Laura Geller - Life in Rose

I woke up early on Sunday morning, and put a bit of QVC on the TV. 

Much to my delight they had Laura Geller on, and this, Life in Rose collection, as Sunday's 'Today's Special Value'. 

I've been using Laura's products for years now, and this new set came with two of my make-up staples (the Spackle primer and Foundation) along with some extra treats, an eyeliner, eye-shadow and lip colour. 

If any of you have never heard of or used Laura Geller make up before, then you've certainly been missing out!
The special thing about her products are that the foundations, blushers and eye-shadows are all baked! It makes them glide on to your skin and they really do have staying power. Even more so if you first smooth on a thin layer of her Spackle primer, which is gorgeously light textured and smells divine. 

I have always gone for the 'medium' shade on the foundations and concealers (Laura's Real Deal concealer is amazing! Really does live up to its name!) but lately, maybe it's my skin changing?, I've found it to be a bit too dark, so I bit the bullet and went for 'light' with this TSV - and I'm glad I did. It makes my make up look effortless.

My favourite thing in this collection is the new blusher. The Rose pattern on it is so pretty, and it's the perfect shade for me. It really is lovely. 

The lip colour is gorgeous, too. It's the kind of collection you could wear for a day out, or really dress up in the evening. 

QVC did still have some in stock, but no longer for the Special Value price, but it's still such a good deal at £55, Check it out here. 

Another great look from Laura!

MY BEAUTY

MY COOKING

MY RECIPES

MY TELLY JOLLY

Carrot Cake Birthday Cake!

My Carrot Cake

It was my mums birthday yesterday and as I was off work, I decided to bake her birthday cake. 

She chose a Carrot Cake, to make a bit of a change from the usual vanilla sponge, jam and icing!

Whisking the ingredients took about two minutes... Easy!

Now, if I had a choice of cakes, Carrot wouldn't be in my top three. That was until now! The sponge was deliciously soft, the vanilla icing was just sweet enough and it made the house smell like Christmas during baking. What more could a girl want on a Wednesday afternoon...

I'm going to add a few crushed walnuts next time for extra texture and taste, so feel free to add some if you fancy giving this a go. 

Ingredients: 

For the cake:

250 ml sunflower oil
4 large eggs
225 g light muscovado sugar
200 g carrots, coarsly grated
300 g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground ginger

For the icing:

50 g butter, at room temperature
25 g icing sugar
250 g full-fat cream cheese
a few drops of vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Grease a deep 20cm round spring-back cake tin and line the base with baking paper.

2. Put the oil, eggs, and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Whisk until the mixture is well combined, lighter, and thickened. Then fold the carrot into the mixture, stir in the flour, baking powder, mixed spice, ginger, and continue folding until evenly blended.

3. Pour the mixture into the tin. Put the cake mix into the oven and bake for about 50 minutes, or until golden brown and risen. Once out of the oven, wait 20 mins and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

4. For the icing: Put the butter, icing sugar, cream cheese and vanilla extract in a bowl and whisk until smooth and thoroughly blended.

5. Spread the icing on top of the cake and decorate as you wish. (I used some cute chocolate carrots!)

MY COOKING

MY RECIPES

MY BEAUTY

MY TELLY JOLLY

Easter Cake!

I hope you all had a fab Easter weekend!

To celebrate the chocolatey craze, I decided to make a chocolate cake fit for a King - and it was delish.

The finished product!

Because I wanted a massive 'cartoon' looking cake (and I suddenly realised that I didn't have two cake tins the same size!) instead of halving the cake mixture, I made it twice, so doubled the ingredients.

You can see why I doubled up the ingredients!

As you can see, my plan worked, and the cake was gigantic and gorgeous:

Massive cake slices are a must!

For the middle I made a sweet buttercream, with icing sugar, butter and caster sugar and on the top I meted some milk chocolate and added some festive mini-eggs. But I think it would also be lovely with jam in the middle, and a buttercream topping, which I might try next time.

When cutting into the cake, we sliced rather large pieces, because it was Easter after all! But when finishing it off yesterday, I cut it into thinner slices, and it was much more enjoyable that way, because the tallness of it wasn't so overwhelming. (I also hadn't just eaten a roast lamb dinner, which probably helped!)
The sponge was light and fluffy, not at all dry, and the buttercream melted into your taste-buds. The cake should serve 8-10 people, but if you doubled up the recipe to make a massive cake like me, you'll need thinner slices, so it may serve more.

It was a winner all round, so definitely give it a go - Easter or not!

Here's the method and what you'll need to make it:

For the cake:

175g unsalted butter, softened (and extra for greasing)

175g self raising flour

175g caster sugar

3 large eggs

2 tbsp drinking chocolate

1 tbsp warm water

Filling:

125g icing sugar

1 1/2 oz unsalted butter, softened

1 tbsp whole milk

Topping:

250 melted chocolate

(or anything of your choice - be imaginative!)

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), gas mark 4 and grease two 20 cm (8 inch) shallow cake tins. (This is where I used my one massive cake tin and made the cake twice, one for the top, one for the bottom!)

2. Mix all of the cake ingredients into a large bowl until everything has mixed together, then pour into your cake tin/s and shake gently to level the surface.

3. Bake the cakes for 20 minutes (if using the two shallow tins) or 40 minutes each time, if making one big cake at a time. (Hence you'll be baking one cake for 40mins and the second one again, for another 40mins)

4. Once baked, check that the cake springs back when you push with your finger, and poke with a knife, to check it comes out clear. Put the cakes on a cooling rack.

5. Now, make your filling! Mix the ingredients together, until they form a lovely soft buttery texture. When the cakes are cool, add the filling to the bottom half, then top with the top half.

6. Over a bowl of simmering water, melt you chocolate, and immediately pour over the top of your cake. You can then decorate it accordingly.