Easter Cake

As if I didn't already have enough chocolate to eat this Easter weekend, I decided to bake a chocolate fudge cake.

I used a recipe from my favourite baking book, The Baking Bible. I get all my recipes from there, it's just such a good book and has so many amazing recipes. This was the recipe for a chocolate fudge cake which is one of my new faves!

 The recipe is as follows...

Ingredients

Cake:

• 175g unsalted butter
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3 tbsp golden syrup
• 40g ground almonds
• 175g self-raising flour
• Pinch of salt
• 40g cocoa powder

Icing:

• 225g plain chocolate
• 55g dark muscovado sugar
• 225g unsalted butter
• 5 tbsp evaporated milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and grease two 20cm/8 inch sandwich tins.
2. To make the icing, gently heat the chocolate, sugar, butter, evaporated milk and vanilla extract in a heavy-based saucepan. Stir it constantly until it has all melted. Put it in a bowl to cool down, then put in the fridge to chill until it is spreadable.
3. To make the cake, place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs gradually. Stir in the syrup and ground almonds. Sift in the flour, salt and cocoa powder and fold into the mixture. Add a little water if necessary to make a dropping consistency.
4. Spoon the mixture into the tins and bake for 30-35 mins.
5. Leave the cakes to cool before icing and decorating.

I left the frosting in the fridge for waaay too long so had to re-melt the whole thing and wait all over again! But it turned out just fine and it tasted okay. But yea, I wouldn't advise leaving it in the fridge for more than an hour.

Next came the fun part- DECORATING!

The inspiration from Pinterest

I spend a lot of time procrastinating and scrolling through Pinterest and I found the cake above and was like whaaaaat!? It looked so pretty and I knew I had to make it. It had Kitkats round the outside but I'm not a massive fan of them so substituted them for Cadbury's white and milk chocolate fingers. But I didn't realise how big the cake was and I ran out of fingers!! So part of the cake didn't have anything round the edge. I decided to carry on the design on top and brought the little chocolate button flowers down the side. It actually worked quite well and it looked like I'd planned to do that all along!

I also made the chocolate eggs with Smarties in that you can see in this picture. They were such a fail. I made six but could only get three out the moulds and I think I burnt the chocolate a bit when I melted it so they tasted a bit off, but they look cool, right? Probably won't be making these again!

I had such a lovely weekend with my family, but I've eaten waaaaay too much. Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Love Becca xxx

FOTD

Face of the day!

This is always my go to make-up look, enjoy!

The Body Shop Vitamin E Intense Moisture Cream

The Body Shop Instablur

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer

Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation: Ivory

Real Techniques Core Collection: Contour Brush

Sleek Face Form: Light

Max Factor Creme Puff Blush: Lovely Pink

Real Techniques Core Collection: Buffing Brush

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion

Naked 3 Palette: Limit all over the eyelid, Nooner in the crease

Benefit Roller Lash

Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner

Models Own Angled Brush

 Lush Lip Scrub: Bubblegum

Mac Satin Lipstick: Snob

Doing this post has made me realise I really need something for my eyebrows... Can anyone recommend a good brow product?

Love, Becca xxx

*Please excuse how dirty my brushes are!*

March Favourites

March is over and I thought I'd share what I've been loving this month. I love reading about other people's favourites and finding out what I should try next so thought I'd do my own!

Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish

This stuff is fab. Smells so fresh and removes all my makeup easy-peasy, I really feel like I have my life together when I use this. And it hasn't made me break out in spots which is always a plus. Would recommend this to everyone, 10/10, holy grail skin product.

Body Shop Vitamin E Intense Moisture Cream

The colder months always leave my skin looking dry and dead, but this moisturiser has brought me back to life. Gone are the flakes and dull patches! The scent isn't overpowering and it has a thick consistency so it really feels like it is doing your skin some good.

The Body Shop Coconut Range
Bought for me as a birthday present in February, I've used this stuff all month long! I never used to use an exfoliator but now I can't do without it! Already love the body butters from The Body Shop and this shower cream is divine. I will defo be buying these bits in their full size when I run out!

Olivia Burton Watch

I never used to wear a watch but after getting this for my birthday I can't be without it! It's got a rose gold face (so it's super cute) with a black strap (so it goes with everything). Ahhh I love it so much, when you next see me ask me what the time is.

New Look Patent Black Loafers

I normally live in my Converse, but this month I decided I needed to branch out in terms of footwear choice. Although they did give me pretty severe blisters the first time I wore them, they are now the comfiest shoes ever and I have worn them to death. May have to buy another pair for when these ones have given up on me...

Long Sleeved Crop Tops

I have quite a few and they are my faves. Perfect with a skirt or jeans, perfect dressed up for a night out and just as good dressed down for daytime. Especially good in these colder months when you need to cover up but you wanna show you're here to party. Also they are a good way to remind yourself to work on those abs for summer...

Milky Bar Mini Eggs

I have a problem. I cannot stop eating these and for £1 a bag I can't help myself! And seeing as you can only get them at easter I may as well pig out while I can. Same applies for Creme Eggs...

Community

This was the TV show I wasted time watching in March. I watched 5 seasons of this on Netflix and have no regrets. A series about a Spanish study group in a Community College, it's a really weird comedy that makes no sense and cannot be described easily. But I loved it and I'm now watching season 6 on TV so I can't binge watch. Once you start binge watching, you can't go back to waiting every week for the next episode.

 #struggles

Have a selfie from Bath the other week...

So that was March. With all this chocolate around wrecking havoc with my skin I think I'll need to step up my skin care routine in April. Let me know what you've been loving this month and anything I should try in April!

Love, Becca xxx