Are you loving our authentic British whether? I love it when it is raining outside while I do some crafts indoors! Here is the perfect one to do, a woven pillow ;)
Enjoy the raining days, the summer isn’t over!
Rasa :)
10 pillow challenge: woven one
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Alex’s birthday cake :b
It’s my dear friend’s Alex’s birthday today! So for this occasion I have baked Spiced Date Brownie Cake from Abel&Cole book “Veg Box Companion”. It went a treat! Apparently this recipe originated from “Tartelettes” cakerie – nice! I especially love Vicki’s idea to make the “pretend” candles that are made out of toothpicks stuck with picture of little lights. Cute! Here is the recipe:
SPICED DATE BROWNIE CAKE
- 300g stoned dates, finely chopped
- 2 lemons, zest only
- 500ml freshly brewed strong black coffee
- Crushed seeds from 12 cardamom pods
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- 4 tbsp honey
- 4 tbsp black treacle or more honey
- 250g dark brown sugar
- 150g unsalted butter
- 3 eggs
- 150g mixed nuts
- 4 tbsp sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds
- 400g plain wholemeal or spelt flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 4 tbsp apricot jam (optional)
- Line a large rectangular baking dish (approx 30 X24 cm) with baking paper
- In large saucepan, add the dates, lemon zest, coffee, spices, honey, black treacle, sugar and butter. Simmer and stir till combined. Let cool fully.
- Preheat your oven to 180C .
- Beat the eggs in large bowl. Add flour, baking powder and cooled date/coffee mix. Chop half the nuts and add them to the mix. Stir everything together.
- Pour into the lined dish. Scatter the seeds and remaining nuts evenly over the top.
- bake for an hour , or till a skewer poked comes out with just a few tiny moist crumbs stuck to it. Cover with a large layer of baking paper or foil after 30min, to stop the nuts from burning.
- To give it a stunning gloss, warm 4 tbsp of apricot jam till syrupy. Brush over the top.
I must admit that I used black current jam as I did not have any apricot one. This made the cake look odd as black current jam coloured everything purple so I had to scatter few more fresh nuts and sesame seeds to “fix” it. So use apricot jam or nothing at all! But other than that it was really delicious :b
Rasa :)
10 pillow challenge: cross stitched one
I had to stay up late for this one. Must say, cross stitching can be addictive! I hope you will enjoy this too (I used same pattern as I used for the knitted one). Here are the DIY instructions.
Innocent smoothie berry cake
Last night at our mini knitting group we were knitting mini hats to contribute to Innocent Big Knit campaign. These mini knitted hats will go onto the innocent smoothie bottles, that will be available to buy in stores across the country in November, and for every hatted bottle sold, 25p is donated to Age UK. Yey!
For this occasion I baked this innocent smoothie berry cake. Here is the recipe!
INNOCENT SMOOTHIE BERRY CAKE
- 4 eggs
- 300g sugar
- 120ml vegetable oil
- 250g flour
- 4tsp baking powder
- 1/2tsp salt
- 130ml blackberries, strawberries & blackcurrent innocent smoothie
- 200g blackberries
1. Preheat your oven to 180° C. Line with parchment paper or grease the baking tin you are using.
2. Beat together the eggs and sugar until thick. Gradually beat in the oil.
3. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt, and then the smoothie. Combine well.
4. Pour the mixture into your prepared pan and scatter the blackberries on top.
5. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the cake tests done.
Happy knitting ;)
Rasa xox
10 pillow challenge: lace edged one
I have been seeing a lot of pillows with the lace edges and I really fall in love with them. Since I am on the 10 pillow challenge I have decided to make one myself! Here is how ;)
Rasa xox
10 pillow challenge: knitted one
Past couple of days I have been knitting a pillow as part of my pillow challenge and I had to carry this big yarn roll every time I am on the go (I could have wind down a smaller yarn ball from it, but I suppose I have been lazy to do that!).
The pillow is finally finished! So if you want to make it for yourself you can find a pattern here.
Let me know what you think ;)
Rasa x
Vicki’s upcycled crocheted bracelet
I had a lovely weekend at Vicki’s! I always love spending time with my best friend and going out together with other friends :)
When we were going out on Saturday together with Nadine, Vickie upcycled the crocheted lace that I used to wrap the wine chocolate cupcakes. It looked really pretty! The pattern for it is here.
Have a lovely week :)
Rasa xox
Good morning, it’s Friday!!
On Friday mornings I like to evaluate the week behind and do a little planning for a weekend. I think this past week have been great: mini knitting group have been great successes, pillow challenge is in control and I have met a lovely Jacolien from Netherlands who I could share my creativity with ;). Last Wednesday we bumped into this Bill’s Cafe – Restaurant that was pretty cute! I love when they have cookbooks to read while waiting for your food!
Oops, I stole Bill’s recipe for this rhubarb and banana smoothie (sorry). It was soooo good and I love the fact that I can use something from my garden (rhubarb)! Here is how I made it…
BILL’S RHUBARB AND BANANA SMOOTHIE
- 2 sticks of rhubarb, cooked and cooled
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 banana
- 140g plain yogurt
- 100ml milk
- a pinch of vanilla beans
Mix all the ingredients above and whizz it with the hand processor. Done! It is that easy!
Don’t forget to check out Jacolien’s blog and etsy shop
Much love xx
Rasa :)
10 pillow challenge: printed one
My 10 pillow challenge is going well, even if I am a little behind the schedule. Here are the Printed Pillow project instructions.
Wish me luck!
Rasa xox
Happy girlfriends day! Wine chocolate cupcakes anyone?
Today is a International Friendship Day (which I would like to call girlfriends day). For this occasion I have decided to bake wine chocolate cupcakes for my friend Vickie. Why? I will try to tell you in this short (as much as I can) story.
Basically, few months ago I have been given a pack of “After Eights” (mint chocolate) to pass it to Vickie (people seem to think that we are one body even if we live far away from each other). Everyone who knows me should know that I should not be entrusted with chocolate as before I knew it the need to eat something sweet has hit me so I turned my need to Vickie’s “After Eights”. Although Vickie was forgiving I still felt like I should replace what was hers. So today (Friendship Day) have given me a perfect occasion to do just that!
So there you go, back to the cupcakes. My decision on baking wine chocolate cupcakes was purely based on the ingredients Vickie likes. These include not only wine and chocolate, but also healthy ingredients such as wholemeal flour and brown sugar. Also the cupcakes are vegan and low in fat! Yey!
WINE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
(makes 12)
- 180g cups whole wheat flour
- 40g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 150g brown sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 75g olive oil
- 85g black current jam
- 240ml red wine
- 150g dark chocolate
- 12 red grapes
1. Combine all the ingredients in one bowl.
2. Divide the mixture into 12 lined muffin tins
3. Bake in the preheated oven (170C) for about 20 min or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted in one of the cupcakes.
4. Let the cupcakes cool before the decorating
6. Melt the chocolate over the pot of boiling water (make sure the bowl you melting the chocolate in doesn’t touch the water) and spoon it on top of each cupcake.
7. Top each cupcake with the grape and let it cool once again.
Before serving sprinkle some coco powder just to make it extra elegant ;)
Rasa xox
10 pillow challenge: triangle crocheted one
As my knitting group is expanding I have decided to make my house a little bit more cosy by crafting more cushions and pillows. I have been dreaming about sewing/knitting/crocheting pillows for quite a while now, pretty much as soon as the big dream to open a cafe were born! My challenge is to make 10 pillows during the last summer month, so keep your fingers crossed!
My first pillow is inspired by this crochet triangle pattern that I have learned from this very old book that my mum had.
The DIY instructions for this pillow can be found here ;)
Do you have any suggestions for me on what pillows shall I make? If so contact me, I would love to hear!
Rasa ;)
Piña Colada Cupcakes
Hey all! I hope you had a lovely weekend so far and when it is just about to finish here is the recipe for the Piña Colada Cupcakes (at the bottom) so the weekend last for a little longer ;)
I baked these cupcakes for the Luau party which went well with the hawaiian theme…
Initially I wanted to decorate the cupcakes with the “pineapple flowers” that I have seen a lot on Pinterest, however I managed to burn it :(. I really don’t like food to be wasted so I had to focus really hard on the positive side: I have learned the lesson!
PIÑA COLADA CUPCAKES
(for the base)
- 2 eggs
- 220g caster sugar
- 160g flour
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 120ml rapseed oil
- 100ml sour cream
- 1 (400g) canned pineapple chunks (slightly drained and crushed)
(for the buttercream)
- 50g creamed coconut (slightly heated so it soft)
- 100g softened butter (room temperature)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 250g icing sugar
(for deco)
- coconut flakes
- glazed cherries
- to bake the bases you need to whisk the eggs and sugar together until it is pale in colour.
- Add flour, baking powder, vanilla essence, oil, sour cream, crushed pineapple chunks and combine well.
- Line a cupcake pan with 12 paper liners and fill about 2/3 full.
- Bake in the preheated oven (180C) for about 20 min.
- To make a buttercream combine butter and creamed coconut with icing sugar and vanilla extract until mixture becomes smooth like a cream
- Pipe the buttercream on the baked (and cooled) pineapple cupcake bases, sprinkle it with the coconut flakes and top it with the glazed cherries.
Enjoy!
Rasa :)
Green tea and elderflower ice-cream
After coming back from San Francisco where I tasted sooo many interesting ice-cream flavours I have been experimenting with it myself. Green tea and elderflower flavour has been my favourite!
Here is the recipe…
GREEN TEA AND ELDERFLOWER ICE-CREAM
Ingredients: 8 egg yolks
200g sugar
250g milk (full fat)
250g double-cream
250g elderflower cordial
2tsp matcha green tea
1.First, prepare egg cream by mixing egg yolks with sugar and whisking until it becomes pale.
2.Put double cream and milk together into the sauce-pan and heat it up, but don’t let it to boil. Then reduce the heat and add egg yolk mixture into the pan. Cook it on the small heat (don’t let it boil) and mix continuously until it becomes thick (about 10 min).
3. Cool the mixture down by placing the pot in the cold water.
4. When the mixture have cooled you can add the rest of the ingredients: elderflower cordial and matcha. Pour the mixture into the plastic container and put it into freezer.
5. After two hours scrape off the sides of the container and mix it with the fork. Repeat this after three hours and after that you can let it stay there until it is completely frozen or the time when you want to have a cool sweet treat.
Have a great week!
Rasa :)
Crocheting while catching a flight
I don’t know about you, but every time I am up and about I really like to have some sort of craft in my hand. However, a knitting is often not an option to take on the flight (due to security restrictions of course!). Thankfully the crochet hook is allowed, therefore I had a chance to finally finish my crocheted collar project if you remember from the past.
Try it for yourself, the pattern with the instructions are listed here!
Rasa :)
San Francisco: Tartine Bakery!
Remember “Tartine Bread” book I was telling you about? Well I visited their bakery while I was in San Francisco! Thats was quite an experience as I had to queue up since it turns out to be really papular cafe in the Mission neighbourhood :)
It was really difficult to make the decision with all the variety of tarts and cakes and pastries….
Eventually I went with the lemon cream tart which was really really yum! I just can’t get used to to drink my latte in the bowl :O
And hot pressed sandwich (sourdough bread with mozzarella and tapenade) for a lunch in the Dolores park? Perfect! With marinated carrots? interesting!
I wish you were there ;)
Rasa xox