Red Velvet Cupcakes: Egg Free Recipe

If you are looking for an easy weekend bake to try with your children, how about some light Red Velvet Cupcakes? The beauty of these is that they are super easy to make, and use no eggs. I find this useful as I frequently run out of the things due to my childrens weekend boiled egg habit. Neeeeed some chickens! 

Also, if you have a child who is allergic to eggs you might enjoy this recipe. In fact, all you need do is swap out the milk for soya milk and you can have an entirely vegan cake. Yay!

INGREDIENTS:

200g self-raising flour
 200g caster sugar
20g cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4tsp bicarb
1/4tsp baking powder
200ml milk
20ml cider vinegar
80ml sunflower oil
1tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp red food colouring, paste/gel 

OVEN: Preheat to 180C/Gas Mark 4

Makes 24 fairy cakes

1. Line two cupcake pans with paper cases
2. Put the vinegar and milk into a jug and set aside for around 10 mins
3. Meanwhile, put into a large bowl the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, bicarb, & baking powder. Mix until combined.
4. Add the milk mixture, oil, vanilla and food colour to the dry ingredients mixing by hand with a metal spoon. This is fine if done by a child, lumpy is just right!
5. Spoon into the cake cases.
 6. Bake for 15 mins, cool in the trays for a little while, then transfer to a wire rack.

ICING: we iced ours with a cream cheese and vanilla icing, but you may want to modify this if you are making them for a special diet.  I completely ballsed up my cake icing and subsequently have NO photos of them because they looked icky - I have a complete blind spot when it comes to icing cakes. I literally cannot make icing, I have no idea why. So enjoy your cakes and this very nice photo of somebody elses red velvet cupcakes.

via Pinterest

Busy Birthday Weeks

Just wrapping up (ha ha) on the craziest two weeks. Why does everyone share January as their birthday month? It would only be fair if February was Mum's Holiday. But it isn't, so here's a quick run down of why I am tired.

WHAT I ACHIEVED

WHAT WE WORE

plus some adorable but sadly undocumented costumes, including Merida (plus ginger wig) Baby Knight etc If I can raid my husbands camera I will see if he captured the Merida one because she even had a bow and arrow, it was brilliant.

WHAT WE DID

Did I mention, eat?

Hope you all are looking forward to a happy week ahead....... My plans are to be as unproductive as possible!

Lx

Apple and Rosewater Cupcakes - Random Recipe

As previously explained I had a lot of sugared rose petals looking for a raison d'etre this week, so we created this recipe, like a summer frankenstein, out of carrot cakes and neccessity. Also I bought Rosewater in a weak moment last year and it's quite hard to find recipes to use it up in. Try these if you dare......




Ingredients:

100g Brown Sugar
160ml Sunflower Oil
2 eggs
1 tblsp Rosewater
200g Self-Raising Flour
150g Grated (cooking) Apple

Preheat oven to 180 (GM4)

Beat the eggs, then add to the sugar in a large bowl.
Mix in the oil, and rosewater.
Sift in the flour, then finally fold in the grated apple.

Spoon into 12 bun cases and bake for 20 mins until well risen.

Remove to wire rack to cool

We put a little pink coloured water icing on top of ours, with the sugared rose petals.

One is Fun

Don' t take a photo, I'm eating

It is such a truism to say 'they grow up so quickly', but I am finding it completely mind blowing that my smallest baby is now one years old! He enjoyed his family tea party, complete with delicious home made cake. What he didn't know was that it was a Christmas cake I made, then we did not eat, so I added his name onto it and Bob's your uncle! Instant Birthday. As he loves fruit cake it did not seem unfair. We could have given him a wrapped rock and he would have had a good time, as long as he got to fool about with balloons.

Is It Still The Jubillee?

Look! I even have Jubillunting Oil Cloth, from Dunelm Mill. 

Happy Anniversary Ma'am and all that but as this is now the 5th day of national celebration around here I am a little fatigued. Plus I have run out of red, blue and white outfits. Did her Majesty stop to consider my laundry? I doubt  it.

It began on Friday with the School picnic/balloon release (Apparently, we must refer to this event as The Jubilloon Day) continued onto Saturday with a traditional Fete (complete with Patriotic Llamas and Union Jack becoated dogs - I kid you not). 

Sunday came, as did a Thanksgiving Service where my daughter was delighted to bellow out the National Anthem, which she has been constantly doing since she memoraised the words on Friday. Onto a Jubillar-be-que at the Village Hall (more bunting and cupcakes, less llamas). Monday - some respite although the children were barrelling around waving their Union Jack flags and wearing cardboard crowns, and now! Another Jubillar-be-que at a friends house later this afternoon and as it is raining my husband is watching the TV.But not the sports, oh no. It's STILL the Jubillee. No. More. Royal. Family. Argggg.

Buttons, Bows .... and Marshmallows!

After the past few days of floundering around under a massive to-do list I finally feel like I have managed to achieve ... something!

Mainly it's because I have finished the three navy blue satin sashes that have been blighting my life for the past few weeks. Can I just say that - I HATE working in satin. I did not know this before, but I shall try to stay away from it in future. Urg, too slippery. The sashes are for three little bridesmaids, it is a family wedding and so of course I wanted them to be perfect. Making them was perfect hell, but no-one will know that on the day! I can't photograph them yet but hopefully will have an adorable picture of them being worn after the weekend. 

As I was being completely sewing obsessed mummy I had an attack of guilt and let the kids go on a massive (supervised!) baking rampage. Our new favourite recipe is below and might I add it's perfect for all those times you need a sugar hit like a mallet. Mmmmmmm Marshmallow!

Mallow Cakes

25g butter plus extra for greasing.
160g marshmallow (that's a bag of the big pink and white haribo ones)
90g rice crispies
sprinkles

Grease a shallow dish or cake tin. Sprinkle your sprinkles all over the bottom of it.
Melt the butter in a pan, adding the marshmallows until they are melted.
Add the rice crispies and stir until mixed well in.
Turn the mixture out into your greased and sprinkled tin - you may like to use a greased spoon to press it down flat.

Wait for it to cool. Turn out onto a board covered in some grease-proof paper and cut into squares/chunks.

Eat. Hooray!

NB: these don't keep too well. Glory be, you'll have to eat them in 24 -48 hours.

Amaze and Confuse Your Children

I found this hilarious post by Tanya from the *too sweet* blog Save The Date For Cupcakes. She decided to make a savoury cupcake for her children on April Fools Day. Genius, I really have to try this one day. Would you guess that this was a sausage and mash cake?

Birthday Week

Both my children have birthdays this week. Arg! What I have mostly been doing is making cake. A lot of cake!

But the best thing about being busy baking is that you get to eat them afterwards!

Macmillan And All That

Just had a lovely morning! First off I welcomed many of my lovely friends around for cake and fundraising, as part of the Macmillan Big Coffee Morning through which we have raised £45 for the charity. Go cake eaters!

Then I received a parcel through the post which was the strawberry print bandana bib I ordered from Painted Ghost on Folksy. Baby is very happy with her new accessory, which should save her clothes, although it is so pretty with it's lacy trim I feel sorry for it's terrible fate.

Anyway now that is all done I must get on. It's the 1st October (wow) and that means that I have got listings to do for October Folksters and should have done a Folksy Friday post etc etc!

Folksy Friday - Back to School

An obvious inspiration today for Folksy Friday. My first little chick is fluttering into the big bad world............

From Left to Right:

Badger with Satchel from Fluff and Fuzz

Bunny Shoe Bag from Minxtures Clothing andAccessories

Pencil Case from Love from Beth

Car Shoe Bag from Marti Rich Creations

and finally some vital accessories for the smart young lady or gent about the playground

School Headband from Hollyjollystockings 

Pirate Badge from NickyNackyNoo

And then something for the mums at the school gate!

Handbag Tissue Holder from Sew Stylish

Win Some Scrummy Stuff

Indulging my J-Pop loving, kawaii side (which I attempt to suppress or everything in our house would be covered in a thin layer of Hello Kitty) I had to post this competition, run by Super Cute Kawaii, to win loads of 'cute food' accessories and things from the Scrummy Land range. Go On!

Little birdies and a Flickr Group!

Another day another 5am start! It's alright for babies they can go back to sleep again whenever they want. Grr.

As I am up now I will tell you all about a few things I have been up to this week. First up, new item listed on Folksy, an applique bib which is the first in a series of Chicken Coop Bibs that I am making using some cute chickenwire pattern background fabric. Added a waterproof layer inside to make it all the more practical. I have been producing quite a few bibs lately but most of them are going straight onto the baby!

Also I have created a Flickr group to view by Made by Dolly Folky items, other makes, and hopefully in the not too distant future other people will post photos of stuff they have made from my Folksy Tutorials etc (when I have done some!!!!)

On the home front what I have mostly been doing is making 40 gingerbread biscuits for the toddler group party, which was a bit of a mammoth effort. They were put out as an activity with icing and sweets to decorate them with. Unsurprisingly, this table was very popular and the biscuits and sweets disappeared in the twinkling of an eye!

Finished! My Vintage dress

At last the top created from that pattern I posted about a few weeks ago is finished! I am very happy to say that the sun is also out so I managed to wear it to a family BBQ and felt very smug-domestic-godess in my new top eating home made cakes.

The pattern was pretty simple to follow but I think that I will try to swap it with someone as it really makes up a garment that is a few sizes too large. I knew it was supposed to be a size 14 but the dimensions seemed more my size. However, it really is size 14! Well waddaya know?

Summer Fete Season

The first summer fete of the season, so time to get baking! Weather was lovely today and the cakes turned out OK too. When I got there everyone else had also brought cakes so there were so many I thought we would never sell them all. Luckily after school, the starving hordes (teenagers) descended upon the cake stall and soon there were none left. Equally empty was my purse after having the children raid it on multiple occasions for tombola, face painting etc.

Actually the chocolate cakes is such a winning recipe and so moist. Must post the recipe for others to try, it's so delicious but far too chocolatey for children (!). I used 75% for the topping! Strictly grown up cupcakes....