The Earth Laughs in Flowers

After women, flowers are the most divine creatures ~ Christian Dior

Every now and then I become a little obsessed with something and can think of nothing else. My current obsessions are gold painted anything (especially if it's edible), and spring flowers - although to be fair, I'm always obsessed with flowers.

I just LOVE beautiful flowers and spring time is like the gift that keeps on giving. Even in the city of London where grey is the colour of everything; the concrete gives rise to a burst of pinks and greens and yellows, daring you not to notice: Who can help but be moved?

Here are a selection of some flower combinations I've been trying out on a "just-for-the-sake-of-it" 2-tier vanilla cake that I made this week.

I hope they bring you as much joy to look at as they did for me to make (& eat).

"It's so curious: one can resist tears and 'behave' very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window, or one notices that a flower that was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed, or a letter slips from a drawer... and everything collapses."  

"Let's dance in the sunshine with wild flowers in our hair"

Peace & Love

xx

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Wedding 1/3!!!

The beautiful couple

Yesterday was the first of 3 weddings that I am baking for this year, the union of the beautiful couple, Tatiana & Arne. It was a wonderful day, the weather behaved itself and the drinks flowed! 

The cake!

Most importantly for me, the cake went well on the day! I had to change the design because of the heat. Originally the ruffles were meant to be made out of buttercream but on a test run, the buttercream melted and I had to make the ruffles out of fondant instead to prevent a destroyed cake and a day spent panicking about it.

Fun Times

Baking for a wedding is part labour of love and part heart-attack inducing. I don't think there is a cake more important than a wedding cake. I usually have at least two meetings before finalising the design to go through ideas. Then there's the tasting session & the trial run & finally once you start making the cake, there is always something crazy that happens (like a heatwave) and you have to think on your feet when you've probably had about 3 hours sleep for the last 48 hours.

More cake

This was no exception. Despite being the first person to arrive at the hall, I had to wait for everyone to set up before I could put the cake together and ended up missing the beautiful ceremony. On the upside, there was Pisco (Chilean tequila style alcohol) and I caught the bouquet of flowers - so I'm pretty much guaranteed happily ever after... :)

I've can exhale for another month until my next wedding. In the meantime I shall be thinking who is going to be the lucky one to take my hand in marriage! :)

Cake cutting time...

Peace & Love

xx

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Cupcakes in Bloom

Happy Mothers Day! I had a beautiful day today with my two boys on what felt like the coldest day EVER! They made me lovely cupcakes and we took a trip down to the Sunday flower market at Columbia Road. 

Me and the boys

Now that I'm officially a Londoner again, and an East Londoner at that, I'm lucky enough to have that market on my doorstep. It's all it's cracked up to be and more although it's without doubt the busiest market I've ever been to!

My gifts

Whilst I was keeping hypothermia at bay in these near arctic conditions, my own mum was sunning it up in Jamaica (lucky for some!)

My beautiful mum, I love you!

 

In honour of all mothers everywhere, I made some blossom cupcakes, as inspired by Cup Cakes in Bloom in one of my many Peggy Porschen books. I'm thinking I'm going to do more of her cakes. I've got a few favourites that I'm really excited to try so keep an eye out!

Not everyone has their mother around or is fortunate enough to have the kind of relationship with their biological mother that I do, and for some it's a painful reminder that they do not have any children of their own. It's a bit like Valentines Day and Christmas; holidays that are meant to about love and family (and are), but that can also have a sad edge.

As for me, I'm grateful to have so many blessings in my life and to be surrounded by so much love and I hope to never take it for granted. 

Peace & Love
xx

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Honey I Love You

It's that time of year again and Valentines Day is near. For me, Valentines Day is special because it's my son's birthday but I guess in a way over the years it's lost the whole romantic meaning....

Sugar cookies in the making...

As I've named this year the year of love, money and happiness, I'm focussing on what I want rather than what isn't. So to start with, I made a little collage of my ideal Valentines Day gifts (take note people).

Pictures courtesy of  Pintrest

Love letters, flowers and balloons, what more can a girl want from her Valentine? 

Sugar cookies of course! 

Sugar Cookies Recipe (American style adapted from Sweet Designs by Amy Atlas)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups plain flour

1. Combine the sugar, butter and salt light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Finally add the flour (sifted) until it it's just combined.

2. Roll the dough into a large circle 1/4 inch thick in between two sheets of baking or parchment paper. Leave to chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

3. Cut out the cookies with a cookie cutter and place them on one of the sheets of baking paper at least 1" apart. Leave to chill for a further 1 hour. 

4. Pre-heat the oven to 180oC (gas mark 4). Bake until light golden, 6-12 minutes depending on the size and shape of the cookies. Rotate halfway through cooking so that you get an even colour. Leave to chill on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

I covered these delicious sugar cookies with peach coloured royal icing (click here for a video recipe) and sprinkled them with love hearts. They lasted about 5 minutes and didn't even make it out of the house! Not to worry, this month my baking will be all things love and someone will get to be the recipient! :)

Peace & Love

xx

ps - if anyone wants to spoil me this Valentines, please do!!!!!

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