RECIPE || Best ever Chocolate & Peanut butter cake

07/10/201715/09/2019

Good morning dear ones, how’s life in your neck of the woods? We had our first rain in three months this week, which was like nectar from heaven. Apart from the obvious benefits to a thirsty garden, I just love rainy days in the holidays as they give you an excuse to stay indoors and bake, read, stitch, eat, watch a movie or just sit and take things easy for a bit. It’s like you have universal permission to blob on the lounge and just breathe, without the guilt. I like that. Sometimes life needs to slow down a little.

A modern, mostly monochromatic donut bar & dessert table

30/09/201715/09/2019

Good morning Lovelies. Another glorious day here in paradise. What are you up to this weekend? We might take the kiddies for a swim in the lake before I decorate my orange and poppyseed cake for church tomorrow. I am thinking of doing more succulents, just because I want to and they are way too much fun.

Cactus Cake

23/09/201715/09/2019

Good morning Lovelies. How was your week? If you read last week’s post on Motherhood musings you may have picked up that I was having a bit of a moment with my lack of organisational skills and ability to run a large household efficiently. Well, I am pleased to announce that I have gained the victory this week! Forgive me for boasting, but today I actually saw the bottom of our two huge washing baskets in the laundry. Yes, I did it. I washed every single piece of dirty clothing and can proudly respond to the children who are looking for a certain item “Well, it’s all clean, so you must be able to find it!”

Flower Garden Cookies & Motherhood Musings

17/09/201715/09/2019

Oh hello dear readers, and by golly it’s good to be here. I don’t know how your week has been, but boy oh boy this mothering thing has all been a bit more, how shall we say….testy than normal lately.

(insert sigh and forced grin).

Buttercream flower cakes

28/08/201715/09/2019

Hello Lovelies. I want to share with you some of the buttercream flower cakes and cupcakes I have been making lately. I am by no means accomplished in this skill but have been enjoying practising these pretty little flowers and putting them on cakes for friends and family. I use Swiss Meringue Buttercream, as it tastes silky smooth, isn’t as sweet as standard buttercream and is very stable to work with. I love the versatility of using different colours to create varying moods. I try really hard to do pastel, as it’s super pretty and feminine, but somehow those drops of food gel just squeeze themselves out of the bottle and jump right into my icing! I am so passionate about bright colours that I can rarely manage subtle hues, even though I totally appreciate their beauty. These cupcakes are about as close as I get, which is ok. That’s just me.

RECIPE || Banana & pumpkin cupcake with peanut buttercream

18/08/201715/09/2019

Hello Lovelies. How’s your week been? I’ve had a few broken nights sleep this week. A few more than normal really. Our five year old still prefers Mum and Dad’s bed to her own and tends to be a bit of a wriggly worm. I secretly love snuggling up to my little darling, but sometimes I do wake up feeling more like a grizzly bear than a loving Mama bear.

RECIPE || Apple & cinnamon cupcakes

11/08/201715/09/2019

Hello there dear friends. I have been sitting on this recipe for a while, as real life cranks up a notch and time for my little hobby baking seems to vaporise in front of me. Somehow I managed to whip up these treats and photograph them on my favourite new / old rustic cake tin. They were delicious and give a bit of a WOW with the cute mini caramel apples on top.

RECIPE || Easy Black Forest Cupcakes

12/06/201715/09/2019

Hello from my cosy lounge room. It’s Sunday afternoon. The fire is blazing and torrential rain is currently flooding the surrounding farmland. These are the best kind of days. I have been in my pyjamas since we came home from church and have just finished a pot of my favourite French earl grey tea. I am reading “Mr Midshipman Easy” by Captain Marryat at the moment. It was written in 1836 and my worn copy of the book appears to be almost as old. Last year I read “Children of the New Forest” by the same author, which was an equally brilliant book.

RECIPE || Blackberry cupcakes

02/04/201715/09/2019

Apparently New Zealand is really beautiful. My neighbours just spent ten days there and were telling me about some of the marvellous adventures they went on. I stood in their front yard wrestling my huge border collie pup on his lead, listening in amazement to tales of how both hubby and wife went paragliding right off a mountain top!! I couldn’t believe it! Mrs B, I was informed, has done this three times!! Clearly my head has been buried in my lovely pink mixer too long. In my time warped 1950’s housewife brain, I think being adventurous is making toffee shards. I forget that other women out there love to jump off mountains with a piece of plastic and string. Good on them. Rah Rah you go girls!!

Just leave me with my mixer.

RECIPE || Passionfruit & white chocolate cupcakes

19/03/201715/09/2019

Hello Lovelies. I almost feel I need to reintroduce myself. Easter is just around the corner and regrettably I have been very quiet on the blog front. Is anyone else still chasing their tail since Christmas? For us, the holiday season seemed busier than ever pastoring our church and while we managed a restful week away in March, my head is still trying to catch up with the new school year and getting my girls into a productive work routine. Our older children’s lives are also changing, with one son starting an apprenticeship and our eldest becoming a father in July! Oh my! How wonderful to be welcoming another little lamb into the fold. And as I am wayyy too young to be a Grandma, or even a Nanna, I am working hard thinking up an age appropriate alternative name to call myself.