Horrid Happy Birthday Table

So as you all know, it was my dads birthday last weekend.
I made him a peach cobbler and a variety of other treats too.
As we are so close to Halloween, I decided to go with a horrid theme for his mini treat table.

We had Poisonous Peach cobbler, Murderous Meringues, sinister Stripes (everton mints), Malicious Marshmallows, Crazy Cupcakes, contagious cookies and Jealous Jellies.

The evening was laid back and relaxed. We had good food, delicious desserts and lots of laughs.
All in all it was a lovely bithday bash.

Hope you all have a lovely Halloween

Natty xxxx

Easy Peasy Peach Cobbler.....for my Dad x

Birthday season continues in my house, this weekend my lovely dad turned 64.
Now my dad is not the biggest fan of chocolate or sweet things in general. His Preference is for  puddings containing fruit.
I usually make him his favourite Banana cake for his Birthday , but this year I made his all time favourite Peach cobbler.
Here is my fools guide to the simplest Peach cobbler ever.

You will need:

2-3 tins of Peaches
2oz Brown Sugar
Cinnamon (as much or as little as you like)
1 pkt Scone mixture
A little milk (for above)
1 pan
1 pie dish
spoon/spatula.

Step 1
Open the peaches and pour contents into your pan (including syrup from tin). If they are peach halves, cut them into smaller pieces.

Step 2
Add the 2oz of Brown sugar and settle over a low heat.

Step 3
Let the heat dissolve the sugar and gently stir with your spatula.
Add the Cinnamon.
We love cinnamon so we added quite a lot but you only need a couple of teaspoons.

Step 4
Let the Peaches simmer over the low heat for about 5-10 minutes until bubbles appear at the edge of the pan. This means the syrup is starting to come to the boil and starting to thicken.
Test the syrup with your spatula, it should be getting darker and almost sticking to the back of the spatula.
Remove from the heat.

Step 5
Pour the Peaches into your Pie dish.

Step 6
Get your Ready made Scone mix, follow the instruction on the back of the packet.



Step 7

Roll out scone dough to about 1/2 inch thick.
Take a cutter and cut out discs of dough.

Step 8
Place the discs on top of the Peaches until you have almost covered all of it. Allow for spaces between the discs as it is supposed to look like cobbles.

Step 9
Place the cobbler in a preheated over at 180 degrees for 12-18 minutes until the top is golden brown and your syrup is bubbling.
Take out Cobbler and enjoy with custard or Cream.

Happy birthday Dad

love

Natty xxx

Easy Heart Garland

In a couple of weeks I am going to be attending The Wedding house  for a Spooktacular Gothic Fashion Show in aid of Alder Hey Clothes Throw Appeal.
Not only is it for a really good cause, but it gives all the lovely independent businesses an opportunity to show off their work. Its free entry and free parking, so you have to pop in and say hi, I will be on the top floor.

My Gothic Dessert Table has been running around my head for a few weeks now, and I think I am about ready to start work on it.
I saw the most adorable Pumpkins made from old books and just totally fell in love with the idea. My plan is to make some in Black, grey and white, which is my colour pallet.
Check out the paper pumpkin tutorial here.

I also adore bunting, but I wanted something a little different than the normal triangular style.
When I saw this, I knew what I had to do, there really was no other choice.
So this morning I set off for the craft shop and braved the blustery day to get my hands on some new punches, heart ones.
Here is my tutorial on how to make a cute, cheap, cheerful Heart bunting.


Step 1.
Go and purchase a Heart punch. (I bought three. I could not help myself, as I ended up getting craft shop fever as usual)
If you have not got access to a heart punch, its ok, you can fold your paper into squares, draw a half heart shape and cut it with scissors. ( a cheaper option)

 Step 2.
Choose some paper you like.
I chose old books as this is going to be part of my theme.
A cheaper method is to get some old scraps of paper, envelopes, catalogues, paint charts even newspaper and use them instead.

Step 3.
Punch/cut out a variety of hearts.

Step 4.
Get some thickish cotton and a large needle and then simply thread the cotton through your hearts.
Another option is to make small slits with a craft knife and use ribbon, this is a pretty option and just depends on what look your are going for.

Step 5.
Find somewhere delightful to put you bunting, stand back, observe and feel happy and proud of yourself. what a star you are.

I like the top one best.

Which one do you like?

Love

Natty xxxx

Zumbathon Charity Table for Postnatal Depression

A little while ago I did a small treat table for the lovely ladies who were taking part in a Zumbathon for Postnatal Depression charity.

I tried to keep some of the snacks healthy an opted for Apples, Raisins, dried fruit and of course some sweeties and cupcakes.

Being a mum to six, I know how Postnatal depression can affect peoples lives.
Its really hard sometimes for ladies to seek help or advice if they are feeling low, especially after they have just had a beautiful baby and should be feeling overwhelmed with joy and happiness.
Sadly however if these feelings are left they often become worse and can cause great problems for the whole family.

If you feel you maybe suffering from Post Natal Depression, please talk to some one or contact the PND support group.

If you are wanting to try Zumba, a lovely lady I know in Liverpool has some rather marvelous classes.
Yes you Jenny Mason. Go check her out here.

Love
Natty xxxxx

Halloween....It's a coming

Hey everyone.

The leaves are finally falling from the trees, the wind is blowing, everything around us is starting to  turn Autumnal.
I love the autumn, it is my favourite time of year.
I love breezy walks in the park with my kids, coming home to a tasty soup or hot chocolate.
Snuggling up in front of the fire enjoying a family movie night.
Baking delicious seasonal pies and just having that cosy feeling when you shut the windows and doors and settle down for days indoors.
There is just something magical for me about this time of year, I even gave one of my children the middle name Autumn. Maybe it is to do with my fiery orangey locks tying in with the colour pallet of fall, or perhaps some childhood memories of hearing the rain on the windows whilst wrapped in a blanket reading with my mum. What ever it is, I just adore Autumn.

It also means one more thing....its almost Halloween.

Halloween is always a big do here in my house. We have parties, decorate the whole place, make costumes, Trick or Treat and we bake up some fabulously fiendish Delights.

Soon I am going to be doing a Gothic Stlye Dessert table and so I thought today I would share soem inspiration boards with you.

Do I go with the Traditional Halloween colours of Orange and Black, or something more elegant like white, grey, silver and black.

What do  you think then?

Traditional or Elegant?

Love Natty xxx

Parma Violet Cupcake Recipe and Give Away

A dear friend of mine asked me to make her mum some cupcakes for her birthday.
When her mum was a little girl her favourite sweets were Parma Violets, so I was on a mission to recreate this sweet subtle flavour for her birthday cupcakes.

After a bit of investigation on the internet, I found that you can purchase Violet  Extract for cooking, however I could not get hold of this in time.
So my plan was simple.
Buy some Parma Violets, crush them in a pestle and mortar, add them to the icing sugar for the butter cream and voilà, Parma Violet flavoured cupcakes.

Recipe

Ingredients: Makes 12


The Cupcakes

4 oz plain flour
5 oz caster sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 Oz unsalted butter or baking margarine
1 egg
 

The Frosting

4 oz white cake margarine/ butter
9 oz icing/confectioners sugar

5-6 Large Pkts Parma Violet sweets (12 mini packets)

 Preheat oven to 170 C / 325 F/ Gas Mark 3

The Cupcakes

Sift flour and baking powder into bowl. Sift in sugar and add room temperature butter.
Beat with electric hand mix or free standing mixer on slow until all ingredients are combined.
Break egg into separate bowl and beat, then add to batter and mix until all ingredients are combined, making sure you scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
Place mixture in cases (I use an ice cream scoop, so all cakes are even). Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until cooked.
Remove from oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Whilst cooling, take your Parma violet sweets and pop them into your pestle and mortar. Crush them to a fine dust, making sure there are no large pieces left.

The Frosting

Combine icing sugar and cake margarine in your mixer/bowl. Using a paddle, beat until the frosting is all combined. Turn the speed down to slow and carefully add the Parma violet powder until it is all combined.

Then dye your frosting if you wish. I used Wiltons gel food dye in purple. I add just a little at a time using a cocktail stick, until desired colour is reached. I chose a pale pastel shade, however you can make it as deep as you feel.

Once the frosting is finished, spoon some out on to each cooled cupcake and spread with a spatula or knife. Alternatively, you could pipe the frosting into swirls.

I found these cupcakes to be a real delight and am now hoping to recreate a lot of Sweetie flavoured cupcakes, any suggestions?

The give Away.

I am going to give a way a set of Cupcake toppers like the ones shown in the picture.

There will be 12 full toppers and 12 flags to match.

You simply, stick these toppers into the top of your cupcake for an instant decoration.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on my facebook page under this blogs title post, saying what your favourite childhood sweets are or were.

You have until Friday evening to leave your comments and then I will use random selector to choose the lucky winner.

I have to give all photo credits to my daughter Jasmine once again and also the credit for styling the shoot.

She arranged the backdrop, props and decorations and photographed the whole thing, thank you Jasmine x

Hope you like them

love

Natty xxxxx

Crafty Cakepop Creation

A couple of weeks ago I received a lovely email from a lovely lady.
She was looking for something a little different from the traditional birthday cake.
After a few friendly emails, we discovered we were completely on the same wavelength and between us came up with the idea of a Cake Pop Birthday Cake.

The birthday party was to take place in Leaf, a fabulous little Tea Bar in the centre of Liverpool.
When I checked out their website, I was in awe.

 As my husband will tell you, I have a little bit of a Tea obsession. I drink around 15-20 cups on average a day. So when I saw that they served a variety of Teas and a gorgeous selection of food I knew this was the place for me.

The lovely lady is a bit of a crafter, and she made the most beautiful paper flowers I have ever seen.
She sent me over some of the paper she had used to create some of the flowers and I used it to decorate my Cake pop holder to match the flowers.

Now, I have to be honest here. At first my husband and I went to the local D.I.Y shop and bought sheet wood and batons and all other manner of things, and spent a night constructing a wooden cake pop stand. It was awful. I was very upset and started to panic. The party was the following day and I had no way of displaying my pops. So I turned to the old trusty Styrofoam blocks.

I really did not want to use these but I wrapped them all up in co-ordinating paper and added a few little embellishments, and in the end, I think the overall look was pretty good.

The cake pops were a light lemon flavour with Candy melt coating in pale cream and black. I added a cute little black flower to match with the paper ones and was very pleased with how they turned out.

When I got to the venue I nearly fell over. the party was held in their function room upstairs. Truly a beautiful space for a party, wedding, christening just about anything really. I am honestly contemplating just having a party so we can use the space. I was going to spend ages describing it, but I will let the photos speak for me.

All photo credits go to my 11 year old daughter who spent a good half an hour snapping away, I was rather impressed with her shots.