Valentines Day // Mini Honey Yogurt Cakes

 

So, tomorrow is Valentines Day! I plan on painting my nails tonight with red glitter nail polish in celebration. Apart from that, I don't have too many exciting plans. I have pulled a mini lamb roast out of the freezer though & I think these mini honey yoghurt cakes will be a nice accompaniment for pudding.

 

I got the idea for these from my Mum - I went to visit my family in Dunedin last weekend & Mum had made this amazing lemon yoghurt cake for afternoon tea - it was so tasty!

 

I changed the lemon juice to honey, added some vanilla paste & baked these in baking paper lined ramekins. They came out as cute little moist cakes which I dressed up with rose syrup & chopped pistachios with some yoghurt on the side (middle eastern inspiration is my favourite!)

 

The recipe is so easy, so I hope you give these a go!

 

 

Mini Honey Yogurt Cakes

3/4 C White Sugar

1 Egg

1/2 C Oil (I used extra virgin olive oil but canola is good too)

1/4 t Salt

1/2 C Yoghurt (Greek or plain unsweetened)

1 1/2 T Liquid Honey

1/2 t Vanilla Paste (or 1 t vanilla)

1 C Self Raising Flour

 

Heat oven to 180 degrees celsius & grease & line the sides & bases of 6 small ramekins (or a cheesecake tray with removable bases)

Mix sugar, eggs, oil & salt with an electric beater or whisk until thick.

Mix in yoghurt, honey & vanilla paste.

Fold n flour until just mixed.

Scoop into tins (the mixture is quite runny - I used an ice cream scoop)

Bake for 10 minutes at 180 degrees, then drop the oven temperature to 150 degrees & continue cooking the cakes for approximately 15-20 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean.

Cool for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cake rack to cool completely.

Serve with rose syrup poured over (or more honey) plain yoghurt & chopped pistachios.

 

Serves 6

 

**To make a lemon version, omit the honey & vanilla paste & add 1 1/2 T lemon juice & the grated rind of 1 lemon. Serve with yoghurt & blueberries.

 

These are so yummy & stay good for 2-3 days (if they last that long!) I really want to go out & find a cheesecake tray now so I can make a whole heap of them...

 

What do you have planned for Valentines Day?

 

Kc



Life Lately // Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas friends!! I hope you all have a great day filled with family and friends, good food and some great presents!

 Red Dress - Made by me, Shoes - No 1 Shoe Warehouse, Leopard Print Bag - Strandbags

I’ll be up in Dunedin spending the day with my family. I can’t wait to hang with my little nephew on his first Christmas! Catch you all in the New Year dudes – 2011 has whizzed by!

Life Lately // Law and Banana Cupcakes

Today I got to go watch my bf Andrew be admitted to the bar. He's the 4th generation in his family to do so! That's pretty cool. It was extra-awesome because the Judge who admitted him was also a 4th generation Lawyer too.

I made him a "Dress-the-Lawyer" doll secretly on the computer last night and emailed it to him this morning at work. He thought it was a pretty neat idea!!

One of his favourite flavours of cake is banana, so I made a bunch of banana cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery recipe I posted about last week. I topped them off with some cream cheese icing and smashed up banana chips and walnuts. I sent him off to work with these for an afternoon tea shout - I hope they went down well!!

What else have I been up to lately? I've been busily sewing a couple of dresses, one at home and one at dressmaking class. I can't wait to make more!! I just bought an overlocker on Trademe so I'm really excited to receive that and keep sewing. I'm in the midst of writing and photographing a Christmas special for my blog - with gift ideas, decorations and recipes. I can't wait to finish it and post it!! (it will be a series so a bit of a multiple post-fest!!)

Oh and a super important thing - I became an Aunty last Friday night!! My little nephew Jai arrived a couple of days after his due date. I can't wait to go up to Dunedin to meet him!!

I hope you've all had a great weekend and a smooth start to the week!!

Life Lately // NZCDG Conference 2011

 The venue where the conference was held - Malborough Convention Centre

I mentioned in my last post I was away at the National Cake Decorators Guild (NZCDG) annual conference over the weekend. It was the first one I have attended as I only joined up late last year so it was a bit intimidating/scarey not knowing what to expect!!

 My Dunedin group (me - bottom left!) - A few travelled up by themselves

There were 6 of us going together in a van from Dunedin, which was a long trip! We did it all in one day with quite a few stops, we left at 8am on Thursday and arrived in Blenheim about 5:30pm that night!

Because I was a newbie I got to be a delegate for my local club (I represented the Dunedin Sugar Craft Guild but I'm also a member of the Foveaux Cake & Sugar Art Guild in Invercargill!) which was so scarey! Me and another member went to the AGM on the Friday and had the responsibility of voting for the new President of the club and also voted on where the next South Island conference would be held - the options were my Invercargill Club or Nelson - unfortunately Nelson won by 2 votes!! So close.

My favourite berry of the lot - Rosehip. 
Demonstrator - Betty Debnam from Tasmania, Australia

 

 Wedding Dress Cake - Piping, brush embrodiary, pleating fondant

Demonstrator -Toba Garret from New York, USA

 

 The goodies I bought on Saturday - From the Trade Show

On Saturday I saw some 2 demonstrations, 1 on some berries which would make perfect fillers for floral arrangements, and a pretty wedding dress cake - the piping was so perfect and tiny!! I also got to go shopping - they have a whole lot of trade tables with people selling all kinds of cake decorating equipment. I didn't spend too much but I got some things I had been meaning to get for a while!! I also checked out the plaques some of the clubs entered and the competition flowers and cakes!

The plaque my club entered - The theme was "Through the vineyard window"

 A competition cake I liked

The cake that won the Peoples Choice - It was covered in tiny little fairies - including a 

Bride and Groom fairy!!

On Saturday night we had a formal dinner at the Malborough Convention Centre where the conference was being held. I sat next to a woman from the Whangarei club and it was really fun chatting to her all night! There was also a Cake Decorating Judge at our table and a few other women who had been to lots of conferences so they told me all about the ones they had been to in the past. 

 I absolutley love this little Elf - Strip cutter used for stripes (they sold out I missed out!)

Demonstrator - Raewin Kelly from Gisborne, New Zealand

 Butterfly Lily - She also showed us a ribbon rose (left)

Demonstrator - Pam Archibald from Victoria, Australia

Sunday was the final day of the conference that we were attending, and I saw 2 more demonstrations - 1 on a super cute little Christmas elf (I loved the tips for modelling little people its right up my alley!!) and the other was a pretty Butterfly Lily. 

 Bottom left are some seals on the beach!

A cute little road-side shop - Near Kaikoura

We headed home again on Monday, stopping briefly just out of Kaikoura to watch the seals playing on the rocks and to pick up some crayfish at a cute little road-side shop!

It was really cool being in the same place as a whole bunch of other Cake Decorators, learning heaps of new skills and tricks and remembering names and faces for the next conference I go to. We really need more young members like me to join so the older ones have someone to pass their skills and experience on to!! Definitely look up a local club if you're interested in Cake Decorating, I'm pretty sure there will be something similar all over the world. Next year I'm keen to attend the State one held in Melbourne, Australia too!!

Thrifty Friday // Silver Shoes

 Silver Heels - Tay St Salvation Army Store - $4

I found these little gems at the Salvation Army Store on Tay St, Invercargill the other week. It was my first trip there and I managed to pick up about 6 items for $10! Gotta love days like that.

These were only $4 and they look like they might have been worn once or twice, not bad! Now I've just got to get used to walking in heels like these...

I'm so glad it's the weekend tomorrow!! Hopefully my parents are coming down to Invercargill on Saturday so my Dad can check out the house the bf and I have made an offer on (he used to be a builder - very handy!) If he thinks it's all fine, it's all go! I hope so, because I've spent the last week trying to get my money out of my Kiwisaver account and getting the $3,000 from Housing New Zealand - if you are buying your first house you should definitely look into these, they are basically covering the deposit for us!

What thrifty finds have you found lately? Should I include more than one find in this post? I have a whole collection of things I need to photograph!

Thrifty Friday // Cream and Gold Lace Dress

 Cream and Gold Lace Dress - $9.50 Trademe

I'll happily admit, this is my favourite dress of all time. (So far!) It looked pretty when I bid on it on trademe and I was so excited about it's arrival in the post!

It far excceded my expectations, it is absolutley gorgeous. It only has a lining on the top half, which would be an easy fix with a white slip underneath. It has bell sleeves and fits nicely.

Seriously, I would wear this dress on my wedding day!! with long, loose hair and some kind of boots on my feet - perfect!

What do you think? Do you have a favourite dress? What does it look like?

Insta-Fest // August

A little slice of my life in August through my iPhone!! I love this app so much. It's so handy and it makes all my pictures look great! 

Wearing my yellow scarf for the Phoenix soccer game, The view in the yellow fever section at the soccer, sunset through the cabbage trees in Invercargill, A bright, pretty new skirt, a naughty puppy on the leather lounge suite, a gorgeous vintage lace and silk playsuit for $2.50, a cupcake ring I purchased off Etsy, an old school desk I wanted to buy at the Habitat Store in Invercargill, The Habitat Restore I found in Invercargill = love, my awesome vintage patterned glass coffee mug for my office, the most amazing vintage macaroon bag I found at Recycle Boutique for $8, Hershey sleeping on my feet in the sunshine.

Do you use Instagram too? Tell me your username in the comments so I can check out your pics and we can follow each other! My name is Sparkleylining. 

  

Blog Award // 'Best Blog' Award

Woohoo I recieved a blog award a little while ago! This one was given to me by Adventures of a Girl from the Naki. Her blog is fillled with outfit posts, photos around Wellington (which makes me wanna go back there asap!) crafty stuff and tasty baked goodies. She was given 2 awards and I chose this one to have a go at! 

1. Answer the questions below.

2. Nominate 15 blogs. (I don't have the time or the energy so I'm gonna do 5 I love!)

3. Drop them a note and tell them about it!

Whats your favourite colour?

My favourite colour is purple. It didn't use to be - it was blue back in the day! But now I have a full-on purple obsession. It matches my brown hair and green eyes nicely!

Whats your favourite song?

My favourite song is "Mr Brightside" by The Killers. I love this song! I think it will always be my favourite. It came out when I was in 2nd year at polytech and it reminds me of the many fun nights out I had with all of my friends dancing up a storm. Plus the music video is gorgeous and I could easily watch it over and over again. I remember seeing a dress like the one the main girl in the video wears in a shop in town and if I had a couple of hundred dollars I so would have bought it...

What is your favourite dessert?

I love dessert in general, but for ease and speediness of preparing it - chocolate self-saucing pudding. YUM!

What's pissing you off?

How long it's taking to sell my house! :(

When you're upset you...

Shop or buy a chocolate bar. I should really find another outlet...

Black OR white?

Black! As evident in many of my outfit posts...

Biggest fear?

Not being able to talk to my family. Thank goodness with all the technology these days I can keep in contact with everyone once I move down to Invercargill!

Your best feature?

I like my eyes, they always look cool when I do them up  with eyeshadow and liner when I go out.

Everyday attitude....

Happy-go-lucky - I like to have fun and I can't stay mad at anyone for long!

What is perfection?

Hanging with good company, taking in the scenery and smiling and laughing.

Guilty pleasure....

Fudge - the good expensive kind! I love the fudge from Chocolat in the Centre City Mall in Dunedin and the fudge from the Remarkables Sweet Shop in Queenstown is pretty good too!

Now for 5 blogs - here's a mixture of everything I'm interested in!

1.  Helen from Afeitar - I live her cute sense of style and yummy baking posts! Plus can't wait to see her photos from her new house once it is done up...

2. Agata from Agata Michalczyk Photograpghy - She is a local Photograpghy student and posts some gorgeous photos from  around Otago and afar as well as self portraits and event photos.

3. Eleanor from Bonjour, Babydoll - A New Zealand Style Blogger, I love her outfits and the colours she wears!


4. Gem from Cupcake Crazy Gem - She has posts full of tasty cupcake-y treats on her blog! I'm so jealous of all the cupcake shops she has near her!


5. Sarah from Haus of Sarah Rachel - Another fellow New Zealander. I like her style and she has left me some lovely comments on my blog! 


I hope that gives you some new information on me and some new blogs to check out!! I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. Bye for now!

Life as I Know it // Ch-ch-changes

 Roses at the Dunedin Botanical Gardens - Taken by Me

Woohoo this is it!! I've spent the last 3 or so hours fixing up my blog and this is the result! And THIS is my 100th post! All very exciting. And unplanned. But super exciting.

So for those of you who wanna know more about me - click on the Polaroid-style pictures over on the right. There you can find out all about me and why I started this blog, my outfits and style, my cake decorating, the dance reviews I do and why I love baking so much!

There is also a new little button down a bit further. Wanna be button friends? Let me know and I'll stick yours on my page!

Also to add to all this excitement, I now have 72 followers!! Who would have thought!! When I first started this blog I wasn't sure anyone would read it as it really is a mish-mash of all the different things I love. But I'm so happy all you guys stop by and read my posts and leave me nice comments! Thank you!

What do you think of the new layout? Do you like it? I'm no Graphic Designer but I'm pretty happy with what I've achieved with the limited knowledge I have!