Well I’m a bit bored so thought I might as well catch up on a blog entry. We had a nice long weekend here in Canterbury. A hectic week in the Christchurch social calendar. I did miss seeing all of the lovely outfits and hats at Cup day but wasn’t to worried that I didn’t get to go.

Friday was my Nana’s birthday and we spent the afternoon at her place. Even though she has Alzheimer’s it was nice that she was able to partake in the celebrations. She always loves seeing her great granddaughters too.

Here are some yummy Lemon & Passionfruit cream cheese cupcakes I made in place of a birthday cake, they were simply delish.

The cuzzies in there little dresses. Vicki she now fits the dress and it look so cute!

Then on Saturday it was so hot, 31C at 6pm so the weather man said! We pottered about home, cleaned the garage out and just tried to keep cool. I let Grace explore the garden under a bush in the shade.

Her first time on the lawn.

I also got a bit carried away with the camera and took heaps of pictures of Grace playing. Great to scrapbook one day! hehe

How’s everyone going with the Jessica Sprague course? I must admit I haven’t got very far at all. I can’t believe how much printing needs to be done and my printer doesn’t seem to give the best quality.

Here is just a quick peak at what I created over the weekend…

My first creations were these cupcakes. My sister suggested awhile back that I try and make some caramel cupcakes so voila!

Caramel cupcakes with ginger&caramel frosting.

They are pretty scrummy if I do say so myself!

Also here is a  sneak peak of a card that I whipped up for a friends birthday, best not show the whole thing until I give it to her! hehe

1. My biggest WOO HOOT this week is finding that sleeping Grace on her side in a sleep wedge eases her wind so she can sleep!! We are super happy about this, it doesn’t work every time but we have had a few peaceful evenings thanks to  it.

2. My sister sent me this link, its got loads and loads of fantastic cupcakes…a brilliant source of inspiration. It’s amazing the length some people go to with cupcake decorating.

Check it out! Cupcakes Galore

3. The lovely warm weather we have been lucky enough to be having, I know this is a weekly Woo Hoot for me but the weather really changes the days outlook Mind you I have been having to water the garden, my spring flowers aren’t used to this heat.

I love how cupcake craziness is sweeping the world and I seem to be getting caught up in the madness. I have been thinking of all sorts of yum creations and at every birthday I just have to bake a batch! I thought I would share a few pics of some of my recent creations. At  present I am trying to come up with a toffee flavoured one, I will continue to mull it over but if you have a different recipe or idea I would love to try out some different ones.

Also I found these cool blogs. Any cupcake lovers must check these out and if you know of any cool sites let me know.

http://www.nzcupcakequeen.com/

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

Nothing to exciting has been happening, hence the lack of blogging. I’m just really waiting for bubs to arrive. I have been getting a few final things done  but really I feel pretty sorted. I’ve been hanging out with my sister and baby Madeline a fair bit too. It’s been great to pick up bits and pieces of info from what she’s learning. Might make my ride into motherhood a little smoother

I’m not having much luck sleeping tonight, so I’m sitting here with a Milo writing this at 5.30am. Must be my body getting ready for sleepless night. hehe

I must say I have been totally spoiled over the past week. It was my birthday on Sunday and everyone had gone all out to make it a special occasion. I feel totally blessed to have such warm and generous family and friends! It started with a crop last week with some friends and continued on into the weekend with a lovely surprise breakfast put on by my sister. She even baked me cupcakes!  Sunday dinner was with the family. I got lovely flowers, surprise jewellery from my fantastic hubby, some very creative gifts, body lotions etc, some cash to spend on a rainy day and this really cool book.

I’d say it’s an absolute must if you are nutty about cupcakes and baking like me! Cupcakes seem to be sweeping the world in so many forms at present. I have already eyed up a recipe for the next crop I’m going too. Lemon/ Passionfruit Meringue cupcakes sound too good to refuse!  Last week I whipped up some mini carrot cakes with lemon cream cheese frosting. Here’s the recipe I found.

Mini carrot cakes

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/4 cups caster sugar

3/4 cup of olive or sunflower oil

2 cups of plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups of grated carrot

1/2 cup of chopped nuts plus extra for decorating (walnuts would be good)

Frosting

150g butter, softened

150g cream cheese, softened

grated zest of one lemon

2 cups of icing sugar

1/2 tsp citric acid ( optional, I just like my icing not so sweet)

Preheat oven to 180C. Lightly grease two 12 hole muffins trays with butter. (I used cupcake papers instead of greasing tins)

With an electric beater, beat the eggs and sugar until creamy, pale and thick. Then gently beat in the oil.

In a separate bowl, sift together all of the remaining ingredients except for the carrot and nuts. Gently mix into the egg mixture until smooth. Add the carrot and nuts and gently mix until evenly combined. Fill each muffin hole to about 3/4 full. (The original recipe says it makes 18 but I got 15 cupcakes)

Bake in the oven for 20-25 mins or until golden and a skewer comes out clean. Leave the cakes to cool slightly in their tins before removing.

To make the frosting beat together the butter,cream cheese and lemon until creamy. Sift over the icing sugar and citric acid and beat until completely smooth. Top each cake with a generous amount of frosting and sprinkle chopped nuts on frosting.

Well I better end here, but will post pics of the lemon/ passionfruit cupcakes when they are created. Till then take care