More Scrumptious Baking!

I blogged last weekend about our attempt at making these Double Choc Chip Muffins and this week I'm back with another yummy baking relating post. My nephew came over to stay for the weekend & of course we baked some cakes again. I think Sunday has become the official baking day in the McKenna household. I enjoy baking with my nephew it's such a nice start to Sunday plus with the weather being so horrible out later it's definitely something fun to do whilst stuck in doors.

This time around tried the Cadbury's Button Cake Mix. These look amazing on the box, so yummy! Included in the box was a cake mix, icing mix, a packet of white choc buttons and paper casings. We scrapped the latter as they were a bit on the small size, my Mom wanted to make bigger cupcakes. We used the step by step guide on the packaging which couldn't of been more straightforward. The buns took literally 12 minutes to make in the oven when they were done we left them to cool before putting a lot of icing on them. I'm surprised there was any white choc buttons left as they are Ryan's favourite and of course he took the page and devoured most of them. We managed to safe a few to finish off the cupcakes. The only thing that didn't go to plan was the icing. Something went terribly wrong there! Like it didn't look anything like the picture on the box, if anyone has tips or knows how we went wrong let me know.

I think we did a pretty good job if I do say so myself. I know we won't be opening a bakery anytime soon but these look nice nice to me. A lot of the family will be enjoying these after our Sunday dinner. I seriously enjoyed the break from working on my college assignment. This particular one has been extremely stressful for me. I can't wait to hand it in tomorrow and get it out of my hair for good.

Laura<3

Muffins & The Park

Waking up early this morning wasn't on my agenda but when you have a little nephew like mine you begin to expect the unexpected. Rewind back to 10am this morning and I was in my kitchen, bright eyed and bushy tailed (NOT!) making double choc chip muffins with my Mum and Ryan. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here these muffins came straight out of a Tesco's HomeCook Baking Kit, anything that makes things easier is good for me. These were unbelievably simple to make and Ryan was the best little helper getting all the extra ingredients sorted. When everything was done and in the oven, he even took some timeout to lick the wooden spoon. How I miss my younger years! The muffins themselves turned out pretty well, we could of added icing but again we wanted to keep things as simple as possible. I don't eat sweet things so my Dad and Ryan were the food critics for these, needless to say they went down a storm. I think my Mum and I will be picking up some more of these in the future, the chocolate fudge brownie option sounds yummy. Expect to see some more of these baking posts really soon!

In the afternoon we headed up to Marley Park which is the best place to go for a lovely scenic walk. I feel really lucky that it's so close to where I live, sometimes I must admit I take it for granted. Every Summer there are concerts held in the park and big international acts fly in to play at it. I have never been myself but I know a lot of people that have. Longitude is being held in Marley Park this year, I think it's such a great venue for the weekend festival. I think the atmosphere will be electric. I dunno if I'll go as I'm not familiar with some of the acts that are playing at it, though I do love Vampire Weekend. I just don't think that would justify forking out on a one day ticket. On the weekends they have a really nice Farmers Market which I've past by once before when I was out jogging through the park with my friend. It was nice to chill and look at all the stalls this time around compared to whizzing by like lightning. I didn't buy anything but my Mum  and Dad went to a couple of the food stalls and picked up some lovely pasta sauces. Ryan got some jelly babies and worms from the Sweet stand which was huge. It had so many different sweets, I spotted a lot of old favourites. It wouldn't be a trip to Marley Park without having a walk through the forest. It's such a lovely scenic walk that I use to go on so much as a child. We spotted lots of robins and swans, Ryan really enjoyed it. I'm definitely not going to leave it so long before I visit again.

I'm heading out tonight for Paddy's Day tonight. I know a day early but there's no way I'm heading into work on Monday with a hangover that would be a nightmare, plus I feel like I'm a bit too old for that sort of thing. I have my outfit picked out for tonight and no I'm not wearing green. I'll probably have some lovely green eye makeup though, courtesy of my Urban Decay Theodora palette I'll definitely take a picture to show you guys. You may see it in a post very soon!

What do you guys have planned for St Patrick's Day? Hope you have a good one!

Laura<3