Degustabox Review + Discount Code!

Hey beaut's!

It's that time again....Degustabox reveal time! If you haven't heard of Degustabox before it's a food subscription box where you receive 10 to 15 surprise food/drink products a month, some products you receive could be completely new to the market and others could be firm favourites! The boxes are just £12.99 a month but if you want to try one out for the first time you can use my code R5R0F to get £3.00 off making your first box just £9.99. So if your a bit of a foodie like myself and you love subscription boxes your going to love this beaut's! 

The Ultimate Triple Chocolate Cookies!

Hey beaut's!

Like many, during lock down I have been baking like theres no tomorrow, and yesterday I thought it was about time I whipped up a batch of the ultimate triple chocolate cookies! The recipe for these cookies is actually from my old Tanya Bakes book, but I thought I'd re-share the recipe just in case you guys and gals don't have the book and fancy baking some of these cookies for yourself! The recipe is actually really simple and quick which is always a bonus, and it makes 10 of the most enormous cookies!

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!

November Degustabox Review + £5 off Discount Code!

Hey beaut's!

I have a subscription box review for you all today but it's a subscription box with a difference.... it contains yummy food and drink, so say hello to Degustabox*. Degustabox works very much like how beauty subscription boxes work, for £12.99 a month (postage included within the £12.99 price) you will receive 10 to 15 surprise food/drink products, many that are completely new to the market! So if your a bit of a foodie like myself and you love subscription boxes your going to love this beaut's!

The shortlist for this months box is

*Product of the month* Duerr's Marmalade £1.39

Rebel Kitchen Chocolate Hazelnut Mylk £1.60

Cheeky Monkey Peanut Butter Puffs

Woodstar £4.00

Food Thoughts Cacao Melts 

POP Bar £1.49

Double Dutch Mixers 75p

Mr Lees Noodles £2.50 each

Real Handful Trail Mix £2.00 each

Pure Leaf Matcha Mint/Matcha Ginger £8.99

Overall I think the 'Winter Warmers & Festive' themed box is good, it has a great variety of yummy treats to try and enjoy and plenty of things to pop aside for Christmas such as the wine, mixers and trail mixes. I'm excited to use the cocoa melts in my baking recipes and the pure leaf teas are perfect for this time of the year when you want to get all warm and cosy!

If you like the look and sound of Degustabox you can grab your first box for just £7.99 with the code R5R0F HERE.

*This post contains a gifted item, all opinions are my own!

October Degustabox Review + £5 off Discount Code!

Hey beaut's!

I have a subscription box review for you all today but it's a subscription box with a difference.... it contains yummy food and drink, so say hello to Degustabox*. Degustabox works very much like how beauty subscription boxes work, for £12.99 a month (postage included within the £12.99 price) you will receive 10 to 15 surprise food/drink products, many that are completely new to the market! So if your a bit of a foodie like myself and you love subscription boxes your going to love this beaut's!

The shortlist for this months box is

Pip's Real Hot Chocolate £1.50 each.

Tick Tock Tea £2.05 each.

Maille Honey Dijon Mustard £1.99

Amy's Kitchen Italian Soup £2.00

Teisseire Gourmet Drops £3.99 each.

Clarks Maple Syrup £2.00

Growers Garden Broccoli Crisps £1.29 each.

Upbeat Juicy Protein Water £1.79.

Maille Tartare Sauce £1.99

Boost Bar £1.49

Snatt's Mediterranean Baked Snacks £1.49

Whitworths Chocolate and Hazelnut Shots £1.89

Overall I think the October 'Home Comforts' themed box is amazing, it has a great variety of yummy treats to try and enjoy and personally I love that theres so many cosy things within the box! The teas, the Pip's hot chocolates, the gourmet drops which are perfect for whacking in your coffee and the soup is a proper winter warmer. The broccoli crisps where amazing

If you like the look and sound of Degustabox you can grab your first box for just £7.99 with the code R5R0F HERE.



*This post contains a gifted item, all opinions are my own!

September Degustabox Review + £5 off Discount Code!

Hey beaut's!

I have a subscription box review for you all today but it's a subscription box with a difference.... it contains yummy food and drink, so say hello to Degustabox*. Degustabox works very much like how beauty subscription boxes work, for £12.99 a month (postage included within the £12.99 price) you will receive 10 to 15 surprise food/drink products, many that are completely new to the market! So if your a bit of a foodie like myself and you love subscription boxes your going to love this beaut's!

The shortlist for this months box is

Riso Gallo Risotto Rice £2.29
Eisberg Alcohol Free Sparkling Rosé £4.00
Hartley's Jelly Pots 55p each.
MILKYBAR buttons 55p each.
Chum Fruit Bites 79p each.
Epicure Pesto £2.99
Alpen Protein Bars 
Lucozade Zero Orange/Pink Lemonade £1.99 each. 
Appy Kids Co Yummy Bakes £1.00
Boka Cereal Bars 79p each.

Overall I think the September 'Family Sharing' themed box is amazing, it has a great variety of yummy treats to try and enjoy and theres so many things I love in this box already, the jelly, milky bar buttons, all of the cereal bars and the lucazades I'm a huge fan of.

If you like the look and sound of Degustabox you can grab your first box for just £7.99 with the code R5R0F HERE.



*This post contains a gifted item, all opinions are my own!

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!