Alex and Ani Collection Starting to Grow

A quick post as I just wanted to show my new bangle, I got the February birthstone as it's the birthstone of my eldest daughter. I really like the amethyst stone with the gold! I have ordered the turquoise (December) birthstone but I'm getting that in silver as I like to mix them up a bit! I'm so excited about stacking them up!!!!!

Mother's Day Bangles

It was Mother's Day in Ireland and UK last Sunday and I was so thrilled with my gift. I have been looking to get started on an Alex and Ani bangle collection and I got my first two.

I got the "Mom" in the Silver Finish symbolising Generosity, Heroism and Love and the Sapphire (September Birth Stone) in the Gold Finish which means Clarity, Wisdom and Tranquillity. As you know I have three children and their birth months are February, September and December so I have started the birth stone collection and now I need to get the other two.

I have been looking at the Alex and Ani website https://www.alexandani.com/ and there are loads more I would like, in fact it's really hard to choose....... I can see me building a stack of bangles, which is the whole point I suppose :)

Cupcakes and Coffee

Another rainy day today so I decided to bake (I also had planned to tidy up my baking cupboard while I was at it but that never happened.....)

Today's attempt was chocolate cupcakes ( I got the recipe from Rachel Allen's "Cake" Book) with vanilla butter cream icing.....now I wouldn't consider myself the greatest baker but I have to say that these turned out pretty well and the smell of chocolate cake wafting around the house was a huge bonus! Yum!

So when the 4 o'clock slump came around I took the opportunity to sample my efforts accompanied by my favourite Nescafe Mocha - perfect. This has become a bad habit since my 3rd baby was born 3 months ago but a cup of coffee is just what I need at that time of the day!

How I made these cupcakes:

1. Creamed 100g of stork butter (the one from the tub) and whisked in 150g of caster sugar
2. Added in 2 whisked eggs and 125ml milk
3. Mixed in 175g plain flour and 25g cocoa powder sifted and 2tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt
4. Divided the mixture into 12 cupcake cases, I got these cute cupcake cases in Ikea (I LOVE Ikea....and not just for the furniture but also for all the little bits and pieces)
5. Into a fan oven at 180 degrees for 25 mins and Voila!

For the icing I creamed another 100g of stork butter with 200g of icing sugar, drop of vanilla extract and 125ml of milk with a drop of pink food colouring (they turned out more of a peach colour because I was very light handed with the colouring but still looked cute)

Crumbled Twirl on top :)

This recipe makes 12 cupcakes and I'm happy to say the whole family thought they were delicious :)