January

Well January seemed rather long, didn't it? My month involved a lot of coffee cake, but I'm finally happy with the recipe, so watch out for it in the not to distant future. January was when the snow came. I'm afraid I don't have any pretty photos to share as my interaction with the snow was limited to shuffling to and from the bus stop everyday. 

In other news, I made my very first dress! It's not perfect, and I have definitely learned lots for next time, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. January also saw the start of the University of Cambridge Botanic Gardens crochet project. A lovely Saturday morning was spent practising leaves and drinking tea with fellow Cam City WI members.

Of course, there was another thing that really brightened up the month and that was the return of the Great British Bake Off for Comic Relief - how funny was Claudia Winkleman and her lemon meringue antics!? 

From top: King's College Chapel on a chilly New Year's Day walk around Cambridge, coffee and walnut cupcakes, view from the office window - snow covered bicycle, more coffee and walnut cake, wearing my homemade dress, crochet leaves, cowl knitting, apple and current scones, and yet more coffee cupcakes!

Super Scary Crochet

My mum got me Super Scary Crochet by Nicki Trench for my Birthday last year. It is awesome! I really enjoyed making the ones I've done so far! The book has patterns for so many hilarious characters, from 'Walter the Werewolf' and 'Bernard Bigfoot', to 'Dr Death' and 'Natty the Batty'.

Above you can see Baby Jane and Blanche from the film 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane'. I made these for a colleague of mine to give to someone for Christmas (I hope they liked them!). I made the characters before I'd seen the film, and now that I have seen it I understand why they both look quite deranged and why Baby Jane is holding a rat!

Next up is 'Colin the Cannibal Cockerel'. Apparently, Colin is a lovely cockerel... until there's a full moon. Finally we have Mr Pumpkin Head, a great guy to have around at Halloween.

Owl Mug Cozy

This owl mug cozy was a Christmas gift for my good friend Amy of Movie Writing. I knitted the owls and ribbed edging, then used double crochet to lengthen the sides for a snug fit around the mug. I finished with some pearlescent buttons to fasten and some black sequins for owl eyes.

I'm afraid I'm unable to share a pattern as I didn't make a note of what I did. I just went with the flow and made it up as I went along! I occasionally do the same thing when baking. I get so wrapped up in the creative moment that I forget to make a note of ingredients, quantities and methods. Since starting this blog I've definitely been better at recording what I do when I bake. I'll endeavor to do the same when I next go on a freestyle knitting and crochet adventure!

December

I thought it would be nice to share some highlights from December. As you'd expect, a fair bit of baking went on! I also finished off my hot water bottle cover. I made it following this loose pattern by Coco Rose and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Most of the Christmas break was spent up in the North East where we had a great time seeing family and friends. We had a lovely trip to Whitby for some tasty fish and chips. It was bloomin' cold though and Mr Makes said my head looked like a giant fondant fancie with my pink woolly hat on.

From top: sherry, mince pies, sour cherry chocolate brownies, cherry and vanilla cupcakes with more mince pies, me in Whitby, snowmen meringues, more meringues, my finished hot water bottle cover, key lime pie (or lime lime pie as we called it, because I have no idea where to find key limes).

Christmas Cake

Happy New Year :-) I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break.

I started writing this post before Christmas, but there was so much going on that I just couldn't get it finished. In the run up to December 25^th I was in a bit of a knitting/crochet/cake decorating/present finishing/packing frenzy! So I had to keep the designs for my Christmas cakes as simple (and quick) as I possibly could.

I was really pleased with how they looked. I went for pale blue with a snowflake for the big cake. It doesn't show up in the photo, but I used some pearlescent edible lustre dust on the snowflake for a shimmer effect. The cake was a gift for our office Secret Santa (turned out to be not so secret really!).

The two smaller 11cm cakes were decorated with simple blue fondant stars and a Christmas tree, finished with lovely ribbon. These were also gifts, but unfortunately in all the Christmas chaos I forgot to give one of them to the intended recipient, and discovered it, all boxed up, on my craft desk (which needless to say was abandoned throughout the festivities) a couple of days ago! Oops.

As for my own Christmas cake, well it’s sitting in the bottom of my wardrobe, all wrapped up since the last time I fed it with sherry in mid-December! I thought about making it into a Happy New Year cake, but my heart just isn't in it. Perhaps it will become a Valentine Fruitcake! I think I’ll mull it over.

Rudolph

He's having a jolly old time on our Christmas tree! I made him using rowan tweed and the pattern in Mini Christmas Crochet.

Mini Mince Pie Cupcakes

Hooray! Christmas is coming! It's mince pie season and I've perfected my recipe for mince pie cupcakes just in time for the festivities. These are a light and fluffy alternative to the mince pie. I baked mini cakes and topped them with a wicked brandy buttercream icing and some fondant holly leaves and berries. I used homemade mincemeat - every year I make a batch of Delia's Mincemeat (omitting the yucky candied peel of course!). If you use shop bought mincemeat use a good quality one, as it will have both a better consistency and flavour.

Mini Mince Pie Cupcakes (makes 30)

115g unsalted butter, softened

115g caster sugar

2 large eggs

125g good quality mincemeat

100g self raising flour

15g cornflour

1/2 tsp baking powder

For the brandy buttercream icing:

125g butter

325g icing sugar

2-3 tbsp brandy

1. Put on some festive music and preheat oven to 180°C (fan 160°C) and line a mini muffin tin with mini cupcake cases.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the mincemeat.
3. In a separate bowl mix the flour, cornflour and baking powder. Then sift this into the wet mixture and gently stir through until combined.
4. Fill cupcake cases two thirds full and bake for 10-12 minutes on the middle shelf of the oven.

5. Now make the icing. Use an electric mixer to beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth, then add in the brandy and mix well.

6. Pipe or spread onto the cooled cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles or fondant shapes.
7. Put your feet up, turn up the Christmas tunes and enjoy a cupcake or two.