So who's addicted to Pinterest?

I am a big fan of Pinboards.  The old fashioned kind, where I rip things out of catalogues & pin them on my boards for inspiration & organisation.  But since Pinterest has come about, my newly decorated pin board is not getting much love apart from a Family Home Projects List (which requires me to do a whole separate post on my love for free printables - the one above is from 'i heart organizing'), a gym timetable & a few discount fuel vouchers :-)

Here's a quick snapshot of how my crafty Decorated Pin board Project turned out.

I am pretty happy with it!

Instructions:

A simple layering of some pretty fabric stuck down using a spray adhesive (my new best friend) & some hot glue on the back of the board. Then add the stud detailing imitated using thumb tacks & pretty bejewelled push pins made using rhinestones glued onto thumbtacks, & there you have it! DIY beautiful pinboard :-)

But...back to the reason for this post...I have started searching for ideas for Kayla's 1st Birthday Party.  I know, I know...it's 7mths away still...but I like to be organised!  I also want it to be super cute, aswell as attempt to be crafty with it & do most of the baking myself.  Yes...my craft list is growing at a rapid rate...especially since finding Pinterest!

So here is a sneak peak of my online Pin board:

Kayla's 1st Birthday Ideas Board

So who else can admit to seeing a few hours fly by Pinning various things to your online Pinboard? Please tell me I'm not alone! ;-)

It would be great to follow you & your boards on Pinterest, so let me know in the comments below if you are a Pinner now too! Also, I would love to see if you have any great craft ideas for Kayla's 1st Birthday Party, so please email them in to tahnee.perrins@live.com.au if you have any to share with me.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend coming up.

Now back to some Pinterest while Kayla is still napping :-)

xoxo T

Raspberry Frosting Recipe

I have had a few people comment on how delicious the Raspberry Frosting is that I have had on my latest cupcakes, & also some emailed in requests on posting the recipe to try it out themselves.

So here it is!

Ingredients

250 gm     Unsalted butter
1 cup        Icing sugar
150 gm     Raspberries

Instructions

Be sure to take the butter out of the fridge to allow it to soften up, sift your icing sugar, & puree` & strain your raspberries prior to starting your frosting.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until pale & fluffy.

Add in the icing sugar & beat until soft peaks form.  Be sure to scrap down the sides occasionally so that it all mixes evenly.

Add in your raspberry puree` & beat until combined.  Be sure to add in your puree` in small amounts & allow it to mix with the other ingredients instead of adding it all in at once.

In the last batch that I made, I only used half of the amount of puree` from the 150gm of raspberries as the flavour was quite sweet & also the colour I was after was a pale pink.  So add in as much or as little as you like.  Tip: If you add in too much puree` & want a lighter colour/taste, simply sift in a little more icing sugar until you get back to the desired colour/taste.

Then pipe or spread the frosting over your cupcakes & decorate as you please.  The cupcakes should last for up to 3 days in an airtight container on the bench.  For those that live in the wonderful humid climates like me, place them in an airtight container in the fridge, then take them out of the fridge 15-20mins before serving to allow the frosting to soften up before gobbling them up :-)

I can't take all of the credit for such delicious frosting like this.  I researched the recipe online after tasting the delicious cupcakes in Newcastle.  While searching, I came across this awesome site called Gourmet Traveller.  Head on over & check it out.  There are so many recipes on there that I would love to make someday. As mentioned above, I tweaked it a little to suit my needs.

Please send in some pictures of your cakes if you end up using this recipe! I would love to see how they turn out.

To end... here are some "I heart NY cupcakes" that I made last weekend for my lovely friends Dan & Candice.  They eloped last year to NYC to get married, so they had us over to help celebrate their 1st Wedding Anniversary & also eat up delicious hotdogs.

I have to note, that I am not completely happy with how these turned out...you know, with me being OCD & all.  So these are actually from my second batch of cupcakes I made Saturday afternoon...

I left the egg out of the first batch...& I was also meant to use ganache to ice them, however, I somehow burnt that! Luckily I had some of the Raspberry Frosting leftover & whipped these up for them instead.  Candice & Dan were happy with them, which is the main thing! Who says baby brain is just while you're pregnant?! It seems to have stuck around with me...especially when I'm already tired!

Congratulations on your 1st Wedding Anniversary Dan & Candice! 

Thank you so much for inviting us to be a part of your special celebration.  

I can not wait to meet baby G soon! 

Yes that's right readers...Candice is due in July & looks absolutely amazing!!!

xoxo T

Easter Cupcakes

I have been in a bit of a baking mood lately & thought before I bake anything else that I would do a few posts on past cakes.

Easter Cupcakes

I made these as our gift to our wonderful hosts Jay, Kristin & their two boys who had Jase, Kayla & I over for a tasty Easter Sunday dinner.

Vanilla butter-cake whipped to perfection

Cupcakes doing their thing in the oven

While the cupcakes are baking, I start on the frosting 

(some call it icing...but frosting sounds much tastier)!

Raspberry frosting made using real raspberries. Delicious!!!

Pipe the raspberry frosting onto the cupcakes...& then it's time to decorate!!!

Sprinkle some chocolate flakes on & add a candy coated Easter egg!! 

Voila! Easter cupcakes!

What delicious goodies did you make for your friends & family this Easter?? Send in your pics! I would love to post up some ideas for other readers.

xoxo T

I have readers!!!

So I am a little excited...ok...I am BIG time excited!!

I have only had my page for two months or so, & so far I have had 430 page readers on my blog.  Pretty darn happy with myself :-)

Oh... & I have 2 followers.  Thank you followers!!

I just thought I should do a quick post for those people who would like to follow my post on a regular basis.  When you choose to follow my post you will be sent an email each time I load a new post online. This will make it easier for those who rely on me placing a new link on my FB page to follow...yes Mummy Dearest, this tip is for you & others like you :-)

At the top left of the page is a tool bar.  You should see the word 'Follow'.  Click on that & it will open a window where you just follow the steps.  You can choose to follow publicly with your name, or be an anonymous follower.  This just means that when you post a comment below any of my posts, that your name will appear, or it will just appear as 'Anonymous'.

So that's it.  If you have any questions about the process, or get stuck just let me know.

Oh & one little family update for the week...

Our baby girl reached 5mths old last Wednesday!! It was a testing day for her Mumma too.  I am thinking that babies should be born with teeth...it's just so cruel to have them in so much pain, especially when they can't even do anything about it.  Poor little bubbas!

Here's a few little happy snaps of Kayla.

On the morning of her 5mth milestone :-)

 Playing baby games on the iPad with Daddy before he goes to work. Growing up so fast! 

She will want her own iPad before we know it!

I'm turning into my Mother! :-)

She used to take pics of us asleep the night before our next birthday...

& now I know why...the moments are irreplaceable. This was the night of her 5mth mark.

Out doing the grocery shopping with Mumma.  Kayla is kicking back relaxing & looking a little confused as to why we are shopping in Woolies instead of Pumpkin Patch :-)

Kayla was given her first taste of real food last week! She started with a pear at the Q Club.  

Here she is taste testing a rusk.  I'd like to say that that is 'real' food too...but those rusks taste like cardboard...I think I'd prefer to drink breastmilk instead too!!

Here's Daddy giving her some rice cereal.  A tad better than a rusk...? 

I have to say, that it was so nice having him home for one of her '1st' moments.  

All dressed in green & gold with Daddy ready for the Australia vs ...? Footy Game. 

It just shows how much attention I pay to footy. 

I was too busy having a catch up with my girlfriends while it was on.  

Much more enjoyable I'd say!

So content in her Mumma's arms after her long bath & feed.  

She is still such a tiny little bubba.

Thanks for reading, & I hope you decide to follow my blog on a regular basis.

xoxo T

A day of decorating!

I'm not sure about you, but my email inbox gets clogged up with discount offers everyday.  I don't mind so much, as I love searching for good deals.  It's a great way to try out new things which you may have been interested in before, but put it off due to the crazy prices.  I found a great deal for a cupcake decorating course with Whimsical Cakehouse on Scoopon a few months ago.  So I snapped up three coupons so that I could go along with my Mum & little sister.

The course was only $69 for 2hrs where you learn the basic techniques of decorating cupcakes.  We arrived to have a little workstation each with all tools in front of us to decorate 6 pre-made vanilla butter-cake cupcakes.  I was a little concerned that I wouldn't get my monies worth since I have been baking for a few years now, & teaching myself the decorating side of things (youtube.com is my friend in these circumstances) but I was very pleased with the knowledge gained from such a short course.

Here are a few pics I took as I went through each step...

Step One: Make a 'well'.
Greatest tip I could have learnt from this course was to cut out a well around the outside of your cupcakes.  This allows you to add more ganache while also being able to keep a fairly flat surface for later on when you go to decorate with fondant.

Step Two: Ganache.
No need to be super neat with this application so long as you don't get the ganache on the outside of the paper patty. If you want a flat surface later on, then keep the quantity added to a minimum, however if you want a little mound the pile it up :-)

Step Three: Hot Knifing.
Grab a mug of hot water & a palate knife.  This is more about getting the knife hot instead of the water, so make sure you tap off excess water before you start 'hot-knifing' your cupcakes.  I went for a flat smooth surface.  Not a surprise seen as my hubby tells me... I'm a little OCD.

Step Four: Fondant Layer.
Roll out some fondant icing.  If you love the taste of this stuff then go ahead & roll it as thick as you would like to eat it.  I am not a fan of the taste, so I like to roll it quite thin usually.  Cut out the circles using a circle cutter that is slightly bigger than the cupcake top.  Apply some sugar syrup (apricot jam mixed with boiling water & sieved) to your cupcake, then place the fondant on top & smooth down.

Step Five: Decorate to your hearts content!! Or in our case...within our time restraints of the course :-)

We used fondant & royal icing to decorate our cupcakes. Here's a pic of mine below!

Just divine!!!

A pic of the three decorators with our stunning cupcakes :-)

R to L: My mum Liz, my sister Karleah & Me!!

When we got home we couldn't wait to put them in a little tower 

& show them off to our family.

If you've attended a cupcake course & have any extra tips that you would like to share, I would love to read them.  Please post below.

xoxo T

Who could resist...? Not me!

Hmm... well I was going SO well with my 'lose the pre-baby weight' following my previous post "Time to quit the excuses"...I lost 4kgs in 2.5weeks! Who wouldn't be happy with that!!? I was feeling so good, more energy, less sugar crashes...but then came the time to do grocery shopping while hubby was away. Note to self...don't go shopping on an empty stomach - I'd heard it so many times before & am usually really good....but somehow, a packet of delicious Wagon Wheels found their way into my trolley...What the?! I was so prepared with my shopping list & only venturing down aisles I needed something from, skipping all of the confectionary & chippies sections - damn the impulse piles of goodness on the end of each aisle!!! I had all intention of sharing them with my friends whenever they popped in for a visit & catch up...really, I did...but somehow they all made it into my belly before anyone had a chance to visit! And that was just the start of it....

A trip to Newcastle to see my hubby on his work trip did not help the situation either...so many tasty restaurants & yummy baked goodies at cafes. Cocktails & catch ups with friends!  I held back as much as possible but let's face it...who can resist fluffy pancakes, caramel meringue pie, macaroons or cupcakes?!!

Here's a few pics of things I couldn't resist :-)

A Lychee Martini with my ole' pal Ames who might I add, is baking 

a little play mate in her belly for my daughter at the moment :-)

 Ok...so it's not a photo of food, but it's a pic of the amazing view over 

Merewether Beach that Hubby, Kayla & I were able to enjoy whilst eating 

a tasty cooked breaky at Merewether Surfhouse Cafe.  Could it get any better?! 
Oh & check out the awesome Mothers Group down there on the beach 
(if you can see that well)! 
They're called Surfing Mums n Bubs! Have they got it good or what?!

 And I have not yet visited a place where a new cupcake shop has opened 

without going to taste test yet...so... when I found out Newcastle had a cupcake store...

I just HAD to visit! Cupcake Espresso 

If you get a chance to go there, try the White Chocolate & Raspberry cupcake! Delicious! 

So delicious in fact...I came home to test out making my very own raspberry frosting 

(look out for pics of my attempt in future posts)

Sadly, I don't have a pic of the amazing Caramel Meringue Pie I had at Caves Beach Hotel with my good friend Cara (Cara took the photos, & wasn't happy with how she looked in the pic of us sharing the most tasty pie on this earth, so she deleted it...naughty Cara).  Nor do I have a pic of the amazing buttermilk pancakes with ice-cream, strawberries & banana that I consumed at the bustling cafe Soho on Darby, this fail is due to the fact that it looked so amazing that I didn't even think to take a pic & just dived straight in.  If you don't believe me, you will just have to go order some for yourself. 

So there you have it...I fell off the healthy eating band wagon while on holidays.  But hey...who hasn't?! Please say you're with me :-)

Oh...and then there was Easter...need I say more? 

So until next time, the healthy eating plan starts....

Now!

Join me & we can help keep each other on track :-)

xoxo T

P.S.  I owe an apology to my Hubby for consuming his Cadbury Creme Eggs whist he was away this week (yes...away again). I promise to replace them...& not eat a single one!!