A Grand Day Out

Barter Books, it is Amazing! For those of you who don't know it's a gigantic second hand book shop inside the old Alnwick railway station. Its so full of character and the staff are super friendly, you can even take dogs inside, plus there's a cafe which sells beautifully delicious home made cakes. Honestly its just  jaw-dropping-ly Amazing... 

So recently we took a trip put and I took some (actually rather a lot) of pictures and I thought I'd share them with you!

Then off we popped to the beach!

The weather was wonderful and what had actually been a spontaneous trip out, turned into one of the most amazing days. I think there the best sort of good days; the spontaneous ones.

What do you think?

Much Love,
A slightly tanned Alex-Rose xx

Just to confirm this is not a sponsored post, I just think that Barter Books is Amazing.

Doughnut Cupcakes

Well, it's been a busy day and so this is a little rushed but I thought I better pop these lovelies on. They were so popular with everyone! I don't really know what it is about them, as all they really are is cupcakes with jam in the middle and sugar on top but, they are divine! Although, the texture of the cake it's self isn't totally cakey, more of a cake, muffin and doughnut mutation.
Not too sweet but plenty sweet enough, soft and crumbly with gooey jam. The only thing I will say is they are a tad messy.. sugar gets everywhere!

They were dead simple too and took no time at al. You definitely don't need to leave them to cool as I would say they are best eaten warm; Not that you'll want to have them any other way they smell and look gorgeous!

Moving on as you can see I've had a bit of a change about, again... I had been wanting to do something different and I can't decide whether or not this design is right for the blog? Give me your opinions, is it easy enough to read?

Sorry for such a short post, hope you've all enjoyed your weekend?

Much Love Alex-Rose xxx

Hot Chocolate Tea-Cup Cakes

Well hello there,

I have returned to the land of blogs! After a week or so away I have so much catching up to do and feel very out of the loop. It seemed like I chose the busiest week (in blogland) to go to a little forest with no wi-fi! It was this week that my first button swaps went, mostly, up and running(!). 

I must thank and apologise to the lovely bloggers who've swapped. Thank you for helping me sprinkle my love for baking, a little wider, around the blog-O-sphere and sorry for being a tad scatty! 

Now would seem a good time to point out the new buttons in the side bar: Me + The Moon, Amour la fille, as well as Light and Sweet. I seriously encourage you all to go check out these wonderful blogs, these lovely spaces of web are such good reads and some of my many favourites!

Anyway, on to the bake, the idea for this was inspired by my holiday in general as I drank bucket loads of hot chocolate over the last week. I literally live on a diet of marshmallows, cream and hot chocolate when the weather gets colder so when I was given these adorable "cup"cake cases (for my birthday, thank you very much lovely older sister) I knew I wanted to bake hot chocolate themed cakes!

The cases themselves were from Lakeland and can be found here. Although, I'm sure you could find others from different shops, as they are such a cute idea! You bake the cake inside the tea cup so it holds the shape and they come with adorable matching saucers; what's not to love?

I've topped my chocolate cakes with plain butter icing, mini marshmallows and a sprinkling of cocoa powder. They are designed to look like hot chocolate but if that's not your style I'm sure you could remodel it to fit other hot drinks!

I'm thinking up an earl grey cupcake recipe for one of my sisters birthdays, and will be using these cases for definite!

Anyone ever used other shaped silicone cases before?

Much love Alex-Rose xxx