Cherry & Coconut Cupcakes

I hope everyone had a wonderful christmas :D mine was very quiet & peaceful, which was perfect for me.
I also received funds from Milkwood Gallery from my sales, just intime for christmas! I sold two pairs of earrings and a charm bracelet, a total of £21.00, very exciting stuff :D

Anywho, in a previous entry, I mentioned that I was making some delightful cherry & coconut cupcakes.

This recipe is taken from the book "1001 Cupcakes, Cookies & Other Tempting Treats" by Suzanna Tee. I bought mine from Asda when it was £5 :O but you can get it from a seller on Amazon here.

INGREDIENTS
115g butter
115g caster sugar
2 tablespoons of milk
2 eggs
85g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
85g desiccated coconut
115g glace cherries, quartered

TOPPING
225g butter
1 tablespoon of milk or cream
350g icing sugar
12 whole glace cherries for decorating

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/ Gas Mark 4. Prepare bun tin with 12 paper cases.

Beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light & fluffy.

Stir in the milk.
Gradually beat in the eggs.

Sift in the flour & baking powder.
Fold in the coconut.
Fold in most of the quartered cherries.

This looks a bit weird to me but still very tasty!

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and scatter remaining quartered cherries on top (I missed this bit, silly me)
Bake in the preheated oven for 20/25 mins.
Leave to cool

For the topping, put the buttercream into a piping bag with a large star nozzle and pipe on top of the cupcake
Add a cherry to each one to finish.

Now for whatever reason they didn't turn out so great for me. The sponge was perfect, very sweet and moist, would make an amazing loaf-type cake. But the buttercream frosting didn't pipe at all and it ran off the cakes. I think I might've used a bit too much milk, eek.

But I'd definitely recommend them, the sponge was delicious :D

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In other news, we have 10 followers, which means it's time for a giveaway :D yay!
I'll be organising it within the next few days, so keep your eyes peeled for a post detailing more info about it! :)

Love,
Fiona x

Merry Christmas!

Just a very quick post to say....

Merry Christmas! :D

I've sadly been very busy and then very ill with some kind of flu bug, so I haven't been around for a while.

But I will return very soon :D

Love,
Fiona x

Outfit Of The Day + Good News

I'd wear this outfit today, if only I could ;)

Tie Front Shirred Dress - New Look

£24.99

Click to view.

Flock Spot Cardigan - New Look

£22.99

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Fleece Lined Legging - New Look

£10.99

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Not sure how these would work with this outfit physically but they're so cute!

Grey Minnie High Heel Shoes - Debenhams

£75.00

Click to view.

Then the fun bit, accessorising! :D

Victorian Romance glass drop earrings - Sparklerose Designs

£4.00

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Sweet Romance sparklebead bracelet - Sparklerose Designs

£5.00

Click to view.

And something sweet for my hair :D

Luxe Butterfly Pair - Crown & Glory

£8.00

Click to view.

I had the wonderful news last week that Milkwood Gallery have sold some of my jewellery items :D it's very exciting stuff for me. We're in the process of organising a cheque or me popping down to collect monies. It's amazing to know that there's people out there wearing my designs, it's an awesome feeling :)

I'm off work today and tomorrow, so I've hopefully got some free time to get making some more :D I want to start my new year collections v.soon. I also need to work out what supplies I need and find some interesting bits for said collections ;)

I'm also planning on making some cherry coconut cupcakes later on this afternoon, so I'll have to show you how they turn out. I've even picked up a cheap piping bag to make fancy icing :D I'm so used to blobbing it on with a spoon and it looking pants, haha.

I'm still plotting my giveaway when we reach 10 followers :D

I'm thinking of making a goodie box, filled with little things including, of course, some of my handmade jewellery :)

Hope everyone's feeling mighty festive!

Love,

Fiona x

Long Time

Christmas is most definitely on its way, and it's made me busier than ever! Sparklerose is getting terribly neglected, I haven't made a thing in ages now.

The past couple of weeks have been spent doing extra shifts in work, and popping off shopping on my very few days off. One such trip was to London, which was pretty exciting for me, I hadn't been there since I was 18.

I decided to go to The Hummingbird Bakery, once we managed to find it in Portobello Road. And I also went to Laduree, and tried my (first ever) french macaroons :D

The cream cheese frosting is amazing, and perhaps a little too indulging ;)

My fave = chocolate :D

We had an amazing day, filled with tube rides and shopping :D

I popped to Accessorize while I was there, it was much bigger than the one in Lincoln. I got myself a gorgeous bronze toned floral ring, with a rose necklace and a long necklace with charms & roses, very cute.

***

I'm still hoping to hold a little competition, sometime before christmas, although time is running out for posting, so it may be just after christmas. But we're waiting for 10 or more followers, so get following to join in :D It'll be a chance for you to win some of the jewellery from Sparklerose Designs, my handmade jewellery collection.

Anyway, time for housework (hurray!). Hope you're all enjoying the festive season :)

Love,

Fiona x