a ridiculous christmas skirt

It's less than a month till Christmas now so I feel entirely justified in talking about it and starting my festive makes. Ok, so I haven't really bought any Christmas presents yet and I haven't even started planning my festive baking but I have made a fun and very silly skirt covered in Santa heads. As my friend put it, "Yay! You've made another item of beard clothing."

The skirt's shape is roughly based on an old H&M skirt of mine. Between that and my old pattern drafting book I managed to draft a curved yoke waistband to sit on my lower waist/upper hip. I definitely find curved waistbands more flattering for my hourglass shape, but annoyingly they're not always easy to come by in shops. Take that retailers, I'll make my own!

My old H&M skirt has box pleats but I felt these santas were crying out for some fun and flirty gathers. I think they worked a treat. Just to ramp up the silliness further I added a red ric rac border. You have no idea how long I've been wanting to add ric rac to an item of clothing, but felt the opportunity hadn't really presented itself until now. It was definitely the finishing touch here. Now I have to stop myself from adding ric rac to everything.

I was really impressed that I managed to squeak this skirt out of 1.5m of fabric. Go me! Sadly not enough to (attempt to) pattern match at side seams but I wasn't too bothered as the gathers obscure it anyway. At least I managed to position the santa heads nicely on the waistband and the top of the gathers.

Like everything else I've sewn this year I added a lining as I cannot stand the thought of my skirts/dresses clinging to my tights; it would drive me completely bonkers. I also know that I can't be bothered with slips so I just suck it up and add linings. It adds time to projects and lining fabrics can be arsey to handle but it's definitely worth it for cotton garments. Look how pretty it makes the insides too!

Speaking of insides, this was the first project where I used my new overlocker. Look at those neat seam allowances, mmmm. I know it's entirely do-able to make clothes without ever owning an overlocker, but the perfectionist in me seriously loves the tidy, professional finish it adds. It appears to only have one speed setting though - FAST - so I view it in equal measures of awe and terror.

Sadly, half way through this project my sewing machine started making a very strange, crackling, buzzing noise. It continued to get louder to the point that I swapped to my mum's sewing machine. Good job she bought it when we got my overlocker! So poor Singer Sally (obviously my machine has a name) is at the sewing machine doctor. I know she's 10 years old but I really hope whatever is wrong is fixable. It's the first problem I've ever encountered with her.

I can't leave this post on a downer, so here's an outtake of me swooshing about in my skirt. Those Santas are ready to boogie at Edinburgh's Christmas markets this weekend.

Has anybody else got Christmas plans in the pipeline - dressmaking, baking or otherwise? Do tell!

pyrex and fabric purchases

I haven't been in the charity shops much recently but I have found a couple of pretty and useful pieces. I'm a sucker for pink rose patterned pyrex so these small casserole dishes came home with me.

They quickly became part of the pyrex dish family in the kitchen. I think every kitchen needs an exciting pyrex tower on display.

My other recent charity shop finds are these pillowcase sets. I've been keeping an eye out for pastel stripe pillowcases for a while so was delighted to get my hands on a pair and the floral orange ones were so cheery I couldn't leave them behind. I'm planning to use these for my underneath pillows - much more exciting than plain white.

Now onto my exciting fabric purchases! Aren't these florals fantastic? I used to be the floral dress queen at uni, wearing some form of floral at all times, but in the last couple of years I've been favouring stripes and polka dots and keeping my florals for homewares/interiors. Clearly the floral dress queen still lurks within as I could not resist these two printed cottons.

Mustard yellow, turquoisey blue, duck egg, sap green, dusky pink/purple, rusty orange, plum purple - basically all my favourite colours to wear, yay! I'll have loads of cardigan and tights combinations to choose from with these fabrics as dresses. (Is that a sad thing to get excited about?)

I also bought two Christmas-y fabrics, one of which has already been turned into a garment (blog post coming soon) and the other is currently being cut into.

Check out all that sellotape. I had an intense day of bodice fitting last Sunday. 10 hours to sort out my shoulder/sleeve/gapey upper back problem. 10 HOURS! All I can say is thank goodness for the internet. Fingers crossed this should become my best fitting Elisalex dress to date.

Also "hello!" to any new people who found me through Miss Crayola Creepy's cat lady sewing challenge. I hope you enjoy my jumbled ramblings about cakes, crockery and sewing.

black tea and blackberry cupcakes with honey cream cheese icing

I'm going to come out and say it... this is one of my favourite things I've baked in a long time.

To be honest I've felt dissatisfied with the majority of my bakes since the new cooker arrived back in May. It has taken a while to make friends with the new oven and I've ended up in a bit of a baking slump. Both my work and my hobbies are practical/creative so it's inevitable that something temporarily falls by the wayside and recently it has been my baking.

Therefore I was delighted when Whittard contacted me last month to ask if I'd like to play with some of their hot chocolates and teas. I felt it was the perfect opportunity to throw myself into some baking and get creative. These cupcakes certainly did the trick.

I really don't know how to describe the flavour of the sponge other than delicious. You wouldn't say "ooh that tastes of black tea" but the tea definitely adds a subtle depth of flavour, or richness perhaps, as well as turning the cupcakes an attractive golden colour.

I initially considered lemon and honey as flavours to compliment the tea, but decided against lemon as it has increasingly become my default baking flavour. As I still wanted a sharp element I chose blackberries instead. I love the contrast in flavour between the tart blackberry and the sweet, creamy honey icing. It's a really satisfying combination.

I also love the burst of colour from the blackberries in the centre of each cupcake - a cheerful surprise on a dreary November day.

I think the Whittard 1886 Blend was an excellent choice for this bake as it's a lovely strong, rich tea. I find it very comforting to drink, like a big tea hug. The other black tea I was sent, Whittard's Original, has a lighter, almost citrus-y flavour. It's very refreshing and I find I add less milk as I don't think it needs it. At the moment I'm favouring the 1886 more - I need a good, strong tea to keep me going in winter!

What's your favourite tea at the moment? Any other Whittard fans?

Black tea and blackberry cupcakes with honey cream cheese icing

Adapted from Earl Grey Cupcakes in the Hummingbird Bakery's "Cake Days" book.

cupcakes:

3 black tea bags. (Whittard's 1886 Blend or an equally strong flavoured black tea.)

80g (3oz) unsalted butter, softened

280g (10oz) caster sugar

240g (8.5oz) plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

240ml (7fl oz) semi skimmed milk

2 large eggs

a small tub of blackberries

icing:

250g icing sugar

125g cream cheese

50g unsalted butter, softened

1 tbsp honey

Almost bring the milk to a boil in a saucepan then remove from the heat. Add the 3 tea bags and leave to steep for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5 and line a muffin tin with cupcake cases.

Mix the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl (on a slow speed) until it resembles breadcrumbs in texture. Squeeze out the teabags and remove from the milk then pour the tea infused milk into a measuring jug. Top it up to 200ml if it has dipped below then add the eggs and whisk together with a fork. Pour 3/4 of the egg milk mixture into the flour mixture and mix until thick, smooth and combined. Add the rest of the milk and mix again for about a minute until smooth. Fill the cupcake cases until half full, pop a blackberry in the centre of each case, then cover over with more mixture until roughly two thirds full. This batter easily filled 16 cases.

Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes until well risen and springy to touch. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. In a large bowl mix all the icing ingredients together. I recommend initially combining everything with a spoon to prevent massive icing sugar dust clouds with the mixer! Once smooth, spoon over the cooled cupcakes with a palette knife. Feel free to reduce the icing amounts as I had enough icing left over to cover perhaps 3 more cupcakes.

Disclaimer: I was sent products to bake with as Whittard recognise I'm a crazy cake lady with an uncontrollable hot chocolate and tea addiction. They're a brand I enjoy and have purchased from before. I was not paid for this post and all opinions expressed are my own.

hot chocolate deluxe cake

When I first left university and started this blog I worked in a cafe/bar and one of my favourite drinks to make was the hot chocolate deluxe: a milky hot chocolate topped with a swirl of cream, marshmallows and a Cadbury flake. By this time of year I was making quite a lot of these daily. Cold weather hits and everybody craves hot chocolate.

To celebrate the arrival of hot chocolate weather I thought I'd recreate my favourite cafe drink as a layer cake: monster slabs of moist chocolate sponge sandwiched together with chocolate icing, marshmallows and topped with mini swirls of cream, even more marshmallows and a chocolate flake.

Although visually impressive I have to admit I was massively disappointed with my icing for this cake. It was entirely my own fault too as I stupidly didn't taste it before slapping it on the cake. (There's a reason why Masterchef contestants are always told off for not tasting their food.) Despite the fluffiness there was a slight grainy texture. I'm guessing I should have dissolved the cocoa powder properly in hot water/milk first before adding to the mixture as the graininess certainly wasn't from lack of mixing.

I think it should have tasted much more chocolatey as well, but at the time I was reserving the remaining chocolate to make a ganache topping. The plan was to use chocolate butter icing for filling and crumb coating, then make a ganache to coat the top and sides. By the time I stacked the sponges I realised crumb coating wasn't really an option as I didn't have enough icing left and it wasn't practical with my tiny palette knife. Ganache also seemed unnecessary by this point so I whipped some of the cream and piped it on as rosettes.

The cream rosettes worked brilliantly. Not only did they look cute they also offered a light contrast to the chocolate and sweet marshmallows. The cake itself was also lovely - light in texture, juicy and satisfyingly chocolatey in flavour - it has been my go-to, easy chocolate cake recipe for many years. If I recreated this hot chocolate themed cake, which is definitely worth doing as this cake is so close to being awesome, I'd use chocolate ganache instead of butter icing. I think it would have more of an indulgent hot chocolate quality.

The hot chocolate powder I used for this cake was kindly sent to me by Whittard along with a couple of other exciting prodcuts which I will blog about soon. I've actually had their parcel for a couple of weeks and it has been so tempting just to drink it all and not bake with it, haha! I hadn't tried their luxury hot chocolate before as I tend to favour their white hot chocolate but this is satisfyingly rich and indulgent, definitely a luxury. It's a real treat with a few marshmallows and the perfect way to spend an afternoon doing a bit of letter writing and crafting.

Hot chocolate deluxe cake
Recipe adapted from here, my favourite chocolate cake recipe. Use the recipe in the link if you'd prefer a normal sized sandwich cake! (7" round)

cake:
262g/ 9oz self raising flour
3 generous tbsp Whittard Luxury hot chocolate cocoa powder  (courtesy of Whittard)
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
225g/ 7.5oz soft light brown sugar
3 generous tbsp golden syrup
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
225ml/ 7.5fl oz sunflower oil
225ml/ 7.5fl oz milk (I used semi skimmed)

icing - this is what I used but I would recommend using your own favourite chocolate butter icing or chocolate ganache recipe instead:
250g icing sugar
125g unsalted butter, softened
100g milk chocolate, melted and cooled (I used Green and Blacks)
1 tbsp Whittard hot chocolate cocoa powder
a splash of milk
150ml double cream, whipped until stiff
1 Cadbury flake
a bag of mini marshmallows and heart shaped marshmallows

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4 and grease and line three 6 inch round tins. In a large bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda. Stir in the sugar then make a well in the centre for the wet ingredients. Add the golden syrup, eggs, oil and milk then mix everything together for about a minute. 

Divide equally between the three tins and bake in the oven for approximately 30-35 minutes until well risen, firm to touch and a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. I put a layer of greaseproof paper on top after 25-30 minutes as the tops were starting to catch/burn but the insides still weren't fully cooked. It may be worth cooking them in a slightly cooler oven next time or perhaps not fill the tins so high! Leave to cool in the tins for about 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Once completely cool, level all the tops of the sponges for stacking. Mine rose quite high so I had a lot of leftover crumbs to nibble on! 

For the icing, mix together the icing sugar, butter, chocolate, and cocoa for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Use to sandwich together the layers along with a few handfuls of mini marshmallows. Whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks and pipe as rosettes on the top of the cake. Decorate with more marshmallows and a flake.

Disclaimer: I was sent products to bake with as Whittard recognise I'm a crazy cake lady with an uncontrollable hot chocolate and tea addiction. They're a brand I enjoy and have purchased from before. I was not paid for this post and all opinions expressed are my own.