then pop in some milk until you get your desired constancy. If you want to keep that chocolate orange flavour going into your buttercream then simply add a quarter of a tea spoon of the orange extract and mix until combined.

* Pipe or spoon the icing on top of the cupcakes and decorate with some Terry's Chocolate Orange, I also sprinkled over some little gold star sprinkles to add a festive touch, and voila!

Will you be doing any baking with Terry's Chocolate Orange over the festivities beaut's? What will you be making? I'd love to know!

Baking On A Budget - Autumn Spice Cake Recipe

Hey beaut's!

It's no secret that I love to bake, the only thing is that believe it or not baking can get a little bit pricey so I like to skip down to Aldi* and pick up all of my baking ingredients for a much better price! Aldi have such a fab range of fresh British foods which are such good value and truth be told the recipe I'm sharing with you today literally only cost me a few pounds to make with plenty of ingredients left over to make many other cakes if I want to! The cake in question is my very seasonal Autumn Spice Cake, and honestly beaut's if you like cake and you like spices your going to love it!

What You Will Need For The Cake

175ml vegetable oil

185g applesauce

4 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

240ml buttermilk

320g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

370g light-brown sugar

What You Will Need For The Buttercream

200g Unsalted Butter

400g Icing Sugar

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Splash Of Milk

How To 

1. Preheat your oven to gas mark 4 and line or grease two round baking tins. 

2. In a large mixing bowl pop in your brown sugar with the vegetable oil and applesauce and mix with your whizzer until well combined, then add in your eggs, vanilla and buttermilk and mix again, this will look pretty questionable at this point because it's all wet ingredients but bare with it, also if your cant find buttermilk just use milk with a squeeze of lemon juice instead, this actually makes buttermilk and is so easy to do yourself, that's what I did!

3. Once your wet ingredients are all combined throw in your dry ingredients, I actually like to combine all of my dry ingredients in a separate bowl first then whack in half of the dry into the wet - mix - then thrown the rest of your dry ingredients in and whip up with the whizzer.

4. Divide your batter between the two tins and bake for around 25-30 minutes or until the top of the cakes are springy to the touch, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool. 

How To - Buttercream

1. In a large bowl, beat the butter until it becomes smooth and silky, then start adding the icing sugar slowly to avoid the dreaded icing sugar cloud and mix again until combined. If your buttercream becomes thick just add in a tablespoon of milk in at a time until you get the perfect consistency.

2. Pipe or spoon the icing on top of one of the cakes them sandwich them together and decorate the very top and the sides of the cake how you like, I decided to leave the sides plain and do a couple of swirls of icing on the top instead of covering the entire cake but the choice is yours... and voila!

This is such a cosy bake and perfect to snuggle up with on those dark, cooler evenings with a cuppa, I'll definitely be trying these in cupcake form too soon! 

Do you like baking at this time of the year beaut's? I'd love to know what your favourite autumnal bake is!

Apple Crumble Cupcakes!

Hey beaut's!

It's been a while since I got in the kitchen and baked some cupcakes and seeing as Autumn is creeping ever closer I thought it was time for a cosy bake, this time around I opted for apple crumble cupcakes, they just sound so warming and autumnal don't they! These cupcakes have apple within the sponge and the most amazing cinnamon and brow sugar buttercream - which might I add is the best buttercream I've ever made, the addition of brown sugar is just immense and gives it a slight caramel vibe, oh my! Then the cupcakes are finished off with that yummy homemade crumble, whats not to love! 

What You Will Need For The Cupcakes
300g Cooking Apples
2 Eggs
125g Unsalted Butter 
230g Plain Flour
155g Golden Caster Sugar
2 tsps Baking Powder

1 tsp Cinnamon
Pinch Of Salt
Splash Of Milk

What You Will Need For The Crumble Topping
75g Golden Caster Sugar
100g Chilled Butter
140g Self-Raising Flour

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

What You Will Need For The Buttercream
125g Unsalted Butter
55g Soft Brown Sugar
200g Icing Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Splash Of Milk

How To - Cupcakes
* Start off by making the apple mixture, I popped 250 grams of my cooking apples into a saucepan and covered them in a little water for around 5 minutes to soften, once soft drain the water and leave the apple mixture to cool. Then chop the remaining 50 grams of apple into tiny cubes and leave to aside!
* In a bowl cream together the butter and the golden caster sugar until light and fluffy then whack in the eggs and vanilla extract! Once all of the wet ingredients are combined add in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and gently mix until combined, at this point the batter might be quite stiff but fear not, pop in your softened apples and mix well - this will help loosen things up, if the batter is still quite stiff like mine was then keep adding in a splash of milk at a time until it loosens slightly.
* Finally before popping the batter into your cupcake cases mix through the remaining 50 grams of cubed apple, then bake at gas mark 4 for around 15-18 minutes or until the top of the cupcakes are springy to the touch, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool

How To - Crumble
* The crumble topping is so easy to make, in a large bowl rub together the butter, flour and vanilla until it's nice and crumbly kind of like breadcrumbs, and then stir through the sugar. 
* Spread the crumble mixture onto a lined baking tray and bake for 5-10 minutes until just golden, I actually got my crumble out half way and used a knife to chop at it and move it around so the underneath of the crumbles firmed up too.

How To - Buttercream
* In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract until it becomes super whippy, then start adding the icing sugar slowly to avoid the dreaded icing sugar cloud and mix again until combined. As usual if the buttercream is too stiff then pop in some milk until you get your desired constancy.
* Pipe or spoon the icing on top of the cupcakes and sprinkle over lots of the yummy crumble, you can add a little or a lot depending on how much crumble your partial too and voila!

And there you have it beaut's, yummy apple crumble cupcakes that are so autumnal and delicious! These are a little more time consuming than general cupcakes because you have to make the crumble and soften the apples but it's totally worth it, especially on a cold autumn day!

Lemon Cupcake Recipe!

Hey beaut's!

The weather has been gorgeous this week so I wanted a nice refreshing cupcake to tuck into and lemon is always a great flavour for the summer so I whipped up a cheeky batch of lemon cupcakes, and wow these where delicious!  

What You Will Need For The Cupcakes

125g butter

2 large free-range eggs 

125g self raising flour

125g caster sugar

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

2-3 tablespoons milk (optional)

What You Will Need For The Icing

125g butter

250g icing sugar

juice of 1 small lemon

lemon to decorate (optional)

How To - Cupcakes

1. Firstly pre-heat your oven to gas mark 4 /180 and line a muffin tin with your cupcake cases.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whack in all of your cupcakes ingredients and mix until smooth with a hand whizzer. If the mixture is a little thick add in some milk and tablespoon at a time!

3. Once the cupcake batter is smooth mix pop a heaped tablespoon of the cupcake batter into each cupcake case and bake in the oven for around 18 minutes or until the top of the cupcakes are springy to the touch, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

How To - Icing
1. In a large bowl, beat the butter until it becomes smooth and whippy, then start adding the icing sugar slowly to avoid the dreaded icing sugar cloud and again mix until combined. Then pop in your lemon juice and mix again, this not gives the icing a lovely fresh lemon taste but acts as the liquid to get the buttercream at the perfect texture, you shouldn't need to add in any milk at all. 
2. Pipe or spoon the icing on top of the cupcakes and decorate how you wish, I chopped up some lemon slices and popped them on top, this is OK if the cupcakes are going to be eaten straight away but if not I'd just decorate with some sprinkles!

And there you have it, super yummy lemon cupcakes that are so easy to make! If your fond of lemon I really recommend you give these a try, their also great for this heat because I really don't fancy a chocolate cupcake when it's hot but refreshing lemon I certainly do he he!

My Easy Banana Bread Recipe!

Hey beaut's!

Arhhh banana bread, oh how I love you he he! Despite being a huge lover of banana bread I rarely make it because I never have any banana's left that are over ripe (we always eat them too quikcly you see), but I over bought some banana's this week in the hope to have a couple left to use and here we are... with a banana bread recipe! In my recipe I like to use light brown sugar and a tiny bit of cinnamon, this gives the bread the most amazing caramel-banana-y flavour and wow it's immense!

What You Will Need
140g butter
140g light brown sugar
2 large eggs or 3 medium
140g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
half tsp cinnamon
2 very ripe bananas mashed
50g icing sugar

How To
1. Firstly pre-heat your oven to gas mark 4 /180 and line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until it's whippy and fluffy, then slowly add the eggs one at a time. 
3. Then fold in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and bananas and pour into the loaf tin and bake for about 30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. One thing I love to do just before I put my batter in the oven to cook  is to sprinkle a little bit more light brown sugar across the top, this gives an amazing crunch to the top of the loaf once its cooked!
4. Once the banana bread is completely cool, mix the icing sugar with a couple of teaspoons of cold water to make a runny icing, then drizzle the icing across the top of the loaf anyway you like, you could also decorate with some sliced banana on the top if you wish and voila!!!

And there you have it beaut's, a super easy but very very tasty banana bread which hardly requires any skill and it's made up of pretty basic ingredients! You definitely have to try this one out if your a lover of all things banana'y he he!

Toblerone Cupcake Recipe!

Hey beaut's!

I've been baking again.... This time I wanted to bake come cupcakes for my Dad for Fathers Day, and one of my Dad's favourite chocolates in a Toblerone so of course I just had to incorporate some Toblerone within the cupcakes. These beauties have a plain cupcake base with a hint of almond extract and chunks of chopped up Toblerone within the cupcake batter and are finished off with chocolate buttercream and more Toblerone to decorate, they are so delicious even if I do say so myself!

What You Will Need For The Cupcakes

125g butter

2 large free-range eggs 

125g self raising flour

125g caster sugar

100g crushed/chopped Toblerone

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp almond extract

2-3 tablespoons milk (optional)

What You Will Need For The Icing

150g butter

300g icing sugar

30g cocoa powder (I use Bournville)

2-3 tablespoons milk (optional)

Toblerone to decorate

How To - Cupcakes

1. Firstly pre-heat your oven to gas mark 4 /180 and line a muffin tin with your cupcake cases.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whack in your butter and sugar and cream together, them pop in the rest of your cupcake ingredients apart from the crushed Toblerone and mix until smooth with a hand whizzer.

3. Once the cupcake batter is smooth mix through the crushed/chopped Toblerone with a wooden spoon or spatula making sure you don't knock too much air out of your batter.

4. Pop a heaped tablespoon of the cupcake batter into each cupcake case and bake in the oven for around 18 minutes or until the top of the cupcakes are springy to the touch, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

How To - Icing

1. In a large bowl, beat the butter until it becomes smooth and whippy, then start adding the icing sugar and cocoa powder slowly to avoid the dreaded icing sugar cloud and again mix until combined. If your buttercream becomes thick just add in a tablespoon of milk at a time until you get the perfect consistency.

2. Pipe or spoon the icing on top of the cupcakes and decorate how you wish, I chopped up a Toblerone to create the individual triangles and popped them on top of the buttercream, I had a few Toblerone off-cuts too so I crushed them up and used them as sprinkles.

And there you have it, super yummy Toblerone cupcakes that are so easy to make! If your fond of a Toblerone then I really recommend you give these a try!

Biscoff Cupcake Recipe!

Hey beaut's!

It's been a while since I did a baking post, truth be told I'm on a bit of a health kick at the moment so it's meant my baking hobby has taken a bit of a back seat however...over the last 2 weeks I've lost five pounds so I wanted to reward myself with some cake so I rustled up these Biscoff Cupcakes and my goodness they taste so good! The sponge and the buttercream contains Biscoff spread and of course I had to decorate with those Biscoff biscuits which are so addictive!

What You Will Need For The Cupcakes
125g butter
2 large free-range eggs 
125g self raising flour
65g caster sugar
60 light brown sugar
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 tablespoons of Biscoff spread
2-3 tablespoons milk (optional)

What You Will Need For The Icing
150g butter
150g Biscoff Spread
300g icing sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk (optional)
Biscoff biscuits to decorate

How To - Cupcakes
1. Firstly pre-heat your oven to gas mark 4 /180 and line a muffin tin with your cupcake cases.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whack in your butter and both types of sugar and cream together, them pop in the rest of your cupcake ingredients and mix until smooth with a hand whizzer.
3. Pop a heaped tablespoon of the cupcake batter into each cupcake case and bake in the oven for around 18 minutes or until the top of the cupcakes are springy to the touch, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

How To - Icing
1. In a large bowl, beat the butter and the Biscoff spread together until it becomes smooth and silky, then start adding the icing sugar slowly to avoid the dreaded icing sugar cloud and again mix until combined. If your buttercream becomes thick just add in a tablespoon of milk at a time until you get the perfect consistency.
2. Pipe or spoon the icing on top of the cupcakes and decorate how you wish, I just popped on a whole Biscoff biscuit in the centre then crumbed up some more Biscoff biscuits to use as sprinkles! You could also melt some of the spread in the microwave and then drizzle it over the buttercream, I had planned on doing this but in the end I liked how mine looked as they where so I skipped this step, you could also core out the centre of the cupcakes and spoon in more Biscoff spread, it depends on how much of a Biscoff addict you are really ha ha! 

And there you have it, super yummy Biscoff cupcakes that are so easy to make! I'll warn you now these are very addictive, I had to box some up for my family otherwise my health kick would of been totally out of the window he he!

Easy Lemon Drizzle Cake Recipe

Hey beaut's!

I've been baking again, this time around I wanted to make something super quick and easy with a slight summery twist seeing as the weather has been absolutely gorgeous this week, so I went for a yummy lemon drizzle cake! I don't know why but lemon drizzle is always something I like to have in the Spring/Summer months and I don't think I had baked one since last Summer so it was well overdue! This is probably my simplest, easiest recipe because it literally only has a couple of steps and not many ingredients at all, but it tastes so, so nice!

Cake Recipe -

175g self-raising flour

175g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder

100g Stork with butter
2 eggs

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

juice of half a lemon

2-3 tbsp milk

Drizzle/Glaze Recipe -

100g icing sugar

a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice or a couple of teaspoons of water. 

How To -
1. Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 4 /180 then line and grease a loaf tin.
2. Pop all of your cake ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix together with an electric whizzer until everything is smooth and well combined.
3. Then pop the cake batter into the loaf tin and bake for around 30-35 minutes.
4. Once your cake is cooked and cool you can make the yummy drizzle which is so simple, just mix your icing sugar with either lemon juice or water a teaspoon at a time until your icing is the consistency of thick cream and then drizzle it all over the cake anyway you like, if your drizzle/glaze does become too thin just add some more icing sugar. You could always do a crunchy sugar topping instead if you like by mixing some granulated sugar and juice of a lemon together, it's completely up to what you prefer.

And there you have it, a yummy lemon drizzle cake that hardly takes any time or effort at all. It was so tasty even if I do say so myself he he.

The Best Beauty Poundland Finds and Hacks!

 Hi beaut's!

I'm an absolute Poundland addict, mainly because every thing is an absolute bargain but you can actually find some amazing, good quality bits and pieces for around your home in there these days. Today I thought I would share what I do with a few of my Poundland finds, all of them are beauty related this time *well I am a beauty addict after all* he he.

Firstly how gorgeous is this little tray that I'm using for my perfumes, it's actually a mirror and not a perfume tray at all, but whilst I was browsing I spotted it and Poundland had actually stacked them up flat and immediately cute perfume tray ideas where swirling through my head. It isn't a huge mirror so you wouldn't be able to hold loads of perfumes on it, maybe just your seasonal ones but I love it. You could easily use it for makeup, nail polish and jewellery too.

Next up I have this little glass storage jar, the uses for this are literally endless from a pen pot, vase for your daffodils, cookie jar and even a cotton wool ball holder but I actually use mine as a makeup brush holder. It's a good size and fits loads of brushes within it and because it's clear glass you can find your brushes easily and it's super easy to keep clean when it gets grubby too, I love it!

Sticking to glassware I got a couple of these little trinkets which I thought where an amazing find, I use mine to store my cotton pads and cotton buds in because they look a lot nicer in my bathroom in the trinkets instead of the plastic packaging they come in. The trinkets are great for hair bands, bobby pins and jewellery too.

I spoke about these little white storage baskets on my Instagram a while ago because they are amazing for makeup storage inside my IKEA Alex drawers. You actually get two little baskets in a pack for £1.00 and you can fit five in one IKEA Alex drawer so I use mine to separate all of my makeup so I can get to everything so much quicker and easier! 

Lastly is acrylic storage, Poundland actually have a really good range of acrylic makeup storage, I remember looking on Amazon and eBay for acrylic storage and thinking 'wow that's pricey' so when I came across a few in Poundland I had to get some. I opted for a nail polish holder which you could easily use for your lipsticks too, and then two other general makeup storage holders that I use for lipsticks, lip liners and smaller palettes.

What's your best Poundland find beaut's? I'd love to know!