two weeks and you're mine...

Red Robin I am coming for you.

Snickerdoodle cake...

Today is the 1st birthday of my other blog The Style Crusader. In honour of the momentous occasion Freddy suggested that we bake a cake. Since he isn't a mahoosive fan of my chocolate cake I thought we should try a different sort. I opted for this Snickerdoodle version, in my opinion the king of all cakes. If you love cinnamon, like I do, then this cake may become your very best friend.

The cake: get yourself a standard cake mix (either white or yellow will do fine), 1 cup of milk, 1 stick melted butter (113 grams), 1 tsp vanilla, and 2 tsp cinnamon. Make the cake mix as the directions on the box say and then add the milk, butter, vanilla and cinnamon to it. I was a little concerned because it basically just looks like a sloppy watery mess. But don't worry, it will cook beauitfully and be so moist. Bake the cake as indicated on the box.

The frosting: 1 stick (or 113g) of butter at room temperature, 3 3/4 cup of icing sugar, 3 tbsp milk, 1 tsp vanilla, 1tsp cinnamon (I added a bit more cinnamon... just put in as much as you fancy). Blend up the butter with an electric mixer until it's fluffy and then add the sugar and milk. Blend on low until the sugar mixes in. Add the cinnamon and vanilla and blend on medium until it is light and fluffy. If it feels too stiff you can add a bit more milk. The recipe I saw advised to put the frosting in the fridge until you are ready to use it, but this made my frosting quite difficult to spread (hence my manky cake). So, pop it in the fridge if you want... but I wouldn't recommend it, or if you do maybe blend in a bit of additional milk to help soften it.

Once your cakes have cooled just frost those bad boys right up and serve them to some hungry people as quick as you can. This is my favourite cake... hope you enjoy.

pop up garden...

We came across this pop up garden last weekend in Ealing Broadway. There wasn't anyone there to protect it and it was very difficult to resist stuffing our bags full of flowers and herbs...

'that's not my name...'

sweet tooth...

A carrot infused medley: cake, sorbet, and some creamy stuff. Mini ice-creams in an assortment of flavours. These are the scrumptious desserts we had at the Cherwell Boathouse after the graduation last week... courtesy of Andy's parents. So yummy.

graduation day (take 2)...

Friday Fred had his Masters graduation ceremony. Which seemed a little funny seeing as he has just finished his PhD. He got to wear a different robe though, got hit on the head with the New Testament by the dean and this time it was held in the Examination Schools so we could actually see what was going on. Well done Freddy... now we just have to wait for the third one.