Baby Sister's Wedding (Natalie & Sam)

Isn't she the most beautiful bride??!! When I saw Natalie the morning of her wedding she still looked like 'Little Natalie' to me. She is only a year younger than me, and she will hate me for saying it but she always seemed much younger! Maybe because she is so much shorter than me and sweet! Weddings are pretty weird. It didn't really feel like her wedding day, even when all us bridesmaids were doing each other's hair and makeup and fussing over every little detail. The wedding wasn't until 3pm either so we felt (or it seemed) pretty relaxed. 
Then I started to do her makeup (I'm pretty proud of the job I did on that!) and all the emotions started rushing in. I wanted everything to be so perfect for her. Then she put on her dress and she was suddenly this grown up girl I'd never seen before! She really looked amazing. 

The ceremony was beautiful and the reception soooooo much fun. I loved hanging out with family I hadn't seen for a while and loved seeing Natalie surrounded by all her friends and people who loved them. It's funny when you see your sister interacting with the people she went to university with or new friends she's made since becoming a couple. I felt like everything was going to be alright. I'm always worrying about her. She always tells me to stop playing 'mom' but I can't help it. Maybe a little bit of me let go of that when I knew she was married now and had her own life and family to create. 

It was a joyous day anyway, I survived wearing my bridesmaids dress and my Sam kept making me laugh. I love marriage! 

I didn't take my chunky camera on the day and I only took a couple of phone photos. Maybe Natalie will let me share a few pics when she gets them back because this is the only photo I took of her wedding cake that I made. SOOOO proud of it. It turned out so good. You might not be able to tell from the picture but the purple icing has an ombre effect as you go up each layer. It was fruit, lemon and chocolate! Yum. 

Chocolate & cinnamon swirl loaf

I made cinnamon rolls a few weeks ago but was too afraid to document because it was my first attempt. They turned out amazingly well so I'll be making them again at some point. I thought for the time being I'd try out a cinnamon swirl loaf. I found a few recipes on pinterest  and I've taken bits of instructions from each. Here's what I did:

Ingredients:
250g plain flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 120g mini chocolate chips (I used both dark & milk), 1 egg, 150g of dark brown sugar, 50g granulated sugar, 240ml buttermilk, 80ml of veg oil, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
For the cinnamon swirl: 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 65g granulated sugar

Method:
- Preheat over to 180 degrees and grease or line a non stick loaf pan. Make what will become of the cinnamon swirl but combining the granulated sugar and cinnamon then set aside.

- Whisk the egg, brown sugar and granulated sugar together until all the lumps are out. 

- Whisk in the buttermilk, oil, vanilla until well combined.

- Sieve all the dry ingredients into the wet mixture (flour, baking powder, salt) and also add the chocolate chips. Do not over mix as the loaf texture will be too tough.

- Pour half the batter into the loaf pan and then top evenly with the cinnamon sugar. Pour the remaining batter on top. Sprinkle the rest of the cinnamon sugar on top.

- Cover the pan loosely with foil and bake for 45-60 minutes. Check the loaf is cooked by inserting a cocktail stick and if it's come out clean it's done.

- Allow bread to cool before eating. We ate this on the day it was baked and then finished it off the next day. It definitely tastes better the day after because all the favours have intensified. This should keep for a good few days afterwards. ENJOY!

Lemon, ginger & mixed berries layer cake

This was a cake I threw together with ingredients that I had in the cupboard. I knew I wanted a lemon cake but I found I had ginger & frozen berries to use up too. This was really really delicious!

Also, I recommend using this cake release spray. I'm the sort of person who hates buttering the cake tins (mostly because I'm lazy) so I use this instead and it does a grand job!

This is the recipe for 2 layered lemon & ginger sponge cake with lemon cream & frozen berry filling!

Ingredients:
Sponge
6oz butter, 6oz sugar, 6oz self-raising flour, 3 eggs, a cup of lemon juice, a handful of stem ginger (chopped)
Lemon cream & filling
8oz soft butter, 16oz icing sugar, 5 tablespoons of lemon curd, frozen berries

Method:
- Cream the butter & sugar together until fluffy. Add flour, eggs, lemon juice and stem ginger & mix well. 

- Pour batter into 2 cake tins lined with greaseproof paper.

- Bake for 25-30 mins on 180 degrees

- Leave to cool. Mix the butter & icing sugar together until soft and add the lemon curd. You may want to keep tasting & add more sugar or lemon curd depending on your preference.

- Once the cake is cool, spread the lemon cream between the two cakes. Add the berries to the middle & then cover the rest of the cake with the remaining cream. 

I put the berries in frozen because we didn't eat it until later but if you're eating it straight away then make sure the berries aren't frozen or alternatively use fresh berries!