Summery Baking tutuorial- Strawberry Milkshake Cupcakes

Hello everyone!

So we're coming towards the end of summer which seems to have absolutely flown by this year, and what a past eight months it's been! Firstly I've completed my first year at Italia Conti which has been such a roller coaster ride for me and the hardest but most amazing thing I've ever done. I have met the most amazing people and made some crazy and unforgettable memories. With the end of term of course comes the end of year show, a week of lights, make up and a lot of hairspray.

As I write this I'm currently sat on my bed, in my new room, in my beautiful new Guildford house. I have fallen absolutely head over heels for this place in the nicest area with the best two house mates I could ask for. Moving in has taken up a lot of my summer and there is a chance of a possible upcoming bedroom tour/homeware hall.
 In my new kitchen, when I had some free time i decided to finally make some cupcakes with a recipe I'd seen on Youtube which I had been dying to try out, so here it is:

Strawberry Milkshake Cupcakes

Ingredients:

 Cake:  (12 cupcake cases)

70g Unsalted Butter

210g Self raising flour 

250g Caster Sugar

1Tbsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt 

210ml Milk 

2 Large Eggs

40g Strawberry Milkshake powder 

Frosting: 

500g Icing Sugar

160g Unsalted Butter 

50ml Whole Milk 

100g Strawberry Milkshake Powder

+ Any decoration you want to add (e.g. straws, sprinkles, chocolate shavings...)

* PRE HEAT OVEN TO 180 FAN/170 C/325 F/GM 3*

1. First add your butter (at room temperature) to a mixing bowl with the sugar, salt, baking powder and the flower. Mix this until it becomes like fine bread crumbs.

2. In a jug, whisk your eggs lightly with a fork then add your milk and of course your strawberry milkshake powder.

3. Once fully mixed, fold this into your mixture until there are no lumps and it feels light and airy.

4.  Line a cupcake tray with 12 cases of your choice- I used these adorable tea cup silicone cases which can be really handy as they are reusable. Using an ice cream scoop or spoon, equally add your mixture to the cases until they are about 3/4 full. Then place into the oven for about 20-25 minutes.

5. Once your cakes are done, they will be bouncy to touch and a knife will come out clean, leave to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Frosting-

1. While your cakes cool, add your butter and sifted icing sugar into your mixing bowl (you may want to do this a bit at a time) and mix until its fully blended.

2. Into your jug add your milk and milkshake powder then mix into a smooth paste before adding to your mixing bowl and mixing for a further minute or so until it becomes smooth but not too runny (add more icing sugar for thickness)

3. Carefully spoon some of the frosting into a piping bag with a large star tip nozzle, and  starting from the outside, ice the cupcake into a dome-like swirl- see picture above. Repeat with all the cupcakes.

* Make sure the cakes are completely cool before icing otherwise the frosting will melt!*

4. Finally decorate your cakes however you want. I chose to cut up some mini straws and sprinkle my cakes with chocolate shavings before finishing off with a small chunk of Kit Kat placed into the top.

So there you have it, delicious Strawberry Milkshake flavoured cupcakes. I hope you liked this recipe as I certainly did! 

Thank you for reading and enjoy!

♥   ♥   ♥

Current Skin and Hair faves

Aloha!
Today I thought I'd share with you some of my most recent hair and body faves. I picked out these things for their own specific reasons, but they are all products which I use frequently if not everyday and remain a big part of my collection.

Nspa Mango fragrance body mist
Seventeen instant glow bronzing mousse
Dove summer glow moisturiser with gradual tan
So fabulous dry shampoo
Herbal essences Bee strong strengthening cream

Nspa Mango fragrance body mist- I have always been a big fan of Nspa products and I feel its essential to have some sort of body spray on you for everyday use as something a bit softer than perfume. Usually I always stick to Hollister sprays as I am a little bit fixed to them, however when out shopping I came across this little bottle of goodness and it smelt sooo good and at such a cheep price I couldn't resist picking it up. It's a lovely fruity, mango scent that's not too over powering which is great as it means I can wear it all day everyday and not feel swallowed in fumes. This has earned a permanent spot in my fragrance collection and I'll definitely be going back to pick up all the other scents.

Seventeen instant glow bronzing mousse- I'm not really a big self tan person, although I tan quite well in the summer I'm naturally fairly pale and I have always wanted to spend more time being tanned in the colder months. I'd been after a good, natural, easy, instant tanner for a while now and after looking up reviews online I decided to give this one a go. I was a bit hesitant at first but after my first use I was really happy with the way it turned out, It's a great colour which you can build up to make darker, its not streaky or blotchy, easy to apply and has a wonderful vanilla scent to it. It's great because although it's wash off, I have worn it to college before and it withheld without streaking even with me sweating and the colour doesn't come off onto sheets or clothes. Although I don't wear this every day, I wear it on all nights out and quite often on the weekends and I'd strongly recommend it especially to anyone new to instant tanning.

Dove summer glow moisturised with gradual tan- This was a recent buy as I knew a lot of people who were using this product or others like it. I'd heard that this type of gradual tanner can be really good for sensitive and dry skin so I was eager to get my hands on it. I'm so happy I decided to pick this up, as for something so cheep it's really won me over an proven a permanent place in my skin care collection. It looks and feels amazing on all skin types and from the first use I noticed a gorgeous summer glow pigment my skin. I apply this morning and night as it;s really hydrating and leaves the most amazing smell on your skin all day. I honestly adore this product and recommend it to anyone and everyone.

So fabulous dry shampoo- I'm a big user of dry shampoos as where I'm at dance college I'm constantly sweating all day and I find my hair gets greasy very easily but I don't like to wash it every day because of it's effect on your hair, so instead I'll just apply dry shampoo between washes to replenish my locks. I have been through various brands and types of dry shampoos, and I really love the 'so...' collection. This is probably my favourite one of them all as it really gets rid of the greasy look and feel in my hair and leaves it feeling refreshed and smelling amazing. It's nice and lightweight and doesn't leave your hair with white patches which is never a good look.

Herbal essences bee strong strengthening cream- I always have used various leave in conditioners to avoid split/dead ends and since I ombred my hair a year ago my ends really started to suffer. Since using this stuff everyday, my hair feels a lot more nourished and manageable and I couldn't imagine not using this. It really conditions my ends without leaving my hair feeling oily and heavy and not to mention the lovely honey and apricot scent making this my final must have for my collection.

I hope you enjoyed this post and let me know in the comments below any experiences you have with any of these products or any of your skin and hair essentials. Thanks for reading!

Jade xx

                                                                        ♥   ♥   ♥

Starting afresh

Hello!!!
Wow, what can I say. I can't believe its been like 2 years since I started this blog and if I'm going to be honest I'm disappointed at how utterly rubbish I've been at blogging. I feel the reason for this was mostly because I started this blog when I was in my main GCSE years at school, which proved to be a difficult time with exams and stressful things going on. However, now I have left school (Yipee) for many reasons I will now have more time to write posts at least weekly and keep up with my blog. So I would like to apologise again for being so rubbish but I'm going to take this as a fresh start turning over a new (autumnal) leaf. (Breathe)

New Place New Start
The most exciting news I have to tell you is something rather big and exciting that's happened very recently in my life which has changed it for the better.

As some of you may know one of my biggest passions in life is performing and since I was little one of my biggest dreams was to go to a performing arts college and I'm so happy to say that in February this year I found out I had been accepted into Italia Conti; A very well known English performing arts college, and on the 15th of September 2014 I took a very brave step for me, moving out of my small town home to a new flat in Guildford, London, with complete strangers to peruse my dreams.

At first this raised my anxieties to a whole new level, but since being there and settling in I have enjoyed every second of it and absolutely love living independently with some amazing people who in 6 weeks I have become ridiculously close with. I would like you thank my amazing family, friends and teachers for giving me so much love and support.

One of the Conti buildings

My new room

Lovely new flat mates

As I've decided to keep this blog fairly short I'm going to end it here. I've decided to routine my blogs to at least once a week and if I have more time in between- As I'm home for half term I'm hoping to put up quiet a few posts this up coming week as I have a fair few ideas in mind.

Let me know in the comments if you've had any exciting news this year or if you have any thoughts or ideas I'd love to hear from you!
                                 
                                      ♥   ♥   ♥  ♥

Thanks for reading,
Lots of love,
XOXO