Carrot Cake - Part One

Some of our family members are getting married in August and they asked if I would like to make the cake.

I jumped at the chance. I love baking, even if I do always get a little stressed by it all. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my cakes!!

So today I'm trying out a Carrot cake recipe.

This may not make the final cut, as we are unsure whether it will taste ok once iced with sugarpaste. I've not had one iced this way before, but I'll give anything a try!

Carrot cake is usually filled and iced with cream cheese frosting, but due to me having to make the cake a few days ahead of the wedding and transport it to Oxford, I was a little hesitant to use it. I'd hate to make anyone ill because the cake filling hadn't been at the correct temperature!!

Instead I'm going to try a ginger buttercream.  I think carrot and ginger go lovely together and can't wait to see what it tastes like. I'm going to take it to the local Toddler group that I attend, where I'm sure the parents won't mind testing it for me!

Some carrot cake recipes can be extremely moist, but for a wedding cake to be able to hold a covering of sugarpaste, I needed a slightly more firm recipe.

So I decided to use a recipe by Confection Perfection. They are an award-winning cake school in Kent, who apart from running amazing cake courses, produce fantastic recipe cards. I first came across them when I attended Cake International at the Birmingham NEC a few years ago and purchased their chocolate madeira cake, Madeira cake, giant cupcake and rich fruit cake cards. They are brilliant, as they provide a break down for all sizes of cake from 4"-13" round or square. The cards can be purchased online here https://confectionperfection.co.uk/products/recipe-cards.

I've made an 8" round cake as my tester and it's just come out of the oven and smells amazing. I'd love to cut a slice, but better leave it to cool!!

In my next post I'll let you know how I get on with the ginger buttercream and covering the cake with sugarpaste.

Until next time

Sarah xx

Teatime craft - Washi Tape photo frame

As I've mentioned before, I like quick crafts. Nothing that takes too long, I'm impatient!

I've also previously mentioned my love of Washi Tape and here is another little craft that I did recently with it.

All you need is some washi tape, scissors (or craft knife) and a frame (old or new), I used an Ikea one I had lying around.

Now this is very simple (if I can do it, it can't be that difficult), so I'm not going to go into too much detail.

Here goes:

Remove the backing and glass/plastic from the frame, so you are left with just the outer part of the frame. 

Cover with small strips of tape! Lining up the pattern if necessary.  Use the scissors to just tidy up the inside and outside edges.

Replace the glass/plastic and insert a lovely photo, picture or anything that makes you smile. Reattach the backing and enjoy.

Seriously, it's that easy.

Mine is a piece of Cath Kidston printed card that I cut from an old catalogue.

A very quick, cheap craft. Just what I like!

Until next time.

Sarah xx

A lovely Sunday lunch.

Whenever we visit Looe we always like to have a Sunday lunch and there is no more perfect place than the Hannafore Point Hotel. http://www.hannaforepointhotel.com/

It reminds me of holidays when I was young. It's a very traditional style hotel. There's a lovely grand entrance with a revolving door (which the kiddywinks love), leading to a foyer/reception area with lots of staircases. A huge dining area with fantastic windows giving panoramic views of the English Channel and Looe Island. And a relaxing bar/lounge area with sofas and a beautiful sun terrace where you can enjoy an after dinner drink.

The service you receive from the staff is fantastic. They are a mixture of ages and all friendly and welcoming. They made the children feel very special, which we loved.

The Sunday lunch itself is lovely.

You have the option of either 1, 2 or 3 courses.

The starters we enjoyed were Pineapple, Melon and Blueberry salad, Liver Pate, Carrot & Corriander Soup and Smoked Mackerel. 

We all then had the Sunday roast, a choice of pork, beef or turkey (or if you ask nicely, a bit of each), stuffing, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, carrots, cabbage, parsnips, cauliflower cheese, gravy and sauces.

Desserts were Sticky Toffee pudding, White chocolate and raspberry cheesecake, Lemon tart, Chocooate Fudge cake, Ice cream or Cheese board.

Afterwards we meandered into the louge for a coffee and enjoyed more of the amazing view.

Tummys full and all happy.

Until next time.

Sarah xx

Family!

We love Looe and if we get the chance, try to holiday there every year.

I have great memories of holidays there when I was younger and I want to create new memories with my own little family.  That's me below on Hannafore beach, looking out to Looe Island  in 1977!

This year is particularly special as it is my mums 60th birthday. She had mentioned a few years ago that for her big birthday she would really like it if we could all go to Looe together. It's a place she loves dearly and we really wanted her plan to come together.  

Thankfully we all made it!

Myself, Tim, kiddywinks and my parents all stayed in a lovely holiday cottage in Hannafore called Sea Breeze. We've stayed there a couple of times before and new it would be perfect. http://www.crumplehorncottages.co.uk/sea-breeze-hannafore-looe.html

My uncle and aunt have their own little flat about 100 yards along from Sea Breeze, so they stayed there. And my mums aunt and uncle travelled down in their own camper van and pitched up just outside Looe at the Camping Club site at St Martins.

Having us all there made my mum extremely happy and if she's happy, I'm happy!

Until next time.

Sarah xx

Journey to Cornwall

We started our journey around 9am, the kiddywinks bursting with excitement. Had a quick stop at Hopwood Services, a nappy change for George and a Starbucks for Tim. Then continued along the M42/M5 until we almost reached Bristol. 

We pulled off at Junction 14 and just over a mile later arrived at Tortworth Estate Shop and The Farmers Table. http://www.tortworthestateshop.co.uk/

This is a lovely farm shop and restaurant that sell home reared produce. Perfect for if you want a light lunch, slice of homemade cake or a full English breakfast!

Tim plumped for the full monty, the kiddywinks had sausages, beans, egg and toast and I enjoyed a lovely baked potato.

Whilst enjoying your meal you are able to take in the amazing views over Gloucestershire through the huge panoramic windows or outside on their beautiful sun terrace. 

There's even a cute little play area to keep the kiddywinks entertained.

After the meal we stretched our legs around the duck pond and then headed back to the car to continue our journey.

Both children then fell asleep whilst watching Frozen and when they awoke we were just about to enter into Cornwall over the Tamar Bridge. 

We arrived in Looe about 3.30pm to glorious sunshine, where we met up with the rest of the family and had a well earned cup of tea.

Car unpacked, rooms sorted, ready for the week!

Let's hope the sunshine sticks around!

Until next time.

Sarah xx

Holiday Time!

Everybody is very excited in the Thompson/Robinson household, as tomorrow we are off on holiday.

We are heading down to Looe in Cornwall for a week with family and can't wait.

Not only are we looking forward to the holiday itself,  but we really enjoy the drive down. Who doesn't love a road trip?

We are going to get the car packed and ready tonight so we can head off first thing, after the kiddywinks have had breakfast. They love the fact we leave them in their pyjamas and they get dressed when we have a stop later in the journey.

The journey itself takes around 5 hours, but we then add a couple of rest/toilet stops in.

We are planning on stopping at a lovely farm shop, just off the M5 near Bristol, for brunch and a chance to stretch our legs.

We try to find alternative places to take a break, rather than expensive services, sometimes nature reserves, country parks or farm shops. Somewhere exciting that adds to the fun of the holiday and is enjoyable for the kids.

Right, enough of this procrastinating, I need to get on with some packing.

Until next time.

Sarah xx

Long time, no see!!

Hello there.

Yes I am still alive!!  Apologies for the lack of posts since January.

To be honest there has been so much going on that I've really struggled with putting pen to paper, so to speak.

But thankfully things are starting to settle down and there are lots of exciting things coming up in the next year or so that I'm really looking forward to writing about. 

The main thing is that I am getting married! Yay!!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by.

Until next time.

Sarah xx