Thursday 26 February 2015

Two Tier Flower Cake

I decided to make a birthday cake for my Nan as it was her 65th birthday. I had wanted some experience with making birthday cakes anyway and thought it would be a good excuse to have ago. 
I had to think about what theme and colours to use and did a couple of drawings to plan it out. I also had to write down a list of things that I would need to make it - This gave me an idea of how much everything was going to cost. I wouldn't recommend making a cake unless you are willing to pay for everything you will need. The ingredients and equipment can be quite pricey which is why I made a list to give me a rough idea. 








Baking
I used a Victoria sponge cake recipe to make the cake. I cooked the cake in a 6inch cake tin and 10inch cake tin. For the 6inch tin I made the same amount of mixture that would be made when creating a Victoria sponge cake using 2x 20cm cake tins. I used triple the amount of mixture when using the 10inch cake tin. 


Shaping
When the cakes had cooled down, I cut the tops off both the 6inch and 10inch cakes with a cake leveller to flatten them. I then cut both cakes through the middle like you would on a Victoria sponge cake and put a thin layer of butter icing and jam in the middle. I also put butter icing around the sides and top of the cakes to help the fondant stick to it when decorating.   


Decorating
To decorate the cakes I used fondant icing, flower cutters, ribbon, cake boards and flower wires for cakes. 
I had to make the flowers a day before I made the cake as they take such a long time to make and set. I made these using fondant icing, flower cutters, the end of a paint brush for detail, and a sausage/pineapple and cheese stick to add detail. 
I used a teal colour fondant icing for the 10inch cake which I bought from a cake supply shop before, and I used a white fondant for the 6inch cake which was purchased from a local supermarket. 
I rolled out the fondant for the 6inch cake and placed it onto the cake. I then did the same for the 10inch cake, only using a different colour fondant. I used icing sugar to stop the fondant from sticking to the surface area. 
I then transferred the cakes onto their cake boards. I placed the 6inch cake on top of the 10inch cake in the centre of it. I put a black ribbon around the 6inch cake for decoration. To finish the cake off, I started to decorate it by arranging all of the flowers.


This is just a brief write up of how I made the cake overall. I didn't go into much detail as the blog post would have been too long. If you would like me to write blog posts on how I made the cake in more detail then just let me know in the comments. I hope you enjoyed reading this post. This was my first attempt at making a birthday cake so sorry if you didn't find it that useful. 


Lauren
xoxo  

Friday 20 February 2015

Animal Safari

In the winter things to do and places to go seem to be quite limited. I wanted to go somewhere close to home with my friends for my birthday so I decided to look into different ideas that we could do. I found there was only a couple of things that would be possible to do within travel distance - go away shopping for the day (which would mean spending lots of money) or go to an attraction park. I decided on the attraction park as I felt it would be more relevant for everyone. I thought that the West Midlands Safari Park would be the best place to go to as it has a variation of things to do there (plus my friends don't like rides so it would be more suitable for them). 

My parents kindly took me and my friends to the Safari Park as none of us could drive. I made up a picnic for everyone so that we wouldn't have to buy food there. We spent 2 hours in the car looking at the animals (which was good as it was cold outside). At one point we couldn't stop ourselves from laughing as my friend had bought a pack of 4 apples to feed to the animals. (We found this funny as you weren't actually aloud to feed them anything besides the animal food that you can buy there. It was also because my friend had spent more on the apples then she would have on herself and decided to give the animals a whole apple each. It may not sound very amusing, but I guess it was one of those times where you had to be there in the moment to find it funny.) 

I decided to take some pictures as I wanted to see how well they would turn out using my phone camera to take them. 

















I hope you have enjoyed looking through the pictures and reading about my Safari experience. My overall day was really good, and I would definitely recommend going if you would like to go on a lovely day out somewhere. If you have any questions you would like to ask me then you can leave a comment below. :)


Lauren
xoxo

Sunday 15 February 2015

What I Got For My Birthday




I spent the daytime of my birthday with a friend in Cardiff shopping and had a takeaway in the evening with my family (we ordered a Chinese and Indian). When people wanted to know what to get me for my birthday, I mainly told them that I was interested in getting some new books - this is why the picture mainly consists of different books. Recently, I have started to read more before I go to bed as it helps me get to sleep at night. I didn't know what books I wanted, so to give people an idea of what to get me, I told them that I liked reading 'Girl Online' by Zoe Sugg. I also asked for a couple of cookbooks as I am interested in cooking. 

I chose a couple of the gifts that I got for my birthday to include in this blogpost. I am truly grateful for everything that I got for my birthday from my family and friends. 


Love, Tanya -
Tanya Burr (Youtuber, Blogger,
Author)

The Doorstep Girls -
Val Wood (Author) 

Now That I've Found You - Ciara Geraghty (Author)


Bracelet - Buckingham

Golden Wonder - Lush Bath Set
(Golden Wonder bath bomb 200g, Gold Fun 100g)

The Oh She Glows Cookbook -
Angela Liddon (Blogger, Author)

I decided to do a blogpost on what I got for my birthday as it can sometimes be nice to look at gifts other people get (or that could just be me as I like to be nosey, haha!)
If you have any of these items, I'd love to know your thoughts on them! If you would like to share them with me, or you have any questions, you can leave a comment below. :)


Lauren
xoxo


Tuesday 10 February 2015

Movie Marathon

Do you ever feel every now and then its sometimes nice to have a day of doing nothing? (I know I do!) It can be nice to just snuggle up under a duvet and watch loads of movies. On days like this I often tend to have movie marathons where I constantly watch one film after the other for the whole day. 

I normally like to snack on things while watching the movies. A couple of my favourite movie treats used to be popcorn, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Fruittellas, Maltesers and Minstrels. However, as I've started eating healthier recently I no longer have these as treats, (although they do taste great). My favourite healthier alternative treats are popcorn (that I make myself), or a bowl of mixed fruits with a small amount of agave nectar. (What are your favourite movie treats?)

To give myself a variation, I often pick a couple of movies within different genres. I will usually chose a Romance, Action, Adventure, Coming of Age, Drama or Musical. Most of the films will consist of more than one genre within the ones that I listed. My favourite genres though are Action, Adventure and Romance. I am not a big fan of horrors; they are not something I would particularly choose to watch when I am on my own. However, I don't seem to mind watching them as much when I am with other people, (is that just me or?).

There are a couple of movies that I have really been loving recently. (I sometimes struggle to find good new films that I really enjoy to watch.) My recommendations will be based around my favourite genres that I listed in the previous paragraph (so sorry if those particular genres aren't your cup of tea). 


 Love, Rosie                                                       Divergent




  
















    

 The Fault In Our Stars                                            How I Live Now























I hope you've enjoyed reading my blogpost, and I hope it has been useful in someway. I've only given recommendations of things I have personally liked myself (so they may not appeal to you whatsoever). If you did try watching any of my recommendations, or you have ideas of films you feel I may like, I would love to hear about it all in the comments below. :)


Lauren
xoxo