carrot and banana cake

I really couldn't be bothered "dressing" these photographs, but perhaps the lack of fuss suits this simple, rustic cake.

I baked this a couple of weeks ago (before the UK's ridiculous heatwave) and it's a cake I've baked before. All-in-one mixing recipes are just so satisfying and any cake with cream cheese icing is a winner in my book.

Anyone else in the UK struggling with the freakish heatwave? I admire all the food bloggers who have put up posts recently, I can barely go near an oven to cook at the moment never mind bake. I'm just not built for heat.

Despite feeling like I'm melting, I've been having a great holiday over the past week visiting friends in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Carlisle (such a jetsetter!) I may not be baking but I've still been eating plenty of cake. And ice-cream!

My green dresser

TA-DAH! That is one beautiful green dresser, even if I say so myself.

However project dresser renovation isn't fully complete as I still plan to line the three main drawers and back of the cupboards. I'm thinking colourful vintage wallpaper.

But in the meantime I'm having ridiculous amounts of fun playing with all my china on the dresser.

I can't decide what to put on it. Everything looks so great on the green. Perhaps I need to work a rotation system?

I could spend a worrying amount of time playing with crockery, arranging by different styles, colours and patterns.

Mmmmmm, green and yellow.

As you can guess I got a bit snap-happy with the camera. It's possible I may bombard you all with more crockery pictures as I keep discovering interesting arrangements.

Did anyone else do that thing at secondary school where you filled in a form and a computer churned out the jobs most suited to you? My top results were milliner, illustrator and window dresser. Perhaps I could get a job as a dresser dresser?

Now there's an idea....

Project dresser renovation

Nearly three years ago my mum gave me a second hand dresser for my birthday. It has been languishing in the garage ever since, waiting to be sanded down and painted.

Last week I finally started project dresser renovation. Here it is in its boring pine state.

Perfectly presentable but not particularly me; it needed to be painted. I wasn't sure what colour of paint to pick but luckily there was a lot of undercoating to do first!

In the end I went for this super gorgeous green which makes me want to squeal with excitement every time I see it.

Lovely isn't it? (Moorland Magic 2 Dulux Satinwood in case you're wondering)

Stayed tuned for my big TA-DAH moment in a couple of days time. It's worth it!