Strawberry Cupcakes

I have a terrible habit of enthusiastically offering to do all sorts of things well ahead of time and then finding myself flapping around at the last minute because I've got too much to do.  I promised to make cupcakes for a family party the other day but then had a hectic week in work, lots of orders for Bluefinch Boutique and a hundred and one other things cropping up so had a last minute dash to the supermarket the morning of the party looking for inspiration.  I wanted something quick, easy, light and summery so when I spotted some lovely, Scottish strawberries, my dilemma was solved.

These strawberry cupcakes are super quick and easy to make.  They're lovely and light and although the frosting is sweet, it's not too heavy as you whip it to a fluffy consistency.  You could substitute pureed fresh strawberries for the jam in the frosting but I like to use seedless jam so it's nice and smooth.  I just use a basic cake mix with a touch of vanilla which goes perfectly with the strawberry frosting.  

Recipe (makes 12)

250g butter
250g caster sugar
250g self-raising flour
Pinch of salt

2 medium free range eggs
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting

200g butter

500g icing sugar

90g seedless strawberry jam 

Fresh strawberries 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5. 

2. Beat the butter in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Add the sugar, flour, salt, eggs and milk and whisk until the mixture is smooth. 

3. Place the cake cases into a muffin tin and divide the mixture evenly into the cases.

4. Bake for approx 20 minutes or until cakes are a light golden brown colour.  Remove cakes from the tin and transfer to a wire cooling rack.

For the frosting:

1. Whisk the butter and jam together until smooth and well combined. 

2. Add the icing sugar gradually, whisking to combine each time before adding the next lot.

3. Pipe or spread onto cakes, top with a fresh strawberry and enjoy!

They are best kept in the fridge until a few minutes before serving.

Jenny

 x

Malteser Refrigerator Cake

When I was little, a neighbour used to make an amazingly rich creation for parties that we kids all charmingly called 'Chocolate Poo Cake'.  I now know it to be more commonly known as Refrigerator Cake, or Traybake, being a mixture of melted chocolate, crushed biscuits, butter, and anything else suitable you have to hand, such as glace cherries or raisins.

I was planning on making two types of cupcake for a family party at my auntie's house this weekend, one fruit based and one chocolate based.  Whilst trawling the Internet for ideas for a Malteser cupcake, I came across several recipes for refrigerated traybakes and as I'm not one to turn down the easy option, I decided to go down this route instead.  

After assembling the most unhealthy group of ingredients I've ever used in one recipe, I was a bit worried it would be too rich but the dryness of the Malteser centres takes the edge off so it's definitely worth leaving them whole rather than crushing as I've seen in some recipes.  You definitely need to serve it in small squares though!

Recipe (makes approx 20 small squares)

200g milk chocolate
2 tablespoons golden syrup
100g butter
250g crushed digestive biscuits
135g Maltesers (one large bag)
100g white chocolate

1. Break the chocolate into small chunks and slowly melt over a low heat with the butter and syrup, stirring regularly (you can microwave but I prefer the bowl over a pan of hot water method)

2. Mix in the crushed digestives and the Maltesers until evenly combined

3. Pour into a large baking tray lined with clingfilm and press down to ensure an even thickness.  Leave in the fridge for a couple of hours or until fully cooled and set

4. Melt the white chocolate and drizzle or spread over the top. Return to fridge until set, then cut into small squares with a sharp knife.

Hell, yeah

Jenny

  x

“A Sunday well-spent brings a week of content”

OK, so that's an old proverb and not my own words but I definitely agree.  I hate mooching around the house all day on a Sunday wondering what to do and feeling that familiar Sunday night feeling creeping up on you sometime around 4pm.  Now that I'm (temporarily) back in a 9-5 job with an obscenely long commute as well as running Bluefinch Boutique, my Sundays are really precious and I try and enjoy every minute of them!

Friday night was spent having dinner, playing cards and drinking gin with friends, Saturday was early morning clothes shopping in Liverpool, a supermarket dash, DIY and housework so Sunday needed to be unwind day.

We started off our day at Brimstage Hall, an 800 year old hall which houses a range of lovely independent shops.  Recollections is a stunning shop selling a huge range of vintage crockery, furniture and gifts.  Most of the vintage china is sold in matching sets but there are a bunch of lonely cups and saucers you can buy separately and mix and match for £1.50 each.  I've seen a few people turning pretty teacups into mini plant pots so I bought this one with the intention of doing the same:

I had (and, sadly, killed) a cute little heart-shaped cactus from Ikea so I'm thinking one of them might look good in the cup?  And I'll try not to kill it this time - so much for cacti being the option for people who can't look after plants.

I'm still gathering together pictures for the gallery wall I mentioned in my last post and so far have prints from Paris, Amsterdam and Turkey which are all special places to me and my boyfriend.  I had been looking for a local print for a while and came across a great selection in The Stables Gallery .  I made Glyn make the final decision on which print to buy as apart from his guitars, games consoles and laptop, I feel like I picked out pretty much everything in our house!  He picked this one of New Brighton lighthouse in the middle of a storm:

We can see this lighthouse from the end of our road so couldn't get a much more local picture!  It's really hard to see from the photo but it's got great depth and colour.  I also bought this card which reminds me of the Rosie the Riveter posters:

After browsing the lovely shops, we sat in the sun in the courtyard with a cup of tea and lots of very friendly  hens.  

I didn't realise they were ex-battery hens until I saw a sign on the way out about them.  It's so lovely to see them clucking around, happy, healthy and safe.  I know a couple of people who've adopted ex-battery hens and think it's a wonderful thing to do.  As soon as I get bigger garden, I'm joining them!

Next, it was leisurely Sunday pub lunch with my whole family followed by a walk on the beach at sunset...

Whatever you're doing, I hope you made the most of your Sunday and that you're having a lovely Bank Holiday weekend :-)

Jenny

x

Song lyric embroidery

I'm currently gathering together a load of prints and pictures to complete a gallery wall in my living room and wanted to add a few bits of embroidery in there.  I've been intending to do a song lyric embroidery for a while but couldn't decide what song/line to use.

The one I've gone with for the living room wall isn't the most profound lyric and I can't say it's one which particularly speaks to me, but The Doors are one of my favourite bands ever and Light My Fire has been one of my favourite songs since I was about 12 so I thought I'd just go with it!

This embroidery only took an hour or so to do which made it the perfect project for last week's Creatives Unite (Creatives Unite is the brainchild of Anna at Miss Beatrix.  If you need a creative outlet to stay happy and help you function properly, check it out!).

I've got a couple more embroideries to finish and I need to find a couple more prints before I have enough for my gallery wall but in the meantime, I'm getting lots and lots of inspiration from Pinterest.

My first blog post in aaaaaaaaages and it's probably better suited to tumblr but thought I'd ease myself back in gently :-)

Jenny

 x

I made a cushion!

A couple of months ago, I was having a Twitter chat with the lovely Anna and Carolyn (aka @Miss_Beatrix and @AyannaAccessory) about sewing.  Basically, we all agreed we'd like to do more of it but lacked the time, motivation and confidence.  We decided to pick a different (easy) sewing project each month which we would all have a go at and compare results at the end.  It seemed like a good way to learn new techniques and having the one-month deadline gave you motivation to finish, but also plenty of time to procrastinate.

This is the second month we've been doing this and we decided to each make a cushion. Now, bearing in mind that I'm a total sewing novice with a machine which has been in hibernation for several months (years), I'm very happy with how this turned out:

The back has a simple envelope style opening which was really easy to do and made me wonder why I'd convinced myself I'd make a mess of it.

I used this pattern/idea from the lovely Cluck Cluck Sew blog.  There are tons of other things I want to make from there now, including loads of amazing Sprocket Pillows which I'm going to attempt when my sewing confidence is a bit higher!

I'd not tried applique with a sewing machine before, only by hand, so I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I got the hang of sewing round those little leaves.  

The first few I did were ridiculously wonky and I thought I'd have to abandon the machine and do the rest by hand, but I persevered and improved lots by the end.

The best thing about this is that it cost practically nothing to make.  All the fabrics were already in my stash, except the trunk which I cut up an old vest top for.  

I hope you like it and if you're a novice sewer and would like to join our little monthly challenges, get in touch on Twitter!

Jenny

   x

You're a star

I admit I'm fickle - it's one of my main personality traits - but I think I have yet another favourite piece of jewellery in the Bluefinch Boutique treasure troves now.  I tend to gravitate towards simple, versatile jewellery (although it's always nice to have the odd statement piece to jazz up a simple outfit) and this star necklace fits the bill perfectly!  I'm currently wearing mine on its own but it also looks cute layered with a couple more delicate chain necklaces of slightly varying lengths.

At only £7.95, grab one while they're in stock!

Jenny

x

Greek Feta & Spinach Pie

Following on from my Raspberry Cheesecake the other week, made with delicious, in-season raspberries, I thought I'd have a go at baking something else using seasonal produce. 

I often add frozen spinach to curries and things but as spinach is only in season for a few more weeks in the UK, I decided to find a recipe calling for it in its fresh form.  I found this recipe for a Feta and Spinach Greek Pie and gave it a go.  This dish is similar to traditional Spanakopita which, as a veggie, has been a staple dish for me on many Greek island holidays over the years!

It's really easy and the results far exceed the amount of effort put in.  I don't know about you, but that is the perfect kind of baking as far as I'm concerned!  I followed the original recipe fairly closely but adapted it a bit according to the quantities of the ingredients I had in.  

Recipe (serves 4)

200g bag fresh spinach leaves

Half a 270g jar of sundried tomatoes in oil*

100g feta cheese, crumbled

2 medium free-range eggs

Approx. 135g filo pastry sheets

*I used 80g sundried tomatoes (drained weight) but you can add more if you prefer

Loose-bottom cake or flan tin, anything from 20-24cm diameter will work fine

Pre-heat oven to 160C/Gas Mark 4.

1. Put the spinach into a large pan with a couple of tablespoons of water, then cook over a low heat until just wilted. Drain well in a sieve, squeezing excess water out with kitchen towel. Drain the sundried tomatoes, retaining the oil, and roughly chop.  Mix the tomatoes, spinach, eggs and feta together in a bowl. 

2. Carefully unroll the filo pastry. Take a sheet of pastry and brush with one teaspoonful of the sundried tomato oil. Drape oil-side down in the cake tin so that some of the pastry hangs over the sides of the tin. Brush another teaspoonful of oil on another piece of pastry and place in the tin, just a little further round. Keep placing the pastry pieces in the tin until you have roughly three layers.  

3. Pour the filling into the centre, then spread out to ensure an even filling.  Pull the sides of pastry over the filling, scrunch up and make sure the filling is covered. Brush with a little more of the tomato oil if needed.

4. Cook for approx 30 mins until the pastry is crisp and golden brown. 

It turned out much better than I expected, so I think I will stick to the same quantities next time.  I was worried you wouldn't be able to taste the cheese as it didn't look much going into the mixture but considering there's only 25g of feta per serving, it tastes really rich.   All in all, the perfect quick summer meal when served warm with a baby leaf salad!

It would be really easy to adapt to your personal taste and to include whatever you happened to have in.  It's pretty low on calories and fat too, not that you'd know from eating it as it's very tasty and substantial.  I've still got half a pack of pastry in and half the sundried tomatoes so I think I'll be making it again before the end of the week!

Jenny

  x