Brisbane Cake Expo

Happy Sunday! I hope you’ve all had a lovely week. A few weeks back I attended the Brisbane Cake Expo and it was super interesting and a lot of fun. I thought I would share the (slightly excessive) collection of pictures I took while there; hopefully some of the cakes can give you guys some inspiration, the people who created these cakes are crazy talented! I definitely recommend going to the expo next year if you happen to be in the Brisbane area 🙂

Also just a quick apology that these pictures are pretty bad quality. My phone was playing up 😦

Colour of the Month Challenge with Big Chill

Hello my lovely readers! What… I’m alive?

I feel like I owe you all both an apology and explanation for my, shall we say, extended hiatus. My last post was nearly a month and a half ago and in those 5 weeks I was busy moving house and trying to keep up to date with schoolwork. And as a result of the whole moving house situation, I haven’t internet for the last few weeks (I still don’t, I’m currently hotspotting off my mum’s iPad haha!). So yes, these last few weeks have been hectic, to say the least, but I’m hoping to jump back into the swing of things and into the wonderful world of blogging. I’ve missed you! 🙂

So anyways, today I’ve been inspired by the wonderful and lovely people over at Big Chill to share with you guys My Colour of the Month Challenge. If you haven’t heard of Big Chill – you’re seriously missing out! – they’re a super great company founded in 2001 – which, by the way, was an amazing year with some seriously amazing people being born *cough cough me cough*… – that specialises in adding a bit more fun and colour into the kitchen with their wide range of colourful appliances.  I would definitely recommend heading over to Big Chill’s website and having a look at their products yourself, because I genuinely am in love with not only their appearance and aesthetics, but also the amount of personality and liveliness they bring to the kitchen (which is, undoubtedly, the best room in the house).

The whole concept of this challenge is how can one add some colour back into the kitchen, especially when so many kitchens are overrun by black or silver appliances?

No-Bake Cake Batter Truffles

Happy Sunday lovelies! I’m going to warn you now, this blogpost is just a hot mess haha! I attempted these No-Bake Cake Batter Truffles which sounded great in theory, however they didn’t turn out quite as delicious as I was hoping (they’re just overly sweet and, to be honest, gross…). On top of that, the photos turned out pretty crappy because I missed those couple of hours of good light ;( Nonetheless, please read on, any feedback on this recipe would be appreciated haha! I also figured that just because these didn’t turn out perfectly, it would be somewhat stupid to completely trash this post. So yeah, that’s my ramble.

Also a quick life update! So umm, we sold our house. I mentioned in my last post that we were in the process of selling our house and yeah… we sold it the next day. So we’re moving into a rental in a little over a month, which means the next month or so will be insanely hectic on top of schoolwork and life in general. This may mean that I might not post or if I do they definitely won’t be the best posts haha! It’s all happened so quickly, ah it’s a bit crazy!

Makeup Inspiration #4

Hi again! 🙂 Today’s post is another Makeup Inspiration. The last time I did one of these posts was back in July of last year so it is well overdue. These posts are also quite quick but still enjoyable to write, and since we’re currently in the process of selling our house, this week has been hectic to say the least and I’ve had very little time to myself haha! Hope you enjoy reading 🙂

All of these makeup looks are done by incredibly talented artists and I in no way want to use these images other than to provide a bit of inspiration to myself and my lovely readers.

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Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Hello lovelies! Today is my second Easter post of this year. Yes yes, I know Easter was last week but I made these on Easter day and decided to post last weeks Easter post instead as this recipe is a little more versatile and not so Easter themed. If that makes any sense whatsoever. Also, how many times can I say “Easter” in two sentences. Wow. Ok. Moving on…

Sooo this recipe is for Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes. There’s actually a bit of a story to this recipe. Basically, my brother’s girlfriend is vegan (for a multitude of reasons) and I was very keen to try and make something vegan, as I feel as though it is quite interesting and I definitely respect anyone who does veganism properly 🙂 I wanted to do something a little bit Easter-themed and so I decided to do a carrot cake cupcake, because Easter = Easter bunny = carrots. That makes sense, right? I’m not crazy… I have a very strange sense of logic, I’m afraid haha 😉

Also just a quick note, I used mashed bananas as a substitute for eggs. For reference, 1 mashed banana equates to approximately 2 eggs. There’s a bunch of different substitute for eggs, here’s a great article if you want to find out more!

Let’s go 🙂

Ingredients

1 mashed banana

1⅓ cups whole wheat flour (160 g)

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ cup extra virgin olive oil (100 g)

¾ cup brown or coconut sugar (120 g)

2 tbsp water/soy milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

⅔ cup grated carrot

Can full-fat coconut milk

3 teaspoons icing sugar (or you can use  more natural sweeteners)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 160 ºC.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl (whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg). Mix well.
3. Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl (mashed banana, oil, sugar, water/milk, vanilla extract and carrot). Mix well.
4. Combine the dry and wet ingredients and mix until well mixed.
5. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake cases. Scoop batter into the cupcake cases.
6. Bake the cupcakes for 20 or 25 minutes or until golden brown. Allow the cupcakes to cool.
7. To make the icing, place a mixing bowl in the freezer about 10 minutes prior to whipping the coconut cream so the bowl is chilled.
8. Remove the can of coconut milk from the fridge, and use a butter knife or straw to poke a hole in the firm cream, pushing down through to the milky substance at the bottom of the can. Drain this liquid, reserving it for another recipe or smoothie.
9. Spoon the remaining firm cream into your chilled bowl. Add the sugar and vanilla. Use mixer and begin whipping for about 5-7 minutes, until stiff peaks form and the cream is thick.
10. Pipe onto cupcakes and enjoy 🙂