Halloween Baking - Pink and White Pumpkin Cupcakes

Happy Halloween lovelies! 

The huge change in weather to the chilly, cold and rainy days is certainly making me feel in the halloween spirit! I hope you're spending the lead up to Halloween and the day itself in the most festive way, full of pumpkin carving, sweeties, snuggled under a cosy blanket, watching halloween movies.

I am so excited to be showing you this post, ever since I saw Catherine Bakes do these last year I knew I wanted to re-create them myself.

Cupcake Ingredients - 

4 Free range eggs

225g/8oz Caster sugar

225g/8oz Self raising flour

2 Teaspoons of baking powder

225g/8oz Butter at room temperature 

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Frosting Ingredients - 

600g Icing Sugar

300g Unsalted softened butter

2 Teaspoons of vanilla extract

1 Packet of pink fondant icing

1 packet of white fondant icing

1 - Preheat the oven to 180c/160c fan/gas mark 4 and line your muffin tin with the muffin cases of your choice, I chose plain white ones.

2- Break eggs into a large mixing bowl, then add sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, vanilla extract and butter. Mix together until it's well combined, you can do this with an electric whisk or by hand with a wooden spoon, but be careful not to over mix.

3- Place your mixture into each cupcake case and place into the pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes. Once they are cooked, place them onto a cooling rack before icing them.

4- Sift your icing sugar into a large bowl, place your butter into the bowl and add your vanilla extract too. Gradually beat together until you have them as fluffy as a cosy dressing gown. I always leave the icing in the fridge to set a bit before piping, I left this for about 40 minutes.

5- Once the icing is more pliable, place some into your pre prepared piping bag and swirl the frosting on as the first layer. This is the best piping I have achieved to date, so I was proud of myself!

6- I made 12 white pumpkins and 12 pink pumpkins, one of each per cupcake. I rolled them into medium sized balls, made a small hole at the top for the stem and gave them their pumpkin look by using a sharp knife to create their lines around.

7- Use some of the leftover fondant to make the stem, by rolling a piece between your fingers and twirl them at the top.

8- Now to make 12 fondant circle discs to separate the icing and pumpkins.

Roll out the leftover fondant with icing sugar, I placed a circle cutter on top and made 6 pink circles and 6 white ones.

9- Now the best bit, putting it all together, you have your cake, icing, now place 1 coloured fondant circle on each cake, then place a pink pumpkin and a white pumpkin on each one.

You will now have completed your girly halloween cupcakes!

Have a wonderful and safe halloween my lovelies!

Kellie Jo

xxx

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♡

23rd Birthday Haul

Hello lovelies! 

I hope you've been having a wonderful October so far, how quickly is this month going? I can't believe how fast Halloween and Bonfire night is approaching!

Last week it was my birthday and I turned 23!! I had a lovely day with my family and fiance, we went for a long beach walk with my doggie, Bonnie, we went on the pier and around a few shops.

I can't believe how well and truly spoilt I was. 

(Just a quick disclaimer: I am in no way trying to brag about what gifts I was lucky enough to receive. I have done a 'What I Got For my Birthday' post for the past 4-5 years and they seem to be popular and I enjoy writing them.)

Being the Disney lover I am, I loved the tableware and birthday cake I had this year. A beautiful Cinderella cake, the top half was made with white chocolate and her gown was a sponge cake with vanilla icing, delicious! 

I was extremely lucky to have so many lovely gifts, I have some photos below of all sorts of things I got. 

My fiance bought us tickets to go see The Nutcracker ballet in December, I am so excited to experience a winter wonderland of dancing snowflakes with my love.

A baby pink, pearly jumper, perfect for a girly girl through Winter to stay warm.

                                   
I love this cosy, eskimo cape for the chilly, no make up, lazy days, it has a cute little hood and pom poms for an added touch.

It wouldn't be a birthday without a new pair of slippers and a nightie! My parents got me these cute Disney ones, a Bambi nightie and Marie slippers. Marie is my spirit animal, if I was a Disney character, that would be me!

 My sister and brother in law to be got me the cutest pink badge and a Mac gift card ready for me to shop the Christmas collection, I can't wait to make my choices.

This year I have got back into reading a lot, so I was lucky enough to get three books for my birthday, 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens, 'Peter Pan' by J.M. Barrie and a beautiful version of 'Vanity Fair' by William Makepeace Thackeray (pictured further down).

As you have all seen from my blog, I love baking, so I now have some baby pink measuring cups, to make American recipes easier to recreate and an adorable strawberry cupcake timer.

I love having pamper evenings, with different bath products and all sorts of scents, so I have a huge mixture from bath fizzers, salts and bubble bath's, ready for a warm, luxury, winter, evening bath.

I had started running out of my perfumes on the lead up to my birthday and I didn't really know which ones I wanted, so my Mum and Dad picked a few different ones and I am so grateful for their choices, they all smell beautiful. 

I have the medium Thumper plush from the Disney store and I really wanted Miss Bunny to reunite with him, so my mother and father in law to be bought me her, she also matches my room perfectly. Now Thumper and Miss Bunny sit happily together on my bed.

I have mentioned a few times how I collect Disney Traditions to display in a cabinet in the future, this year I was so lucky to get three!!! A beautiful figure of  Peter Pan and Wendy, with a jealous Tinkerbell, the wonderfully pink Cheshire Cat and sweet Eeyore in a heart filled snowglobe. 

I hope you enjoyed this post and this gave you some ideas for your Christmas wishlist!

Kellie Jo 

xxx

Collective Autumn Haul

                                                           Good evening lovelies!
I hope you've had the most magical autumnal week, what beautiful weather we've been lucky to have, it seems to be chillier, the mornings and nights are getting darker and it's getting incredibly cosy. I've been gradually picking up a few pieces for autumn, as it's my birthday next week, I've held off buying too much, but I thought I'd show you what I've picked up for beginning of the season.

I've been hooked on ITV's 'Vanity Fair' so far this season, I love the actors portrayal of each character and personally feel ITV have done a wonderful job with this version. 

I didn't realise Essie (one of my favourite nail polish brands) had their own polish named 'Vanity Fairest', a beautiful pale pink shade, with hints of sparkle running through it. I had to get this, it's so subtly beautiful! 

Halloween is this month and I've always loved this holiday, even though I'm too old for 'Trick or Treating' I like to make a hot chocolate, get some yummy Halloween themed snacks in and have a horror movie marathon! I went to B&M to have a look at what they had new in, I couldn't resist this sweet little candle 'Bugs and Kisses', the scent is like a crackling fire, with cinnamon swirls. How could I resist at £1?

I really enjoyed watching 'Freddy My Love's 'Autumn Edit' on YouTube, where she showed her favourite pieces for the season. I completely fell in love with this coat, this was the perfect coat I never knew I needed! It's a perfect girly shade of pink, the fit and quality is beautiful and I think this will compliment my outfits all through Winter too!

If you know me well, you'll know I adore the Netflix show 'Stranger Things', I've re-watched it about 3 times this year and plan to do the same again soon! My fiance was very sweet and bought me this baby pink hoodie with the logo on the front. It's so warm and cosy, perfect for the chillier days!

Every year I always get these Primark boots, they're £8 and last so well! I find they don't rub or hurt my feet at all, they clean up well just with a baby wipe and come in a variety of colours, I saw black, beige, grey and this creamy/pinky coloured pair! I do also have a black pair, but I wanted this pale colour, as most of my outfits are light coloured clothing.

Primark are absolutely amazing for Disney merchandise or anything Disney really! I usually pick up something Disney whenever I go to Primark and on this occasion, it was this pack of Thumper socks! How adorable are these? I love the pink, white, grey and cream colour scheme. I can't believe it was only £2.50 for 3 pairs...I hope Primark have more like these for the winter months.

I recently went to the McArthur Glen designer outlet in Ashford to make the most of the sales! The French Connection store that is there always have such brilliant bargains, I love their jumpers. 

I thought this white one would be a good layering piece for a/w outfits. It was originally £35, but I actually got this for...£5, yes, £5!! For a great quality jumper, I still can't believe it.

For the longest time I have really wanted to purchase a Ralph Lauren Polo jumper. I just think they will never go out of fashion, so classic and chic, so I chose to treat myself! I decided to purchase the jumper in white, because it reminded me of snow and I also don't own much white clothing at all! I do love a white and red combination at Christmas time.

What else should I pick up on my shopping travels?

Have a wonderful week filled with cupcakes and pumpkin spice!

Kellie Jo

xxx