Recipe: Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Back in June my mum's work held a cake sale in aid of charity. And I was eager to be a part of it. So in the full midst of a busy week at work I bashed out three delicious batches of cupcakes that turned the best I'd ever made them. I actually shared the Rhubarb And Custard Cupcakes recently and today I'm back with the Salted Caramel Cupcakes that could have turned out a disaster but in fact turned out better than expected.

Ingredients
For The Cupcakes
- 100g Stork
- 100g Caster Sugar
- 100g Self Raising Flour
- 2 Eggs
- 25g Cocoa Powder


For The Buttercream
- 200g Butter, softened
- 320g Icing Sugar
- 2 Tsps Salted Caramel Extract
- Blue Food Colouring (optional)

Method 
1- Pre heat oven to 180C. Line a twelve hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2- Into a bowl place your stork and sugar. Using a stand mixer or silicone spatula beat until pale and fluffy. A stand mixer is a lot easier and quicker but mixing it by hand gives the cakes a lighter texture that just melts in the mouth.
3- Add one egg and a tablespoon of flour. Beat until combined.
4- Repeat with the second egg and another tablespoon of flour. Make sure you scrape around the edges of your bowl so no butter or egg is sat lingering on the sides.
5- Fold in the rest of your flour and cocoa powder. This is the one part of the recipe where you need to take your time. Just beating the flour in relentlessly will knock out all the air you've already built in the mixture. Folding the flour in will add more air and means your cake won't sink when it's cooking.
6- Spoon your mixture into the paper cases and cook for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. I tend to be more cautious when cooking cupcakes with cocoa powder in them as they tend to dry out if you leave them in for too long and you lose that delicious chocolate flavour you're aiming for.
7- Leave to cool for five minutes in the tin once cooked and then transfer over to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
8- Now it's onto the buttercream. Place your softened (not melted) butter into a clean bowl and beat until soft and creamy.
9- Add half your icing sugar and beat until combined. Again you can do this by hand or by a stand mixer but to save time I always do it by hand as it saves me having to drag my mixer out.
10- Add the other half of your icing sugar and beat until combined. If your buttercream is a little stiff, add a splash of milk to loosen it to a good piping consistency.
11- Pop in your salted caramel extract and beat again. I always sneak a bit of the buttercream to see how it tastes afterwards so I know if I need to add more.
12- Then this next step is optional. I wanted my cakes to be bright and noticeable on the stand so I added bright blue food colouring to make them pop. You don't have to but if you want to add a twist or make them stand out then food colouring is the way to go. I do advise really taking your time to mix your food colouring in. The last thing you want is a swirl of unmixed food colouring sat on top of your cupcake.
13- Then it's time to pipe the buttecream onto your now cooled cupcakes. I usually use my Wilton 2D Flower piping nozzle but it was currently in the wash so I went in with a slightly larger nozzle that gave a more open design. My hand always tends to get shaky when I pipe so they're not as neat as others and by the time I was icing this I had already iced twenty four cupcakes that night.
14- Once you're happy with your icing, leave to set and then enjoy. Trust me when I say everyone will enjoy them.  

Recipe: Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Muffins have always been a recipe I wanted to try but have always been slightly scared of trying it. Adding fresh fruit into a cake mixture can sometimes be risky as they can add more moisture to your mixture whilst cooking and leave you with a soggy cake that looks underbaked. Yet surprisingly when I finally grew some and gave it a go, I was pleasently surprised with how they turned out.

Ingredients
- 100g Unsalted Butter
- 140g Golden Caster Sugar
- 140g Natural Yoghurt
- 250g Plain Flour
- 2 Tsp Baking Powder
- 1 Tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda
- 1/4 Tsp Fine Salt
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 Tbsp Milk
- 125g Blueberries

Method
1- Pre heat your oven to 180C. Line two twevle hole muffin tins with paper cases
2- Beat the butter and caster sugar together until pale and fluffy. This can be done by hand or by a stand mixer. Both work well but I like the lighter texture that doing it by hand creates.
3- Add the eggs and beat into the mixture. Once combined add the milk, natural yoghurt and vanilla extract. Don't combine it into the mixture though. Just make sure everything is scraped off the sides of the bowl so nothing is missed from the final product.
4- Into a seperate bowl combine your dry ingredients and then add to your wet ingredients.
5- Fold together until everything is thoroughly combined, don't worry if your mixture doesn't look like your standard cake mixture, it's only the addition of the natural yoghurt and milk that has changed it's consistency.
6- Finally fold in your blueberries. You can use frozen blueberries but I prefer how they turn out with fresh blueberries better.
7- Spoon your your mixture into the paper cases and cook for five minutes at 180C then turn the oven down to 160C and cook for a further 15 minutes or until they're golden brown with a good rise
8- Once they're cooked, leave them to cool in the tin for five minutes then turn out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Then all that's left is to enjoy them. 

Morning Skincare Routine

When I was a teenager my mum used to bang on about how I should be looking after my skin and being a typical teenager I ignored her advice. Fast forward ten years and looking after my skin has become one of the most important parts of my day. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't wash my face or slather it in moisturiser and SPF and I've never dared to go to bed in my make up. And I'm happy to say that my skin is looking the best it's ever looked and I like to think it's down to the routines I have both AM and PM that have helped my skin. So today I thought I'd share with you my morning skincare routine that not only leaves my skin looking good but also creates a great base for  make up.

The first thing I have to do when I finally drag myself out of bed is wash my face. I don't know about all of you but my face doesn't always feel the greatest when I wake up. And depending on how lazy I'm feeling that particular day depends on what I use on my face. The majority of the time I wash my face and for that I reach for the Garnier Organic Lemongrass Face Wash. It's gel texture is extremely lightweight and leaves the skin feeling squeaky clean but not stripped. My skin always feels ultra soft after I've used it and the tangy Lemongrass scent really helps to knock away the last bit of sleepiness I may have. But if I'm feeling lazy or I've woken up with a headache (which is quite often) I reach for my Clean And Clear Sensitive Cleansing Lotion instead. Now before you all come at me and tell me off for using a product ridden with alcohol, I'll say I've been using this for nearly fourteen years and it's never had any adverse reaction with my skin. I just pour it onto a cotton pad and swipe it over my face. The amount of crap it can pull off my skin still surprises me to this day and it leaves my skin feeling clean and refreshed even if I'm not feeling it myself.

After I've washed my face I always go in with a toner. It wasn't always a step I included in my routine but I've been doing it since the beginning of the year and I've really noticed a difference in my skin. My favourite morning toner is the REN Ready Steady Glow Daily AHA Tonic. This is packed with Lactic Acid, Azelaic Acid and Willow Bark that work to even out skintone, reduce the appearence of enlarged pores and reduce the feeling and appearence of texture on the skin. I love it's pump top that distributes the right amount onto the cotton pad. And it's works wonders on my skin. My skin looks glowy, feels softer and looks even and bright which creates the perfect base for make up.

Now it's time to start adding some moisture and to start that I spritz myself generously with the Liz Earle Instant Boost Skin Tonic Spray. It's jam packed with ingredients such as Vitamin E, Shea Butter, Camomile and Calendula. It helps to reduce any redness I may have and soothes my skin if it's feeling a little sensitive. It also makes a great setting spray over top of make up if you don't want something heavy duty. I've lost count of the amount of these I've gone through but I seriously wouldn't be without.

During the Summer months I only reach for a lightweight serum but in the Autumn/Winter I add a moisturiser over top. As we're still in Summer, I'm only going to show you my serum today. My holy grail serum comes from Loreal in the form of their Hydra Genius Aloe Water. It's so lightweight and just quenches skin's thirst. It feels like you've just splashed your face with water but that feeling lasts all day. It's perfect for layering under moisturiser, SPF and make up and will keep skin looking and feeling hydrated all day long. It's available for different skin types as well so even if you've got oily skin, you'll be able to use this on your skin.

Then it's on to SPF and this is one of the most important steps in my routine. I spent my teenage years being a SPF dodging, sun worshipping little shit and I'm honestly surprised it doesn't show in my skin more. But for the last five years I've religiously applied SPF to my face daily, even if I'm just nipping down to the shops. The one I find works best with my skin comes from Hawaiian Tropic and was recommened to me by a friend. It's oil free which means it isn't going to weigh down skin or clog pores, it's lightweight so it can be layered under make up and it's suitable for all skin types so that even those with sensitive/reactive skin types can use this. And for an SPF it's surpisingly moisturising which means on days when I''m just popping down the shops, I can pop this on and forgoe moisturiser.

And finally there is eye cream. Now if you've been a reader of the blog for a while then you'll know I've been on a bit of an eye cream journey over the last few years but now I can safely say I have not one but two eye creams that I would never be without. One is only for evening use and will certainly be featured in my August Favourites but the one I reach for every morning without fail is the Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream. It's ultra hydrating, soothing, firming and reduces any puffiness I may have. And all that works to give me a brighter under eye area with less blue tones, especially in the corners where it's always darkest. A little goes a long way and ever since I've been using this every morning, both my foundation and concealer have been going on more evenly in that particular area.

Review: IT Cosmetics CC Cream

For the longest time all I saw online was people raving about the IT Cosmetics CC Cream. And until recently, it was hard for me to get my hands on it. Until Boots redid their Beauty Hall and added IT Cosmetics to their expanding range. As you can see I've only picked up the travel size but rest assure I will definitely be buying a full size tube when this runs out.

If you've been living under a rock and don't know what the IT Cosmetics CC Cream is, it's a high coverage CC Cream that covers every imperfection under the sun, feels lightweight on the skin and has the added bonus of an SPF of 50. It doesn't sit heavily on the skin and lasts up to twelve hours without needing to be touched up. I wore this to a wedding in June and it lasted from half ten in the morning until quarter to twelve that night. Sure I was wearing a setting spray over top but I've used the same setting spray with other foundations since and they've still transferred or needed to be touched up.

Shade wise I thought I’d picked up Light as Fair was too pink toned for me but I’ve lost the box and the top of my tube says Fair. I do believe this is Light but I can’t be sure a hundred percent. What I can say is that this doesn’t oxidise in the slightest. Put it on in the morning and your face is still the same shade when you take it off however many hours later. You may get a little glow/shine throughout the day but that’s about it. Usually with CC creams they oxidise and leave you with that horrid line around the perimeter of your face. Not this one though, this one stays it’s original shade and doesn’t budge throughout the day. It isn’t a matte finish so a little shine where your natural oils come through are expected but it can easily be mattified with a little powder.

I'm so thoroughly impressed by this foundation. I've worn it during some of the muggiest days we've had so far this Summer and it hasn't budged once. I even wore it to see Carrie Underwood live where I cried multiple times and it still did not budge. Sure it's more on the high end scale of foundations but it's worth every penny and I'll happily spend the rest of my life paying out for that then wasting my money on cheaper foundations that don't match me perfectly or rub off halfway through the day. Bourjois is the only other brand that does a CC Cream that lasts but it's slowly getting harder to find it anywhere. If you do find it in stores, I recommend giving it a swatch, it's almost as good as the IT Cosmetics one at a fraction of the price. 

Recipe: Lemon And Lime Cupcakes

Last year I made Lemon And Lime Cupcakes. Looking back on them and how far I've come as a baker, they're not my best work. So today I'm back with my new and improved recipe for Lemon And Lime Cupcakes.

Ingredients
For The Cakes 
- 100g Caster Sugar
- 100g Self Raising Flour
- 100g Stork/Margarine
- 2 Eggs
- 2 Tsps Lemon Extract

For The Icing
- 200g Butter
- 320g Icing Sugar
- Zest Of Half A Lime
- Juice Of Half A Lime

Method
1- Pre heat over to 180C. Line a twelve hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2- In a bowl place the Stork and the caster sugar. Beat until fluffy and pale in colour.
3- Add one egg and a tablespoon of flour. Beat until fully combined. Don't worry if the mixture looks a little runny at this point, it'll soon thicken up when you add more flour.
4- Repeat with the other egg and another tablespoon of flour. Beat until fully combined, taking care to scrape the edges of the bowl.
5- Fold in the rest of the flour and the lemon extract. Now is the only time in this recipe that you have to be gentle. Beating the mixture too quickly will knock out all the air that you've already built up.
6- Spoon into the paper cases and cook for 20-22 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool for five minutes in the tin then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
7- For the icing, place the softened butter into a bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.
8- Add half the icing sugar and beat until fully combined. Don't worry if you don't sieve the icing sugar, I never do and I never end up with lumps in my buttercream.
9- Add the rest of your icing and beat until everything is fully incorporated.
10- Beat in the lime zest and lime juice. If your buttercream is a little stiff, now is the time to add a splash of milk to get it to the perfect piping consistency.
11- Now the food colouring is optional. You don't have to add and keep it the basic buttercream colour but if you want to give them a pop then food colourings the way to go. I originally planned on going for a pale lime green shade but these turned out more like highlighter green. Make sure that all the food colouring is beaten into the mix before you pipe the icing as you don't want a random burst of colour on your cake.
12- Now it's time to ice your cakes. You can use any piping nozzle you like but I always go for my trusty 2D Flower Nozzle. It gives a lot more control to the icing than a thinner nozzle and I love the easy swirl design.
13- Once you've iced your cupcakes, let them set and then enjoy with family, friends or in my case work colleagues. 

Recipe: Victoria Sponge With Fresh Strawberries And Buttercream

One of my absolute favourite cakes is a good old Victoria Sponge cake. Sure it's basic but it's timeless and never fails to taste delicious. And this week just gone, I wanted to make something delicious yet quick for when my nan visited. So I cracked out the classic sponge recipe but changed out the jam filling for fresh strawberries alongside a sweet yet not overpowering vanilla buttercream.

Ingredients
For The Cake
- 200g Caster Sugar
- 200g Self Raising Flour
- 200g Stork/Margarine
- 4 Eggs
- 1 Tsp Of Vanilla Extract

For The Icing 
- 250g Butter
- 320g Icing Sugar
- 1 Tsp Of Vanilla Extract
- Fresh Strawberries

Method
1- Pre heat over to 180C. Line two 19cm cake tins with greaseproof paper.
2- Place the sugar and Stork into a bowl. Beat until creamy and pale in colour. This can be done with either a wooden spoon/spatula or a stand mixer. By hand requires more elbow work but creates a lighter cake that just melts in the mouth.
3- Add one egg and a spoonful of flour. Beat until fully combined.
4- Repeat with your remaining eggs, adding a spoonful flour after each egg. Beat until everything is completely incorporated. Make sure to scrape around the edges so that nothing is left sitting around the sides.
5- Fold in the rest of your flour and your vanilla extract. The key here is to fold the flour in. Sure it's tempting to beat it in quickly but it'll give you a flat, dense cake that is chewy and lacks that lightness you're looking for.
6- Divide the mixture between your two prepared tins and cook for 20-22 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. With a Victoria Sponge it's easy to tell when it's cooked as it'll bounce back quickly when you press gently onto it's top. Leave to cool in the tin for five minutes then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
7- Now it's time to make your icing. Place your softened butter into a bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.
8- Add half your icing sugar and beat until fully incorporated. It is usually advised to sieve your icing sugar but I am a bit of a lazy baker so I don't bother sieving. A good beat by hand or stand mixer will soon beat out any lumps in your icing sugar.
9- Beat in the remaining icing sugar. If you find that your buttercream is slightly too stiff to pipe, add a splash of milk and you'll have the perfect consistency to pipe onto your cake.
10- Take one of your cooled cakes and pipe half of your buttercream onto it. Using a palette knife, gently spread it until the cake is evenly covered. It doesn't matter if it's perfect, it's going to get eaten anyway.
11- Cut your strawberries in half and press gently into your buttercream. You can just put them around the edge to add some colour to your cake or you can place them all over like I did.
12- Layer your last cake on top of the newly decorated base. Take your remaining buttercream and pipe a fancy looking design along the top. I went with the simple droplet style on the top as I had plenty of buttercream left to cover it's entirety.
13- Now popping a strawberry on the top is optional but I feel it just finishes off the cake as a whole. Then all that's left for you to do is enjoy.

Recipe: Lemon And Poppyseed Muffins

When I was picking recipes to bake for the month of August, I hit a brick wall. I'm a baker who likes to try and bake somewhat seasonally appropriate recipes but for the life of me I could think of nothing for August. Then I was hit by one recipe that I tried last year but thought of a more elaborate version for this year and from there I decided to dip my toe into a couple that I'd never thought to try before. The first is this delicious Lemon and Poppyseed recipe that I wasn't sure I was going to like but knew my friends and family would love. But surprisngly I fell in love with the end result as soon as I tasted them. Light with a gorgeous tang of lemon running through that isn't too overpowering partnered with the slight crunch of the poppyseeds and you've got yourself a delicious summer bake that everyone will adore.

Ingredients 
225g Self Raising Flour
175g Golden Caster Sugar
175g Butter, melted and cooled slightly
3 Eggs
100g Natural Yoghurt
Zest Of 2 Lemons
1 Tbsp Poppyseeds

Method 
1- Pre heat your over to 180C and line a twelve hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2- Into a bowl mix your flour, sugar, lemon zest and poppy seeds.
3- Into a seperate bowl mix together your natural yoghurt and eggs. I like to really beat them together so that they're fully combined.
4- Pour the natural yoghurt/egg concoction and melted butter into your dry ingredients. Your butter must be slightly cooled by this point as warm butter will curdle the natural and ruin the recipe. I'd advise intially melting your butter after you've lined your tin with cases. That gives it time to cool as your prepare the rest of your ingredients.
5- Mix together with a wooden spoon or spatula until all the lumps have dissovled. Don't worry if your mixture seems runny, it's just a combination of the melted butter, eggs and natural yoghurt loosening up what would normally be a stiffer mixture.
6- Spoon the mixture evenly into the paper cases and bake for 20-22 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
7- Leave to cool in the tin for five minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
8- Then all that's left is to enjoy them. This have a storage life of around three days so they're perfect for a girls night in, coffee morning or a sweet treat for those you work with.

What I Read: July

Pinch, punch first of the month. Welcome back to another What I Read that consists of actual books I've finished and more than just one which is what I've been offering for the last couple of months in these posts.I've been bitten by the reading bug again; also the shopping bug, and I managed to fly through five books in July alone. And whilst they weren't all five star books, there wasn't bad one in this bunch.

The first book I finished in July was Chris Carter's Hunting Evil. This is the tenth novel in his Robert Hunter series and each one just keeps getting better. Hunting Evil followed Hunter and his partner Garcia as they teamed up with the FBI and Homeland Security to capture one of the most dangerous men on the planet. If you've been reading these posts for the last year then you'll know how much I adore this series and how finishing one has me wanting to read what follows. And with how Carter ended this book, I'm dying to know if he's planning an eleventh book to tie up the major plot twists he created in Hunting Evil. Definitely one of my favourite reads this month.

At the beginning of the month I was in quite a murder mystery/thriller mood which is where this next book comes in. Twisted by Steve Cavanagh is singlehandledy one of the hardest book plots to try and describe. I'm not even going to try. All I'm going to say is that whilst I took a while to really get into this book, when I did get into it I was hooked. I literally couldn't put it down, I was dying to see where the next twist was coming. Definitely one for those of you who like you a good thriller that makes you think.

Circe is a book that had popped up a lot during BookTuber videos and everyone who had read it was raving about it. I'd picked it up on a whim thinking that my love for anything to do with the Ancient Greeks would make this right up my street. And I wasn't wrong. I liked Circe, I didn't love it but it was a very enjoyable read and I'll definitely be picking up Madeline Miller's other novel The Song Of Achilles. Circe follows the goddess Circe as she grows up, different from her siblings, peers and father the great Titan Helios. Then after discovering her talent with magic, she's exiled to an island where she's expected to remain for the rest of her years. The majority of the books follows her as she adjusts to life on the island of Aiaia and works on growing her powers. It also plays well into the tale of Odysseus and gives a look into the tales of Greek Gods, Titans and Heroes in a different way to other retellings. I liked this but I sometimes found myself losing interest as it was heavy of describing actions, conversations and scenery in a way that was sometimes unnecessary. I understand that it's written as it would have been written then but for me, I found it to sometimes be too heavy where it didn't need to be.

The fourth book I read this month was one I actually started in June, put down and then picked back up this month. And as I look through GoodReads to see what I rated this, I actually believed I underrated it but was quickly reminded of why it didn't get that top five star rating. Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson is another hyped YA novel that I wanted to desperately read this year. It follows Stevie who attends Ellingham Acadmey, a school that allows students to focus on their passions outside of the normal curriculum. And Stevie's just happens to be crime, murder more precisly, which makes Ellingham Acadmey the perfect school for her as the founders own wife and daughter were kidnapped from the school in the 1930's and no one's ever been able to solve the case. But Stevie thinks she may be able to crack it, if Truly Devious doesn't get to her first. I wanted to love this book, I really did but unfortunately for me it just fell a little flat. The first two thirds of the book were spent painting the picture and creating bonds and friendships that were necessary for the last third of the book. It was really only the last ten chapters of the book I thoroughly enjoyed and the cliffhanger that it left it on. I will definitely be picking up The Vanishing Stair when it's released in paperback later in the year but as a opener for this trilogy, Truly Devious just fell a little flat.

And the last book I read was the first in a long overdue reread that I'm now dying to fly through. City Of Bones by Cassandra Clare is one of my all time favourite books. The Mortal Instruments Series is on of my all time favourite series but alas I've never actually finished it and having recently acquired The Dark Artifices Trilogy, I thought it time I did. City Of Bones is the first of six books that follows Clary Fray as she learns to become a Shadowhunter alongside Jace Wayland and the Lightwood siblings, Alec and Isabelle. Throw in a undead, unknown father who wants nothing more than mass genocide to create his own pure Shadowhunter army and you're in for a wild ride. And that's before the gut punch of twist this book throws this way. I adore this books but found it hard to get into City Of Bones for a good third of the book but I was constantly comparing it to the movie when in fact the movie misses out a lot of what Cassandra Clare built in this book. I may have the slightest book crush on Jace but that's only because everytime I imagine what he would look like in my head, I picture Jamie Campbell Bower who played him the movie but apart from that when I shook of my movie induced daze, I flew threw this book and am dying to crack on with the next five. I know for a fact that each one is going to be even more of a punch to the gut twist wise and whilst I'm not sure if I'm ready for them, I'm also eager to get to them.