I Have the Golden Touch

 

And last, but by no means least, is my favorite redhead of all:

I made some more cupcakes over the weekend using a recipe from Eat Me. They are supposed to be Red Velvet, but there is nothing red about them! I think the problem may have been that the cocoa I used was too dark, but even so I'm not sure I will bake these again, or at least not with this recipe. I've never tried a Red Velvet cupcake before so it may be that I just made a mistake, but they had a strange texture and were denser than normal cupcakes. If anybody knows of a better Red Velvet recipe then please do point me in the right direction, as I'd love to know what they're really supposed to be like.

I had a telephone interview this morning for a job within a well-known British bank and I'm glad to be able to tell you I passed. However this means I have to attend a face to face interview next week and I'm super nervous because I know it will involve some role play. Have any of you experienced a role play style job interview? I'd be so grateful for any advice because I'm terrible at these sort of things. I can be chronically shy at times and I'm not a particularly good conversationalist!

PS. You can now follow my blog with bloglovin here!

I'm not an avid fan of New Look, however I do very much appreciate their little 'Bazaar' type arrangement, as the independent lines they stock can sometimes hide quirky little treasures. This floral dress is by Pussycat London and I fell in love as soon as I saw it. I adore the floral print and the ruffle round the neckline - it's the perfect summer dress.

I openly admit to a penchant for anything remotely nautical inspired, especially in either blue and white or red and white, and even more so if it has stripes. so it's no surprise then that I chose this particular dress, by Little Mistress. The netted skirt keeps it from looking too generic and I think it will work both as casual daywear and as cocktail hour attire.

I don't normally buy jewellery, usually preferring to wear things that have some meaning or were given to me as gifts. However, I can never resist a good bargain and the jewellery sales at Topshop and Miss Selfridge drew me in. 

Plus, isn't the teapot and tea cup necklace just adorable?

What have you been buying recently?

K is for Kani

I actually only stumbled across Kani's blog yesterday but I'm already in love with her quirky looks and super cute hair accessories.

The gorgeous dresses and white socks just seem like the perfect attire for a mild Scottish summer.

Saying that, however, the Spring/Summer collection does contain it's fair share of flawless outfits.

Eat Me by Cookie Girl was also a birthday gift, courtesy of my mum. She is a true Domestic Goddess and I think she is subtly trying to train me to follow in her footsteps, starting with cupcakes.

The first recipe I tried out was for French Toast Cupcakes, which are made with cinnamon and maple syrup to give them a 'French Toast Taste', and I must admit I think they came out quite well. However, my icing skills do require a little more fine-tuning if my cakes are ever going to look as beautiful as Helen's. 

Here is the recipe for French Toast Cupcakes, in case you fancy making your own:

Ingredients

170g Plain Flour

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

110g unsalted butter

225g granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp maple syrup

50ml milk

Preheat the oven to 180°c/Gas 4.

Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in to a bowl. 

Melt the butter and let it cool a little.

Whisk the sugar, eggs and butter together then mix the vanilla, maple syrup and milk in another bowl.

Stir the flour into the sugar etc then add the milk etc and mix well.

Divide between paper cupcake cases and bake for 20 minutes.

For the Icing

110g unsalted butter

110g cream cheese (I used Philadelphia)

450g icing sugar, sifted

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix the butter and sugar then begin adding the icing sugar, a little at a time, then add the cinnamon last.

(The recipe recommends adding brown food colouring to the icing but I just added a sprinkle of cocoa powder instead.)